Moving to Canon, body choice?

Well I've shot Minolta my entire life, but Minolta is no more and I just don't like what I see from Sony.

My husband shoots Canon so it makes sense to make the move anyway so we can share equipment, not spend 2x money on duplicating lenses, etc. Here's where I'm hoping for some advice. (I'd love to hear from other Minolta people who have moved to Canon.)

I currently shoot the Minolta 7D. I adore my 7D despite its creeping signs of age. Its only 6.1MP, and compared to my husband's 50d its dinosaur slow, but it still puts out images that take the breath away. And most importantly, I like the control layout. It fits my hands (despite being big, and I'm not), and every dang feature I need is controlled by a button or a dial.

I don't want a 60d which seems like a step back from the 50d, and definitely doesn't have the same solid feel of even my creaky old KM7D. So I've been concentrating on the 50D (what my husband shoots) which can be found fairly cheaply used, or a Canon 7D which is not so cheap but wow what a camera.

I am not enamored with way the 50D fits in my hand, something about the balance is decidedly off. I tend to cup the lens from underneath and let the camera balance (I shoot manual almost exclusively so holding the lens lets me focus quickly) and the 50D just doesn't hold naturally that way.

I think the control scheme on either would take some getting used to and serious adjustment. I can control my KM7D without looking and fingers only have to move a bit. (Example, there are TWO dials around the shutter release, one for aperture, one for shutter which feels so much more natural than having to move my thumb to the back dial on the 50D.)

Neither is cheap. Either is a huge change. I'd appreciate feedback on moving systems, these two cameras in comparison to one another (is it worth paying almost 2x to get the 7D?). I shoot mostly macro and lanscape photography and I'm enough of an old camera snob to almost want the 7D just because it doesn't have those annoying "creative" modes that scream "soccer mom camera."

Also, since I shoot mostly manual and prefer to manual focus I'm curious if the 7D's bigger brighter viewfinder might just make it worth the cost? Thoughts?

Thanks guys!
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Landscapes and Macro? Why don't you consider a FF. You will both have access to two formats.

Don't get me wrong, I would ADORE a FF Canon, but they are a little pricey, frankly. Since I'm not making my living off my camera I have a hard time justifying the Mark II or III prices (as much as I drool over them).

I really don't want to spend more than $1,500 for a body which I can manage both 7D and 50D under. The 5D Mark II will have to wait until we win the lotto.

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My sister-in-law moved from the Minolta 7D to the Canon 50d arount 18 months ago. She is loving her 50d. I shoot with a 50d and 7d. For macro and landscape the 50d is just fine. I would not move to the 7d just for that.

I would suggest going to a local camera shop and trying three camera's side by side.

The 50d, 7d and a rebel. The rebels being the t1i, t2i or t3i. See which feels right to you. Any of these will give you good results.

Andy
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If a 5DII is out of budget, I'd look at a used original 5D. If IQ is your primary concern, go FF.

Thanks for the 50d/7d info.

I'll skip the rebel's however. The KM7D was a semi-pro body in its day and frankly will be a hard act for ANYTHING to follow. I had a Rebel film camera back in the 90s and hated it with such a passion I swore off Canon until I married my husband and began grudgingly to admit there was more than Rebel to Canons.

I have Tim's 50D to play with, just need to find a store with a 7D I can rent I suppose.
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Interesting idea. Given its age (not that much newer than my KM7D I'd rather counted the 5D out. Used it looks like its still more than the 50D so perhaps its still a player? Hmm, gets complicated.
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Yes it does. The 5Dc may not have the bells and whistles the 5D2 has but it has a great sensor.

I had the 50D before moving to the 7D. It is a very good camera. I agree that if your are not doing bird in flight shots or sports the 7D is overkill.

As far as manual focusing goes, you can now a days set to live view and zoom in 10x and then manual focus with super precision. But I will say this to you, if you can afford the 7D, go for it because it seems like like it a lot. Before getting to the end of your post, I was clearly going to suggest the 60D till you shut it down. Truth be told I think that would be perfect for you as far as simple control layout, better IQ than 50D and just feels better in the hand to most based on the way it has a shape to fit the palm of the hand. But you already set your mind to no so, I say the 7D. I own the 60D and the 50D. I love the 50D's old feel of being blocky sometimes making it seem more pro like, but the truth is function wise, the 60D is way more smooth for me, I love that the single function buttons on top make using them very quick also. The 50D has more buttons in that 1 button has dual function, but it does not speed things along for me. Of all the cameras I own, the 60D is the best and I love that it bridges this rebel and XXD line feel into one. And the IQ is incredible. Sorry you do not find it appealing. But I say go for 7D over 50D hands down.
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Darkness is the monster and your shutter is your sword, aperture your shield and iso your armor. Strike fast with your sword and defend well with your shield and hope your armor holds up.

My only issue with the 60D is body, pure and simple. I've owned an all plastic camera before and it just couldn't hold up. It didn't last, which, for something this expensive, is just not OK.

My magnesium alloy bodies just wear better. I honesty don't get why Canon made the decision they did, but it was theirs to make. But I've been bitten by that particular design decision before and I'm just not willing to spend that much money on a all plastic body.
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Bird in flight, maybe; sports, nahhh!
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Good luck and I hope you find the right camera for you. I think the best choice for you is the 7D then. I do love my 60D though. For me it was the perfect camera for my taste. Good luck.
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Darkness is the monster and your shutter is your sword, aperture your shield and iso your armor. Strike fast with your sword and defend well with your shield and hope your armor holds up.

I dent take the time to read all the post & i know you want canon but the nikon d300s is soon to be replaced and im sure it will wow a lot of peope. I my self love nikon and canon im sure you can't go rong with the nikon d7000 or the canon 7D there all nice, you also might want to take a look at the new pentax k5 and if the canon 60d is out of the question you could get the 50d like your hubby it should be at a good price right now.

--I have a 7D & a 5D classic. I love both cameras. You can't go wrong with a 7D but with a refurbished 5D you couldn't go wrong either & might like it better with your choice of subjects. I can't say how either compares to a 50D. I went from a 40 io a 7D.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28700476@no8/

I got my 5D refurbished from B&H. I have had it for over a year & it takes great photos. I use my 7 D for grandkids sports & moving wildlife,bif etc. I use the 5D for landscapes & do macro with either. I think that you would be more than happy with either of these choices. Bab.
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I use an EOS 7D; great camera. My second "DSLR" is an A55 and my next will be an A77. Probably will end up with EOS 7D and A77 systems. Note: I love EVFs

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Phil

Tandaina said:

I don't want a 60d which seems like a step back from the 50d, and definitely doesn't have the same solid feel of even my creaky old KM7D. So I've been concentrating on the 50D (what my husband shoots) which can be found fairly cheaply used, or a Canon 7D which is not so cheap but wow what a camera.

Click to expand...

Get the 60D. It's much better than the 50D. Don't let the plastic vs magnesium bodies fool you. The 60D is actually every bit as solid, if not more so, than the magnesium 50D. For one thing, the 50D isn't actually all magnesium. The 50D body is comprised of three magnesium body panels (top plate, rear plate, front plate) but the entire bottom plate is plastic. The 60D is comprised of only three body panels: top plate, front plate, rear plate. This makes it much more of a solid, cohesive structure because the front and back plates join not only at the left and right sides of the body, but also entirely along the bottom of the camera body as one long, continuous joined seam. When I tap the bottom of my 60D, it feels solid. When I tap the bottom of my 40D and 5D (which has the same construction as the 50D), it feels hollow. With the 60D's front and rear body panel joined along the right side, completely along the bottom, and on the left side, it's solid like a clost clam shell. Plus, with a single seam along the bottom, the 60D greatly reduces the amount of vulnerable body seams by several inches.

Here you can see the single body seam along the bottom of the 60D, where front and back rear panels meet, joined by five screws. Fewer body seams means a more solid, secure body.



Here you can see the bottom of the 40D/50D body, with its plastic bottom plate, and considerable amount of body seams all along the edges of the bottom plate, secured with four widely spaced screws.



The solidity of the 60D's body is further supported by the fact that the 60D has a small memory card door, since it uses SD cards instead of CF cards. Rather than having a massive CF card door that takes up the entire right side of the camera, a smaller card door doesn't compromise the structural integrity of the body as much as a large door. You get less body creaking. And since you don't have a big, hollow CF card door/compartment underneath your right-hand palm, the camera body feels more solid when you squeeze it there.



Here's the comparatively massive CF card door of the 40D/50D. It's no wonder that some people complain about the card door creaking. It practically takes up the entire right side of the body.



I've owned the 10D, 20D, 40D, 5D (all of which have magnesium bodies) and the 60D. And I'd gladly choose the 60D's solid polycarbonate body over the other bodies. Why? Firstly, the 60D's 3-panel body design makes it very solid. Secondly, polycarbonate weighs less, which means less body weight to lug around. Thirdly, polycarbonate dissipates impact shock much better than magnesium. Furthermore, unlike magnesium, the 60D's polycarbonate body is more resistant denting, chipping, and cracking. Magnesium sounds great, but it isn't really all that it's cracked up to be, as you can see from these:







People just need to get over the notion that a heavier mag body means a camera is more solid or better built than a well-built polycarbonate body.

Tandaina said:

My only issue with the 60D is body, pure and simple. I've owned an all plastic camera before and it just couldn't hold up. It didn't last, which, for something this expensive, is just not OK.

My magnesium alloy bodies just wear better. I honesty don't get why Canon made the decision they did, but it was theirs to make. But I've been bitten by that particular design decision before and I'm just not willing to spend that much money on a all plastic body.

Click to expand...

I've owned the 10D, 20D, 40D, 5D, and the 60D, and I would choose the 60D's high quality polycarbonate body over any of these magnesium bodies. A high quality polycarbonate is simply superior. Polycarbonate dissipates impact shock much better than magnesium. Polycarbonate is far more resilient. Why do you think professional sports helmets are made of polycarbonate plastic?







It's because plastic can take the impacts!



Magnesium, on the other hand, is not nearly as resilient. It's much more prone to cracking, denting, or chipping.









People also don't realize that Canon's magnesium camera bodies actually have plastic bottom plates. The XXD, 7D, and 5D magnesium bodies all have plastic bottom plates. And it's certainly up to the task. But of course, no one seems to mention that.

Take a look at this droppped 7D, for example (below). As you can see, the plastic bottom plate simply suffered some scratches, but the magnesium portion of the body-- the magnesium rear body plate-- cracked and broke off. This is because, while magnesium is very stiff, it is also quite brittle. Plastic, on the other hand, is very resilient. That's why the plastic panel survived, but the magnesium panel failed.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1045845



If you still don't believe that a plastic body can "hold up", I suggest you watch this video where they put a plastic Nikon D90 and Canon 550D through a series of torture tests to demonstrate how much abuse these plastic bodies can withstand. This includes...

...pouring a full cup of hot tea on each camera...twice!



...tying them to the bottom of shoes and walking around with them:



...hammering nails with them:



...kicking a soccer ball at them while they are mounted on a tripod so they come crashing onto the concrete below:



...taking a blow torch to them:



...dropping a PC on them:



And after all this abuse, the cameras survived, and the testers take these cameras out to shoot some photos...on a rainy day, no less!



And keep in mind that these are cheaper, lower level bodies than the 60D, using a cheaper grade of plastic and lower level of build quality!

See video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWzsXeXCwuc&feature=player_embedded

So suffice it to say, people greatly underestimate what these cameras can handle.

And by the way, if you really don't like plastic in camera equipment, you're going to have an awfully hard time buying a hotshoe flash, because every manufacturer is using plastic bodies for all their flashes, including all their most expensive flagship flash models. So, yeah, you can go out and buy the most expensive non-plastic DSLR in the market, but you'll still probably be mounting a plastic-bodied hotshoe flash on it. It's interesting that all manufacturers have unanimously chosen to use plastics as their "particular design decision" when it came to their flashes.









I have two Canon 550EX flashes that I've owned for several years (the 550EX, introduced in 2000, was the top Canon flash model that preceded the 580EX and 580EXII) that have been knocked, dropped, and abused in countless shoots, and they are still going strong, and look just as good as they did years ago! I've probably had mine for 9 years or so. And yes, just like every other flash, they too have plastic bodies. In fact, if they were made of magnesium alloy, I'm pretty sure they would have been dented, cracked, chipped, and/or broken by now. My all plastic 550EX's, on the other hand, have held up just fine, with not much more than superficial scratches from their numerous drops.

Thanks for the humorous response T3. You may have a point, though my old school self hates to admit it. Perhaps I'm just nostalgic for the days of my Minolta SRT 101, all metal, sold is as a rock, all mechanical... Ahhh.

Anyway. My husband's other concern with the 60D is that it isn't an update of the 50D (what he has) but rather of the Rebel line. Now I'm NOT a Canon person (I have had only bad experiences with Canon cameras, so if it weren't for his lens collection and the ability to share equipment I would be moving to Nikon from Minolta) so I can't really say if he's correct or not. But that's been his impression and the reason he's stuck with the 50D instead.

I'll do some research on the 60D and see if I agree or disagree with him.
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