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Old 17-12-2010, 06:14 PM
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hotspur (Chris)
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Canon 7D or Canon 60D ??? which one??

Looking at purchasing a Canon Camera body,I have quite a few lenses,and use all my gear quite a bit,also starting to get a few paying jobs.

Also another family member wants to use the HD video feature in projects.

So I thought with my good selection of lenses,my son would get some good video footage for his movies he makes.

Here are the choices, 7D or a 60D or a 500D,I have elimiunated the 550D as it has noise issues.

Price is not a issue,I can afford any of the above.I thought the 7d would be the one,but the 60D has a flip screen,this one feature has stopped me from just getting the 7d-using a camera on a telescope with a flip screen would be a pretty useful feature-also for the son using it for filming.

I like the 500D,seen some good astro images from it-low noise,nice and light.I love my 450D,But if mu son wants to put shot gun mike and all that stuff a bigger body might be better.

The engineers on POTN do not like the fact the 60D has SD card,not the CF card,so wonder what that issue is about.

What do the engineers here advise?

Thanks Chris
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Old 17-12-2010, 06:43 PM
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rogerg (Roger)
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I can't say much bad about the 7D. Flip screen would be nice I guess. Only dislike I have the 7D is it's relatively high noise compared to the 5DmkII. It manages ok WRT noise but not compared to the 5DmkII. Love shooting pics with the 7D tho, such a great camera to use.
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Old 17-12-2010, 09:25 PM
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koputai (Jason)
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Hi Chris,

I'm in a similar situation, but my choice is between 7D and 50D (if I can get one new or virtually new). I decided against the 60D early on due to every review saying it's inferior to the 50D. Now I wish I'd bought the 50D when they were $800 when the 60D was released.
I'm really leaning towards the 7D, with two question morks:
1. Apparent high noise on high ISO settings, which I really need to investigate further.
2. Intrusive AF points in the viewfinder, which may have been fixed in a firmware upgrade, but I'm not sure.

I have a similar set of lenses to you, so going full frame would be a hassle.

Cheers,
Jason.
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Old 18-12-2010, 01:07 AM
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Octane (Humayun)
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DP Review is full of manbabbies who don't know how to take photographs and continually whinge; everything I've read about the 7D does point to the fact that above ISO-800 it starts to become nasty, quickly.

I don't own one, so, can't comment from experience. Hrm.

H

Last edited by Octane; 18-12-2010 at 02:21 AM.
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Old 18-12-2010, 07:46 AM
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hotspur (Chris)
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re camera body

Jason,if you can get a 50D-they are very good,been very happy with mine.

DWI still have them last time I looked,I got mine in May when they were about

$1000-fairly good value,a lot of camera for the dollars.

I see DWI have the Canon 7D for around $1400.I don't think there would be

to much different in the image quality-My son is just keen on the HD video it

offers,and it seems a good price at present,and one can never have too many

pieces of camera gear
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Old 18-12-2010, 08:38 AM
Dennis
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Hi Chris

Are you aware that the 7D and the 60D do not auto focus whilst in movie mode? Here is a link to a device that fits on your lens and allows the operator to follow focus, relatively smoothly I hope!

Cheers

Dennis
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Old 18-12-2010, 09:28 AM
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Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)
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Thanks for that link Dennis. What a great device. I'm looking forward to creating some movie footage with the 5D-II, and focus was an issue - especially since you have to monitor it externally via the LCD as the shutter is open (viewfinder blocked in other words). On the 5D-II you can set your AF (whilst in live-view/movie mode) to "Live Mode" so that the camera makes the focus decision based on contrast variation - and this will then focus for you, BUT, it will not follow a subject and dynamically refocus. It's a bit of a compromise, but OK if you're shooting a relatively fixed subject - especially at a distance or with your aperture set appropriately.

I wonder if a split-screen focus mask would help too, rather than relying the standard Fresnel unit which is imprecise if all you've got is the LCD to work from.

Last edited by Omaroo; 18-12-2010 at 09:47 AM.
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Old 18-12-2010, 11:13 AM
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hotspur (Chris)
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re camera body

Thanks Dennis.

Yes,I was aware the lenses needed to manually focused.

I will certainly check out that link.

Hopefully,my so will be able to give us some advice on using 7D/5D2 for movie

mode.He is very keen on a movie/editing/production course at Griffith Uni at

Southbank next year,He just got his OP score this morning-a number 6 !

Which is the number he needed to get-but I think he now has to wait on placements.he may end up at the Kelvin Grove course which needs a number 7.

But I think,they are both of the same high standard.

Re, 5D2/7D's for movie,TV these are almost an industry standard-particularly the 5D2.

Chris
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Old 18-12-2010, 12:19 PM
Craig_L
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Hi Chris,

I have just used a couple of the 7D's in a feature movie along with the main camera - a Sony F35 - about $250,000. The Canon's were used in tricky positions for action scenes, as well as a some dusk scenes of the Indian Pacific. Images from the Canon were great.

The Canon's are hard to use though unless you have a seperate monitor. We were using them mainly remotely in fixed positions. But you can get various add on screens from different manufacturers, all of which bump the price up.

My advice would be to get the 60D with the flip out viewfinder. You can of course view the Canon movie images live with the EOS software on a laptop.

Craig
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Old 16-01-2011, 09:55 AM
clem
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flip screen

I agree with Craig. And the flip screen is the best reason to get it for astro stuff and video.
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Old 05-02-2011, 08:27 AM
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koputai (Jason)
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Well Chris, I've made the jump and have had my 7D for nearly a week now!

Initial thoughts:
It's BIG, compared to my old 350D.
It's heavy, again compared to the 350D.

After using it a bit:
It feels beautiful in the hands
BIG view in the viewfinder. It makes the 350D seem like you're peeping through a keyhole.
Fast autofocus
Fast frame rate. If you have it on burst, you've shot three frames in an instant
Seems to over expose by about half a stop
Lovely big bright rear LCD
Tons of menu settings. I'm sure it will take a while to get them all sorted, but having three custom settings positions on the mode wheel, I can have a few commonly used setups easily accessible.

I also bought a 35mm f/2 prime to go with it as a standard lens (56mm effective). With this fitted it's a nice size and weight. Once you get the 17-55 f/2.8 IS on it though, this thing is starting to weigh!

But, the bonus was, when I whack the 35mm lens on the old 350D body, what a lovely small and light package that is for wandering around with.

I haven't shot video with it yet, but I'm definitely happy with the upgrade to the 7D.

Cheers,
Jason.
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Old 06-02-2011, 01:10 PM
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hotspur (Chris)
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re 7D

Congratulations Jason,on that purchase,It came down to a decision of a new mount or the 7D,for me recently.I have a 50D,and ended up deciding on a new Vixen astronomy mount,I feel the 50D is not too far behind abilities compared with the 7D,my son also decided to get a dedicated video camera.

The 50D is a similar size and weight to the 7D,so I know what you mean weight wise-when the 17-55 2.8 is on it,I find I use my 450D and 50D about 50% each of the time.

Then new lens you have sounds very good -can you post some images of it and images taken with it.approx what costs are they?and how do the images compare with the 17-55 2,8 when used at 35mm?

Cheers Chris
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Old 06-02-2011, 04:26 PM
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koputai (Jason)
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Hi Chris,

Here are a few shots.

1. The 7D fitted with the 35mm f/2, with the 17-55mm f/2.8 for size comparison.

2. A shot of the back yard taken with the 35mm f/2, at f/5.6, ISO400. Resized only, compressed to fit the 200kb limit for this site.

Cheers,
Jason.

Click image for larger version

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Click image for larger version

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