Canon EOS Rebel T3i Digital Zoom Video Test #3: Sea-Monkeys

My son and I got close and personal with his new watery friends. A recent trip to the mall landed him another chapter in his quest for an ideal family pet. There were Clown Fish, then Gold Fish, recently Beta Fish and now Sea-Monkeys. Like packets of sugar poured into my much needed morning coffee, my son anxiously ripped the pouch of Instant Live Eggs into the supplied red aquarium. Then came the waiting and more waiting for the "Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys" to come alive.



Days passed and hope was slowly diminishing, the encapsulated Brine Shrimp Eggs hatched and the Sea-Monkeys came to life. With the eyes wide open stare of my son, the almost microscopic newborn animals circled with random beauty. I shared the same amazement and captured the moment on video with my Canon EOS Rebel T3i paired with the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro lens. Combined with the lens and the Full HD Digital Zoom feature of the T3i/600D, my son and I got close and personal with his new aquatic friends.



See more Canon Rebel T3i/600D photos, videos and related hyperlinks in my Canon EOS Rebel T3i/600D Video Test Gallery.

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Canon EOS Rebel T3i and Zacuto Z-Finder Pro Video Test

Spring has sprung with the 10th annual Spring Jubilee at my children's school over the past weekend. Food, fun and festivities became all the talk of my son and daughter preceding this kickoff to the spring season. My kids anticipated "free rides" day while I looked forward to another Canon EOS Rebel T3i video test with my newly acquired Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 2.5x optical viewfinder from my friends at North Tampa Photography.



I had my first brush with the Zacuto Z-Finder during last year's Philip Bloom Florida Meetup. Surrounded by aspiring filmmakers with the latest HD DSLR gadgets became a fruitful and egg timer raising experience for me as well as for my friend at Getawaymoments. I was immediately impressed by the outstanding quality and build of the viewfinder until I found out how much they cost. A little sticker shocked, I moved on to more pressing issues like the dinner menu at The Hurricane Restaurant.



Almost a year later since my last encounter with the Zacuto Z-Finder, I took the plunge and acquired the latest version of the Zacuto Z-Finder with 2.5x magnification which includes the Anti-fog eyepiece, Gorilla plate with metal mounting frame and those Extender frames for farsighted eyeballs. The whole kit was very complete and included everything to get shooting HD DSLR video right out of the box. Little extras like a viewfinder lanyard and even a hex wrench are included.



Now to the Zacuto nitty gritty. The Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 2.5x does the job of achieving critical focus with fast lenses in low light conditions. Another caveat is the ability to focus in bright sunlight and maintain exposure with a Fader ND Mark II filter by Fader. All these critical elements converged in my latest Canon EOS Rebel T3i Video Test of Spring Jubilee using the Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 2.5x optical viewfinder.



My skeptical bubble burst with ample use of this valuable cinematic tool. Speaking of tools, I paired the Canon Rebel T3i/600D with an EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens with a Fader ND Mark II filter by Fader to reduce the incoming light. For audio capture, I used a Sennheiser MKE400 shotgun microphone. This whole rig was mounted on a Manfrotto 701 HDV fluid head on Benro 3580 tripod legs. I edited this 1080p video test at 29.97fps with iMovie'11 and used Quicktime at best quality to compress a 800mb h264 video file.



To view more Canon EOS Rebel T3i videos like above and more ISO and quality comparisons, you can view my Canon EOS Rebel T3i/600d Gallery.



You can view more shattering images in my Spring Jubilee 2011 Gallery. Shot exclusively with a Canon EOS 1D Mark IV.



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Canon EOS Rebel T3i Digital Zoom Video Test #2: Supermoon

Consider it the Canon HD DSLR "Space Race" to the moon. Not your average full moon lunar cycle but the largest full moon in 18 years. Touted as the "Supermoon", I was determined to zoom in close to surface with my trusty Canon EOS Rebel T3i/600D.



The Lunar Deities would have been proud of my DSLR video accomplishment. I utilized the new 3x to 10x Digital Zoom feature of the Canon EOS Rebel T3i. Imagine a digital zoom of 1400mm to a whopping 4800mm focal length equivalent to get a real close look at the Apollo Landing sites. So if I pair a 1.6x crop factor Canon Rebel T3i/600D to a Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS lens and then multiply that focal length with the 3x to 10x digital zoom, you get an amazing Full HD 1080p video resolution of the Supermoon.



A more down to earth approach using the 3x to 10x digital zoom feature of the Rebel T3i/600D borders the surface of our own planet. This extra reach of the digital zoom provides a practical solution to the "out of this world" prices for premium Canon "L" glass super zooms. The Supermoon test above is a 1080p video shot at 29.97fps. Edited with the new iMovie'11 and used Quicktime at best quality to get a 250mb h264 video file.

You can view more features in my Canon EOS Rebel T3i/600D Verdict and Video Review.

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