Looking to replace my 5D Mark II with either the 6D or 70D. Please Help!

[Moviemaykr]

I need some real world advice on which is a better camera for my needs. I shoot mostly short interviews for a celebrity site here in LA. I also do walk and talks with a host as we get set tours from actors or maybe sometimes follow bands and fashion designers.
I also do a small amount of head-shots mostly in natural daylight areas. I'm hoping to do some sports photography in my spare time. I have professional L series lenses for my interviews. I use my Zeiss 85mm 1.4 for my head-shots or portraits. Take note I will be getting the Panasonic GH4 that shoots 4K and 96 FPS slo mo for all my high end video needs.
I really like the full frame sensor of the 6D for photos but also love the Auto-focus feature on the 70D and the fact that its a slightly newer camera. I am not a pixel peeper and don't care about this and that stats or numbers. Most my photos will be printed out on 8x11 for head-shots or on the web. I do not do large commercial print work. Most of my video interviews are shot in 1080 24p for web based sites.
I seem to really like the video features of the 70D which is the bulk of my work and really like that it costs about $700 less than the 6D. I'm wondering if I will get much better photos from the 6D that will be worth the price because I'm pretty sure the video features in the 70D are better for me. Please give me honest real world thoughts and not a bunch of statistics. I get one is full frame and one is cropped but will that really matter on a simple head-shot?

 

[Khalai]

Unless you plan to go above ISO 800, there won't be much difference in IQ. 6D really rocks in the high-ISO department, but unless you need that or you need ridiculously thin DoF, you may actually enjoy 70D a bit more. Now this I have no experience with, since I've never use video on my DSLR, but 6D is quite prone to moire/aliasing from many reviews I've seen.

 

[Random Orbits]

Which body are you using for your interview work? Will you have sufficient focal length coverage with either sensor size?

If you can control the lighting and keep your ISOs low, then the 7D should be just fine.

 

[blacksap]

The 6D is a better overall camera, you might think you will not use high ISOs, but you never know, you will buy the GH4 for video, that leaves the 70D for video almost useless IMO!! buy the better camera if you have the money, the 6D is far better in High ISO, better built body and full frame, that is just enough reason for me to go for the 6D.

 

[tayassu]

I agree with the others about the 70D being useless since you have a GH4. It is also clear that the FF camera will best the APS-C camera in high ISO performance. The 6D is way better for portraits because it renders much smoother bokeh due to its FF sensor. The 85mm 1.4 will be a dream on that camera. : I would definitely recommend to get the Eg-S Focus Screen for more accurate focusing. For sports, the 70D is much better, as it has a much more functional autofocus (the points are spread wider over the sensor and it has way more crosstype points) and more speed (frame rate, buffer...). But all in all, I think the 70D is the better compromise, as it can do portraits better than the 6D sports.

 

[rs]

As good as the 70D's video AF is, using it with anything but an STM lens will leave you selecting manual focus every time - USM lenses have AF which is far too fast for smooth focus, and the end result is choppy AF which not only looks bad, but gets loud as it stops/starts all the time:

http://petapixel.com/2013/08/26/video-comparing-canons-usm-and-stm-lenses-using-the-70ds-dual-pixel-af/

Plus of course the angle of view will change with the crop, so your primes and zooms will all frame very differently. In other words, if you swap out your 5D mk II for a 70D, you'll also need to swap all your nice L lenses for cheaper, slower STM lenses to utilise it to its full potential.

Get a 6D, and you'll not lose out on any cutting edge features (or framing) you're paying for by sticking with your current lenses.

 

[fragilesi]

I agree with the others about the 70D being useless since you have a GH4. It is also clear that the FF camera will best the APS-C camera in high ISO performance. The 6D is way better for portraits because it renders much smoother bokeh due to its FF sensor. The 85mm 1.4 will be a dream on that camera. : I would definitely recommend to get the Eg-S Focus Screen for more accurate focusing. For sports, the 70D is much better, as it has a much more functional autofocus (the points are spread wider over the sensor and it has way more crosstype points) and more speed (frame rate, buffer...). But all in all, I think the 70D is the better compromise, as it can do portraits better than the 6D sports.

It's hard to read that my lovely 70d is "useless" but I get what you mean

If you're just considering your work and the GH-4 will cover all the video then for work alone the 6D seems a very clear choice though the 70d would do a job too I would say but depending on your lens collection you might have to make changes there too. The 6D will shine on those odd occasions where you might not have the full control and perfect lighting.

But if you're serious about Sports photography . . . and do try it you'll love it, it's just a whole different world of picture taking . . . then the 70d comes into its own.

In effect you've fallen down the same hole as many of us. We can only afford one camera (well in my case at least) but because our photographic needs are diverse there is no one perfect answer unless we want to spend the equivalent of two or three cameras worth of cash! Whatever you do don't listen to anyone who says that one is "better" than the other overall because it all depends on the value you put on the features that each of these excels at. I know I'd love to have both!

 

[tayassu]

The best solution would of course be to save a little more and make the jump to the 5DIII. This is an amazing camera for video, sports and portraits and I think, it should last longer than either 70D or 6D technology-wise.

 

[fragilesi]

The best solution would of course be to save a little more and make the jump to the 5DIII. This is an amazing camera for video, sports and portraits and I think, it should last longer than either 70D or 6D technology-wise.

"A little more" . . . I could buy both and still get change our of a 5dMk III or three 70ds . . . no point getting a camera I can't afford to buy any lenses for ;D.

 

[tayassu]

The best solution would of course be to save a little more and make the jump to the 5DIII. This is an amazing camera for video, sports and portraits and I think, it should last longer than either 70D or 6D technology-wise.

"A little more" . . . I could buy both and still get change our of a 5dMk III or three 70ds . . . no point getting a camera I can't afford to buy any lenses for ;D.

Where I live, the difference between 6D and 5DIII is about 900-1000€. I would rather save for half a year or a year and buy the 5D. I don't know about the OP's Budget, so I just told him about the best solution possible (except 1DX, but this is a whole other story).

 

[Marsu42]

The 6D is way better for portraits because it renders much smoother bokeh due to its FF sensor. The 85mm 1.4 will be a dream on that camera.

I would object to that, because you can get great boekeh with crop - sometimes even better since it cuts out the best piece of the glass w/o vignetting and radial blur. The ff advantage doesn't matter that much unless you really plan to shoot wide open - but for many journalistic portraits w/o studio setup this is not an option since you've either got the eyebrows or the iris in focus. Most of the time, you'll have both out of focus

I'm hoping to do some sports photography in my spare time.

The 6d is horrible at tracking, but I guess you already know that.

I really like the full frame sensor of the 6D for photos but also love the Auto-focus feature on the 70D and the fact that its a slightly newer camera.

Never mind new, the 2013 70d's noise level and overall iq is still inferior to the 2005 5dc.

I seem to really like the video features of the 70D which is the bulk of my work and really like that it costs about $700 less than the 6D. I'm wondering if I will get much better photos from the 6D that will be worth the price because I'm pretty sure the video features in the 70D are better for me.

In this case this is your decision (though I don't know about video feature redundancy with your gh4) because the 6d has a bad reputation for video moire and ...

Please give me honest real world thoughts and not a bunch of statistics. I get one is full frame and one is cropped but will that really matter on a simple head-shot?

... no, it doesn't matter unless it's low light, you need ultra-thin depth of field or do heavy postprocessing. You probably know what iso values you end up with when shooting, that would be important for spot-on advice.

 

[Moviemaykr]

Thanks guys for all the great responses. And to answer a couple question about my needs Id say that yes I can use the GH4 for my video needs but I really wanted to use that for higher end video needs such as my music videos and film work or documentary work. I'm also not going to give companies the chance to ask for me to shoot in 4k for the same price as I shoot in 1080, Id just be setting myself up to be taken advantage of.
I don't have a good set of MFT lenses for my Panasonic cameras and would mostly use my 14mm 2.5 but don't really have any option to zoom while I'm filming during the set tours which by the way can be in somewhat low light from time to time, but I always have a nice LED on cam light. I have a old Nikon zoom that fits with an adapter but its tough to use in those situations since all the touch screen options cant be used for that type of non MFT lens.
Its always easier to use my Canon 5D mark II with my all purpose 24-105 mm 4.0 L series lens that I have control over the aperture. The only problem is that only records for 12 mins straight then I have to start over. Some of my set visits or interviews can run longer than 12 mins and when your working with celebrities they don't want to be stopped mid sentence or ask to repeat that because my camera timed out. LOL
Thats why I thought the 70D would be good choice to use both for video work and occasional outdoor natural daylight head-shots. If I'm in a studio or my garage that is where I can do indoor shoots, I always have great lighting with my Kino Flos and strobe lights as well when needed.
Someone mentioned that if I go with the 70D that my L series lenses might not be a good choice with that camera. Does the 24-105mm 4.0 and the 70-200mm 2.8 not work well with the 70D? I also have a Canon 50 mm AF 2.5 macro lens I could use as well.
Once again my uses for the 6D or 70D would be so that all the lenses I have would work best with those cameras for all purpose web based work which is mostly under 30 min interviews, events and head-shots. I also could let my wife use the camera for her blog posts and if I'm not there I thought the 70D would be easier to use for her to film with. As well as to use with the GH4 sometimes as a second angle. When I shoot my head-shots I always stay between 4 - 5.6 so I will have most of the face in focus. Casting directors do not like one eye in focus and the other slightly out of focus.
When I do my set interviews with video sometimes I like to be at 1250 ISO and sometimes 1600 when I was using the GH3. But 1250 seems to be great when using the Canon 5D Mark II.
I understand some of you may wonder why I don't want to do all my video work with GH4 but I don't want to go out and buy expensive MFT lenses right now and I have a lot of accessories for the 5D, such as Zacuto Z-Finder that really helps. . I do agree with some on here that maybe I just do my current 1080p video work with the GH4 and take photos with my 5D Mark II until September when Photokina reveals some new cameras. I don't feel I want to pay over $3000 for the 5D Mark III body, when for almost that much I can get a GH4 and a Canon 70D. I will put an example of the head-shots I'm doing which most of the time they will only be printed out to 8x11.
Love the feedback!
www.michaelchasegordon.com

 

[bdunbar79]

IMO, the 6D goes back from the 5D2. Flash sync speed. No better IQ. Just keep it and save money.

 

[tayassu]

Someone mentioned that if I go with the 70D that my L series lenses might not be a good choice with that camera. Does the 24-105mm 4.0 and the 70-200mm 2.8 not work well with the 70D? I also have a Canon 50 mm AF 2.5 macro lens I could use as well.

They will work perfectly fine!

When I shoot my head-shots I always stay between 4 - 5.6 so I will have most of the face in focus. Casting directors do not like one eye in focus and the other slightly out of focus.

In that case, as Marsu42 said, the 70D is maybe even better in bokeh, I was just referring to wide open aperture.
With that information, I would definitely recommend you to go for the 70D, I think it's perfectly usable at 1600ISO, good for your portrait style, very good for sports and great for video.

 

[Moviemaykr]

Thanks Tayassu, the more I think of being able to use the 70D for multiple uses as well as letting my wife use a simple camera to shoot her video blog by herself, then it might make sense to get the 70D and save some money. I could then maybe pick up a Panasonic zoom lens that is close to 2.8 in the future.
Since I might be shooting some college and maybe pro sports in the future then it also seems with 7 fps that the 70D would work quite well with the 70-200mm 2.8 L series lens. I also might be getting a Zeiss 50mm in the future and I think with the crop factor it would be great with the 70D.

 

[tayassu]

Absolutely! The 70D plus a 2.8/70-200 is superb for outdoor sports in its price range, if you can come close enough. The Zeiss will be stellar for portraits with not only the head but also with parts of the upper body, although I would consider the Sigma 1.4/50.

 

[rs]

Someone mentioned that if I go with the 70D that my L series lenses might not be a good choice with that camera. Does the 24-105mm 4.0 and the 70-200mm 2.8 not work well with the 70D? I also have a Canon 50 mm AF 2.5 macro lens I could use as well.

That was me. One of the criteria you added as an advantage of the 70D was its video AF. That particular feature will be a real let down if you stick with your L lenses (or any non STM lens):

As good as the 70D's video AF is, using it with anything but an STM lens will leave you selecting manual focus every time - USM lenses have AF which is far too fast for smooth focus, and the end result is choppy AF which not only looks bad, but gets loud as it stops/starts all the time:

http://petapixel.com/2013/08/26/video-comparing-canons-usm-and-stm-lenses-using-the-70ds-dual-pixel-af/

Plus of course the angle of view will change with the crop, so your primes and zooms will all frame very differently. In other words, if you swap out your 5D mk II for a 70D, you'll also need to swap all your nice L lenses for cheaper, slower STM lenses to utilise it to its full potential.

Get a 6D, and you'll not lose out on any cutting edge features (or framing) you're paying for by sticking with your current lenses.

For stills and for manual focus video, the L lenses and the 70D are great. Just don't expect video AF to be anything you'd use in reality with USM lenses.