70d and 60d, questions

[jamsus]

Hello everyone, some days ago i asked a few things about my thoughts on buying a new APS-C camera.

I readed a lot of articles on 60D and on 70D.

Let's start for the actual big difference (at least, in Italy): the price

The 70D is going around 850-900 euros (only body)
The 60D is going around 575-625 euros (only body)

Then, i'm not really interested in videos... i mean, maybe little on and just for fun purposes.

I'm interested on buying a good general purpose camera that will be ok for an enthusiast amateur, and i noticed that the 70D has many interesting features.

Touch screen "focus" could be good in some situation (some artistic or "aerobic" poses ) and the reviews seems to put the 70D CMOS AF technology in a very good way used with touch screen.

Second, many AF point that suite the 70D for a better wildlife\sport shooting condition than the 60D.

I'm not really interested on the MP difference.

What are my doubts?

I readed really a lot of topics about the 70D AF problems using it with "non canon" lens, or very fast apertures (< f/2.8), mainly using it with autofocus on distant subjects.

What do you think about it? Do you have some opinions, experiences, ideas about that?

I really prefer to take the cheaper and pretty good 60D without thinking about some of those problems that encountering an unlucky model of the 70D.

Second, what do you think about the differences between those 2 cameras?

Thank you for your opinion

[Lars]

This is an interesting subject also for me, since I am contemplating on the same choices. For me, I am upgrading from a 400D and at the same time, I will be exchanging my Tamron 18-50, which has taken some beating, and is no longer as sharp as it used to be. I guess one of the factors you must consider is the difference from you old camera. For me, that difference will be substantial, so I guess I will be more than satisfied with the 60D.

But the tought that there is something better out there is nagging me, and what if I would be more satisfied with a slightly better model?

However, it needs to be compatible with non-Canon lenses, for sure.

Sorry, I could not help much, maybe only increase the frustration . But any thoughts are appreciated.

Lars

[jamsus]

No, your answer made ​​me consider another aspect that I had not ignored, but I did not have deepened - the differences between my actual model and the new one, instead of difference between the newest, possibile, two models.

I got a 600D which is very good but is not really mine (my father's is the theorical but not pratical owner), and i think that i will be appreciate some of the improvements between the 600D and the 60D... and invest on future lens!

Thank you for your answer

[Kayaker72]

I do not believe I can do better than Bryan for comparing the two bodies:

"You can check out the Canon EOS 70D vs. 60D specification comparison to fully compare these cameras, but here are some of the highlight differences (70D vs. 60D respectively):

• 19 cross-type AF points (f/2.8 at center) vs. 9 cross-type AF points (f/2.8 at center)
• Dual Pixel CMOS AF in Live View including Movie Servo AF vs. contrast-only Live View AF with no Movie Servo AF
• 7 fps for 40/15 images (JPEG/RAW) vs. 5.3 fps vs. 58/16 images
• 20.2 vs. 18.0 megapixel sensor
• Built-in WiFi vs. Eye-Fi cards
• DIGIC 5+ vs. DIGIC 4 (17x faster)
• ISO 100-12800, 25600 vs. 100-6400, 12800 (but you will not want to use ISO 25600)
• Clear View II LCD with capacitive touch capabilities vs. Clear View I with no touch feature
• Approx. 98% viewfinder coverage vs. 96%
• Metering EV -1 – 20 vs. EV 0 - 20
• Shutter lag of 65ms vs 59ms
• Intelligent viewfinder
• Viewfinder grid lines available vs. optional focusing screen required
• Dedicated viewfinder level indicator vs. exposure meter doubling functionality
• AF Microadjustment vs. does not have
• Zone AF vs. does not have
• 23 Custom Functions vs. 20
• Additional shooting modes
• Ultra High Speed (UHS-1) memory card support
• Stereo in-camera sound recording vs. mono"

It does depend upon what you shoot if any of these differences mean anything too you. But, the one I will highlight, the 70D has AFMA and the 60D does not. AFMA allows you to calibrate the focus plane of each lens to each camera body. Like any high performance equipment, there is variability. This is less of an issue at apertures where you have a great DoF, as that large DoF will swallow the actual difference. But if you plan to start shooting Phase Detect AF (through the viewfinder) with shallow DoF, this can become a critical feature.

After that, for me, the EV -1 vs EV 0 would be nice as you can focus in 1 stop lower light. And the UHS-1 memory support and DIGIC5+ would be nice as you may be able to write to a memory card and process faster.

But, make no mistake, both of these cameras are capable of many of the exact same things. Generally speaking the better AF system, zone AF, and a few extra FPS will make the 70D a little better for wildlife, sports, and action (including around the house action). The extra stop of EV sensitivity will cause your lenses to hunt less in lower light. And the AFMA is a very nice feature if you will be shooting with shallow DoF. But, all that said, my sister owns the 60D. It is a very nice camera. In fact, even after owning it for a couple of years now, I think she is still getting to know its features.

Good luck.

[jamsus]

I do not believe I can do better than Bryan for comparing the two bodies:

"You can check out the Canon EOS 70D vs. 60D specification comparison to fully compare these cameras, but here are some of the highlight differences (70D vs. 60D respectively):

• 19 cross-type AF points (f/2.8 at center) vs. 9 cross-type AF points (f/2.8 at center)
• Dual Pixel CMOS AF in Live View including Movie Servo AF vs. contrast-only Live View AF with no Movie Servo AF
• 7 fps for 40/15 images (JPEG/RAW) vs. 5.3 fps vs. 58/16 images
• 20.2 vs. 18.0 megapixel sensor
• Built-in WiFi vs. Eye-Fi cards
• DIGIC 5+ vs. DIGIC 4 (17x faster)
• ISO 100-12800, 25600 vs. 100-6400, 12800 (but you will not want to use ISO 25600)
• Clear View II LCD with capacitive touch capabilities vs. Clear View I with no touch feature
• Approx. 98% viewfinder coverage vs. 96%
• Metering EV -1 – 20 vs. EV 0 - 20
• Shutter lag of 65ms vs 59ms
• Intelligent viewfinder
• Viewfinder grid lines available vs. optional focusing screen required
• Dedicated viewfinder level indicator vs. exposure meter doubling functionality
• AF Microadjustment vs. does not have
• Zone AF vs. does not have
• 23 Custom Functions vs. 20
• Additional shooting modes
• Ultra High Speed (UHS-1) memory card support
• Stereo in-camera sound recording vs. mono"

It does depend upon what you shoot if any of these differences mean anything too you. But, the one I will highlight, the 70D has AFMA and the 60D does not. AFMA allows you to calibrate the focus plane of each lens to each camera body. Like any high performance equipment, there is variability. This is less of an issue at apertures where you have a great DoF, as that large DoF will swallow the actual difference. But if you plan to start shooting Phase Detect AF (through the viewfinder) with shallow DoF, this can become a critical feature.

After that, for me, the EV -1 vs EV 0 would be nice as you can focus in 1 stop lower light. And the UHS-1 memory support and DIGIC5+ would be nice as you may be able to write to a memory card and process faster.

But, make no mistake, both of these cameras are capable of many of the exact same things. Generally speaking the better AF system, zone AF, and a few extra FPS will make the 70D a little better for wildlife, sports, and action (including around the house action). The extra stop of EV sensitivity will cause your lenses to hunt less in lower light. And the AFMA is a very nice feature if you will be shooting with shallow DoF. But, all that said, my sister owns the 60D. It is a very nice camera. In fact, even after owning it for a couple of years now, I think she is still getting to know its features.

Good luck.

Thank you, yesterday i readed twice the 70D review of Bryan, what stopped me a little was the continuous voices around the "AF" problems and the difference (+50%) of price between those two models...

For now i'm on 60D, but let's see!

[neuroanatomist]

You can find reports of all sorts of problems about anything on the Internet, the 70D's AF is inherited from the 7D, and is a very good AF system.

I'd say the 70D is a significant improvement over the 60D, but price is certainly an important consideration.

[jamsus]

Another thing that bumped my head was...

With 50-100 extra euros sometimes you can find a 5D Mark II... uhm!

[peety3]

Another thing that bumped my head was...

With 50-100 extra euros sometimes you can find a 5D Mark II... uhm!

Yes, but my (current) advice is to never buy a camera that's more than three years old (referencing the day the product first went on sale, not the manufacture or purchase date of [that particular unit]). The 5D2 was announced six years ago, whereas the 60D was released four years ago. You'd be getting a lot more with the 60D than the 5D2, though the 70D would be the "only" choice of the two-digit models and better.

With a 5D2, you also have massively different lens needs, which are potentially more expensive. The camera might be affordable, but the whole kit now becomes out of reach.

[jamsus]

Thank you Peedy for your opinion.

Today i discovered some other troubles on the 70D that really make me doubt of the purchase... some "non-canon" lens have problems with the new technology of the camera, i got 3-4 feedbacks about tamron\sigma that doesn't work on that body (software problem).

Probably, but just for a matter of economy and personal needings, i'll probably will go on the 60D

[clemmb]

Yes, but my (current) advice is to never buy a camera that's more than three years old (referencing the day the product first went on sale, not the manufacture or purchase date of [that particular unit]). The 5D2 was announced six years ago, whereas the 60D was released four years ago. You'd be getting a lot more with the 60D than the 5D2, though the 70D would be the "only" choice of the two-digit models and better.

With a 5D2, you also have massively different lens needs, which are potentially more expensive. The camera might be affordable, but the whole kit now becomes out of reach.

I totally disagree with this advice. I just this year purchased used a 1DIII and a 1DsIII to go along with my original 5D. I love them all and am very happy with my kit. I do like the AF Microadjustment of the 1D & 1Ds. I do not see the need to ensure I have the latest technology. I do much prefer the full frame to a crop frame. I would rather have my 12.8MP full frame than a 20MP crop frame.
I say if you can get a 5DII, go for it. You can't go wrong.