Canon have finally made the EOS 650D official, along with a couple of new lenses. The 650D does not replace the 600D, instead sitting just above it as a new model and just below the 60D. On offer is the same 18 megapixel stills, but on a new sensor that has phase detect added to it.
This is very exciting as phase detect allows for continuous autofocus during video capture. The sensor uses phase detect for the initial focus acquisition, then switches to the standard contrast detection to pull everything into pin sharp focus. All sounds very exciting.
This coupled with the news lenses, a 40mm and an 18-135mm, sounds very appealing. These two new lenses are stamped with an STM monicker, which means that have a stepping motor. In laymans terms this allows the lens to smoothly transition between focus points, rather than jump to focus. This should eliminate that awful hunting that we see on the current lineup of Nikon DSLR cameras and other brand compacts. Only time will tell if and how well it works, but it certainly sounds like Canon have done their homework.
On top of all this the 650D gets a new capactivie touch screen, a dedicated video switch and some nice auto-secene modes and filter effects thrown in for good measure.
Check out this first look from What Digital Camera.
And an overview from TechCentury.
