Canon 6D + 24-105mm Lens Kit -- Will I regret it? What considerations?

[munecito]

I have the 5d3 and the 6d.

The 6d is with me every day and everywhere. I absolutely love the camera and the fact that is smaller and lighter.

My 5d3 is used in studio, as a main camera on location and as a video camera.

Can't fault any of them really.

People complains about the autofocus all the time. Yes it only has one crossed hair but that one is a really good and fast one when used with a fast lens. Digital medium format cameras only have one autofocus point and nobody complains. The fact is that unless you are going to shoot fast moving subjects the additional focus points are not a must have.

I really don't think you are going to outgrow the camera unless you need the extra stop in shutter speed, the two thirds for flash synch speed or a flash sync port (which I admit it should have).

The first two can be overcome with HSS and some other optical slave hacks, the second one is only important if you want the reliability of the cable over wireless or if you are shooting in a shared studio and can't use cell in the external flashes and don't have extra wireless slaves.

 

[Biev]

I've been using the 24-105mm for a few months now and I absolutely love it. Images have very good quality, and the zoom range of the lens makes it quite versatile in different situations. The only thing I would improve if I could, would be a 2.8 aperture instead of 4.0 for a somewhat better portrait bokeh. Still, I've seen wedding photographers on YouTube (and yes, I'm aware that anyone could claim to be a wedding photographer there) say they include the 24-105 in their bag.

The lens does seem to have noticeable barrel distortion at 24mm, with even seems to turn into a very slight amount of pincushion distortion when you zoom in.

 

[munecito]

I find the 24-105 f4 to be sharper than the 24-70 f2.8 MK I.

I haven't tried the MK II but I have heard good things. I have also heard praises for the tamrom 24-70 f2.8 IS.

Would love to try the last two to compare to the first two and decide which one is superior.

 

[Juga]

These are my first panning shots ever and with the 6D nonetheless. Center focus point...I think not too bad especially considering the speed at which these cars were traveling.
View attachment 49945View attachment 49946

***and with the 24-105 f/4L!!***

 

[grafxman]

I have taken several thousand photos with the 6D and the kit lens. I'm less than happy with the lens because of its limited zoom range. I used the Sigma 18-250mm lens on my 7D for many years. The closest I could come a similar lens for the 6D is the Tamron 28-300mm. The Tamron doesn't focus too good in low light and often refuses to focus at all. The camera itself is fine. I love the low noise at high ISO values it provides. Just a few minutes ago I dug out an old Kenko 1.4 teleconverter and installed it on the kit lens. It focuses OK but I had to tape the last 3 pins over on the TC to get things to work properly. Now that I have a little zoom power I'm really looking forward to my next museum expedition.

 

[Biev]

I have taken several thousand photos with the 6D and the kit lens. I'm less than happy with the lens because of its limited zoom range. I used the Sigma 18-250mm lens on my 7D for many years. The closest I could come a similar lens for the 6D is the Tamron 28-300mm. The Tamron doesn't focus too good in low light and often refuses to focus at all. The camera itself is fine. I love the low noise at high ISO values it provides. Just a few minutes ago I dug out an old Kenko 1.4 teleconverter and installed it on the kit lens. It focuses OK but I had to tape the last 3 pins over on the TC to get things to work properly. Now that I have a little zoom power I'm really looking forward to my next museum expedition.

It's strange that you need to tape off the pins. I haven't worked with the Kenko TC, but I'd expect it to reduce your max aperture by only one stop, just like the Canon TC. In which case you'd end up with an f5.6, which should still allow AF even on an entry-level x00D or xx0D (like 600D or 650D) body without having to tape off the pins.

 

[grafxman]

I have taken several thousand photos with the 6D and the kit lens. I'm less than happy with the lens because of its limited zoom range. I used the Sigma 18-250mm lens on my 7D for many years. The closest I could come a similar lens for the 6D is the Tamron 28-300mm. The Tamron doesn't focus too good in low light and often refuses to focus at all. The camera itself is fine. I love the low noise at high ISO values it provides. Just a few minutes ago I dug out an old Kenko 1.4 teleconverter and installed it on the kit lens. It focuses OK but I had to tape the last 3 pins over on the TC to get things to work properly. Now that I have a little zoom power I'm really looking forward to my next museum expedition.

It's strange that you need to tape off the pins. I haven't worked with the Kenko TC, but I'd expect it to reduce your max aperture by only one stop, just like the Canon TC. In which case you'd end up with an f5.6, which should still allow AF even on an entry-level x00D or xx0D (like 600D or 650D) body without having to tape off the pins.

The 6D won't work at all until the 3 pins are taped. After you do that everything works normally. The procedure has to be done with many other Canon cameras for autofocus to function. Frankly I think it's completely ridiculous that Canon teleconverters only work on a few of their lenses, mostly non-zoom lens. Sometimes I really wonder about who's driving the boat at Canon.

 

[Biev]

The 6D won't work at all until the 3 pins are taped. After you do that everything works normally. The procedure has to be done with many other Canon cameras for autofocus to function. Frankly I think it's completely ridiculous that Canon teleconverters only work on a few of their lenses, mostly non-zoom lens. Sometimes I really wonder about who's driving the boat at Canon.

The teleconverters decrease your aperture by 1 (for a 1.4x) or 2 (for a 2x) stops. And beyond f5.6 (f8 for the 1D and the 5D with the latest firmware), AF has difficulties focusing due to the decreased light (which means that decreasing aperture in-camera must work in a different way, as AF does not seem to suffer under that). Canon simply blocks AF beyond that point, and I can more or less understand that. Using the f4.5-f5.6 100-400mm on my 600D with a 1.4x TC, I usually just disabled AF at maximum zoom, even with taped off pins to unblock AF again, because it was pretty much useless.

Other brands of cameras seem to suffer similar issues. So the only thing that really baffles me here is that you already seem to suffer from this issue at lower f-stops.

 

[grafxman]

The 6D won't work at all until the 3 pins are taped. After you do that everything works normally. The procedure has to be done with many other Canon cameras for autofocus to function. Frankly I think it's completely ridiculous that Canon teleconverters only work on a few of their lenses, mostly non-zoom lens. Sometimes I really wonder about who's driving the boat at Canon.

The teleconverters decrease your aperture by 1 (for a 1.4x) or 2 (for a 2x) stops. And beyond f5.6 (f8 for the 1D and the 5D with the latest firmware), AF has difficulties focusing due to the decreased light (which means that decreasing aperture in-camera must work in a different way, as AF does not seem to suffer under that). Canon simply blocks AF beyond that point, and I can more or less understand that. Using the f4.5-f5.6 100-400mm on my 600D with a 1.4x TC, I usually just disabled AF at maximum zoom, even with taped off pins to unblock AF again, because it was pretty much useless.

Other brands of cameras seem to suffer similar issues. So the only thing that really baffles me here is that you already seem to suffer from this issue at lower f-stops.

As I said: "The 6D won't work at all until the 3 pins are taped. After you do that everything works normally." I don't know what you are referring to when you say I suffer from an issue at lower f-stops. The lens under discussion is the Canon 24-105mm kit lens on the 6D when using the Kenko 1.4 teleconverter not the 100-400mm lens on a 600D.

 

[Biev]

I was referring to the 600D to illustrate that AF even works on low-end bodies with extenders (up to f5.6).

Apart from one short mention (Flickr: Discussing Extenders in Canon EOS 6D - Official Group), I can't find much in terms of 6D + extender issues on Google. I'd expect to find many more complaints if there was a general issue, so I'd consider the possibility that:

1. There is an issue with your specific 6D, or
2. There is an issue with your specific extender, or
3. There is an issue with the specific combination of the 6D used with the Kenko TC

 

[grafxman]

I was referring to the 600D to illustrate that AF even works on low-end bodies with extenders (up to f5.6).

Apart from one short mention (Flickr: Discussing Extenders in Canon EOS 6D - Official Group), I can't find much in terms of 6D + extender issues on Google. I'd expect to find many more complaints if there was a general issue, so I'd consider the possibility that:

1. There is an issue with your specific 6D, or
2. There is an issue with your specific extender, or
3. There is an issue with the specific combination of the 6D used with the Kenko TC

I doubt that many folks use a Kenko TC on the 6D yet. If they've been messing about with Canons as long as I have and have internet experience they'll soon resolve the issue. In any case the taping of 3 pins on Kenko TCs has been done for many years to get them to work properly with Canon cameras. Since this seems to be of interest to you I provide the following links:

some dont report TC due to tape pin to allow AF: Canon SLR Lens Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

5D MK3 : Compatible TC: Canon EOS-1D / 5D / 6D Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

D30/D60 Tips and Techniques

As you can see some of these posts are several years old. It's been a problem with some, but not all, Canon cameras for a long time. Fortunately it's easily solved and there is plenty of information with numerous photos showing how to do it on the net. In any event it appears number 3 on your list is the correct answer.

 

[Gavjenks]

The 6D won't work at all until the 3 pins are taped. After you do that everything works normally. The procedure has to be done with many other Canon cameras for autofocus to function. Frankly I think it's completely ridiculous that Canon teleconverters only work on a few of their lenses, mostly non-zoom lens. Sometimes I really wonder about who's driving the boat at Canon.

The teleconverters decrease your aperture by 1 (for a 1.4x) or 2 (for a 2x) stops. And beyond f5.6 (f8 for the 1D and the 5D with the latest firmware), AF has difficulties focusing due to the decreased light (which means that decreasing aperture in-camera must work in a different way, as AF does not seem to suffer under that). Canon simply blocks AF beyond that point, and I can more or less understand that. Using the f4.5-f5.6 100-400mm on my 600D with a 1.4x TC, I usually just disabled AF at maximum zoom, even with taped off pins to unblock AF again, because it was pretty much useless.

Other brands of cameras seem to suffer similar issues. So the only thing that really baffles me here is that you already seem to suffer from this issue at lower f-stops.

My autofocus on my 6D routinely works even when I have an 11-stop neutral density filter stacked on top of a 2 stop darkening CPL filter in front of my f/4 lens.
Equivalent wide open aperture in this situation in terms of light collection alone = f/362
And it can still autofocus for the most part (in live view most effectively, but even sometimes normally if the subject is bright enough)

The stated required aperture has nothing to do with the extreme operating limits of the AF system. It only has to do with the boundaries of where Canon is willing to make guarantees about AF working. It is ridiculous for them to force us to operate within their own guarantee limits when the actual limits are vastly wider. Simple advertising of the limits of their guarantee and thus removal of any responsbility or liability for reduced performance should be sufficient. Mechanical/electrical barriers are absurd.

 

[Biev]

Thank you both. This is good information!

 

[CyraD]

So I've decided the 6D is definitely for me. The only downside I feel is there is the slower focusing at high speed shots, which baffles me at this price-point. That aside, I like the camera.

Where I'm confused now is the 24-105mm lens kit. I've read that it is subject to 4.6% (I believe?) distortion... and it suffers from this barrel distortion significantly to the point at which the 24mm setting seems rather pointless. This leaves me wondering if skipping that lens and shelling out for the 24-70mm is just better (but that's a $600 bump in price). I *really* want the 24-105mm lens option to work (and for it to work for all its intents and purposes; not end up being crippled at the 24mm setting).

Im in a similar situation as yourself: I need to upgrade but cant decide whether to go for 6D especially since photography is just a hobby. should i spend so much money for this full frame? I shoot mostly low light, landscape, family birthdays and weddings, macro...
so how was your experience? Happy with the performance? any regrets? major drawbacks? focusing problems?

and how different was it when shifting from crop sensor to full frame?

 

[PaulWog]

To the response: I went with Nikon (the D5200) back in July soon after this thread. I now do want a full-frame camera. However, if I picked up the Canon 6D back then, I'd likely have made some mistakes with my lens purchases, and I'd probably have wasted some money picking up some dumb stuff.

Going with the D5200, the one bad purchase I've made is an expensive kit lens: the 16-85mm VR. I enjoy it, it's a good lens, it's sharp and renders pleasing bokeh at 85mm... but I'd prefer a fast 50mm (or 35mm on crop) lens as my walk-around over a slow zoom lens. I like shallow depth of field, I like bokeh!

As far as the actually hardware goes, I'd have no qualms putting money down for a Canon 6D or a Nikon D610, were I to get fully refunded for my 16-85 and D5200. But given what I've got, I also have no issue with waiting it out for something newer/better in the future (or a nice chunky price drop if there ever will be one).