Like its predecessor, the EOS 700D will suit buyers who want a high-resolution DSLR camera that can record both still images and Full HD video clips. As a base model, it has a simple user interface plus easy-to-use automatic shooting modes and user-adjustable controls.
The swing-out monitor will appeal to more serious photographers interested in live-view photography with the camera held overhead, at waist level, or at an angle to the body. This feature will allow for some interesting shooting positions, and the well-implemented touch screen makes it easy to set many functions, focus and trigger the shutter with just the touch of a finger.
The ability to accept accessories such as a battery grip makes it a possible second camera for a more sophisticated system and allows it to be used on trips to places where mains power is unavailable (or intermittent). A wide range of optional accessories is available for this camera, allowing it to be customized to suit many different types of photography and user requirements.
Tested Features of Canon 700d
- slow-mo
- 4k video
- iso
- grains
- color tone
- W.B
- picture style
- blur
- bokeh
- low light
- picture quality
- touch screen
- auto light optimization
- burst shoot
- autofocus
- Sharpness
Canon 700d features a rating in Photography
- iso range: 10\10
- color tone: 9\10
- white balance: 9\10
- background blur: 10\10
- bokeh effect: 10\10
- grains coverage: 10\10
- highlights & shadows detail: 10\10
- autofocus: 10\10
- jpeg quality: 9\10
- continuous shooting speed: 10\10
- depth of field: 10\10
- live view photography: 9\10
- eye tracking: 10\10
- flashlight photography: 10\10
- HDR mode: 10\10
- Touch Screen Focus: 9\10
- sharpness: 10\10
- image stabilization: 9\10
Key features of Canon 700d
- 18MP APS-C 'Hybrid CMOS' sensor
- Phase detection AF from imaging sensor for Live View and Video
- Continuous autofocus in movie mode with subject tracking
- 14-bit DIGIC 5 processor
- ISO 100-12800 standard, 25600 expanded
- 5 fps continuous shooting
- 9-point AF system, all sensors cross type, central sensor F2.8 (from 60D)
- 63 zone iFCL metering
- 1080p30 video recording with built-in stereo mics
- 1.04m dot 3:2 touch-sensitive vari-angle ClearView II LCD (capacitive type, multi-touch support)
Sunlight Photography Test of Canon 700d
Like its predecessor, the body features a 700D stainless steel chassis that is coated with polycarbonate resin containing glass fibers for added strength. The body finish has been enhanced with textured cladding that looks and feels like leather.
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It also has the same 3-inch rotating touchscreen monitor and pentamirror viewfinder, plus a proprietary "Q" menu button that, when pressed, displays the most frequently used camera settings on the monitor screen. Each of these functions is accessible simply by touch.
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Because it's capacitive, the touchscreen can be used like a smartphone and supports gestures like pinch-to-zoom and swiping from image to image during playback. As with its predecessor, the touchscreen can be used for touch focus anywhere on the screen, and users can touch the shutter release while focusing.
Low Light Photography Test of Canon 700d
The 700D uses the same menu system as its predecessor and includes the 'My Menu' customization options found in all Canon cameras of this type. External buttons are available to access ISO, white balance, AF and control modes, exposure/focus lock, switch to live view and switch between aperture and shutter values in manual mode. This gives users several different ways to adjust camera settings; either through the regular menu, by touching the Q screen, or by pressing a designated button.
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The Picture Style setting has not been updated to include the new look of the Video Camera X series that was announced recently, although this will no doubt be added with the next firmware update. The Monochrome setting in the Picture Style menu offers three options: neutral, cool, and warm. We found that the warm setting tended to soften the image slightly, while the others maintained normal sharpness.
The built-in optical viewfinder is also unchanged, providing 95% frame coverage and 19mm eye relief. The 700D also boasts the same 9-point hybrid CMOS AF system as its predecessor.
Movie recording options have not changed. The 700D supports Full HD recording of 1920 x 1080 at 30p/25p/24p along with 1280 x 720 (HD) at 60p/50p and VGA (640 x 480 SD) at 30p/25p, all using the popular MOV format with H.264 compression and linear PCM sound. A pair of stereo microphones are built into the top of the flash housing. Sound levels can be adjusted in 64 steps and the camera provides a wind filter/attenuator with settings between 0 and -40 dB. Details on all these features can be found in our EOS 650D review.
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Potential upgrades can look forward to the following improvements over the EOS 650D:
1. The mode selector has been improved with the ability to rotate a full 360 degrees. Settings icons are now embossed rather than printed, giving a smarter, more modern look. The mode dial has also been removed, moving Night Scene from Handheld, HDR backlight control and Night Portrait to the SCN sub-menu.
Flash Light Photography Test of Canon 700d
2. You can now view the effects of creative filter settings in live preview mode. The available effects have not changed and include Grainy Black and White, Soft Focus, Fisheye Effect, Artistic Bold Effect, Watercolor Effect, Toy Camera Effect, and Miniature Effect. But being able to see how it changes a JPEG image is useful because when saving images with a creative filter applied, the unfiltered JPEG is lost. (Creative filters can also be applied after capture using in-camera adjustments.)
3. The camera body has received a more modern finish that is textured and has a rubbery look and feel. It holds a bit more comfortably and securely.
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4. The refresh rate of the monitor screen has been doubled from 30 fps on the 650D to 60 fps on the 700D. This provides smoother live-view photography when panning and improved movie playback on the camera's monitor screen.
The lens kit we received with the EOS 700D expands Canon's range of stepper lenses to four: two for the EOS M and two EF-S lenses. We reviewed the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens with the EOS 650D (for which it was developed) in July 2012. A separate review of the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM will be published on the Photo review website.
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With the same image sensor and processor chip as the EOS 650D, we expected the results of our Imatest tests on the EOS 700D to be similar, even though different lenses were used for the tests. However, the new camera had a slight edge over its predecessor, producing CR2.RAW files that exceeded expectations for an 18-megapixel sensor. JPEGs were slightly below expectations.
Night Photography Test of Canon 700d
Raw files provided higher resolution than JPEGs maintained throughout the 700D's sensitivity range, although the differences between the two were slightly reduced at the highest sensitivities.
Image noise at long exposures and when shooting with flash was similar to the results we got with the EOS 650D. Test images were almost noise-free up to ISO 3200, after which a slight noise was visible at long exposures. At ISO 12800, both noise and softening were evident, although color saturation remained fairly high.
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Flash exposures were nearly noise-free throughout the camera's sensitivity range, although some softening was noticeable at ISO 12800. Exposure levels remained relatively constant throughout the camera's sensitivity range, an improvement over the EOS 650D.
Auto white balance performance was similar to other Canon DSLRs we've reviewed, with images taken under incandescent lighting remaining partially corrected, while images taken under fluorescent lighting were nearly cost-free. The presets were slightly overcorrected for both types of lighting, but manual metering gave a neutral color balance. There are plenty of in-camera adjustments for fine-tuning images while shooting, and there are three-level +/- white balance bracketing in single-step increments.
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Video quality was just as good as we found with the EOS 650D, which isn't surprising given that the feature hasn't changed much. The differences between HD 1080p and 720p video clips were largely related to frame resolution. Clips shot in VGA resolution were very good for the size of the frames.
Sound quality from the built-in microphone was above average, although the stereo presence wasn't particularly strong. Interestingly, the clips retained their stereo audio tracks at all ISO settings up to ISO 6400 (the maximum allowed in movie mode). When shooting movie clips, we didn't notice any pickup of operational sounds when zooming and refocusing.
Indoor Studio Test of Canon 700d
Unfortunately, while autofocus was relatively fast when the viewfinder was used to compose a shot, it slowed significantly in Live View mode, though not quite as much as we found with the EOS 650D and 18-135mm STM lens. However, refocusing during video recording caused noticeable blurring as the focus was reset and the AF system tended to hunt a bit in low light and low-contrast subjects. Delays of up to half a second were common in movie clips during panning and when the lens was zoomed in or out.
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Our timing tests were performed with an 8GB SanDisk Extreme Pro SDHC UHS-1 card. The surveillance camera turned on and was ready to shoot in 0.8 seconds. We measured an average capture lag of 0.1 second when the viewfinder was used to compose the shot, and 0.9 second in Live View mode, due to autofocus lag.
This delay was eliminated when images were pre-focused for viewfinder photography and shortened to 0.2 seconds in Live View mode. The average time between shots was 0.4 seconds without flash and 0.6 seconds with flash.
High-resolution JPEGs took an average of 0.6 seconds to process, while CR2.RAW files were processed in 1.9 seconds and RAW+JPEG pairs in 2.1 seconds.
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In continuous shooting mode, the camera recorded 10 large/fine JPEG images in 1.8 seconds, which is close to the specifications. This batch took 3.7 seconds to process.
Wedding Photography Test of Canon 700d
For CR2.RAW files, the shooting speed slowed down noticeably after seven frames were recorded in 1.3 seconds. This batch took 7.4 seconds to process. For RAW+JPEG pairs, the shooting speed slowed down after three frames, which were recorded in 1.4 seconds. This batch took 5.6 seconds to process.
Key 700D specs – 18MP CMOS sensor, 9-point AF sensor, 3:2 tilting screen with 1.04m dots, all familiar from the EOS 600D / Rebel T3i. Look a little closer, though, and improvements have been made in each of these areas, catering to both more experienced users who demand SLR performance and compact camera upgrades who want a familiar interface.
It's largely due to the rise of large-sensor mirrorless models that, in today's market, entry-level DSLRs must offer more than just high image quality to entice compact camera upgrades. In the age of YouTube, quick and easy access to video uploads is a must. And for users far more familiar with composing using the LCD screen than the viewfinder, live view performance is no problem. Of course, the camera still needs to offer users a path to a more traditional DSLR-like experience, without which they would be hard-pressed to resist the temptation of a physically smaller "mirrorless" camera.
The EOS 650D was Canon's attempt to meet these challenges head-on, with features aimed at improving live view and video performance carried over to the EOS 700D. One of the most notable of these is the ability to offer continuous AF tracking when recording movies.
This is made possible by Canon's "Hybrid CMOS" sensor, which contains pixels dedicated to phase-detection autofocus. The Hybrid AF system uses them to quickly set the lens to roughly the right distance, then uses contrast-detect AF to fine-tune focus. In theory, this should provide faster and more confident focusing for Live View and video recording compared to Canon models that rely solely on CDAF. You can read a more detailed explanation of this technology and see it in action on the AF performance page of the EOS 650D review.
The EOS 700D is also equipped with a touchscreen. It is capacitive (contact sensitive) rather than resistive (pressure sensitive) and behaves like a typical smartphone. In live view and movie modes, the screen can be used to determine the focal point and (optionally) trigger the shutter. It also supports multi-touch and iPhone-like gestures. The rear screen has been redesigned without an air gap between the display and the cover glass in an effort to reduce reflections and improve visibility in bright light. There's also an anti-smudge finish that aims to reduce the impact of the newfound touch sensitivity.
