Canon 6D or 70D?

jennyb

jennyb

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I am retiring at the end of this year and will hopefully have more time to spend on photography and hopefully take it a bit more seriously. I am planning to replace my Canon 40D and I always thought that when I replaced it I would get a full frame.
I have been investigating the options and have read numerous threads about full-frame vs crop, the 6D owners thread and the 70D owners thread, etc, but I find myself going in circles and just cannot decide what would be best.
If I define my requirements here, I would appreciate any feedback that could point me in the right direction. The choice lies between the 70D and the 6D.
I am predominently a wildlife photographer but also use macro for insects, flowers, fungi. I would also like to improve my landscape skills. I have no interest in any other genre.
I prefer to use natural light and often low light (badgers, deer, etc) but do use flash sometimes.
I currently have:
Canon 40D
Sigma 70-500mm
Canon EF 70-300mm
Canon EF-S 17-85mm
Canon EF-S 60mm macro
Canon Speedlite 580EX11
My biggest bugbear with the 40D is the noise. I find it mostly unacceptable over ISO400.
Another important point is weight. I really struggle to carry around the 40D plus tripod so that rules out the bigger beefier full frames.
The 6D would probably be the best with respect to image quality and noise although I would not be able to use 2 of my lenses and slightly less reach with the long lens. Less focus points but I think, enough. Lower fps with continuous shooting - not sure this is a problem for me.
The 70D has a great specification, but the only plus points over the 60D that I can see are the ability to use all my lenses and the higher fps.
It is the quality of the shots that I am interested in. Keeping price out of it for the moment, the more I am writing this, the more I think maybe the 6D is the one for me.
I would very much appreciate any comments or suggestions to help me make a final decision.

Thanks in advance,

Jenny
 
I'm also looking at the step up from a 40D after using it for many years, and I have a similarly mixed line-up of EF/EF-S lenses. I'm comparing the 6D with the Sony A7/A7r, and at the moment the Sony is winning in my mind - it's worth a look with your portability requirement. But if I didn't already have a few legacy lenses the 6D would be a stronger proposition compared to the Sony. I've mentally put to one side the 70D as I want full-frame for the legacy lenses.

You may want to compare the AF performance of the 6D and 70D, from what I've read both are better than the 40D but the 70D will win hands-down over the 6D for fast moving targets or in lower light.
 
Alastair said:
I'm also looking at the step up from a 40D after using it for many years, and I have a similarly mixed line-up of EF/EF-S lenses. I'm comparing the 6D with the Sony A7/A7r, and at the moment the Sony is winning in my mind - it's worth a look with your portability requirement. But if I didn't already have a few legacy lenses the 6D would be a stronger proposition compared to the Sony. I've mentally put to one side the 70D as I want full-frame for the legacy lenses.

You may want to compare the AF performance of the 6D and 70D, from what I've read both are better than the 40D but the 70D will win hands-down over the 6D for fast moving targets or in lower light.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Alastair,

I will look at the Sony but the idea of changing to a completely different manufacturer does not appeal. It takes me ages to get the hang of using new equipment and I have used Canon for years.

I will also check out the AF.

Jenny
 
Not exactly the same dilemma but I switched from a 7D to a 6D at the beginning of the year. Was in a similar position in that I had a couple of really good EF-S lenses that I had to sell, and also lost the 7D's higher fps... However, I am delighted with my decision, the 6D produces such high quality in low light that my decision was absolutely the right one for me. I also like the wider angle I get now with the EF lenses that I've had with both. I do sometimes miss the reach, but I bought an extender to help address.
 
I've just gone from a 550D to a 6D, and the difference in high-ISO and low-light performance is, frankly, staggering. Whereas on the APS-C 550D you're really chancing your arm at ISO 800 and above, the FF 6D produces eminently useable images at ISO 6400 and, for downscaling and on-screen use, ISO 12800.

I also think the pattern of the high-ISO noise is more agreeable on the 6D; it's more like film grain, because colour noise is much less prominent.
 
If your biggest bugbear is noise, moving to FF is an no brainer.

I recently made the move from crop to FF and I've no regrets - even though I had to sell all my lenses...

Edit: I also moved to a 6D.
 
i would take 2 cards with me to a shop and try both. i would would also think about the af system if its wildlife that you take pictures of. its also rumoured that theres a 7d mk2 out next year
 
I also moved from a 550d crop to a 6d. The IQ and noise control with the 6d, is frankly, stunning IMO. Don't think you'll regret the 6d at all if you went that route.
 
I've got a 70D as a companion to a 5D3 and both are excellent performers. I used to use the 5D3 about 90% of the time but since getting the 70D it's now gone to about 60%. The 70D is fantastic for wildlife as it's still got the reach, a great AF system that's easy to get to grips with and a good fps rate, it's also great for macro again for the reach but also the articulating screen which helps with those hard to get shots and using liveview with the screen gives you excellent AF speed and fantastic IQ. The 70D is a great piece of kit and will give you nice, clean shots well above ISO1600 which blows away the 40D you have now.

I've not used a 6D so I can't directly comment but if the IQ and ISO handling is about as good as, if not better, than the 5D3 then maybe that would be the best setup for landscapes but with a decent lens on the 70D you will get comparable shots. With my 17-40 f4L on my 70D I can hardly see any difference in IQ to my 5D3 and 24-105 f4. Both are great cameras, the 70D I know that for a fact and the 6D I can tell by reputation, so it would really depend on whether you want to reorganise your lenses as well as the body too.
 
Although 6D is great for low light, I think for wildlife and macro 70D would be more appropriate. It has better auto-focus system and considerably more reach. Also should not be ignored, this choice will end up notably cheaper, since no lenses have to be changed.
 
RainMaker said:
Also should not be ignored, this choice will end up notably cheaper, since no lenses have to be changed.
Click to expand...

The camera outright is of course significantly cheaper too, and the price is tumbling at the moment!

I haven't much to add Jenny but am interested to see the discussion since I have a 40d and similar lenses to yourself.


Jeff.
 
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