Hoi skiz, Need Your Full Assessment of 6D

[megabyteme]

May end up purchasing in the next 24 hours. Anything you don't love about the camera? Have read plenty of consumer comments, but would appreciate your input. Stretching our budget for this, need to make sure it is everything a non-pro/critical enthusiast would want.

Thanks.

Also welcome any other first-hand experience with the Canon 6D. Will most likely grab the kit with the 24-105 L lens.

[Skiz]

You're coming from a T3i if I recall?

If that's correct, there will be some instant familiarity.

Pros:

*It's an incredibly versatile camera. It can stand head to head with the 5DM3 in terms of 95% of still photography areas. Noise, sharpness, dynamic range, you name it. The 5DM3 prob beats it a bit in terms of noise reduction, but then again, it should seeing as it's at least another thousand dollars over the 6D. However, there are many reviews I read before purchasing mine that rated the 6D as being sharper than the 5DM3. Either way, it's going to be a wonderful step up from what you're used to.

*The menu is designed off the same format so you/the wife should hit the ground running.

*ISO range of 100-25600. That's incredibly high and the camera also has a few options where you can set high ISO NR and it works exceptionally. I put mine on high and never looked back. Not sure anyone would want it lower. Using 25600, you can quite take beautiful photographs in almost complete darkness. The 6D has an amazing ability to shoot in the dark. You'll also notice that the shots in the evening that you may have taken before with your T3i, always came out a bit noisier than you'd find acceptable. No more. You'll immediately notice that the 6D makes an enormous jump up in this area. It might be the thing I enjoy most is it's ability to reduce or downright eliminate noise in nearly any situation. (Just as a side note, you can manually edit the ISO ranges all the way out to 50-102400. I've been in total darkness at 3AM doing Milky Way shots and completely blown out the sky in 4-5 secs with 102400. lol)

*There are lots of cool new features you'll find while experimenting. There's a built in electronic level that I find very useful, and I prefer the histogram to my old one. There's lots of small improvements and tweaks I could list really.

*You might also like the wifi abilities. I use it to connect my camera to my MacBook when shooting at night. I can view live images from my camera, take photos from the laptop, and it helps focusing at night with my MF primes. I know a lot of other folks that like to connect to their smartphones so they can directly upload photos to Instagram, Facebook, email....whatever, all on the fly. I've tested those capabilities. It works well. I didn't mess with it again.

*Full frame sensor, takes advantage of better lenses and a whole basket of other added bonuses and capabilities.

*Massively improved battery life. Seriously. It lasts waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay longer than your T3i.

*C1 & C2 (Custom Shooting modes) You can sort of make your own presets here for different situations. For example, my C2 is set up so I'm ready to photograph anything on the move. See a Bald Eagle flying right towards me? A badger scampering along our hike? No problem. I instinctively swivel my shooting mode to C2 and hold down the shutter button as it's already set up to: AI-Servo AF--Drive-Continuous/Silent--ISO–200--Evaluative Metering--spot Shutter speed 1/1000--Aperture–f7.1--WB Cloudy--AF-Man set to center point. This way, it's taking something like 9 frames/sec all at settings I've selected for just these type of moments.

*Silent shutter modes. Love em.

*Weather sealed. You won't use the 6D for underwater photography, but you won't freak out if you get caught in the rain on a hike either.

But remember, these are just the things that I like about the camera. Someone who shoots macros or portraits may have an entirely different list.


Cons:

Not many, and most relate to video.

*AF Points. Seriously, Canon made a huge mistake in not giving the 6D more AF points. Going from the T3i, you're going to go from 9 to 11 AF Points. The 5DM3 has 61! I can't tell you how many times I've had my ideal shot lined up, only to be fucked by AF Points that aren't where I need them. This leaves me with a couple of options:

1. Manually focus my shot (fuck that if at all possible)
2. Move my camera around, eg: physically move the camera and tripod, then turn it a few degrees, then hope the prob is solved.
3. Take multiple shot and align in post. This isn't even an option if the photo needs to be taken quickly, or if the subject/content is changing (sunset, etc), or I'm using filters.

*Seriously, once you learn to manipulate the AF Points to suit your shots, you're going to love it. Then just as you're mastering it, you'll start noticing that you wish you had more... many more.

*Video. Personally, I very rarely shoot video. I never do any serious video or anything from a tripod. The only video I've ever shot has been hand held subjects that I wanted to get a short video of. I would say it generally takes really good video, but you'll find that people have an issue with anti-aliasing. There's a fellow named Dave Dugdale who lives near me that does some really concise, side-by-side analysis on this with the 5DM3.

*No dual SD card slots. Not sure if this is really a "con" since no other cameras at this price range have it either, but I at least wish I had two, one for RAW and one for JPEGs. This also means no backups, so if your card goes tits up after taking two thousand photos on a long vacation, you're just shit outta luck. Again, extremely rare, but the thought of it happening troubles me at times.



Advise:

*Make sure you are off the "preset" teet; they're all gone on the 6D. No more "Portrait", "Landscape", etc modes. It's all up to you.

*Make sure you're ok shooting without a flash. The 6D is meant to be more versatile than an entry level shooter, so it leaves out the flash and you can add one that suits your needs. There are some moderately priced speedlites if you felt you wanted one, just FYI. I only shoot outdoors and don't feel the need for one. (I own a small bubble level that is hot mountable tho.)

Overall I'm very happy with it. I actually demoed a 5DM3 for free all day long just this past weekend. I liked it, but it was heavier and there was just no way in hell there was a $1400 difference in that and my 6D. Not for my uses anyhow. It firmed up my decision that I love my 6D and I'll be using it for years to come.

[megabyteme]

We've actually got a 7D and a well-used 20D. This is meant as my wife's all-around go-to camera to capture our children's early years, as well as occasional vacations, and 3-way secks parties.

Sincere thanks for your thoughts/experiences on this!

[Skiz]

7D. I knew that.

You shopping on SD?

[megabyteme]

I do watch SD now, although I am only likely to buy through a small number of merchants. Leery of grey market, etc.

Where did you purchase your 6D?

[Skiz]

I found mine through SD, but the actual seller was B&H. Not sure if you're familiar with B&H but they're the online photography store along with Adorama.

I bought a 6D package early on so you can prob beat what I paid. After tax, I paid $2643 for the following:

CAE6DAX	        1	EOS 6D DSLR Camera (Body Only)
CA241054LISA	1	24-105mm f/4L IS EF USM AF Lens
CAPP100AX       1	PIXMA PRO-100 Color Inkjet Wireless Photo Printer
CAPPPSG13AX	1	SG-201 Photo Paper Plus Semi-Gloss 13 x 19" (50 Sheets)
SAUSDU16GBU	1	16GB SDHC Memory Card Ultra Class 10 UHS-I

There was also a rebate for $400 on a pre-paid AMEX. That's basically same as cash. I just took it and bought a $400 Amazon gift card since those never expire and never deplete.

I took the Pixma Pro-100 printer (which retails for ~$500) and sold it on Craigslist for $175 and sold the paper for $30 or something.

So I basically took $600+ off the listed price and got the entire package for under $2K. My local camera shop is still selling the body alone for $1999 the last time I was in there. That 24-105 "L" lens retails for around $1200 on it's own.

[megabyteme]

I would trust Adorama (we purchased the 7D from them), Amazon, and B&H. I live in Washington state, so would prefer to avoid 8.3% tax through Amazon. There are probably a few others worth considering, but not too many.

We could afford the body only right now, but have decided to put aside a few hundred more to include the 24-105- it's just too nice to pass up. I've seen some "white box" deals for around $650, but that gets back into the grey-market territory again. Best to wait. My wife is motivated for overtime, and that has been adding up quickly enough.

When we order it, you and I can make fun of all the cropped sensor types around here.

[Skiz]

Wherever it is, just make sure it's a Canon authorized dealer and you should be fine. When I bought mine, there was a site that was also selling a 5DM3 for basically the same price, ($2500-ish) but without being a Canon authorized retailer, I wouldn't have any warranty. It was tempting, but no way fucking way I'm dropping that much and not getting Canon's warranty coverage.

[megabyteme]

no way fucking way I'm dropping that much and not getting Canon's warranty coverage.

Agreed. Waaaaay too much to read "Error 99" on the display.

And cue Art...

[Artemis]

Wot


And so much for warranty by the way, Canon will check the lens or body under warranty, but if it is not a warranty issue they charge like a wounded bull for their time. To have the error 99 (which is a catch all communications error btw) checked on my 28-135 IS lens, Canon wanted to charge a $135 evaluation fee just to tell me how much it was going to cost to repair plus $130 per hour for labour to repair, making only red band professional lenses worth the cost of the repair.....

When we order it, you and I can make fun of all the cropped sensor types around here.

And you can go and stand in the far queue.