Here is the video with sample images: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUav9R_sWVw
A few nights ago I got a call to shoot a corporate event in Central London. Unfortunately my Canon 5D Mark III had been sent to Canon for servicing a few days earlier and my backup camera was in a different city.
A friend of mine from Canon was kind enough to lend me a new Canon 80D, which I was more than happy to test. I had watched some reviews on YouTube and read some comments on forums, and everyone seemed to come to the same conclusion that the new technology Canon is using to build sensors is proving to be very effective.
As a long time full-frame shooter (my last crop-sensor camera was a Canon 600D) I was a bit nervous about how the 80D was going to perform at high iso. The event took place indoors and wasn't very well lit. I mounted a Canon Speedlight 430EX II and bounced light off ceilings and walls, and shot the whole event at ISO 2000 and 3200.
First off, I'd like to talk about the handling. The camera is a good size and the grip is big enough not to be uncomfortable for someone with big hands like mine. The buttons are well positioned, except for the depth-of-field preview button which is almost impossible to press without looking for it. I normally set that to switch from One Shot to AI Servo in the Custom Controls menu.
Build quality overall is good, but the grip doesn't feel as solid as I'd expect from a £1000 camera. Also, anytime I picked up the camera it would produce a few creaking sounds. But I would still trust the 80D not to fall apart. However, the 1D, 5D and 7D series are in a totally different league.
Focusing was very accurate and the focusing points are well spread out in the frame. I didn't really get to play around with the Dual Pixel AF in live view very much, but from what I could see it performed extremely well. The camera was grabbing focus in low light even better than the 5D Mark III, although it wasn't as fast.
Image quality overall is very good for a camera of this type. At ISO 2000 and especially 3200 there is quite a lot of noise in the image, but the grain is very fine and is easily removed in post. Dynamic range at those ISOs is virtually non existent, you must get your exposure right in camera as there is hardly any detail you can recover from the shadows. Highlights, however, recover very nicely. The metering system in the camera is also impressive. I find with the 5D Mark 3 I often have to apply some exposure compensation not to get under exposed images. The 80D if anything tends to over expose just a bit.
So, is the Canon 80D a good camera? Absolutely. But is it worth £1000? Maybe not.
With that kind of money you can almost buy a Canon 6D, which although is much older and isn't built all that much better, it does have a full frame sensor, and image quality is significantly better at high iso. You could also find a second hand Canon 5D Mark II, if you want that rugged build quality and weather sealing.
If you're a videographer, though, there is no doubt that the Canon 80D is a fantastic videocamera, as well as a very good stills shooter. I still think, however, that you'd be better off waiting for the price to go down a bit, or if you can't wait then look for a Canon 70D. But if you have the money and want the latest Dual Pixel AF system, as well as better dynamic range, high iso capabilities and that 1080p at 60fps, the Canon 80D is for you.
A few nights ago I got a call to shoot a corporate event in Central London. Unfortunately my Canon 5D Mark III had been sent to Canon for servicing a few days earlier and my backup camera was in a different city.
A friend of mine from Canon was kind enough to lend me a new Canon 80D, which I was more than happy to test. I had watched some reviews on YouTube and read some comments on forums, and everyone seemed to come to the same conclusion that the new technology Canon is using to build sensors is proving to be very effective.
As a long time full-frame shooter (my last crop-sensor camera was a Canon 600D) I was a bit nervous about how the 80D was going to perform at high iso. The event took place indoors and wasn't very well lit. I mounted a Canon Speedlight 430EX II and bounced light off ceilings and walls, and shot the whole event at ISO 2000 and 3200.
First off, I'd like to talk about the handling. The camera is a good size and the grip is big enough not to be uncomfortable for someone with big hands like mine. The buttons are well positioned, except for the depth-of-field preview button which is almost impossible to press without looking for it. I normally set that to switch from One Shot to AI Servo in the Custom Controls menu.
Build quality overall is good, but the grip doesn't feel as solid as I'd expect from a £1000 camera. Also, anytime I picked up the camera it would produce a few creaking sounds. But I would still trust the 80D not to fall apart. However, the 1D, 5D and 7D series are in a totally different league.
Focusing was very accurate and the focusing points are well spread out in the frame. I didn't really get to play around with the Dual Pixel AF in live view very much, but from what I could see it performed extremely well. The camera was grabbing focus in low light even better than the 5D Mark III, although it wasn't as fast.
Image quality overall is very good for a camera of this type. At ISO 2000 and especially 3200 there is quite a lot of noise in the image, but the grain is very fine and is easily removed in post. Dynamic range at those ISOs is virtually non existent, you must get your exposure right in camera as there is hardly any detail you can recover from the shadows. Highlights, however, recover very nicely. The metering system in the camera is also impressive. I find with the 5D Mark 3 I often have to apply some exposure compensation not to get under exposed images. The 80D if anything tends to over expose just a bit.
So, is the Canon 80D a good camera? Absolutely. But is it worth £1000? Maybe not.
With that kind of money you can almost buy a Canon 6D, which although is much older and isn't built all that much better, it does have a full frame sensor, and image quality is significantly better at high iso. You could also find a second hand Canon 5D Mark II, if you want that rugged build quality and weather sealing.
If you're a videographer, though, there is no doubt that the Canon 80D is a fantastic videocamera, as well as a very good stills shooter. I still think, however, that you'd be better off waiting for the price to go down a bit, or if you can't wait then look for a Canon 70D. But if you have the money and want the latest Dual Pixel AF system, as well as better dynamic range, high iso capabilities and that 1080p at 60fps, the Canon 80D is for you.
but I was already in London when I got the call on the day, and I went there specifically to take my camera into Canon. I have a 6D and 1Ds as backup, but since I had access to an 80D I thought I'd give that a try rather than catch a train back home to pick up the 6D.
