Why I Chose a Canon EOS 6D over a 5D MKIII

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You are making me cry :'( I thought life would be easier by just getting the 5D MIII, but here you go with the review >.< I wanted the better AF but im coming to realize that I will either start practicing landscapes or do portraits and I think the AF is sufficient, plus I can get a nice lens with it too, and better tripod. Sigh, decisions, decisions.
 
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babiesphotos.ca said:
TWI by Dustin Abbott said:
I'm really enjoying the 6D as a landscape model. The dynamic range and slightly smoother color have given me a lot of options in shooting. I've been uploading a series to Flickr all from the 6D. Here's the one I put up today:


Winter's Splendor #5 - Frosted by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

Dude, I want to be you when I grow up.
Or neuro...
Mind you, I may very well be older :)

LOL! For the record, I'm 36
 
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lonelywhitelights said:
The only reason I don't have a 6D right now is because of it's size and weight. Comfort is a big thing for me when shooting and the overall feel of the 6D just doesn't do it for me. Loved your review, though! and some great images. Thanks for sharing! =)

Interesting. Size and weight as in you want larger, I'm assuming, as they don't really come lighter in a FF DSLR. The feel of a camera in your hands is a big deal, for sure - I find that is a real plus for me personally with the 6D. I love the grip. Way beyond my 5DMKII. But, I don't have huge hands - somewhere between M and L glove size. Someone with larger hands wouldn't potentially have my comfort level with the 6D.
 
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perperub said:
Excellent review Dustin! Only thing stopping me from getting a 6D is a price drop *hoping* :)

Pär

I'm sure it will happen at some point, but I do doubt it will be significant before holiday 2013. Dropping the price too low on the 6D might have the unintended effect of cannibalizing 5DIII sales.
 
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fonts said:
You are making me cry :'( I thought life would be easier by just getting the 5D MIII, but here you go with the review >.< I wanted the better AF but im coming to realize that I will either start practicing landscapes or do portraits and I think the AF is sufficient, plus I can get a nice lens with it too, and better tripod. Sigh, decisions, decisions.

Sorry to muddy the waters. I think it really comes down to two things: 1) your style of photography and whether or not you actually need the better AF of the 5DIII and 2) how much money you want to spend, or, rather, if you want to spend it all on a camera body or get a body and lens or two.
 
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TWI by Dustin Abbott said:
fonts said:
I wanted the better AF but im coming to realize that I will either start practicing landscapes or do portraits and I think the AF is sufficient, plus I can get a nice lens with it too, and better tripod. Sigh, decisions, decisions.
if you want to spend it all on a camera body or get a body and lens or two.

Esp. reading Dustin's real world review and posts here I came the conclusion that I'll go with better/more non-body gear, I've put the 6d->5d3 difference in a 17-40L, books, large cpl/nd filters and flash accessories like diffusers and a bracket.

The 5d3 is very nice and the af enables shooting my 60d or 6d cannot do, but it's also only a camera after all and for most shooting styles the photog and the lenses make the difference. Plus I've seen how much value a camera body like the 5d looses quckly, so I'm definitely not willing to pay €3000 for a camera unless I would have full amortization with more/better paid contracts.
 
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TWI by Dustin Abbott said:
perperub said:
Excellent review Dustin! Only thing stopping me from getting a 6D is a price drop *hoping* :)

Pär

I'm sure it will happen at some point, but I do doubt it will be significant before holiday 2013. Dropping the price too low on the 6D might have the unintended effect of cannibalizing 5DIII sales.
I see. What holiday? What does your "holiday" mean for us non - North Americans? :)
 
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perperub said:
TWI by Dustin Abbott said:
perperub said:
Excellent review Dustin! Only thing stopping me from getting a 6D is a price drop *hoping* :)

Pär

I'm sure it will happen at some point, but I do doubt it will be significant before holiday 2013. Dropping the price too low on the 6D might have the unintended effect of cannibalizing 5DIII sales.
I see. What holiday? What does your "holiday" mean for us non - North Americans? :)

Sorry - I was referring to the traditional end of the year holiday season for North Americans - essentially November and December.
 
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TWI by Dustin Abbott said:
perperub said:
Excellent review Dustin! Only thing stopping me from getting a 6D is a price drop *hoping* :)

Pär

I'm sure it will happen at some point, but I do doubt it will be significant before holiday 2013. Dropping the price too low on the 6D might have the unintended effect of cannibalizing 5DIII sales.
I might just got lucky! :) The price here in Sweden just went down to equivalent of $2.471 tonight at one of the retailer. The offer is valid throughout this week. I might take the chance and pull the trigger...

Pär
 
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perperub said:
TWI by Dustin Abbott said:
perperub said:
Excellent review Dustin! Only thing stopping me from getting a 6D is a price drop *hoping* :)

Pär

I'm sure it will happen at some point, but I do doubt it will be significant before holiday 2013. Dropping the price too low on the 6D might have the unintended effect of cannibalizing 5DIII sales.
I might just got lucky! :) The price here in Sweden just went down to equivalent of $2.471 tonight at one of the retailer. The offer is valid throughout this week. I might take the chance and pull the trigger...

Pär

Good for you! I hope it works out. I am attaching a shot I took today at ISO 4000. I shot RAW, but have added no noise reduction. This is straight out of camera through my standard profile for the 70-300L. I don't think my 60D looked this good at ISO 800. The attachment is 2000px on the long end so that those of you who want to examine it a little closer.

P.S. I finally have my 70-300L dialed in where I am happy with it at infinity. I found that AFMA at normal distance didn't work for past 40 feet to my standard. I am happy that a close shot like this at 300mm still looks sharp, as I am optimized at the tele end for longer range.
 

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One of the other things I love about this camera is just how much detail the sensor can resolve with the right lens. This is a 100% crop at 70mm from the new 24-70 (and at f/2.8! which speaks to the lens). I know that the lens plays a part in it, but the way the camera puts it together is astounding.

By the way, this is shot from 1.2 miles away. It's an incredibly smooth and detailed rendering by the sensor to the point where you can almost see the individual bricks. It's a brilliant sensor.
 

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brattymesler said:
One of the other things I love about this camera is just how much detail the sensor can resolve with the right lens. This is a 100% crop at 70mm from the new 24-70 (and at f/2.8! which speaks to the lens). I know that the lens plays a part in it, but the way the camera puts it together is astounding.

By the way, this is shot from 1.2 miles away. It's an incredibly smooth and detailed rendering by the sensor to the point where you can almost see the individual bricks. It's a brilliant sensor.

I'm sure that is a great lens/camera combo. I'm currently on vacation carrying the 6D with the Tamron 24-70 VC and the Canon 70-300L in a medium sling bag. So far it (along with a few polarizing filters) seems to be a great travel combination. I haven't review images on a screen yet, but I'm very pleased with my IQ from the back LCD. I'll post a few once I have returned
 
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grahamclarkphoto

Just a photographer who loves to travel.
I have both the Canon EOS 5D Mark III and the Canon EOS 6D, in addition to a Nikon D700 and D800.

It's different for everyone of course, however this is my experience (and review) with the Canon EOS 6D

Canon-EOS-6D-Body-.jpg


Yosemite-Sunset.jpg


Canon-EOS-6D-Nikon-D700.jpg


Graham
 
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grahamclarkphoto

Just a photographer who loves to travel.
TWI by Dustin Abbott said:
Excellent review, Graham. I enjoyed reading it and you had some great images there. I was particularly pleased to read your conclusions regarding weathersealing - some have tried to suggest that the 6D was underpowered in that area, but that is not my impression. Keep up the good work!

Hello Dustin,

The 6D certainly has a small size and lightness, which gives the impression of a lack of weathersealing, but on close inspection the sponge material appears the same as the rest!

Graham
 
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RGF

How you relate to the issue, is the issue.
Jul 13, 2012
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Menace said:
Hey, what matters is that you are happy with your choice and the 6d does what you need it for.

Happy shooting :)

Since the price is not the same, then each person needs to decide the "value" of the lens. I think of value as what you get divided by what you pay. Since everyone values features differently (at over time will change their importance) and cost is total person, value is an individual decision.

Glad you like the camera. I bought my 5D M3 shortly after it was introduced. If I had a choice of the 5D M3 or 6D not sure how I would have decided.
 
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Feb 1, 2013
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To all those who bought a 6D and enjoy it, congratulations, I do as well!

Apologies to Dustin, still have not read your review, but plan to. No doubt you could have reached similar conclusions.

Now that I have around 3500 shutter actuations on my 6D, I will just state simply, the reasons I chose a 6D over 5D3:

1) Price.

2) I decided even if the resale value of the 6D declined more of a percentage than the 5D3, relative to their lowest street prices for new units (which may or may not ever be the case, time will tell)...that it would still be almost inconsequential, given the extra $1k or so needed to buy the 5D3. If there is a point in the future where you would lose more dollars in buying a 6D and holding/using it for say 2 or 3 years...than the dollars you would lose over that time if buying a 5D3...I can't see it. The difference isn't all that much, but the advantage may be with the 6D here. From a dollars and cents standpoint, I suppose the more difficult choice, would be between buying a used 5D3, or a new 6D...if you are inclined to buy a used body. Refurb camera body prices are usually a bit too close to the new price, for my taste. But not always.

3) The reviews looked like the image quality between the two, was very similar at all ISO's.

4) So I tried my cousin's 5D3, and then edited several of his RAW files, both on his computer, and on mine. He even produced a large print of one of his landscapes, that I edited on my computer, shot at low ISO. However, I found that the 5D3 has very strong, very large grain luminance noise which shows prominently by ISO 4000. I found an adjustment of the luminance NR slider in LR4, needed to be high up at 80, to have any effect on this noise. And when it did, of course huge amounts of detail were erased along with it. So, despite what several reviewers and members on here may have said...at higher ISO, I'm sorry but there IS NO resolution advantage of the 5D3, over the 6D. There might even be a tie...or the 6D might even get the nod...in specific situations. Certainly I will admit that below ISO 2500 or so, the 5D3's resolution advantage becomes easily noticeable. But that resolution, for me is certainly not worth an extra $1k.

By contrast, my 6D doesn't have luminance noise that strong with its grain that large, until ISO 16,000. 4000 vs. 16,000. That's quite a difference! They both have similar amounts of chrominance noise throughout the range, and it is easily managed with noise reduction, until ISO 12,800...where it starts to get more blotchy on both cameras. Basically, when you get in this amount of gain, you learn to do without the nicest color rendition.

5) The 4.5 fps vs 6 fps is not enough of a difference for me, even when shooting sporting or other action situations. The real difference is when you go above 8 fps, in such situations (having rented a 1D4). The 5D3's higher buffer storage would be an advantage, but again…not worth the price difference for most of my usage. Certainly the extra card slot is a 5D3 advantage, as well as its usage of CF cards in the main slot.

6) Yes, the AF of the 5D3, is definitely worth the price difference, but only IF you feel you really need it. I do not. Just some minor tweaks of the 6D's servo AF via the menu, have made the camera responsive enough...that only a handful of my multi-shots have ever come up slightly out of focus. I've even tracked bats in flight at dusk (obviously more than a handful of those wind up a tad soft!). If sports photography is where I made my living...then of course I would buy a 1DX, and have a 5D3 or two as my backup. It's not my primary work. A 5D3, also is definitely not a precursor for birding. The 6D has done a fine job of tracking birds in flight with a 70-200 f/4, as well as my other "non-super-teles". As for tracking things as slow as people walking...it just feels like the 6D is not even under a strain....like it's idling...even in low light in servo mode with either an f/4, or faster lens. Granted, if the people are wearing dark, low contrast clothes, and the lighting is dark...and you don't put an AF point on their face...then that might be asking for trouble. But it would be the same for the 5D3. Its wider AF array with more points, would give it an advantage, but in very low light, that advantage is probably gone.

I guess my main conclusion, is that I can't understand why a wedding photographer (I am not one, but I know there are tons of you on here), would feel the need to use a 5D3 for shooting still shots, over the 6D. Even tracking a bridal bouquet in flight, would be child's play for the 6D's autofocus. If you feel you need the slight pixel resolution advantage at lower ISO, I guess I can understand. If the 5D3 makes better use of a flashgun's focus assist beam in such a situation...in servo AF...than does the 6D...I guess I could also certainly understand that. I have no idea if this is the case, though. Most of what I have seen at weddings, they're using off camera flash with box or diffusor...so not sure if AF assist beam firing even works in that situation (I admit it seems like it might be possible, I just don't know).

So, the only real and practical advantage I see with a 5D3, over the 6D, in a wedding situation…would be the ability to shoot superior video, without the moiré. But for still shots, I fail to see how you’re going to make full use of the 5D3’s AF system, at a wedding. Unless, during a wide angle shot, there is some kind of elaborate group dancing situation, where people are running across in front of the camera from left to right at unpredictable times, while at the same time moving fore and aft (to use the wider AF point array, with all its points activated, and try to lock onto the unpredictable action as it swishes about.) But then, in that situation…you might have the aperture closed enough that it wouldn't matter...the zone technique. Or even more likely, you might just be shooting video with the 5D3, instead of stills. Still shots don’t usually convey dancing as well as video...with sound...
 
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Thanks for sharing your experience and observations Carl. I have never used a 5D3, so can't compare.

I still love my 6D after using it almost daily use for the past six months. My 7D rarely gets out of the camera bag these days. I use the 6D for everything including indoor sports, as its high ISO capabilities outweigh the 7D's AF advantage for me.
 
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