วันอังคารที่ 5 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2556


Canon EOS 650D/Rebel T4i Samples Gallery

There are 44 images in the review samples gallery, and 27 images in the preview samples gallery including some in-camera JPEG and Raw conversion comparisons via ACR 7.1. Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter / magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing (in conjunction with this review), we do so in good faith, please don't abuse it.

Unless otherwise noted images taken with no particular settings at full resolution. Because our review images are now hosted on the 'galleries' section of dpreview.com, you can enjoy all of the new galleries functionality when browsing these samples.

Review samples gallery

Canon EOS 650D (Rebel T4i) Review Samples - published August 19th 2012

Preview samples gallery

Canon EOS 650D (Rebel T4i) Preview Samples - published July 3rd 2012

Video

Canon has of course, been providing video capability in its DSLRs since the ground-breaking EOS 5D Mark II. And the EOS 650D inherits many of the same specs as its predecessor, the EOS 600D, including Full HD 1920 x 1080 output at 30 fps, manual exposure control and basic in-camera editing capability for trimming the beginning and end of clips. There are some notable differences though.
The 650D adds built-in stereo microphones that sits just forward of the flash hotshoe. The manual audio controls also now include an attenuator for use in situations where sudden loud noises may cause clipping. You can also enable 'Movie Servo' continuous AF in video mode. Gone, however, is the digital zoom option found in the EOS 600D.

Video specification

The 650D offers progressive HD video capture at 1080p resolution and 30 or 25 frames per second, or 720p resolution and 60 or 50 frames per second, with the available frame rate dictated by whether you have switched the camera to NTSC or PAL video mode. There's also a 24fps option for 1080p irrespective of the video system you've selected.
The camera's built-in internal microphones provide stereo audio, and there is also a 3.5mm socket for using an external microphone. You can manually adjust the sound recording levels, with both wind filter and attenuator options available via the menu system.
Sizes• 1920x1080p: 30/24 fps (NTSC), 25/24 fps (PAL)
• 1280x720p (HD): 60 fps (NTSC), 50 fps (PAL)
• 640x480 (SD): 30 fps (NTSC), 25 fps (PAL)
Audio44.1kHz Mono (Internal Mic), Linear PCM
Format.MOV MPEG-4 AVC, H.264
File size330 MB/min (1080P), 330 MB/min (720P), 82.5 MB/min (VGA)
Running time22 min for 1080P, 22 min for 720p, 1h, 32min for VGA

Using movie mode

With the EOS 650D, accessing movie mode has become simpler. Movie mode now sits as a third position on the power switch (as opposed to occupying a mode dial position as on the EOS 600D). This means that from any shooting mode it is always just one click away. Engaging full manual exposure control has also been made easier. While in movie mode just set the shooting mode dial to M and you can adjust shutter speed, aperture and ISO.
You might reasonably expect that setting the mode dial to A or S would allow for changing just the aperture or shutter speed respectively, but it does not. Those values can only be changed with the mode dial set to M, meaning you must adjust both while watching the exposure indicator until you get a 'normal' metering reading.
Exposure compensation is available in P, A, and S modes. And with any of the camera's scene modes active you can select the AF mode and video quality setting. Video capture is initiated by pressing the Record / Live View button just to the right of the viewfinder.
You have a choice of three autofocus modes you can select before recording - Face Detection (with subject tracking), FlexiZone-Single (user defined AF point) or FlexiZone-Multi (automated AF point selection). Regardless of which AF setting you've chosen, when 'AF w/shutter button during filming' is set to 'On' you can force the camera to reacquire focus with a half-press of the shutter button. Of course you can also choose to focus manually.
All of the touchscreen benefits we enjoyed in shooting stills carry over in video mode as well. The Quick Control menu offers a fast way to adjust settings and you can set the AF point simply by tapping the screen. The camera's articulated LCD screen aids greatly in shooting video from very low or high angles, or simply manoeuvering the screen in a more shaded position for glare-free viewing.
Even the movie edit screen gains touch controls; here you can trim the start and end points.


In our EOS 600D review, we noted that focusing in video mode was that camera's Achilles heel. Canon has sought to address that with its introduction of a completely new 'hybrid AF' system in the EOS 650D that makes use of phase detection in combination with contrast detection AF methods. One of the more obvious benefits of this hybrid approach is that phase detection AF will ensure (for objects in the central area of the frame) that the lens begins its initial focus search in the correct direction, rather than racking all the way through its focus range before 'locating' the subject. This obviously makes for more pleasant-looking video footage. The 650D also breaks ground by offering continuous AF in video mode - dubbed 'Movie Servo'.
While the results of these changes show noticeable improvement over the EOS 600D, AF in video mode is, unfortunately, still slow. In our time spent using the camera, we've not been able to reliably maintain focus on objects moving to or away from the camera at even a moderate walking pace. As it stands it's hard to envision situations in which continuous AF that is this slow has any practical benefits for tracking moving subjects. As with the EOS 600D, we still recommend shooting video in manual focus, or at the very least pre-focusing the lens with a half-shutter button press before you start recording.
Video snapshot mode has gotten a minor, but useful update as well. As with the EOS 600D, video snapshot mode allows you to record very short clips (of either 2, 4 or 8 seconds) and combine them into an album for sequential playback. You can even add background music. The EOS 650D adds the welcome ability to change the playback order of the album's clips, giving you an option other than the default chronological sequence. You can now also delete clips from albums. is still obviously a mode geared to the point-and-shoot crowd, but we're glad that the seemingly arbitrary inability to change clip order has been changed.
You can also capture still images while recording video by pressing the shutter button. This leaves an obvious gap in the recorded video, however, as well as adding a very audible mirror flip to the clip.

Movie mode displays

When set to movie mode, the camera's shooting menus display two additional tabs with movie-specific control options.
The first movie menu allows you to configure how the camera handles focus and button operation during movie recording as well as enable a grid display.The second screen allows choice over options including frame rate and sound recording options. You can enable video snapshot mode here as well.
You can manually set the recording volume to ensure adequate audio levels without clipping and distortion.In movie mode you can cycle through four information screens displaying shooting information, camera settings and a histogram.

Video quality

As with previous entry and mid-range Canon DSLRs before it, the 650D's video image quality is quite good with pleasing colors and contrast. It does impressively well at high ISOs, as you can see in our video samples below. Exposure is generally spot on, and for more challenging situations like strongly backlit subjects, you have easy access to exposure compensation to give the footage a bit of a 'lift'. You can shoot video in any of the camera's Picture Styles.
When its APS-C sensor is combined with a reasonably fast lens, the EOS 650D offers the opportunity for creative use of shallow depth of field, something that will be a revelation to anyone used to shooting video with their smartphone or compact camera.

The 650D gets a pair of stereo microphones - a first for a Canon DSLR. Sound recording is pleasant enough, aided by the manual control over audio levels and a visual sound meter. Budding filmmakers have the option of connecting an external mic via the camera's 3.5mm socket. But for the vast majority of users the built-in mics will more than suffice.
While we're on the subject of sound, however, its worth noting that you can hear the focusing mechanism in quiet shooting scenarios on each of the kit lens options other than the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens. Focusing with the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake lens is significantly quieter than theEF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II zoom, but audible nonetheless.

Sample video 1

This video highlights the EOS 650D's auto exposure as well as the audio capabilities of its built-in stereo microphones. The camera was set to Flex-Single AF using the default 'Movie Servo' continuous autofocus mode. The wind filter is disabled for maximum sound quality. With the mic levels set to 'Auto', the vocals have good presence and are well balanced between the lead and background voices. There is, however, audible wind noise in the clip.
You will also notice that when a passerby walks briskly through the frame, this causes the camera's metering system to set a temporary (and much delayed) lowering of the exposure level.
1920 x 1080 30 fps, H.264 .MOV file, 29 sec, 172.7 MB Click here to download original .MOV file

Sample video 2

This video clip highlights the directional capabilities of the built-in microphones at their default 'Auto' sound levels. With the mics to the side of, rather than directly in front of the sound source, the vocals and banjo playing are perhaps slightly muffled. Yet the audio still maintains a fairly impressive presence. Crowd noise emanating from behind the camera is rather prominent, however.
The AF point was set in the center of the frame on the musician's face. With Movie Servo (continuous autofocus) enabled, you can see a bit of focus hunting as the musician moves his head within the central area of the frame.
1920 x 1080 30 fps, H.264 .MOV file, 29 sec, 173.4 MB Click here to download original .MOV file

Sample videos 3 and 4

You can shoot video on the 650D with a great deal of manual control over both exposure and image settings, which gives you plenty of creative options. In this first clip, the camera is set to auto exposure. Here this has resulted in a shutter speed of 1/250 sec. which 'freezes' the falling water, giving it an unnatural look. The camera was also set to the Monochrome color mode with a sepia tint.

1920 x 1080 30 fps, H.264 .MOV file, 5 sec, 34.1 MB Click here to download original .MOV file
By manually setting the camera to its minimum (for video) shutter speed of 1/30 sec. you can achieve a much more pleasing and natural-looking result.
1920 x 1080 30 fps, H.264 .MOV file, 11 sec, 66 MB Click here to download original .MOV file

Sample video 5

This video was shot in lowlight at ISO 6400 using the EF 40mm f/2.8 at its widest aperture. The camera was set to manual focus and panned while mounted on a tripod. While noise and some color artifacts are visible, the output here is nonetheless quite impressive. At this ISO I was able to use a shutter speed of 1/100 sec., which means you have the ability to shoot eminently usable nighttime handheld video with only available light; a huge benefit for those doing documentary or reportage.

1920 x 1080 30 fps, H.264 .MOV file, 31 sec, 185.8 MB Click here to download original .MOV file

Sample video 6

This video was shot using the EF-S 18-55 IS kit zoom. Image stabilization was enabled and you can see how well it does in steadying this handheld pan. It also highlights, however, the very audible sounds of this lens' focus mechanism.

1920 x 1080 30 fps, H.264 .MOV file, 18 sec, 108.8 MB Click here to download original .MOV file

Image Quality Tests

Flash

The built-in flash of the 650D has a guide no. of 13m at ISO 100, typical for its class. Flash exposure compensation of +/-2 stops EV can be set.

The flash can be used to wirelessly trigger off-camera Canon Speedlite flash units in either a single or multiple groups. And of course you can use an external flash via the camera's hotshoe.
Curiously, when using flash with Auto ISO enabled, Canon has deliberately chosen to bias the sensitivity setting to ISO 400. Shooting in P mode the camera simply refuses to use a sensitivity below ISO 400, meaning that in bright conditions where you may want to use fill flash for a portrait, you can easily end up with a camera selected aperture of f/16 or f/22. In Av mode, the camera will drop down to lower ISO values in bright light. But there is still a clear preference for setting ISO 400. In every flash-enabled shooting mode we regularly encountered the bizarre situation in which the camera chooses a higher ISO with the flash enabled than it does when pointed at the same scene with the flash turned off.

Shadow noise

The ability to successfully manage shadow noise on a per pixel level can be of interest, particularly when comparing cameras that use the same sensor size - in this case APS-C - but offer different resolutions. In the example below we're comparing the EOS 650D against the higher resolution 24MP Nikon D3200.
We've taken base ISO Raw shots of our studio test scene and processed them in Adobe Camera Raw with a +3.0EV exposure adjustment. We've then taken crops in the darkest areas of our scene to compare the amount of shadow noise between the two cameras.
Canon 650D ISO 100: ACR +3EV, NR off100% crop
Nikon D3200 ISO 100: ACR +3EV, NR off100% crop
Looking at the 100% crops above, it is clear that the 650D displays noticeably more chroma noise than the Nikon D3200, which manages very clean output despite having a pixel count that is 33% greater than that of the Canon.

Real world sample

While the results of our studio scene reveal interesting information about the sensor's maximum capabilities, it's important to place those results in the context of real-world photography. Below is an image shot outdoors under typical daylight conditions at ISO 100. We've taken the same raw file and converted it twice in ACR 7.1 - once at default exposure settings and again with three Basic Panel adjustments, detailed below.
ACR 7.1: Default settings with NR offACR 7.1: Exposure +30, Shadows +30, Blacks +40 with NR off
100% crop100% crop
As you can see it is certainly possible to gain significant detail - while maintaining a reasonable overall exposure - by opening up the shadows in ACR. Yet this comes at the price of much more prominent chroma noise. It's important though to keep in mind that we're looking at 100% crops and that these noise levels will be far less objectionable at all but the largest print sizes.

Multi Shot NR

The EOS 650D offers - as an additional option in the NR menu - the ability to capture four successive shots (presumably at 5fps) in a single burst and combine them into a single image. Because noise is a random event, the advantage of capturing multiple images and then merging them together is that you can average out the noise in the final processed image.
Multi Shot NR is a JPEG-only feature. You cannot select it in either of the 650D's raw-enabled modes. And once it is activated, switching the mode dial to any of the basic shooting modes, recording a movie, using the bulb setting, or powering off the camera will revert the NR setting back to its default, Standard setting.
The process of combining the separate images and averaging out the noise takes a bit of time. A 'busy' status is displayed for about 10 seconds after the final exposure. While you cannot take another image during this time you can access the camera's menu system.
Using the same lowlight scene in which we compared the EOS 650D against two of its peers on the high ISO comparison page of this review, we compare the 650D's new Multi Shot NR setting against both the default and 'high' NR settings.
ISO 6400, 1/100 sec. @ f/7.1Multi Shot NR 100% crop
NR Standard (default) 100% cropNR High 100% crop
Multi Shot NR mode does an extremely impressive job of minimizing noise and image artifacts while simultaneously offering greater fine-edged detail than either of the single shot NR modes. As you'd expect with any multi-shot mode, Canon cautions against excessive camera shake or shooting moving subjects, stating that the NR results will be 'less effective' in such situations.
To examine this we photographed the scene you see below. In the first image all of the objects are static. In the following shot we turned on the Elmo doll which vibrates and spins in a circle during the four exposures. As you can see, when the camera determines a subject has moved between exposures, noise is much more prominent. In fact this result below is nearly identical to what you'd get using 'NR Standard', suggesting that where the camera abandons its noise-averaging attempts it reverts to the default NR behavior.
ISO 6400 static subjectISO 6400 moving subject
100% crop100% crop
Interestingly though, even when movement between exposures is detected, it appears the 650D still attempts to average noise in areas of the scene it deems stable enough. Below you can see a slightly ghosted image along the edge of the mannequin. And in this area of the scene, the noise levels are significantly reduced compared to the camera's default NR setting. This suggests that the multi-shot noise-averaging is not an all or nothing affair; a very clever trick.
Multi Shot NR: static subjectMulti Shot NR: moving subject (due to table vibration)
 
Default NR: static subject 

Lens correction settings

The 650D offers two built-in lens corrections, based on camera-stored lens profile data, which can be enabled via the shooting menu. You can use Canon's included EOS Utility to download current lens data to the camera. Note that neither of these corrections are baked into accompanying raw files. If you use Canon's own DPP raw conversion software, the corrections travel with the raw file as metadata, allowing you to adjust them to taste. Third party converters, like ACR and DxO, however, will not make use of this data, although both have their own tools for these types of corrections..

Vignetting

Peripheral illumination control is meant to counter corner vignetting effects. It is enabled by default. Below we've shot an evenly lit neutral area with Canon's new EF-S 18-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens at its widest aperture. As you can see, enabling the lens correction results in more even illumination, providing just over 1 stop EV of increased luminance in the farthest corners compared to the sample without the correction applied.
Peripheral Illumination On 18mm @ f/3.5Peripheral Illumination Off 18mm @ f/3.5

Chromatic aberration/fringing

The chromatic aberration (CA) setting seeks to minimize color fringing that is typically found along very high contrast edges. This feature is disabled by default because when active, the maximum image burst in continuous shooting mode is greatly reduced. The scene below, with dark leaves against a bright sky is a typical scenario in which you'd encounter color fringing. It was shot with the 18-135mm STM lens at 18mm. And as you can see, the in-camera software correction does an admirable job of reducing, if not eliminating CA.
Chromatic aberration disabledChromatic aberration enabled
100% crops
The occurrence of CA varies of course from lens to lens, but it has been our experience in shooting with the 650D's kit zooms that CA occurs often enough in high contrast scenes - especially at their wider focal lengths - that it's generally worth enabling the automated correction except where you anticipate shooting bursts in continuous drive mode.

Overall Image Quality

The EOS 650D, much like the EOS 600D before it, offers very good image quality with default settings that produce pleasing JPEGs. The camera produces reasonably sharp images without introducing excessive edge halos, although you can easily improve on these by shooting Raw images and processing them yourself.
Color rendition and saturation will be familiar to users of previous Rebel series models and the camera's auto white balance yields generally pleasing, if not completely accurate colors in a wide range of lighting conditions. Exposures are typically well-judged in all but the most challenging of lighting scenarios. Dynamic range is perhaps a bit shy of some of the 650D's DSLR peers - as well as impressive mirrorless models like the Olympus E-M5 - requiring Highlight Tone Priority (HTP) to be enabled on bright sunny days for comparable results.
And although its pixel count remains the same, the noise levels of the 650D are slightly higher than we saw from its predecessor, the EOS 600D. What the 650D does have in its favor though is the new MultiShot NR setting which provides a genuinely useful method of controlling noise, albeit it in scenes that don't contain moving subjects. It also adds an additional stop of sensitivity (ISO 25600) for extreme situations.
Overall, there are few here surprises for users of previous Rebel models, and on balance we consider that to be a good thing. The ability to use in-camera lens profiles to correct for vignetting and chromatic aberration adds even more value to a camera line that has long been a solid performer.

High ISO noise and detail

High ISO noise reduction settings

The EOS 650D adds an extra stop of ISO sensitivity compared to its predecessor, the EOS 600D, with in-camera noise reduction settings that have been tweaked sightly, as you can see on the noise performance page of this review. And for the most part, the 650D maintains the well-considered balance between noise suppression and detail in JPEG mode we're used to seeing from Canon's entry-level DSLRs.
The one minor exception to this occurs once you venture beyond ISO 6400. As you can see from the shape of the graph on the noise performance page of this review, the 650D switches to a more aggressive approach to noise suppression at ISO 12800. The real-world ramification is that in some instances, this heavier-handed approach can obscure a bit more fine detail at the default NR setting. Below we've shot a low light scene at ISO 12800 in order to compare the 650D's NR settings. For a look at the 650D's new multi-shot NR mode, see the image quality tests page of this review.
ISO 12800 NR Standard (default)NR Low 100% crop
NR Standard 100% cropNR High 100% crop
In the crops above, you can see that at ISO 12800 very fine detail like the mesh netting begins to be smeared away at the default NR setting. And for this detail loss, neither of the two higher NR settings are reducing the appearance of chroma noise to any greater degree. As such, we'd suggest that when you do find yourself shooting at such a high ISO, you can hold onto slightly more detail by using the 'NR Low' option.

Compared to Nikon D3200

On the noise performance page of this review we've measured noise performance of the EOS 650D against both its predecessor and its peers in our studio test scene. Here we provide you with a real world comparison of high ISO performance using a still life scene. It was shot under low color-temperature (approx. 2600K) artificial light, designed to be representative of typical indoor lighting. This accentuates the appearance of noise due to the low level of blue light in the spectrum of the light source. And to achieve accurate white balance the blue channel has to be amplified strongly, and the green channel to a lesser extent - thereby increasing the visible noise.
Both cameras were shot at ISO 6400 in Raw mode and the files were processed via ACR 7.1 with sharpening and noise reduction both set to '0'. The D3200, which boasts a higher resolution of 24MP (versus 18MP for the 650D) was downsampled using Photoshop's Bicubic algorithm to match the pixel width of the 650D. Identical amounts of low-radius sharpening were then applied to all both images in Photoshop.
Canon EOS 650D
ISO 6400 ACR 7.1 Raw
Nikon D3200 (downsampled)
ISO 6400 ACR 7.1 Raw
NR Standard 100% cropNR High 100% crop
NR Standard 100% cropNR High 100% crop
NR Standard 100% cropNR High 100% crop
Looking at the samples above, the EOS 650D compares very favorably against the Nikon D3200. While the 650D shows greater chroma noise in areas of solid black, it also retains a touch more color saturation. Other than that though, there is very little to separate these two APS-C cameras in terms of detail retention.

Raw

Supplied software

The Canon EOS 650D comes with the 'Canon EOS Digital Solution Disk' which includes:
  • Digital Photo Professional 3.11.30 - Advanced image workflow and editing, specialized in Raw conversion with a range of adjustment and output options.
     
  • ImageBrowser EX 1.0 - Easy to use image browsing and organization with a unique interface. Includes rudimentary image editing, printing and e-mail. This latest version of the software also provides some very basic video editing.
     
  • EOS Utility 2.11 - A tool to download images as well as control the camera remotely and adjust its settings when tethered to the computer.
  • PhotoStitch 3.2 - Panorama stitching utility.
  • Picture Style Editor 1.10 - Utility to create custom picture styles that can be uploaded to the camera.
  • EOS Sample Music - Royalty free audio files to upload to the camera and use as background music.
  • CameraWindow - Tool for transferring images to a computer
Digital Photo Professional is an image workflow and RAW conversion application that provides for the browsing and management of images in a folder structure as well as tagging, rotation etc. In addition it also provides an extensive range of RAW conversion features which include digital exposure compensation, white balance, tone curve, color, picture style, sharpness and lens correction parameters.
A number of different tools can be accessed from the tools menu. The Quick Check tool allows you to browse through a selection of images and assign check marks to them. The Trimming tool can be used to apply a crop to an image (the image itself is not modified, this is simply saved in the recipe).
The Stamp tool works in a similar way to the clone stamp or healing brush in Photoshop (although it is primary designed for the removal of light or dark blotches).The Rename tool can be used to change the filename of a selection of images based on a rule set. Finally you can convert multiple RAW files at a time using the batch conversion tool.
Digital Photo Professional has a comprehensive feature set. Raw conversion (in this image you can see the Edit window) certainly offers enough to satisfy even the most advanced user.One of the main advantages of working with Raw files is that DPP offers much more control over noise-reduction than the in-camera settings.
Tone curves can be adjusted for each color channel separately.The lens aberration window offers correction of light fall-off, chromatic aberration, distortion and color blur.
This latest version of Digital Photo Pro which is provided with the EOS 650D includes a new, fairly comprehensive lens correction module which allows you to correct your raw files for vignetting (peripheral illumination, purple fringing (color blur) and chromatic aberration based on lens profiles, offering greater control than the 650D's in-camera corrections. For the vignetting, CA and distortion correction you have sliders which allow you to apply a partial correction between 0 and 100%. There is also a slider to indicate the subject distance the image was taken at which helps optimizing the distortion correction.
The Lens aberration correction dialogue opens as a separate window within DPP. It contains the full image view and a magnification area at the top right. There is also the option for a grid-overlay which is useful when correcting distortion.

Raw file conversion

As is normal in our reviews we like to compare the camera maker's supplied raw conversion software with competing third party raw converters. Here we've picked Adobe Camera Raw and DxO Optics Pro alongside the Canon software. We'll compare these three converters to the camera's JPEG engine to see how each of them pulls detail out of the images.
  • JPEG - Large/Fine, Default settings
  • DPP - Digital Photo Professional
  • ACR - Adobe Camera raw 7.1
  • DxO - DxO Optics Pro 7.5.3

Sharpness and Detail

Canon's Digital Photo Professional emulates the output of the camera's JPEG engine very closely. Color rendition and tonality are virtually identical. DPP does apply a touch more default sharpening, resulting in images that are - at a pixel-level - a little crisper.
Adobe Camera Raw's default output is less contrasty and benefits from subtle, small-radius sharpening. This results in a more appealing image with natural tonality and an increase in fine detail. DxO's output combines contrast similar to that of the in-camera JPEG, with even more saturated colors. It also offers a greater degree of high contrast fine edge detail than the other raw converters. Keep in mind though that we're looking at 100% crops here. Small differences like this in detail rendering really only come into play if you plan to display your images at very large sizes.
JPEG out of camera, High quality setting (all settings default)
ISO 100 studio scene 100% crop
Digital Photo Professional ->JPEG (Default settings)
ISO 100 studio scene 100% crop
Adobe ACR 7.1 Raw ->JPEG (Default settings)
ISO 100 studio scene 100% crop
DxO Optics Pro 7.5.3 Raw ->JPEG (Default settings)
ISO 100 studio scene 100% crop

Resolution

The resolution chart confirms the observations we've made when looking at the crops above. DPP applies more aggressive sharpening than the out-of-camera JPEGs (notice the more prominent edge halos) while Adobe ACR's sharpening is more subtle with a smaller radius, resulting in the ability to resolve marginally finer detail. And DxO's sharpening again gets the nod with slightly crisper edge separation, all the while avoiding edge halos. Notice that along with their detail gains, both ACR and DxO display slightly more prominent moiré.
JPEG from cameraDigital Photo Professional (raw)
Adobe Camera RawDxO Optics Pro 7

Real-world advantages

While Canon provides generally pleasing image processing defaults, one of the benefits to shooting in raw mode is the ability to fine-tune settings post-capture in order to gain maximum image quality. With custom sharpening settings you can enhance image detail while avoiding edge halos. Chromatic aberration (CA) along high contrast edges can also be easily removed post-capture.
Camera JPEGRaw + ACR 7.1 Sharpening set to Amount 57, Radius 1.0 and Detail 25; CA removal enabled and Vibrance set to +25
100% crops
In low light conditions, having access to the raw file allows for a more subtle approach to chroma and luminance noise reduction, when compared to the camera's default settings. You also have the luxury of adjusting white balance to taste.
The image below was shot handheld at ISO 6400. As you can see below, the 650D's standard NR setting combined with the JPEG compression, can lead to false colors and more prominent artifacts. By making a quick adjustment in ACR we can largely eliminate color noise and reduce luminance noise to a degree without making the image overly soft. We also made a small white balance adjustment for a slightly cooler, more neutral rendering.
Camera JPEGRaw + ACR 7.1 Custom WB, Luminance NR +10 and Color NR Detail +40 (all other settings at their defaults)
100% crops, ISO 6400

Raw files for download

Don't just take our word for it though. Below you can download EOS 650D raw files of 'real-world' scenes for yourself, and run them through your preferred raw conversion software and settings. If you want to take a closer look at the 650D's studio scene shots, you can download original raw files from our image quality comparison raw page.