Canon T3i Design

Canon EOS Rebel T3i Design

(Illustration courtesy Canon USA, with modifications © Imaging Resource)

The Canon T3i's body design is quite similar to that of the preceding T2i, although a number of changes have been made to accomodate its new rear-panel articulate LCD. Size has increased by one or two tenths of an inch (a few millimeters) on each axis, and body-only weight has increased by around 1.4 ounces (40 grams).

Seen from the front, there's a slight reprofiling at the top of the handgrip, with a softer curve from the angled area around the shutter button, round to the camera's right-hand side. On the left-hand side, the small padded area at the base of the camera body is gone, replaced by a textured rubber panel that extends all the way up to the model number plate, and wraps around to the side of the camera. This new trim piece is textured similarly to the hand grip, where the T2i's smaller trim piece on this side was smooth.

On the top deck, the most obvious change is the Display button, relocated from the rear panel in the T2i. The Canon T3i's Display button now sits just in front of the Mode dial, and to the left of the ISO button. The only other changes are subtle: the Creative Auto mode has been moved between the Flash Off and Portrait positions on the Mode dial, and a new Scene Intelligent Auto mode added between the Program and Flash Off positions.

Changes are more significant on the left-hand side. As mentioned previously, the new textured rubber panel that wraps around from the front of the camera is a new addition, and this covers most of the left-hand side as well. There's a slight bulge at the rear of the left-hand panel, as well, made to accomodate the hinge mechanism for the articulated LCD. The single, vertical connector compartment cover from the T2i is gone, replaced by two separate compartment covers on the T3i, located one in front of the other. The selection of ports is unchanged, just their locations differing, likely as part of the repackaging to accomodate the LCD hinge. The remote control and microphone ports sit under the front cover, and the standard-def AV Out / USB and HDMI ports under the rear cover. Both covers are made of fairly soft rubber, and attached to the camera body by a short molded strap at the front edge, preventing loss but allowing them to be easily pushed out of the way of even bulky connector cables.

(Illustration courtesy Canon USA, with modifications © Imaging Resource)

Moving to the rear of the Canon T3i, the changes are at their most obvious. As mentioned earlier, the T3i now has an articulated LCD, specifically a side-mounted tilt/swivel type. Fitting in the mechanism while keeping the increase in size and weight to a minimum has necessitated some repositioning of the controls, although in general the layout is very similar to that used previously. There's a new Info button, taking up the location previously occupied by the Display button that's now located on the top panel. The shape of this and the Menu buttons have been changed, and they've moved a little higher up the camera's top left corner.

The cluster of controls to the right of the LCD is somewhat more densely packed in, and moves right a little, but the basic arrangement is unchanged. The shape of the Aperture / Exposure Compensation, Quick Control / Direct Print, and Delete buttons has changed, though, along with that of the small textured rubber trim piece that serves as a thumb grip. Finally, the infrared eye sensor beneath the viewfinder, which was used to automatically disable the LCD panel when the camera was brought to your eye, has been removed. In other respects, the T3i's rear panel is similar to that of its predecessor.

The Canon T3i's 3.0-inch LCD display, has the same size and high 346,000 pixel (1,040,000 dot) resolution as that of the T2i, but increases the viewing angles by another 10 degrees, to 170 degrees. The optical viewfinder has the same 95% coverage, 19mm eyepoint, and -3.0 to +1.0m^-1 diopter correction as found in the T2i, but the T3i has just ever so slightly lower 0.85x magnification.

The right-hand end of the Canon T3i body is almost unchanged from that in the T2i, being smooth except for the flash card door, and a small flap covering the cutout for the AC adapter kit's dummy battery. The T3i's base is also near-unchanged, with the only noticeable difference being the removal of the rubber trim piece that previously wrapped around from the front left corner of the camera body.