Camera experts - please step inside

[GTO Assassin]

So I'm looking to upgrade my Pentax K100D 6 mp camera to a Canon. I have recently looked at the 700D, 1200D, 60D and 70D. Other than price, touch screens and a few different options, I can't see a lot of differences although I didn't look too much at the 60D & 70D. I am mostly after a good video (HD) but love taking stills. I know a good lens is important but lets start with the body then talk about a good lens for stills and a good lens for video. Thanks for any and all input. :)

And while I'm not ruling out Nikon, I am strongly preferring a Canon. ;)

Scooter

[NickS VR4]

I'm assuming you have no interest in the Full Frame sensor? Also what is the budget? <$1000?

I'm not sure if they have in available to you or not in Australia, but look into the Canon Loyalty program. You can send them a busted/broken canon camera (of any type, digital, film, etc), and they will give you like 20% off their refurbished models, which are already discounted.

If you don't know about Full Frame or cropped sensors, basically canon has two types of lenses, EF, and EF-S. Their top quality lenses (L series) only come in EF, and the others can be either.

EF = Works on all Canon DSLRs (at least newer ones)
EF-S = Only works with Cropped Sensors

Cropped sensor means that you have basically a "built in static zoom" of 1.6x. Its not really a zoom, but a smaller sensor.

Anyhow, what types of things are you going to be taking pictures of/video of?

I personally have the Canon 7D and the 60D.

[GTO Assassin]

I don't really know about the full frame sensor. Budget is probably not much more than about $2500 AUD. While I plan on taking loads of video's/stills of the GTO (when she's going) for the time being I'll be shooting vids of the kids at their footy.

Can you tell me the main differences between the 7D & 60D. Thanks Nick.

Scoot

[NickS VR4]

I don't really know about the full frame sensor. Budget is probably not much more than about $2500 AUD. While I plan on taking loads of video's/stills of the GTO (when she's going) for the time being I'll be shooting vids of the kids at their footy.

Can you tell me the main differences between the 7D & 60D. Thanks Nick.

Scoot

The 60D and the 7D are pretty similar. Key differences would be.

60D:
SD card memory
Flip out screen (better for video taping)
Less focus points (9)
More dial settings (7D has a lot of these settings on the quick menu)
Cheaper, but same sensor as 7D.

7D:
Compact Flash memory
More focus points (19)
Alloy frame (not very noticeable over the 60D IMO)
More fine tune settings
Larger processing power to take more rapid fire shots without getting slowed down, even in RAW
Ability to microadjust the focus (if your lens is constantly off on the focus, you can make adjustments to counter that) For example, of the lens consistently focuses too close or too far, you can fine tune it.
3 Custom settings on the dial

Overall, both are great cameras with amazing battery life. I know the 7D has new firmware which lets you tweak RAW images on the camera itself, but i'm not sure if the 60D allows that. I haven't really messed with that feature myself.

Edit: I personally love the 19 focus points on the 7D over the 60D's 9. I wish I could have even more than that. Since my wife loves photos with a wide open aperture (lots of bokeh aka background blur), I need accuracy on what I am focusing on. With 9 points, it sometimes makes it difficult to get the shot the way I want, without moving the subject into the closest focus point. To counter this, I may move the camera to get focus, hold that focus, and move the camera back to the shot I want. It slows me down with a kid moving all around though, so I tend to go to the 7D. On the other hand, I love that the 60D uses SD cards (which I just a microSD w/ adapter), because I can pull it right out of the camera and put it into the built in readers on my computers. The Compact Flash requires a USB adapter, which is fine for me, but my wife wants things to be easy, so she can upload them right to the web.

[NickS VR4]

Two images I took recently with the Canon 7D and Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 lens.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5Y_VSYfTF7xYm1hOS0ya2hOZUU/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5Y_VSYfTF7xdkxLNktOSFFlLWs/edit?usp=sharing

Edit: I'm by no means a pro. I just thought the color of the sky and the grass really stood out in this photos

[IPD]

Where is Macky when you need him?

[GTO Assassin]

Well I ended up getting the D70. Talk about a shitload of functions and stuff I need to learn and re-learn. Thanks for your help Nick. I was on a limited time frame tho. ;)

Scooter

[RyeH]

I know this is starting up an old thread, but I can point you in the direction of a book and videos that REALLY taught me a lot! Let me know. Things like know what your histogram is doing, proper lighting, balancing your ISO, Aperture, and Shutter for various types of shots. It also helps teach you shooting and editing techniques.