Recommendations for a new DSLR

devilfish said:
Thanks for all the advice. I finally bought the Canon 750D this week with an 18-135mm IS STM lens (probably to soon be joined by the 55-250mm lens). It seems brilliant so far.
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Good choice and also when you decide to get something longer the 55-250 is probably a better choice than the 70-300, as it has a very good reputation, is a much newer design and I expect also cheaper, plus the difference between 250mm and 300mm isn't that noticeable.
 
Congratulations, it's a hard decision to make. I'm sure you will enjot it.

I have gone thru much of the same thought process and progressions, and am about to pull the trigger on a DSLR. I'm leaning heavily toward the Pentax K-50. It has the look and feel of my old Minolta x-570, 35mm SLR, and can use any K-mount lens made since about 1975. Unlike my Minolta MD-mount lenses which are basically useless now and fit nothing without an adapter that degrades image quality making their use pointless. I would more than welcome any advice, comments. or suggestions.
 
Time to revive this thread. Last month in Singapore my camera failed and a repair is very costly. Fortunately insurance will cover it but they've offered to reimburse me for the camera body so that I can buy a new model instead.

I'm very keen to step up the Canon. I took some very nice shots with a friend's 7D a while ago, and the 6D has been recommended. I'm hoping to spend a rough maximum of £1000 on the body of the camera - I'd be grateful for suggestions and advice! :)
 
The 6D has a larger (full frame) sensor and the 7D (and newer 7Dii) has a slightly smaller APS-C sensor, which is the same as your recently crashed 750D. The sensor size affects the lens length, so that the smaller sensor you are used to makes a lens look more telephoto than the same lens would appear on a 6D (or 5D series). Also, Canon lenses designated EF-S will only fit smaller sensor cameras, while lenses designated EF will fit either size sensor camera. I believe you have EF-S lenses, and if so a 6D will make your lenses unusable. For this reason alone, I would recommend a good used 7D or if you can afford it a new 7Dii.
 
AD, thanks so much for such a helpful response!

I didn't realise the lenses would be a problem - you're right that I have the EF-S series. Although I can (just about) splash out on a camera body, to replace lenses at short notice as well would be very difficult to justify financially - that means the 5D and 6D are out of the running currently.

From the sounds of things I'd need to be looking at the 7D mark II to make it worthwhile - for a noticeable step up. Using my friend's camera I felt the images taken were a notable improvement from my 750D; from your perspective do you think image quality would be significant enough to justify almost doubling the price - or is it only a marginal change?

Thanks! :)
 
In the smaller sensor cameras (the ones that will take your lenses), Canon has three series.

You are in the entry level series, which here in the states are known as Rebel (with various number and letter suffixes) but overseas are known by a three digit number.

The mid range series goes by a two digit number. It started with 10D and went up in increments of 10 (20D, 30D, etc) and the latest version is the 80D.

The top (pro) range goes by a single digit number and for smaller sensor has only one model. Currently it is the 7Dmark2 (replacing the 7D).

In my opinion, the mid range 80D is your best choice. Image quality will be identical to the lower end series (I think it has the same sensor), but build quality will be more robust. Thus, it should not crash like your 750D did.

I hope this helps!
 
Thanks, but the 750D apparently failed because of overuse - the shutter wore out after around 300,000 photos but I continued to use it (because I was in Singapore), so the sensor has also been damaged.

I'm not too keen on the 80D as it carries a much higher price for the same quality images. Although it's a professional camera you mentioned that the 7D has the same sensor as the 750D, so do you think the other benefits (higher max ISO, etc.) justify paying almost double? I was a little surprised to find that I shouldn't expect a major step up in image quality, so I'm a little unsure currently.
 
A very accomplished photographer friend of mine bought the original 7D when it was new. He was disappointed with the quality (noise/grain) at higher ISO settings. However the new 7Dmarkii is much improved in this area as well as having a higher pixel count. If you want the best quality without going to a larger sensor and new lenses, I think the 7Dmarkii will be your best bet. As a professional camera, it will also be built to last longer (have a higher shutter count than your 750D).
 
Thank you very much.
At the moment 7D mark II is in the lead. I went to look at it in person yesterday and I'm happy with the feel, but then the assistant said if I'm limited to the 7d because of my lenses, I should try for a 6d with a lens adapter which will make my lenses fit well. Sorry to have dragged this out further, but do you feel the adapter is a bad idea?
 
Far as I'm aware the 80D has the newest sensor, newer than the 7DMII - so whilst the 7DMII will have better weather sealing and better AF features the ISO gain might be better with the 80D. However I've honestly not lookedi nto this in great depth, I only recall seeing some test shots from the 80D a while back and being impressed by what I saw.

In all other criteria the 7DMII should be superior and its certainly a very capable camera body. Image quality you're less likely to see a vast difference; you might even see a drop if you're used to viewing at 100% view for judging sharpness as when the MP value goes up the 100% view size of a photo is bigger which magnifies the photo (for those reason I tend to judged my 7D at around 60% view because I got used to the much smaller sensor in my 400D). Note this is talking about 100% view not print or web display.

For big gains in image quality this tends to be reliant upon the operator and the lens more so than the body (body comes into it most with high ISO situations).




Far as I'm aware there are no adaptors on the market worth using; there are some EFS lenses that can be modified to fit to fullframe bodies but you have to research it as whilst changing the mount shape is not too difficult; the smaller mirrors in crop sensor cameras mean that EFS lenses can protrude more into the body than EF. As a result some EFS lenses can bump into the mirror if you modify them to fit to a fullframe body.
Honestly I would say that an 80D or 7DMII would be more than enough for an upgrade and would certainly give you a general all round improvement. You can then work toward an EF based setup.



NOTE - I do generally advise people that they should get the sensor/film size they want to work with FIRST then upgrade their lenses based upon that. However you've already invested and got EFS lenses and you've stated you've not the finances to upgrade them. As such it suggests that the best option is another cropsensor body.
You might consider spending less on the upgrade - even getting an older secondhand and then save the difference toward getting new lenses in the future. You might even consider a second hand 5D or 5DMII and then something cheap like a 50mm f1.8 to tide you over toward upgrading your lenses to EF.

So there's a few options on the table depending how you want to approach things and how your finances are.
 
What overread said. I have never even heard of an adaptor to use EFS lenses on a full frame body. I can assure you that if one exists it will NOT be worth using. Just get the 7Dii and enjoy it.
 
Thank you all so much for your brilliant advice. My new 7Dii arrived this evening - I'll be taking it for a test run within the next couple of days. :D
 
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