Canon SL2 (200D) in 2019 - Watch Before You Buy

what's up guys segi here and welcome to another tech gear talk the canon SL 2 was released in June of 2017 and was one of the most popular cameras of 2018 but the question is is it still worth getting in 2019 there are so many cameras coming out and there's always the latest and greatest thing on the market but sometimes it makes sense to take a step back and look at what would actually work for what you need rather than just getting the newest available toy there are a lot of things that I love about the SL 2 or 200 D depending on where you live and there are some things that I wish were a little bit different so let's take a closer look and see if it's still a great option in 2019 when I first heard that canon has a small and light full DSLR I just knew I had to pick it up I shoot all of my videos with Canon c100 mark twos but they aren't the best and easiest option to use for vlogging or content creation and the caymans shoot stills and I'll just use the term create content as shorthand for both photography and video okay enough about that let's get started one of the things that I love about the SL 2 is that it natively accept all of canons EF s and EF mount lenses no adapter no extra cost just take whatever lenses you want slap it on and start shooting Canon is known for having a phenomenal line of DSLR lenses and the SL 2 supports all of them that means that I can start with something like the 18 to 55 STM kit lens which by the way comes with image stabilization and then build my system from there and this is actually the lens that I recommend almost all beginners start with before they go spending money on lenses that they don't need it gives you a really nice focal range to work with and will help you realize whether you need or want a wider angle lens maybe a macro lens for those amazing close-up shots a longer focal length for more zoom or maybe a faster lens for shallow depth of field and better low-light performance one of the best things about buying a Canon DSLR is that there are so many options at different price points this of course includes all of the L Series USM glass from Canon which while some of them costs many times the price of this body the SL two can accommodate them with no problem and get fantastic results by the way I did a much more detailed review and I'll link to it in the corner and in the description so if you're interested in learning more about the specs and features of the SL 2 go ahead pause this video and come back when you're done or just watch it later [Music] moving on I've been using the SL 2 for quite a while now and one of the things that first attracted me to it was the size and weight look for me a lot of it is about removing friction like what's getting in the way of you creating content this camera was so light I mean so light it's less than a pound and even after adding the kit lens and the battery and the memory card it's still under two pounds which that's just absurd if you already own a camera then you know this and if you don't own one I'm gonna tell you but one of the main reasons that people don't end up taking their gear with them is because it's just too big and heavy if you're gonna go on a hike or trip every single thing that you take with you add size and weight and no camera is gonna work for you if you don't bring it with you so having a camera that's so small and light is a huge bonus and makes it much more likely that you'll have it with you and create more content I'm also going to mention that the SL 2 has a really deep grip for a camera of this side so it's not as challenging to handle as some small mirrorless cameras are this is always on a continuum and I think there's a really nice balance here for how I would use the SL - sticking with the idea of removing friction the SL 2 is also very easy to use the Canon user interface is pretty straight forward and that's something that I think people sometimes overlook when they choose a camera if you can't figure out how to use your gear or even if you have it figured out but the ergonomics just aren't there for you you're much more likely to get frustrated miss your shot and then you end up just not liking your gear while the SL 2 only has one dial on top they were pretty clever with the design of the controls on the back and you can very quickly change shutter speed aperture and ISO without having a monkey around too much if I'm comparing it to some higher-end models sure it's nice to have more controls but I don't evaluate products in a vacuum and my expectations are adjusted based on the price another thing that's easy to use is the menu system this includes both the live view overlay and the settings menu both are simple to navigate and clearly marked again leading to a better user experience one of the features that makes the SL 2 so user-friendly is the full touchscreen we're also used to interacting with our mobile phones and a touchscreen is such an intuitive user interface I've used so many cameras that cost a high multiple of what the SL 2 does that don't have a fully functioning touchscreen some don't have a touchscreen at all some have a touchscreen that only works for focus or focus and playback but not for changing settings and this amazes me that with all the incredible tech that goes into some of these higher end cameras they didn't take the time or put in the effort to implement a touchscreen that's that's just silly to me but back to the SL 2 killer touchscreen it works for everything focused live view options settings menu and play backs that's what I'm talking about and while we're on the subject of the screen the SL 2 has a fully articulating touchscreen again I've used cameras that cost thousands of dollars more than the SL 2 and they don't have a fully articulating screen this is such an important feature for me for so many reasons first when I'm in front of the camera I can just flip turn it around and then I can tell that I'm perfectly framed and that I'm in focus next if I'm using the camera on a tripod or on a slider on the ground I can always position this screen in a way that's super easy for me to see what's going on and these are the types of things that you may not think about until after you buy a camera but you should because they make a huge difference since I just mentioned focus let's talk about it and it shouldn't take very long because the SL 2 uses canons amazing dual picks a lot of focus the fact that you can get that for under 500 bucks is nuts I know for a fact that if I turn face detection and subject tracking the SL 2 will automatically detect my face and keep me focused regardless of where I move and when I say I know I mean it like I never think about it I know right now that I'm holding the camera if you can see the screen I know that it detected my face and I know that I'm in focus another cool thing is that you can select an object not just a face so I can point it at Macey for example and know that it will follow her wherever she goes like I said short section dual pixel autofocus is awesome end of story another thing I like about the SL 2 is the famous cannon color and a lot of people think that cannon has the best color science out there I'll admit that there may be an element of bias here some people prefer the Sony or Fuji look or maybe the way a Panasonic looks ultimately it's subjective but for me with this camera what I want is footage that I can take right off the SD card and use as far as image quality I think the SL 2 can produce some fantastic photos and video and here a couple of samples to give you an idea of what you can expect [Music] [Music] all right let's move on every day I get questions in the comment section where I'm asked to either recommend a camera or to help someone choose between cameras that they've narrowed down their search to and if the main use of the camera is gonna be video then I think an external mic input is critical unless you're only using the camera for b-roll no built-in microphone on any camera is gonna give you great audio especially in situations where you can't completely control the surrounding noise and you're not in a sound treated room so that means pretty much always with an external mic input like the SL 2 has you can attach any number of great microphones and significantly improve your overall sound quality so back to comparing cameras I think this is something that you should consider if you're planning on using the audio that the camera is recording of course you can use an external recorder and then sync the audio with the video in post but we already talked about removing friction and that's just more gear and more money moving on one of my favorite features of the SL 2 is the ability to shoot in body time-lapse there's a movie mode that will allow you to shoot full HD or 1080p time-lapse video right in the camera all you need to do is enable it in settings select an interval or how much time should pass between each shot the total number of shots that you want the SL to to take and whether you want the exposure to change with each shot or not and then just hit the shutter you can also decide whether you want the LCD to show you every exposure and if you want the camera to beep with each shot so this is a really nice feature to have and it allows you to get different types of shots for your videos and I think it's great that the SL 2 can do everything in body for you rather than you having to take individual pictures and then do a lot of post-production to turn them into a timelines [Music] another fantastic feature about the SL 2 is remote control for both photography and video using the canon camera connect app there are so many great uses for this feature but essentially what you can do is connect your camera to your phone and then you can use your phone as a remote monitor and control so for video you can change pretty much any setting that you need you can get your exposure just right you can make sure that you're framed correctly you're in focus and you can start and stop your video for photography again you can lock in your exposure and then trigger the camera remotely and this is a fantastic feature from macro photography where you don't even want to touch the shutter button so you don't create any camera movement once you have your images and videos on the SD card you can wirelessly move both to your phone make a quick edit or not and then share them this is an awesome workflow for quickly sharing images and video rather than having to take the SD card out and move everything to a computer then figure out how to get that on your phone so you can share so full remote control capabilities for both photography and video plus the ability to wirelessly share content on to my phone is definitely something that I look for ok now I'm going to get into a sticky subject I'm gonna talk about value and notice that I didn't say price I said value a lot of people say that camera is expensive and that camera is cheap and I look at value for the price of the camera am I getting a feature set and performance that I think is a good value and in this case the answer is a straight yes just think of everything that I set up to this point in this video ok and till this point in the video I only mentioned the things that I liked about the sl2 but you know that I'm always going to tell you exactly what I think about a product so let's look at the bad and for the price there isn't much what I like to see 4k of course what I like to see 120 frames per second even at 720p I guess would embody image stabilization be nice absolutely I would also like another dial on the back or maybe slightly reposition one of the buttons on the back but that's really not something that I'm gonna cry about for 500 bucks are there better cameras out there a hundred percent in fact there are a lot of better cameras out there but are there cameras that are a better value for a beginning photographer or for content creators that list is gonna be pretty short no 4k no in body image stabilization and no 120 frames per second but incredible autofocus an unbelievable lens selection great color and image quality a fully articulating touchscreen in body time-lapse and full remote control all in an inexpensive small and light DSLR yes please so the answer to the question I posed in the beginning I think the SL 2 is still a great option in 2019 but I would love to know what you think whether you agree or disagree with me I'm always happy to have a conversation in the comment section so let me know do you think the SL 2 is still a good option in 2019 I really hope this video was useful in helping you decide whether the SL 2 is a good camera to buy in 2019 if it was please let me know by leaving a comment giving this video a thumbs up and if you haven't yet join the community by hitting the subscribe and notification buttons you can always find me on Instagram Twitter and Facebook at tech gear talk and you know what I always say bye nice or by twice good luck and see you soon [Music]

Channel: Tech Gear Talk

Views: 255,133

Keywords: Canon SL2, Canon SL2 Review, Canon SL2 First Impressions, Canon SL2 footage, Canon SL2 Timelapse, Canon SL2 Autofocus, Canon 200d, Canon 200d Review, Canon 200d First Impressions, Canon 200d footage, Canon 200d Timelapse, Canon 200d Autofocus, Canon Review, Canon Camera Review, Best Canon Camera, Best Beginner Camera, Canon SL2 2019, Canon 200d 2019

Id: kmy4Oq3YbMU

Length: 13min 21sec (801 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 07 2019