Canon EOS Rebel T4i

Bottom line

As the first DSLR with a touchscreen, the Canon EOS Rebel T4i is in a class by itself until rivals catch up. It's our Best Reviewed pick among step-up entry-level cameras. Testers say the touchscreen makes the camera a pleasure to use, and the faster shooting speeds and extra features can help you capture great photos even in tough situations. All this makes it a nice upgrade to basic entry-level DSLRs like the Canon T3i (*Est. $695 with kit lens) and Nikon D5100.

Ease of use

"Stunningly good" touchscreen makes photography easier -- and more fun. Experts unanimously love the Canon T4i's touchscreen, the first ever on a DSLR. It's just like an iPhone: You can tap to shoot a photo, swipe to flip through the photos you've taken, pinch to enlarge and more. DPReview.com's hard-to-please critics say it's "stunningly good ... transforms the [T4i] into a camera that is actually fun to operate."

Hate touchscreens? All of the regular physical buttons are still there. You can ignore the touchscreen or disable it altogether, but reviewers predict the responsive touchscreen will probably win you over. Tap-to-shoot "makes it quick and easy to capture the moment," says Mark Goldstein at PhotographyBlog.com. Testers at TechReview.com say you'll "appreciate the ability to review your images by swiping from side to side and pinching to magnify them (at least we did)."

The side-hinged screen tilts and swivels just like on the Canon EOS Rebel T3i, on which the equally compact, lightweight T4i is built. This makes it easier to see what you're doing while photographing from odd angles like over the heads of a crowd, from a tripod or shooting video.

For beginners, the Canon T4i has a fully automatic Scene Intelligent Auto mode that senses what you're shooting and automatically chooses the best settings. Once you outgrow that but aren't ready to tackle the T4i's full manual controls, Creative Auto mode lets you tweak settings on your own. For example, Background lets you adjust the aperture to blur the background and Exposure is adjusted using simple sliders on the LCD screen.

Performance

Quick bursts and special tricks help you get tough shots. The EOS Rebel T4i makes it easier to capture challenging shots, experts say. It shoots more quickly than the cheaper Canon T3i -- up to 5 frames per second (fps) versus 3.7 -- making it "fast enough for most wildlife, action and sports photography," TechRadar.com says.

The T4i also gets an upgraded 18-megapixel compact sensor, plus some new shooting modes that get the job done in tough situations. HDR Backlight Control helps you get a better photo when your subject is backlit, shooting underexposed, correct and overexposed photos and then combining them into a single, better image. Handheld Night Scene works similarly when you shoot in low light without a tripod. Multi-shot Noise Reduction uses the same technique to reduce grainy image "noise."

The EOS Rebel T4i shoots video in full 1,080p HD with continuous autofocus, but suffers from the usual noisy sluggishness that plagues DSLR video autofocus. "Be warned that the microphone can pick up the sound of the focus motor, and the subject might even go out of focus for a few seconds," says Goldstein at PhotographyBlog.com. Autofocus is also a bit lethargic when you frame your shot on the LCD screen in live view, although it's nearly twice as fast as on the T3i, DPReview.com says. However, autofocus is snappy when you look through the optical viewfinder.

Battery life is rated at 550 shots per charge, on par with other entry-level DSLRs.

Durability

Plastic body feels sturdy. The Canon EOS Rebel T4i "is built to the expected standard, with the stainless steel chassis and polycarbonate resin shell" used on all entry-level DSLRs, says WhatDigitalCamera.com's Matt Golowczynski. Like its rivals, the T4i's plastic-over-steel construction proves tough enough.

"In terms of build quality, the Canon EOS 650D/T4i certainly feels solid enough for a consumer-grade DSLR, although not in the same league as the semi-professional" EOS 60D (*Est. $935 body only) and EOS 7D (*Est. $1,500 body only), says PhotographyBlog.com's Goldstein.

"The T4i feels more sturdy than the previous two Rebels," says one poster at Amazon.com, who owns the EOS Rebel T2i (*Est. $650 with kit lens) and tested the T3i for weeks. "The buttons are more solid and the selector wheels are improved. The adjustment wheel has better clicks and doesn't feel like you could easily flick it and change a setting by accident. The mode selector wheel is sturdier, as well."

If you need a really durable camera, the Pentax K-30 (*Est. $825 with kit lens) is coldproof, dustproof and fully weather-sealed, and it's the only DSLR in this price range that is.

Features

Plenty of serious tools plus fun extras. Experts say the Canon T3i was already pretty full-featured, with the tools photographers really need including exposure bracketing, a basic feature missing from Nikon's entry-level DSLRs. But the T4i does have a few new tricks up its sleeve.

Of course, the touchscreen is the big news, but the T4i has also stepped up its movie game. It still has an external mic jack, but now the built-in mic records in stereo -- the T3i's mic is mono -- with a wind filter and attenuator to stifle sudden, loud noises. Video Snapshot lets you shoot short clips of two, four or eight seconds, the length of the clips on most TV shows, and edit them together to make your movie look "slicker," says TechRadar.com. The camera saves the clips to a Video Snapshot Album, "and you can even add a soundtrack in-camera," says Goldstein at PhotographyBlog.com.

The T4i boasts several new shooting modes, as well. Some, like Handheld Night Scene and HDR Backlight Control, help you capture good images in challenging situations. Others let you creatively tweak photos. For example, Basic+ mode gives you nine options -- Standard, Vivid, Soft, Warm, Intense, Cool, Brighter, Darker and Monochrome -- to help you get the look you want. Three User Defined modes let you save your favorite personal styles of saturation, sharpness and more as your own custom shooting modes. Seven Creative Filters add special effects to your photos, such as Grainy Black and White or Water Painting Effect.