Have you ever dreamt of taking cool, high-quality pictures for somewhat reason that came to your mind or had an idea to become a content creator, photographer, or cinematographer, but is in a budget under $800?
Well, you’ve come on to the right place. So, make sure to read till the end of this post, to know about this bad boy made by Canon that offers you a lot of features for your bucks and will provide what you want as an amateur or even a semi-professional, trying to find success in this industry.
In this review, I’m going to be doing an in-depth study about the Canon Rebel T7i/800D, which of course, is my first and the DSLR I’m currently using.
Build
Technically speaking, if you haven’t used any DSLR before, you will find that the Rebel T7i looks like a larger DSLR. But this is reasonably somewhat small, nice, and light when compared to most DSLRs.
And just mainly because of that fact it’s a bit smaller, more people will be more likely taking it out for a spin since the size and the weight is lower than its competitors. And as a beginner or even as an intermediate, it’s a good thing because you do not have to carry a bulky DSLR trying to learn stuff, and at the end of the day, get your muscles sore in your first few days after starting your journey.
When compared to its brother, the Canon Rebel T6i, not a lot has changed, but of course, there are some improvements you would love to see.
Talking about the body, it’s identical, and the buttons are exactly where they need to be, and they are pretty easy enough to find and get used to, especially if you are a beginner.
But looking at the top, it’s a bit different than its big brother, the Canon 77D. On the top right, you have your main dial, which is used to change to different settings you want, such as maybe using Auto to learn as a beginner and turning it to Manual, to use the manual mode as an intermediate to professionals, where you have the full control of your DSLR which would not only help you better understand the camera but also to take professional photos out of it, or, maybe even doing long exposures.
And if you’ve used any other DSLRs before, you will notice that unfortunately, the mode dial lock is not present in this model, which could be a pain if you are constantly changing modes to get the right picture at the right time when in a hurry to capture that beautiful looking unrecoverable moments.
And on the top on the right side, next to the viewfinder, we’ve got the dedicated red record button, which of course, is used when recording movies, which I love BTW.
So overall, props to Canon, the build quality is outstanding on the Canon Rebel T7i.
Dual Pixel Auto Focus
Of course, this is a feature from the higher-end cameras like the Canon 70D, Canon 80D, and 7D Mark II, and not gonna lie; this is one of my favorite features in the camera.
Talking about the all-new dual pixel autofocus system, all you need to do is just simply tap on the screen, and wherever you gonna tap is going to smoothly come into focus, which might seem like a pro feature and is pretty useful when changing the subject very frequently and it’s fantastic!
So now you might be wondering, how well is it working on the Rebel T7i?
Well, as I said above, it’s working fantastically! It’s almost flawless! Face tracking works great and keeps you in focus so that you don’t have to re-record your videos after realizing nothing was in focus. Nope, not on this camera. He will make sure you are in focus all the time even when you are moving, maybe going out of the frame and coming back, it just does wonders!
You can also use the subject tracking feature, which lets you pick your subject by tapping on the screen on whatever object you want, and whatever that is in the middle of that square that you get after tapping is gonna be in focus. Again, even if the subject goes out of frame or maybe you take the camera out of the frame, but when the subject you picked reenters the structure, it’s going to come back to focus smoothly, really fast.
You can also do focus pulls by simply tapping on your screen.
And this is something that Canon has not done in the last few years, but when I saw the dual pixel system entering the mid to lower-end cameras, I was actually pretty surprised to see that cause it’s a fantastic feature to have on any DSLR, especially if you are making a lot of videos or just simply making any videos with your camera and I’m pretty sure a lot of people are going to love it when they get to use it.
So, Props to Canon for putting it to the Rebel T7i!
LCD Screen
The Canon Rebel T7i comes with a gorgeous articulating LCD Screen on the back of your DSLR, which is pretty handy, especially when recording movie, to make sure you get what you want to be in focus in focus and even when shooting photos in burst mode to make sure you have your subject in focus as many times as possible.
So, if you’ve used the previous model, the Rebel T6i, you know how brilliant the screen is. And personally, the color gamut you get from the screen is insane, and I think Canon is the company that makes the best LCD screens for DSLRs among all the giant other competitors.
The impressive articulating screen is a banger cause you can take your screen out, and say you wanna take a photo from up high or even down low, you can take the screen out and flip it in whatever way you want, to make sure you don’t struggle when you get your shot while being in your comfort zone, rather than looking through the viewfinder and braking your neck.
And SURPRISE! If you are a YouTuber or a Vlogger because you can also flip your screen to the front in which will give you the advantage of seeing yourself live, making sure the exposure is correct, and, most importantly, making sure you are in the frame while recording your videos.
And guys, guess what?
The LCD screen is a touch screen, which means you have full flexibility in controlling your camera settings, just like using your own smartphone, and also the screen is very responsive BTW, which is really an advantage when moving quickly through the menus. This might not feel like a big deal, especially if you are a professional, but it is definitely a groundbreaker for beginners cause you don’t have to use your mode dial or any buttons, most of the things you need can be done with your finger on the gorgeous LCD Screen, and overall it just makes using the camera easy and fun. Trust Me!
Video
Technically speaking, if you were to ask me what’s the best camera for beginners in this price range, I would say go with the Canon Rebel T7i.
And the reason for that is because it’s packed with a lot of features for the price you are paying for, and its got 1080p @ 60 fps, meaning you can shoot Full HD at 60 frames per second and get some nice and slow slow-motion footage in post.
But I wish they added 4K into this camera because it also got the dual pixel autofocus, but for this price, I’m fine to stick with 1080p since it’s the standard nowadays.
And yeah, the video recording works fantastically!
Even though professionals prefer to go in manual mode most of the time if not all the time, especially for beginners who aren’t used to manual mode like a lot of people are, having dual pixel autofocus means you can literally pick up the camera turn it on and just point it at whatever you want, and it’s going to be in focus, and that’s the beauty of it. And also, most importantly, it saves time and makes sure you can capture your best moments at all times.
Burst Mode
I love the fact it got an upgrade to 6 frames per second, and that’s pretty quick for a camera in this price range. And that should be fast enough for most sports and wildlife shooting.
Autofocus
Autofocus is also marvelous in this camera even though I find it struggling in some low light conditions, but it’s pretty marvelous to get most of the stuff done.
Ports
On the side of the camera, it comes with a fabulous dedicated microphone port, which is a lifesaver BTW, which a lot of mid to low-end cameras doesn’t come with, but this camera does, which I always use to plug in my Rode VideoMic to get crisp, clear audio, I think it is a must to have a mic port in a DSLR primarily if you are focusing on doing more video recording with your camera.
I highly recommend you buy a camera with a dedicated microphone port if you are going to use to the camera most of the time for video recording, just to make sure you have the option to choose a good microphone if needed in the future in the process of recording video which if not will make you have to buy a new camera completely.
But unfortunately, oh come on, Canon, on this one, this Camera does not come with a headphone port, which means you are out of luck if you are willing to monitor your audio through a pair of headphones while recording or playing back videos.
Back to the topic,
We also got the HDR video mode on the Rebel T7i now, which I’m happy to see, and the wonderful time-lapse mode is included as well.
So if you love to create time lapses, this camera got you covered without the need to use an intervalometer!
So, should you buy the Canon Rebel T7i?
Well, the Canon Rebel T7i is featured packed and is a real winner!
But, if you have a few more bucks, maybe you’ll have to think twice?
So, if you are looking forward to buying the Canon Rebel T7i, you’ve probably looked at other similar cameras in a similar price range.
So what are the most competitive cameras to the Canon Rebel T7i?
The first direct competitor would be the Canon 77D.
The 77D was released at the same time when the Rebel T7i was released, and it’s a fantastic camera, not going to lie.
Its got the same dual pixel autofocus and also got some really considerable differences and some new features.
Firstly, you will see a handy LCD screen on the top. It will give you some information about your current settings without having to look through the viewfinder.
And also, you will see a scroll wheel on the button section on the right side of the 77D.
But, to be honest, they are not huge features, but it’s worth checking before making a buying decision right away cause those features will only cost you some few more bucks.
And in case you are wondering, the advantage of the Rebel T7i is, it’s a smaller and lighter camera. You definitely can buy the Rebel T7i if you don’t need two of those features, and it’s alright; you definitely can live without them. Don’t worry!
The cost a little less from the Rebel T7i is the Rebel T6i, the last year’s model, it doesn’t have the dual pixel autofocus, which I would prefer to choose a camera with it included, which unfortunately the rebel T6i does not have, instead which has a hybrid autofocus system. And, well, the dual pixel system is better.
So, if I would have to choose between the Rebel T6i and the Rebel T7i, I would definitely go with the Rebel T7i because it has a dual focus autofocus system even though it saves me some money.
And, if I were to choose in between the Rebel T7i and the 77D, I would go with the Rebel T7i even though the 77D offers some more features, but personally, because I’m on the go, I would prefer to have a lighter camera to travel with.
But, If you are reading this in 2020 or beyond, I would say go with the 77D because the prices are now similar, and you can get some more features for the same price with some extra weight to carry on.
So, the choice is yours! And I still love ma boy the Canon Rebel T7i and will always!
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