Canon T2i Performance

Good to average speed for a consumer digital SLR.

The Canon T2i turned in a fast startup time, fast enough that it's difficult to measure. Sensor cleaning was enabled on start-up and shut-down. At start-up pressing the shutter button aborts sensor cleaning, as it should. The Canon T2i's buffer clearing times are good, but of course depend on the image quality and size, as well as the speed of the memory card.

The Canon T2i's mode switching times are good, a little faster than average.

The Canon T2i's full autofocus shutter response is about average for a consumer SLR, at 0.252 second using our standard single-point AF test. Switching to auto selection AF and allowing the camera to choose the focus point reduced shutter lag to 0.210 second. Interestingly, enabling the built-in flash decreased full AF lag just slightly to 0.208 second. "Prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure results in a lag time of only 0.096 second. Shutter lag in Manual focus was slower, at 0.162 second, and in Continuous focus mode it was 0.149 second.

The Canon T2i's AF lag time in Live View mode was longer (as expected), but not as slow as some. We measured 0.991 second using "Quick Mode" (phase-detect AF), and 1.720 seconds using Live Mode (contrast-detect). We used the kit lens for the Live View tests, as the T2i always confirmed focus with the Sigma 70mm even though the resulting image was not in focus. Prefocused, the Canon T2i's shutter lag was pretty fast in Live View mode, at only 0.122 second.

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. We also use the same Sigma 70mm f/2.8 macro with every camera (on all platforms except Four Thirds/Micro Four Thirds and Nikon consumer models lacking an in-body focus motor), to further reduce variation, and because our tests showed that focus-determination time with this lens was close to the fastest, across multiple camera bodies from different manufacturers. Being an older design with a non-ultrasonic motor, it wouldn't be the fastest at slewing from one focus setting to another, but that's exactly the reason we measure focus determination speed, which is primarily a function of the camera body, vs focus adjustment speed, which is primarily a function of the lens.

Shot-to-shot cycle times in the Canon T2i's single-shot mode were average for an SLR, at about 0.45 second for any quality. Buffer length was 13 shots for JPEGs, but dropped to 7 for RAW and 5 for RAW+JPEG.

Continuous mode speeds were on the slower side of average for an enthusiast model, though perhaps understandable given the large files, at about 3.65 frames/second in any mode. Measured buffer depths were only 10 frames for large/fine JPEGs, 6 frames for RAW mode and 3 frames for RAW+JPEG. (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: You're likely to see greater buffer capacity when shooting more normal subjects.)

The Canon T2i's flash took 3.2 seconds to recharge after a full-power pulse, which is good.

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, the Canon T2i's download speeds are fast.

Bottom line, the Canon T2i is average to slightly faster than average in most aspects of its operation. While continuous mode speeds aren't state-of-the-art, they are fast enough for most moving subjects, and shutter lag and cycle times are quite good. Buffer sizes are below average, but that's no surprise with 18-megapixel files. Good performance overall for a consumer model.

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

The Canon T2i uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Battery life is below average, even when using the optical viewfinder, so we recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the Canon T2i 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))

Storage
The Canon T2i accepts SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards, and does not ship with a card. Canon recommends a Class 6 card or faster for recording HD movies.

We strongly recommend buying a fast, large capacity SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card for the Canon T2i: at least a 2GB card, preferably a 4 or 8GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings, or when shooting RAW files or video. (Check the shopping link above, cards are really cheap these days, so no reason to skimp.)