As far as the 12 min recording limit, does that mean no continuous shot can be longer than 12 min or the card can't hold more than 12 min of video?

So as far as video performance, it is on par with the 7D? Does it still have the slight aliasing issues the 7D has or have those been improved in the video?

There will be a specific section for it once it starts shipping. Meanwhile, I have merged the thread you started in our 7D forum into our existing T2i discussion topic, here under the Industry News forum.

Please refer to the press release (the first post in this thread), the part near the bottom about availability which states that U.S. dealers will receive this camera in March. Since it isn't shipping yet, nobody has shot anything with it (outside of a few lucky pre-release sample testers).

Please review this discussion thread in its entirety as it answers most of your questions and provides links to a few samples.

It has not started shipping yet. It was just announced yesterday. We need to get you into the habit of regularly reading the DV Info Net news forum!

It is the same size sensor (APS-C) as the 7D, so yes, the Depth of Field results will be exactly the same.

It means that no continuous shot can be longer than 12 minutes. If a card is large enough, it can hold several 12-minute clips. For example, a 16GB card could contain four 12-minutes clips (at 4GB per clip).

It should be the same as the 7D. We'll know more once the camera actually starts shipping, as people will report their experiences with it once these cameras become available. Hope this helps,

It is an import taxation limit for normal Stills DSLR cameras which states that it will be raised to a higher taxation band if it is able to record more than 30-minutes at a time (which equates to all DSLRs providing maximum 30-mins of SD recording, or only around 12-mins max in higher HD mode).
Cards already allow longer sequences than 12-mins of HD video and most modern hybrid DSLR cameras are able to if not 'cobbled' during production.

Why do you think so? As a longtime stills photographer, since when has the Rebel series ever approached the xxD series in quality, let alone the 7D or 5D?

At a minimum I would expect more noise at equivalent ISOs, but I guess we'll find out soon enough...

Video quality is far lower than full resolution of a single stills image; plus that fact that many DSLR cameras with approximately equal image quality vary wildly in price mainly due to build quality and extra weather sealing (which means higher production costs).

I've had several photographs published in two books (both available nationwide at any of the large bookstore chains) taken with a lowly Rebel XT. There's nothing about a Rebel that inhibits the native image quality relative to the 7D or xxD series EOS bodies; the differences are first and foremost in the body construction -- polycarbonate on the Rebel, alloy on the EOS -- and frame rate, ISO sensitivity, AF speed and so on. In fact, the APS-C sensor in the T2i is newer than the one on the 7D!

Take any Rebel and any of its EOS contemporaries that are also APS-C, put them in broad daylight with ISO locked at 100, same settings and most importantly the same lenses, and I challenge you to discern which image came from which. Video would be an even more difficult identification test.

The Rebel is cheap because it's plastic, that's all. There's nothing wrong with the images it can make.

It's already been pointed out here that the differences in feature sets between the Rebel and other EOS models lie primarily in their photographic capabilities (burst rate, AF speed, sensitivity, etc.), but the video capability is pretty much equal across the line-up (or at least, it will be when the 5D Mk. II gets its firmware update).

Chris how would you rate the kit lens ( EF S 18-55)?

Hmm. Well, that kit lens is better than nothing I suppose, and it's much
better than its old non-IS predecessor . But in my opinion you really should
save the $100, buy the body only, and then get the lens you want.

From what i understand this is an EU only regulation. Im pretty sure the 4GB limit (being normally around 12 mins) is purely due to FAT32 limitations so am very interested to see if this will mean an end of the limit with these new cards.

SDXC cards don't have the 4GB FAT32 file limit
 

"The EOS 500D sports an SD memory card slot and in addition to the now ubiquitous SD and SDHC cards, it's one of a new generation of cameras to support the new SDXC standard that promises increased speed and capacities up to 2TB. "
Canon EOS 550D / Digital Rebel T2i Hands-on Preview: 5. Body & Design: Digital Photography Review

"Movie mode

Movies are recorded in .mov (Quicktime) format using H.264 codec for video and PCM for audio. The maximum duration is 29m 59sec, maximum file size is 4GB."
Canon EOS 550D / Digital Rebel T2i Hands-on Preview: 7. Operation & Controls: Digital Photography Review

"Microsoft has announced a new licensing program for its Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) technology. For certain device categories, such as cameras, camcorders, and digital photo frames, the software giant is charging a flat $300,000 license fee, while companies that want to use the format in devices such as phones, PCs, and networks will have to pay a volume-based license fee.

The company notes that the exFAT technology is already being adopted by partners in the industry; Redmond has entered into exFAT licensing agreements with several leading companies including Sony, Canon, and Sanyo. Furthermore, SanDisk, as a member of the SD Association and the Memory Stick standard, has endorsed the adoption of the exFAT file system for use in the new extra capacity storage media. The SD Association says it chose the exFAT file system for the SDXC memory card specification because it supports large volumes, large files, and better contiguous on-disk layout. File saving on SDXC cards can reach the full 300MBps speed thanks to exFAT's modern storage allocation techniques.

Microsoft markets exFAT as the modern version of its predecessor, the FAT system, as it can handle larger files on flash memory devices for use of audiovisual media (Microsoft plans to continue to license the older FAT format alongside exFAT). The latest generation of the exFAT file system allows significantly larger files to be stored on a broad range of consumer electronic devices (support for 256TB compared to FAT's 32GB), and improves the speed at which they can be accessed. Microsoft says the file system can handle more than 4,000 RAW images, 100 HD movies, or 60 hours of HD recording in a single directory, and thus calls exFAT an "ideal file system for delivering fast and reliable use of audio and video files." The technology has already been available for some time in Vista SP1 and later, as well as Windows 7, but now the software giant is licensing it broadly to the industry. "

http://arstechnica.com/...009/12/mic...ile-system.ars

"Because Windows Vista and 7 both support exFAT, the SDXC file system, the SD Association claims users should soon receive the SDXC device driver from Microsoft. The SD Association has not said when other operating systems, including any version of Mac OS X, will receive SDXC drivers."

SDXC Will Replace SDHC, Offer Up to 2 Terabytes of Data Storage

The Rebel Ti/500D had cleaner high ISO's than the 50D. That was well known.

No, it's not a fat32 limitation, it's a choice by Canon, Nikon, Pentax etc, and yes, it _is_ due to the EU regulation. Canon/Nikon/Pentax is not releasing a EU only camera, so we're all stuck with the same limitation.

This has been discussed _many_ times.

I'll be watching this, my GL2 and a few dollars could go a long way.

If only it weren't for the time limit on it.

Is this codec similar to the new one Canon just announced? I'm wondering about what sort of computer horsepower would be needed to edit 720p. I've got a machine capable of HDV, but wouldn't go anywhere near AVCHD.

Greg

No. This is the same codec used in all HD-capable Canon D-SLRs since the EOS 5D Mk. II first came out.

The one that was announced is intended for a pro video camcorder, a tapeless replacement of the Canon XH series.

That's what I had guessed. I have some research ahead of me as to what editing that entails.

I'll see if I can get a hold of a little 7D footage from a buddy of mine and how my machine handles it.

Greg