Canon EOS Rebel SL1 review: A dSLR for dainty hands

About six-and-a-half years ago, Olympus announced the E-Volt E-410, which at that point became the smallest dSLR ever. In the years since, I don't remember anybody attempting to match it for size. But given that it used a Four Thirds-size sensor -- smaller than the traditional APS-C size sensor that's used by consumer dSLRs -- that was pretty unsurprising. Now Canon's EOS Rebel SL1 manages to outdo the E-410 for lightness and compactness, at least in two dimensions (the E-410 was thinner), becoming the smallest dSLR available.

7.6

Canon EOS Rebel SL1

$642 at Walmart

$200 at Amazon

The Good

Sized for small-to-medium hands, the <b>Canon EOS Rebel SL1</b> delivers the expected photo and video quality in a comfortable and well-executed design.

The Bad

It's pretty slim on features.

The Bottom Line

While the Canon EOS Rebel SL1 is a perfectly reasonable entry-level dSLR, you can get the same photo and video quality in a smaller body for the same money (or less) by opting for a mirrorless interchangeable-lens model.

The result is a nice, fast, though somewhat feature-light, dSLR that I find very comfortable to grip one-handed. Then again, I have relatively diminutive hands compared with the more masculinely proportioned Josh Goldman (CNET's other digital imaging editor), who finds the grip exceptionally cramped. However, it's still significantly bigger than competing interchangeable-lens compacts like the Sony Alpha NEX-6, which makes the more compact design dubiously advantageous.

Essentially a shrunken version of the T5i that's targeted at folks with smaller hands -- the SL stands for "super lightweight," though Canon might as well as have gone with WF for "womenfolk" -- there are a few notable differences between the SL1 and its big brother. For one, it incorporates an updated version of the company's hybrid CMOS, which Canon claims offers a larger area dedicated to the contrast AF system for better autofocus outside the center area during Live View shooting and movie capture. (And it makes me wonder why they didn't use this sensor in the T5i.) Other differences include a fixed, rather than articulated, version of the touch-screen LCD, a slightly slower continuous-shooting capability, and mono audio. The battery life is also weaker, as it uses the same battery pack as the EOS M.

Image quality
For the most part, the photo and video look about the same as those from the T5i. Still-photo colors aren't bad with the default Picture Style settings, though there are some hue shifts. JPEGs look clean up through ISO 800, which is typical for this class, and usable at full scale to about ISO 1600 and ISO 6400 at smaller magnifications. While a 13x19 print of an ISO 1600 photo wasn't quite as clean or sharp as I would have liked, it doesn't look that bad, but that's still not as good as the T5i.

Canon EOS Rebel SL1 photo samples

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There also seems to be a little more blooming and fringing on edges than I'm used to, as well as high-contrast edges that the in-camera image processing isn't dealing with.

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ISO 100

ISO 800

ISO 3200

Video looks good, but not significantly better than you get from similarly priced competitors. While I didn't see any rolling shutter, there's quite a bit of aliasing and moire. I do like the tonality of low-light video, despite the appearance of some color noise on blacks.

Performance
The SL1's performance is close enough to the T5i's to be identical with the exception of continuous shooting; that is, overall it's very good and certainly as good as you'd expect when stepping up to a dSLR. It takes about 0.6 second to power on, focus, and shoot -- the Canon tends to be a little slower than the Nikon D3200, but it's still faster in this aspect than the Sony NEX-6. Time to focus, expose, and shoot in bright light runs about 0.3 second and 0.8 second in dim light. The latter isn't spectacular but pretty average. It typically takes about 0.2 second (JPEG) to 0.3 second (raw) for two sequential shots; JPEG and raw times really differ because of rounding beyond the margin of error, so they're effectively the same. Flash increases shot-to-shot time to a respectable 0.7 second.

While testing using a 95MBps SD card, the JPEG burst buffer didn't slow at as high as 30 shots, sustaining a rate of 4.1 frames per second, while raw burst a little faster at 4.4fps, but slowed significantly (and erratically) after 10 shots.

Overall, the camera's performance is up to its intended tasks -- photographing kids, pets, and vacations -- albeit with some caveats. The autofocus works relatively quickly and accurately in both still and Live View/Video, as long as you don't rely on the camera to choose the AF points (no camera chooses the correct subject). Using the touch focus in Live View is a big help. Like the rest of the Rebels, though, the viewfinder has tiny little focus points that are almost impossible to center over your subject while shooting burst. You pretty much have to rely on happy accidents to get sharp, correctly framed action shots.

The only problem is the LCD. On one hand, it has the same great touch screen and interface as the T5i's, which is really nice for navigating the settings and shooting video. But it's nearly impossible to see in direct sunlight, and since it doesn't articulate like the T5i's, you're stuck. It's not much of a problem for shooting stills, since you can see most of the relevant settings you need to change in the viewfinder, but shooting video outdoors can get really frustrating.

Shooting speed (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Time to first shot

Raw shot-to-shot time

Typical shot-to-shot time

Shutter lag (dim light)

Shutter lag (typical)

Sony Alpha NEX-6

2

0.2

0.2

0.5

0.2

Canon EOS Rebel T5i

0.7

0.3

0.3

0.8

0.2

Canon EOS Rebel SL1

0.6

0.2

0.3

0.8

0.3

Nikon D3200

0.3

0.6

0.5

0.5

0.3

Nikon D5200

0.3

0.2

0.2

0.8

0.5

Design and features
Smaller and lighter than its dSLR competitors, SL1 in design sacrifices surprisingly little to shave some size off the T5i. Most of the difference is in the grip, which is shallower and lower than the bigger camera's, and the LCD, which is fixed rather than articulated.

On the right shoulder of the camera sits the mode dial, which has the usual manual, semimanual, and automatic modes, plus a three-way on/off/movie switch. In addition to the three multishot modes offered by the T5i -- HDR Backlight Control (which automatically combines four image exposures to retain detail in shadow and highlight areas for backlit subjects), a four-shot Handheld Night Scene mode, and Night Portrait -- the SL1 includes kids, food, and candlelight scene modes. The mode dial itself is smaller than on the T5i but still manageable.

The controls on the back are smaller and flatter than those on the T5i, though the layout is roughly the same. The big difference here is the lack of functions attached to the navigation buttons -- you've got to use the touch screen to choose autofocus mode, drive mode, white balance, and Picture Styles, though I didn't find it much of an inconvenience (except in direct sunlight, when I couldn't see the screen).

The touch screen is responsive and has an intelligent user interface, including the usual capabilities, like touch focus, that streamline Live View shooting. You don't have to use it if you don't want to, though operations like selecting ISO sensitivity go much faster when you can directly select rather than having to cycle through them. Overall, I find Canon's interface straightforward and easy to use.

But without even an articulated display, the camera disappoints even more than the T5i on its features. It's got the basics you'd expect from a $700 body, but lacks a lot of modern options, like GPS or wireless, as well as interesting traditional features, such as time-lapse, multiple exposure, and intervalometer. It's got the same handful of "meh" special effects as the T5i. I also miss peaking for manual focus in Live View; it would make focusing with every lens besides the STM model so much easier. It does include the Video Snapshot mode carried over from the camcorders and PowerShots for shooting quick clips.

Conclusion
The SL1 is a fine dSLR, and I enjoyed shooting with it. But from a buying-advice perspective, its only real advantage over dSLR alternatives is its size, and in that respect it's simply not small enough -- especially compared with a mirrorless interchangeable-lens model equipped with a power zoom lens. Its optical viewfinder isn't significantly superior to the electronic viewfinder, either, which would be one of the main reasons to opt for a dSLR. And there are much cheaper compact ILCs that deliver similar performance and photo quality, with better feature sets, especially if you're willing to forgo the viewfinder. If you already have a selection of Canon EF or EF-S lenses, or want to be able to share lenses with bigger Canon bodies, it's a reasonable purchase, but otherwise you might want to check out the competition.