Canon SL1 Performance

Generally good performance for an entry-level DSLR these days.

The Canon Rebel SL1 turned in a reasonably fast startup time of well under a second. The Canon Rebel SL1's buffer clearing times were quick with a fast UHS-I card.

The Canon SL1's mode switching times were quite fast; no complaints here.

The Canon Rebel SL1's full autofocus shutter response was a touch slower than average these days when using our standard single-point AF test, at 0.264 second. Interestingly, switching to Auto Selection AF and allowing the camera to choose the focus point reduced shutter lag to 0.102 second, which is very fast for a consumer SLR. Enabling the built-in flash resulted in full AF lag of 0.219 second which is pretty fast. In Continuous AF mode, shutter lag was a fast 0.122 second, though the subject may be out of focus in this mode. Shutter lag with Manual focus was very good, at 0.094 second. "Prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure resulted in a lag time of only 0.076 second, which is very good for a consumer SLR.

As expected, the Canon Rebel SL1's AF lag time in Live View mode was quite a bit longer than using the optical viewfinder, however it was faster than average for Live View. We measured 0.597 seconds using "Quick Mode" (phase-detect AF). The SL1's new FlexiZone AF mode was noticeably slower than "Quick Mode" at 0.768 second, but that's still pretty good. Prefocused shutter lag in Live View mode was surprisingly fast at only 0.082 second, not much slower than with the optical viewfinder.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Shot-to-shot cycle times in the Canon SL1's single-shot mode were quite good for a consumer SLR, at 0.33 second for large/fine JPEGs, 0.32 second for RAW mode and 0.34 second for RAW + large/fine JPEGs.

Continuous mode speeds were fair for an entry-level model, at about 4 frames-per-second no matter the file type.

Measured buffer depths in continuous mode were good for large/fine JPEGs frames at well over 20 frames (Canon claims 1140 shots with a UHS-I card), but quite shallow when RAW files were included. We were only able to capture 8 RAW frames or 4 RAW + large/fine JPEGs before the frame rate slowed. (Note that in our cycle time testing we shoot a target consisting of a fine-grained digital noise pattern, designed to be very hard to compress. This gives us worst-case buffer capacity numbers for compressed files: You're likely to see greater buffer capacity when shooting more normal subjects.) Buffer clearing was fast, though, ranging between 3 and 5 seconds.

The Canon Rebel SL1's flash took an average of 2.6 seconds to recharge after a full-power discharge, which is very good.

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, the Canon Rebel SL1's download speeds were very fast.

Bottom line, the Canon Rebel SL1 offers generally good performance for an entry-level model, but buffer depth are a little shallow when shooting with RAW files. The new Hybrid CMOS AF II system in Live View mode is an improvement over the T4i, however it's still slower than most CSC or SLT cameras.

Battery Life
Below average battery life for a lithium-ion SLR design.

The Canon SL1 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Battery life is below average when using the optical viewfinder even for a consumer SLR (a price paid for the SL1's below average size), and of course Live View mode draws more power reducing battery life. We recommend you pick up a spare battery (or two) and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the Canon Rebel SL1 is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))