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Canon is the world's most successful camera brand. They have the biggest share of the DSLR camera market (almost 33% in Japan) and there are obviously many people around the world who are faithful Canon fans. Canon's T2i camera has been fabulously successful for them. It has been a top-selling camera in Japan, the USA and elsewhere. In the camera market, Sony is a solid performer but it is still far behind Canon and Nikon in sales with just under 10% of the DSLR market. That doesn't mean that its cameras are inferior to the Canon and Nikon competition. In fact, the "other" brands all need to try a little harder and be creative in order to compete with the two dominant brands. That makes the cameras from companies like Canon and Pentax interesting and worth a look. Canon's cameras generally have a strong package of features and the T2i is a good example. This is an 18 megapixel camera that also provides full HD video at 30 fps. It includes the ability to refocus while shooting video but this isn't continuous and operates quite slowly so it is a minor improvement over pure manual. Canon also included a video crop mode that provides a 7.2 magnification factor by only using the center part of what it captures on the sensor (a digital zoom). Despite the fact that it results in increased noise and that it is limited to 640x480 resolution, this provides a zoom capability that wouldn't be possible otherwise. The T2i video is limited to 4 GB videos or 30 minutes, whichever comes first. The camera has a shutter speed of 1/4000 of a second and a maximum ISO of 12,800 (with boost). Nice features include the best-in-class 1.04 million-dot LCD display and the option to use an external microphone when recording video. What isn't quite as good with the T2i is that the picture quality specs lag somewhat behind the best in this class. The T2i's APS-C sensor is actually smaller than the sensor used by a number of its competitors despite having the highest megapixel count in this class. This has a direct bearing on picture quality. This is a trade-off the Canon engineers were obviously prepared to make in order to get the big mega-pixel number. The T2i's burst mode of 3.7 frames per second is ok but it is far behind the best in this category. The Sony a560 is newer than the T2i with overall specs that are just a little bit better in quite a few cases. This is a 14.2 megapixel camera with a sensor that is about 10% larger than the one used on the T2i. It has the full HD video at 30 fps and a shutter speed of 1/4000 of a second, just like the T2i. Its maximum ISO is one notch better at 25,600 with boost. It also has a high-resolution LCD (922K dots - a little bit less than the T2i) but this one flips up allowing it to be used from different viewing positions (unlike the T2i which has a fixed LCD screen). Like the T2i, the a560 also provides the ability to use an external mic when recording video. It has a best-in-class burst mode at 7 frames per second, close to double the rate on the T2i. For any sort of action photography, this is a big benefit. A comparison of the picture quality specs
shows that the a560 has consistently better numbers than the T2i. In low light, the a560 provides very good results, somewhat better than the T2i. Nice features on the a560 are the built-in panorama (2D and 3D) and HDR modes and multi-frame noise reduction. It also has very good battery life, especially when using the optical viewfinder. Not quite so good with the a560: no auto focus when capturing video; no program shift function; and, the grip is a bit small. It is also limited to 10 minute video clips when the image stabilization SteadyShot is turned on (which you will want). Another difference between these cameras is the stabilization approach. Canon stabilizes the lens while Sony's SteadyShot is in the camera. This makes the Sony camera body a little bit bulkier but it makes the Sony lenses a bit simpler and potentially less expensive than Canon Lenses. While on the topic of the lens, it is worth noting that there are a large number of lenses available for each of these cameras but; Canon, with 149 available lenses has about 50% more than Sony. One other difference is the option to use AVCHD recording format for video in the Sony a560 (it can also use MPEG). It is a high-compression format that can store more video in less space than other formats. This is the only mode that can record full HD format in the a560. The downside with AVCHD is that there isn't much software available that can read / display video in this format. You will probably need to convert to another format before you can do any editing. So, in summary, both of these cameras have leading-edge features within the entry-level DSLR category and they can both provide very satisfactory results for beginners and for photographers looking for something that is more than basic. The Sony a560 edges out the Canon T2i in the picture quality measures. It is the better choice for still pictures, action shots and low-light situations. The T2i has better video capabilities than the a560 with the longer recording time, the video crop feature and some limited refocus capability. With respect to the recording time, the benefit of a longer recording time may be more theoretical than real. These cameras are quite heavy to hold in a fixed position for any length of time. With only a manual focus capability, it isn't that likely that you would want to be taking long videos. For more than casual short video clips, it would make more sense to get a camcorder that is lighter, can shoot much longer videos, has fast and continuous auto-focus and huge optical and digital zoom factors. The Canon's 18 mega-pixel capability is obviously appealing to some buyers, as is the Canon name so, in many cases, the buying decision isn't totally scientific. Based on an objective review of the specs, given the better action shot capability on the a560 and the limitations on using either camera for serious video, our recommendation is the Sony a560.
Chris Shea operates Core4 Digital Labs, an online resource with comparisons and recommendations for digital cameras from the major camera manufacturers. See the site for the detailed comparison information for the Canon T2i vs the Sony a560.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_J_Shea
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