6D or wait for New 7D?

[bholliman]

Funny.  I made the exact same post a month ago, only I asked about 6D, 7D2, 5D3 too.

I just got my 6D a few days before Christmas.

I would have to say go for the 6D.  Having a FF camera is very useful.  Very, very interesting compared to just a newer crop. 

I avoided shooting ISO 400 on my T3i, and I would never shoot above 800 ISO.  I have seen people showing off select images from 7D that they have modified significantly in post that look good shot at 1600 or 3200, or even a few from 6400, BUT, a.)  not all of one's images would lend themselves to such treatment, and 2.)  who wants to do that degree of intensive PP NR on every image?

I have been shooting the 6D at 3200 and it looks fantastic.  It looks great at 5000, and even good at 6400 untouched in PP.  With some PP, I could make it look better, but I have not even been messing with it that much.  (LR3 needed upgrading to LR 4 for the new camera).  I got LR4 yesterday, and it really is better than LR3, contrary to my initial thinking.  That ISo ability is huge, it means so many indoor shooting situations where I can avoid flash altogether, or use it only for fill.  I LOVE it.

The inherently shallower DOF is great too.  Not so much because I want to use primes wide open for heavy effects, but because it makes F/4 look like f/2.5 did on a crop body.

I may someday pick up the 7D2 (whenever that might appear), but I can wait a year after its release after the prices go down.  My T3i still works great when I want "reach" from a crop body.

As for the 6D's AF, it may not be the 61-point system, but it also lacks some of the complications that go along with all that complexity.  I don't generally shoot super-fast things, or at least not in super-serious situations where one certain try would not be just as good as the next try. 

What I do love is the one big, bright center AF point in the 6D, which catches AF instantly in low light (-3 EV, whatever that means to you  ).  Supposedly the 5D3 may struggle with lags on dim light focus.  The 6D also has big obvious RED AF points you can see in the dark too. 

ScottyP nailed his response.  Most of the points I would have tried to make, but he stated it better than I can.

I received my 6D with 24-105mm lens a few weeks ago and love it.  The IQ is excellent and I love the high ISO capabilities.  The AF system is great for the kind of shooting I do, love the bright viewfinder and big red center AF point which focuses well in some really poor light.

I was planning to keep my 7D for kids sporting events and an occasional wildlife shot.  But, now I'm starting to think I can sell it and my EF-S 15-85mm (APS-C) lens and use the money toward my next lens purchase.  I used the 6D at a couple of middle school and elementary basketball games last week and the results were great!  I was able to crank the ISO up to 6400 and not worry about the noise and IQ hit.  This allowed me to use faster shutter speeds and the pictures are better overall than similar games in the same gyms with my 7D shot weeks earlier with the same 70-200mm IS II L lens.  I did miss the extra reach of the crop body at times, but the 6D's AF was certainly good enough for sports at this level.

A serious or professional sports shooter will want faster frame rate and a more elaborate AF system, but the 6D is more than good enough for my needs.

[rpt]

ScottyP is right on. My 2c: if you are not missing pictures, wait. If you are, then upgrade. If you wait, like robbymac said, you may even save a hundred...

If you are not taking action shots (fast moving objects like kids, sports, BIF, jumping mountain lions etc...) then you probably do not need a 7D or a 5D3 (or even a 1DX)...
 

LOL

Hopefully they are jumping across the shot, and not jumping at the photographer!

Gary's cat was jumping across. These are links to his photos. Take a look. They are fantastic as usual.
http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=8079.0;attach=26993
http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=8079.0;attach=26884
http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=8079.0;attach=26935

If the cat jumps at the photographer, think of it as a golden opportunity to take an award winning photo - you may get it posthumously, but an award is an award!

[tiger82]

Are you heavily invested in EF-S lenses?  Are there shots you are missing and would get with a FF or new APS-C camera?  If your answer to the first question is yes, then factor that into FF vs APS-C decision making. If your answer to the second is no, then be happy with what you have.

[Lord_Zeppelin]

I jumped on the 6D from Amazon with the 6% cash back, moving up from my trusty T2i. The T2i served me well for 2.5 years, but I've outgrown the feature set much faster than I thought I would, and I'm missing shots because of it. Part of it is me, part of it was limitations of the equipment. I guess I'll just have to deal with the 6D's "lackluster" or "crippled" or "inferior" AF 

But really, I'm so sick of the spec list comparison and the pixel peeping crowd bashing every camera that comes out. If people spent half as much time working on their skills and just shooting with the equipment they have instead of bitching, they would be better photographers.

[Botts]

I upgraded from 7D to 6D.  I also have shot with a friends 5D3 at sporting events.

If sports are your key focus, I found the 7D and 5D3's auto-focus to have a similar keeper rate.  The 5D3s is better, but it didn't effect my photography substantially.  Losing the crop advantage was sure noticed though.

I'm taking my 6D to shoot animals soon, I'm renting a 300mm to get the length back.  The 7D with 70-200mm gave me a length of 320mm effectively.

If you need the length from your lenses, you may want to keep the 7D, and go with a 6D for other shoots, but if you don't need the length, then I'd go 5D3.  I decided that I'm saving up for the 7D2 to pair with my 6D for lens reach reasons.

My friend who shoots birds professionally isn't upgrading his 1D4 because he doesn't want to lose the 1.3x crop either.

I have been somewhat debating the same issue.  I have a 7D and it works well for what I do most which is sports - however, I have wanted to get a FF camera.

So for me, the question is do I sell the 7D and get a 5DIII, or keep the 7D for sports and get the 6D for most everything else.

I'm going to wait and see if a 7DII gets announced as a 6D & 7DII combo might be better than a 5DIII (which my current thinking is the 5DIII would be better than the 6D & 7D).

Until then, I'm happy with my 7D.

[Brymills]

I'm in the exact same situation.  Really want a FF but if the 7d2 has good specs then I might just stay using cropped body.

I would also presume (hoping) that the 7d2 price point will be between 6d and current 7d.

So in my case I will sit and wait......at least 1st half of 2013. Hopefully by that time the 7d2 is out and/or the 6d prices would be lower and bug/glitches are fixed.

Speaking of which, I have not read reported bugs or glitches other than slow focus on some copies.

I often have to use jpegs straight out of the camera for speed, and all I'll say is the high ISO stuff on the 5D 3 is incredible compared to the 7D.  I occasionally miss the higher FPS, but not the crop factor.    A 70-200 is good enough for everything I need.

[tortilla]

But really, I'm so sick of the spec list comparison and the pixel peeping crowd bashing every camera that comes out. If people spent half as much time working on their skills and just shooting with the equipment they have instead of bitching, they would be better photographers.

Sure, but what good is it for being a good photographer, if you're images are to noisy or soft, due to the equipment?

[Samsungnote]

Recently, I just bought the Canon 6D. It is very performance than my 7D. If you are looking the full frame with limited budget, that will be tone.

[AlanF]

I have been debating with myself of whether to upgrade my 7D to a 6D or 5D III or wait for the 7D II. I use my 7D for bird photography where high pixel density gives a longer reach for a given lens.  The 5D III beats the 6D on two important counts: 10% more pixels is like a 1.05xTC; and the autofocus on the III has several advantages, from more cross points for capturing birds in flight, more reproducible, and having some f/4 sensitivity.  I am tempted to buy the III and teach my wife to use the 7D - it's too good a camera to sell cheap.  If the 7D II were definitely coming out soon, I'd wait for its specs before deciding.

[Neopulse]

I'm personally a Nikonian, but I have an affection towards the 7D model. What I'm really hoping that they do with the 7D Mark II is instead of a 1.6x crop, they put instead the 1.3x APS-H sensor in there. If they do, I honestly think it would decimate competition and create an ideal model between the APS-C and full-frame models at a reasonable price with great low-light performance and versatility.

[that1guyy]

I'm personally a Nikonian, but I have an affection towards the 7D model. What I'm really hoping that they do with the 7D Mark II is instead of a 1.6x crop, they put instead the 1.3x APS-H sensor in there. If they do, I honestly think it would decimate competition and create an ideal model between the APS-C and full-frame models at a reasonable price with great low-light performance and versatility.

I think you'll be disappointed.

[expatinasia]

If the cat jumps at the photographer, think of it as a golden opportunity to take an award winning photo - you may get it posthumously, but an award is an award!

Then he would really wish he had bought a 1 series, as the cat is far more likely to swallow a 6D or 7D, while it might choke on a 1D. ;-)

[AudioGlenn]

to me, the jump to full frame was an immediate and obvious upgrade in my photography.  I don' think I'll go back to a crop sensor after the differences I've noticed.  The other big jump in image quality came when I switched from Aperture to Lightroom 4!

As for the 7D, If I find I really need that much more speed than what my 5d mmiii offers, I'll have to look into getting a 1DX.  For your needs, I'd say go for the 6D for the sensor alone unless you can afford (the time) to save and get a 5D mk III

[rpt]

If the cat jumps at the photographer, think of it as a golden opportunity to take an award winning photo - you may get it posthumously, but an award is an award!

Then he would really wish he had bought a 1 series, as the cat is far more likely to swallow a 6D or 7D, while it might choke on a 1D. ;-)

LOL! Good point!

[rpt]

If the cat jumps at the photographer, think of it as a golden opportunity to take an award winning photo - you may get it posthumously, but an award is an award!

Then he would really wish he had bought a 1 series, as the cat is far more likely to swallow a 6D or 7D, while it might choke on a 1D. ;-)

LOL! Good point!

This was my attempt with a 1 series camera and 16-35, the tiger got the better of me and it didn't choke on the 1Ds MkIII......... but we all survived!

LOL! There you go! Photographic proof that bigger is better