Help with Camera decisions

[elflord]

That Magic Lantern Firmware is quite interesting. So it all comes down to this. Either I get the Nikon D800 and no extra equipment, or I get the Mark II / 60D / 7D with extra equipment, and the Mark III is overpriced I am leaning towards either the Mark II, 60D, 7D. One of those three, as it would give me extra room to buy extra lenses and other equipment.

What I find ridiculous though, is how expensive Canon still is. Consider the Mark II with a lens is almost the same price as a D800... (EU). I'm getting my gear at the begining of June, so I hope to still see some more feedback and help on which equipment I should aim and prepare for.

Given your interests, you will need some money to buy more than the body.

Studio photography: minimum = flash + some kind of background. Better = some kind of monolight kit.
Video: tripod + decent ball head at around $300-500. Possibly some kind of lighting kit. Stabilization rigs, etc.

Lens setup:

Good zooms: full frame 24-70 or 24-105. There are no good and cheap full frame zooms -- even the upcoming Tamron 24-70 is around $1000.

APS-C: You have some cheaper off brand options if you go with APS-C (e.g. Tamron 17-50 f/2.8). Otherwise Canon 17-55 or 15-85.

A decent prime or two: Some good budget primes are the Canon 50mm f/1.4 or 85mm f/1.8.
The better primes are about $1000 each and up (35mm f/1.4, 135mm f/2, Sigma or Canon 85mm)

 

[TheMonster]

That Magic Lantern Firmware is quite interesting. So it all comes down to this. Either I get the Nikon D800 and no extra equipment, or I get the Mark II / 60D / 7D with extra equipment, and the Mark III is overpriced I am leaning towards either the Mark II, 60D, 7D. One of those three, as it would give me extra room to buy extra lenses and other equipment.

What I find ridiculous though, is how expensive Canon still is. Consider the Mark II with a lens is almost the same price as a D800... (EU). I'm getting my gear at the begining of June, so I hope to still see some more feedback and help on which equipment I should aim and prepare for.

Lens setup:

Good zooms: full frame 24-70 or 24-105. There are no good and cheap full frame zooms -- even the upcoming Tamron 24-70 is around $1000.

APS-C: You have some cheaper off brand options if you go with APS-C (e.g. Tamron 17-50 f/2.8). Otherwise Canon 17-55 or 15-85.

A decent prime or two: Some good budget primes are the Canon 50mm f/1.4 or 85mm f/1.8.
The better primes are about $1000 each and up (35mm f/1.4, 135mm f/2, Sigma or Canon 85mm)

I just found a good deal at a local store that offers the 5Dii with a 24-70mm 2.8 for just around 2,700€. I can also grab an extra 50mm 1.8, plus other small accessoires which I got planned out and are quite cheap, aka accumulate gear over a period of time.

What do you think about this? And will the 5Dii still serve me good for a long time?

 

[smithy]

I just found a good deal at a local store that offers the 5Dii with a 24-70mm 2.8 for just around 2,700€. I can also grab an extra 50mm 1.8, plus other small accessoires which I got planned out and are quite cheap, aka accumulate gear over a period of time.

What do you think about this? And will the 5Dii still serve me good for a long time?

I don't think you can go wrong with this combination. The 5D2 is a great camera if you don't need the 'sports' features of the 5D3 - similar IQ, but without the framerate and AF. The 24-70mm is a great lens, so versatile on a FF body.

 

[Ryan708]

Canon is more expensive no doubt. Take a look at where 90% of the nikon lenses are made. It is rare any of them are from japan. and Nikon outsources their sensors from Sony. who wants a damned Sony?

 

[elflord]

I just found a good deal at a local store that offers the 5Dii with a 24-70mm 2.8 for just around 2,700€. I can also grab an extra 50mm 1.8, plus other small accessoires which I got planned out and are quite cheap, aka accumulate gear over a period of time.

What do you think about this? And will the 5Dii still serve me good for a long time?

The 5DII is an excellent fit for your purposes. No need to get all the gear at once, but just something to keep in mind -- a collection of accessories including the 24-70mm (~1000USD), a decent prime (~400USD), a flash (~300USD), a decent tripod/head (300USD or more) and it pretty quickly adds up to about the same as the body. This is more or less bare essentials -- accessories that you will really need for what you plan to do.

I generally recommend against spending a lot on the body for this reason -- the most common beginner mistake is to spend a lot on the body and then pair it with woefully inadequate lenses, and skip out on the flash / tripod. The 5DII is a solid step up in image quality, but without good glass, proper support (essential for video or landscape), or lighting, you're not going to have much of an image to project onto that full frame sensor. So I'd recommend the 5DII, but not at the expense of everything else.

 

[TheMonster]

I don't think you can go wrong with this combination. The 5D2 is a great camera if you don't need the 'sports' features of the 5D3 - similar IQ, but without the framerate and AF. The 24-70mm is a great lens, so versatile on a FF body.

Thanks I would absolutely loooove to get the 5D3, but it is in my opinion overpriced and way out of my budget.

The 5Dii does not have 720/ 60fps. It also doesn't have it's video mode features as easily integrated into the camera as the 7D.

I've been a 7D shooter for the last 3 years, and recently added a 5DII to my kit... Besides the better image quality the 5DII offers (the ONLY reason I bought it, granted a HUGE reason), the 7D in my opinion is a better all around camera. And when I say "camera" I am not referring to the sensor, just everything else.

If you combine the 7D with the 5Dii you get the 5Diii!

You could also go more budget and get a 60D with a flippy screen (some people like that), and invest the rest of your cash into glass.

I'm mainly a stills person, and a few HUGE features I love that the 7D has over the 5Dii are:
- built-in electronic level (viewfinder & LCD)
- more customizable buttons
- commander flash for off camera flash
- M-fn button
- Better AF

But then the 5Dii has the advantages of:
- full-frame sensor, so full use of your lens' potential
- better IQ, especially at higher ISOs
- Better for manual focusing (you can change the focusing screen)
- shallower DOF

So it really comes down to what YOU need.

Thanks for making my life so much harder You said that the 5Dii doesn't shoot 720, 60fps, which I read and see almost everywhere. But again I see a lot of other people with their videos that were shot at 720, 60fps. It's confusing to me. Is there a firmware update from Canon or is it from the Magic Lantern Firmware? I also read that the Magic Lantern Firmware is a sort of hack to dslr's, so do I lose my warranty on my camera? MLF safe at all? Read on a review that the 5Dii at 1080 is sometimes choppy, can anyone confirm that? Also, is the 5Dii really worth the investment as opposed to what I could do with a 7D (get lots of high quality equipment)?

 

[elflord]

Thanks for making my life so much harder You said that the 5Dii doesn't shoot 720, 60fps, which I read and see almost everywhere.

I think you should pursue this a little further. I don't see it in the list of menu options on my 5DII body but I do see it on the spec sheets.

Most of the features that the 7D has over the 60D are stills oriented (perhaps everything except weather sealing).

The 7D is more feature rich than the 5D because it's a new camera. The only advantages of the 5DII over the 7D are "full frame goodness", interchangeable focus screens, and magic lantern. Both the 5DII and the 7D have some advantages over the 60D for stills.

I'd say the 60D is the better buy if getting a 5DII would mean that you had to compromise on glass or other essentials. You can always upgrade or get a better body later. A 60D with a good tripod and good glass will produce better video than a hand held 5D with a cheap zoom lens.

 

[Ryan708]

The big benefit of the 5D MkII if that it is a full frame sensor, and does very well in low light and has awsome background blur-ability. However the AF on the 5d MkII is not the best. BUT in video you are doing mostly manual or contrast AF so that does not matter. The 60D you can get refurbished with a lens for $980 and either sell the lens for 300 on e-bay or use it. I have a 60D with magic latern on it and it didnt hurt it one bit, and there are SOOO many options available for video I dont even know what half of them are lol. The 7d is the same sensor as the 60D and i dont see much difference for video. And the 60D screen pivots, i dunno if that is useful for video, considering I only like it to keep my LCD scratch free lol. Just my honest opinion. And you might look into the nikon lenses you have, i dont think they will work on a full-frame nikon. Just join the dark side already ;-)