I'm struggling to decide on a camera, sensor size, mirrorless or SLR...Think you can help? ;)

[BrentC]

My advice is get to list down various camera and lenses that fit the specs and features you want. Go to a camera store and hold each one in your hand. The ergonomics and how they fit in your hand are really important. If your uncomfortable with it you won't use it as much.
Also bring an SD card and take pictures with each camera. Later at home you can go over the photos and see which one renders to your taste.

 

[TimmyD11]

So if I settle on the 80D now can I get help in selecting a very good wide angle zoom or wide angle prime that will be great on the crop sensor camera AND a full frame when I move on to that in a year or two?

I guess what I don't like about the 6D is that it get's it's butt kicked by Nikon and it has only one HDR setting.

Maybe I can enjoy the 80D and it's HDR settings (which I know many of you will roll your eyes about!) and use my 70 to 200 lens for wildlife.

A good zoom lens for a full frame camera for wildlife will cost me much more than a wide angle prime or wide angle zoom for landscape photography on a crop sensor camera.

I can keep costs down with an 80D, purchase a good wide angle lens, enjoy the HDR settings in the Adirondacks this fall, and check in on Canon's full frame camera sensors and costs every once in a while...do the switch when it feels right.

Currently in Best Buy so if somebody convinces me in the next few minutes...!!!

 

[TimmyD11]

So basically, (correct me if I'm wrong) I can do wildlife pretty well, and less expensively with an APS-C camera because of the magnification factor of relatively modest (focal length) lenses...than buying a full frame camera AND THEN having to buy lenses with more reach......but landscape photography can still be done with a wider lens with an APS-C camera...and these lenses should be more reasonably priced?

If my thinking on this is sound I'm probably ready to purchase the 80D.

 

[jaomul]

Your thinking is correct

Wildlife photography is cheaper and lighter with a crop sensor. Fullframe adds bulk and price, and depending on lighting conditions may not always be better.

Landscape can be done with a wide angle on a crop sensor camera. Generally, landscape is done at iso 100, so if you do it correctly you should not be at much of a disadvantage to a fullframe user either.

Of course Fullframe has advantages, but you pay for them one way or another and sometimes they are not required or big enough to worry about

 

[TimmyD11]

Thanks jaomul.

Another thing that makes me hesitate with buying the 6D is that it's from 2012...and it's replacement is brand new, with a brand new price to go along with it!

And even if I were to splurge for the 6D Mark ii I've read that in some respects it has taken steps backwards from the original.

 

[astroNikon]

Yes go buy the 80D .. and NOW.

One of my friends bought the 70D (a few years ago) on my recommendation. Great camera. Fits his needs perfectly.

Buy the 80D and don't look back !!

 

[TimmyD11]

Another thing I can do is get the t7i for much less money and put more money into good EF lenses for when it makes sense for me to go full frame (with Canon).

According to dpreview the image quality for the t7i and 80D (jpeg and raw) are "neck and neck"...but the t7i is $400 less.

I just don't know when they will have a $1500 full frame camera that is as good as the D610 or an $1800 full frame camera as good as the D750.

I'm trying to pinpoint what my hangup is. Maybe it's that I have old and usable Canon lenses, although they will eventually be replaced anyway.

Maybe it's just the HDR shooting modes on some of the Canon cameras which I like. (Then again, with Nikon, REGULAR dynamic range is ALREADY pretty high.) But the 6D doesn't have the full range of HDR shooting modes that their newer cameras have and I don't want to pay the just released price of the 6D Mark ii just for the HDR modes that I want when I know I am buying an otherwise inferior camera to the D610 and D750, for $500 more and $200 more, respectively.

So the hangup / fence sitting continues for a little while longer at least.

Sorry, don't mean to annoy anyone, I'm just thinking out loud via keyboard!

 

[jaomul]

At this point I think you have been given a lot of guidance. It's now your decision.

 

[TimmyD11]

I'm more confused and tangled up with options than ever!

 

[TimmyD11]

I mean, if I eventually want to be at full frame (as it stands now) why should I go for the 80D, at the 80D price, when there is newer Canon sensor / processor combination technology in the t7i and 77D, image quality is damn near as good, and they cost less? I can put that $300 or $400 into a better lens that will work on everything now and in the future.

 

[Gary A.]

Okay Timmy, what is the value of all your Canon lenses? What is the quality of those lenses?

The decision seems to be centered around to keep or chuck those lenses. If you have high valued/quality Canon lenses ... then go Canon. If you have low value/quality lenses then go Nikon. If your lenses are not 'L' lenses, I think you should go Nikon due to the better sensor.

Going APS-C now and FF later isn't a bad strategy. I shoot with two cameras. I tend to shoot in fluid moving environments and often speed is vitally important to capture the fleeting images I see. When I first acquired a FF and still had my APS-C, I tossed the tele on the APS-C and a wide on the FF and I was good to go.

 

[jaomul]

When you buy a camera you are not just paying for the sensor and processor. Many buy a crop and realize they never need to go fullframe. As someone said earlier, it's only a camera, not a life changing decision. The 80d is a great mix of features/ performance. A t7i will probably make you go into menus more and enjoy using it less.

Id say it's hard to buy a bad modern ilc from any of the big camera brands at this stage in time

 

[TimmyD11]

Lenses not great, probably good, or fair.

Probably worth more actually using them than for what I could get for them.

But, granted, they will be phased out no matter which brand's camera I get.

And I will be getting one good lens very soon, but probably not two very soon.

So if I stay Canon I have a few lenses right away.

If I go APS-C the 70-200 lens becomes a wildlife lens. (But maybe not if it doesn't perform well for whatever reason)

So if I stay Canon, that leaves HDR shooting modes, which, as an amateur, I like.

Then again, I don't know how simple or easy it is to create HDR images with bracketed shots with software on a computer.

The timid inexperienced guy in me wants to let Canon do it...then again, maybe it's not all that difficult to do on a computer?

If not for those two thing I'd go buy a Nikon full frame today.

 

[astroNikon]

just because you go Canon now doesn't mean you are stuck with it for life.

They all still depreciate, and you can resell them and move to another platform.

get a Canon and later learn how to do HDR on the computer .... you're talking gaining experience and knowledge and that will take time with any camera.

 

[Gary A.]

Buy Nikon. I am not a HDR guy, but I think the power of a desktop computer should make an HDR better than in-camera. But others who do HDR can chime in.