How do you decide on a new camera body given the vast variety available?

RollTideRoll · Mar 31, 2018

Looking ahead a little to my annual bonus, I pondered what body I may move on to if I still want to at that time. What I've learned, however, is that there are so many options and it's difficult differentiating between which would be better, what would do an admirable job but for less money, etc.

Considering portrait and/or beauty work both as an interest and to help family and friends(that do a lot of that) expand their businesses and potentially earn a little on the side a couple years from now, I don't know what I should be looking for.

The Canon 5D(xxx) series cameras seem popular but then there's a huge difference in resolution between, for example, the 5D4 and the 5DS(r) bodies. There's then bodies like the 6D2 which look nice and for half the price.

It's just a little overwhelming, to be honest, because they're clearly all very capable and all seem to having their own selling points.

How do you go about choosing a camera and what process do you go through in determining its suitability for intended purpose?

osv · Mar 31, 2018

start by comparing the dynamic range of sensors: http://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR.htm

decide on evf v.s. ovf

is video a factor?

set a budget range

Dutch Newchurch · Mar 31, 2018

That's a good question!

There are no bad cameras these days, particularly if you are considering kit at the level of the Canon 5d (for example).

The performance envelope is affected by your choice of lenses even more than by the body.

Choosing wisely takes knowledge and experience. It takes the same to get good results from the gear too. Kit at the level of the Canon 5d is overkill for many.

I acquired knowledge and experience with an inexpensive first camera, and from spending time with experienced photographers (camera club and workshops).

When looking at the performance envelope, don't forget to think about portability. The best camera is the one you have with you.

Cato1040 · Mar 31, 2018

Pick a budget and stick to it (body and lens)
Figure out priorities (for me, in order: image quality, size, weight, evf, af speed, screen, handling, tilting screen, USB charging, ruggedness/sealing, flash/hotshot, video, battery life, other features, looks)
If choosing a system check to see if the necessary lenses are available

Alex Ethridge · Apr 1, 2018

First, a little history so you'll know a little about me and my experience. First camera 1965. I worked as a part-time freelance photojournalist from about 1982 to about 1990. I did some event and wedding photography; but, I always hated weddings, too many uncooperative people, too much stress.

I have been published around the world in more countries and publications than I can count.

I have always appreciated compactness and light weight; but, when it came to events, weddings, portraits, I always shot medium-format film, 6x6 and 6x7.

I no longer shoot professionally. My favorite subjects are landscapes, city-scapes, ods-n-ends, trinkets and small items most look at and don't really see, my family and friends. I do a little macro.

I am not going to recommend you use the same as I use or the same format. I'm not one of those fools who thinks what I use is best for everyone; but, you asked how I decided and this is how I went through to what I settled on "the best camera in the world money can buy" -- FOR ME.

My first serious digital was a Nikon D300s, then a D800e. I thought full-frame was "where it's at". Big mistake. Very expensive mistake. I picked up an OM-D at Best Buy and began to remember how much I had appreciated the compactness and light weight of my Olympus OM-1n and OM-2n back in the '80s. A week later I was using the OM-D and loved it. I was once again really enjoying the hobby.

The OM-Ds are compact, light-weight and are packed with more features and settings than I will never be able to exceed. And the IQ exceeds my needs.

You have to consider your final output when selecting your equipment. Mine is 99% or more electronic. That means I can put my images from my OM-D beside images made with a forty-eight-thousand-dollar Hasselblad and I cannot see a difference in IQ.

I like to do focus stacking so having a camera that does it for me is nice. I like to do stitching for wide panoramas with lots of fine detail so I got the iPano pan head and an Olympus 75mm 1.8 lens, one of the sharpest Olympus ever made. Some of the detail produced by that combination is astounding.

If I were doing large prints, I would want a higher pixel count; but, I am able to do 30 x 40 (inches) that look fine to me. If I were doing a lot of BIF, a higher pixel count would help in cropability.

So, what I'm saying is this: Decide what you want to do and select equipment that meets that need. I still have my D800e; but, at present my ratio of m43 to full frame keepers is 238:1 because the m43 is always with me and the large, heavy Nikon, even when it was my only camera, stayed at home most of the time. And when I finish digitizing a lifetime of 15,000 35mm slides, it will no longer be worth the space it takes up in the safe.

Chris R-UK · Apr 1, 2018

I think that the situation is particularly difficult because of likely upcoming mirrorless announcements. Canon is very strongly rumoured to be ready to announce a FF mirrorless camera either at Photokina in September or early next year. Nikon is also rumoured (but less strongly) to be going to introduce a new mirrorless system.

The crucial part of the announcements is going to be what lenses will be supported on the new mirrorless systems and how. I am sure that Canon will support all EOS lenses but it could be via an adapter or it could be by retaining the EOS DSLR mount.

Nikon is much more complicated because only the very latest lenses are fully electronic so they are going to have to support lenses without AF motors and with mechanical diaphragm actuation. That means that they may need several different adapters like Sony for A mount lenses on E mount mirrorless bodies.

Who knows what Pentax will do.

You have a Canon body so in your situation I would be quite happy to invest in another Canon DSLR body or lenses. If I had Nikon or Pentax bodies I would be inclined to try to wait until at least Photokina in the hope that their future plans might become clearer.

The other side of possible announcements by Canon and Nikon is whether there will be room in the longer term for all of Sony, Fujifilm, M4/3 and Pentax in the mirrorless market after Canon and Nikon enter it in a big way.

Alex Ethridge · Apr 1, 2018

Chris R-UK said:
I think that the situation is particularly difficult because of likely upcoming mirrorless announcements. Canon is very strongly rumoured to be ready to announce a FF mirrorless camera either at Photokina in September or early next year. Nikon is also rumoured (but less strongly) to be going to introduce a new mirrorless system.

The crucial part of the announcements is going to be what lenses will be supported on the new mirrorless systems and how. I am sure that Canon will support all EOS lenses but it could be via an adapter or it could be by retaining the EOS DSLR mount.

Nikon is much more complicated because only the very latest lenses are fully electronic so they are going to have to support lenses without AF motors and with mechanical diaphragm actuation. That means that they may need several different adapters like Sony for A mount lenses on E mount mirrorless bodies.

Who knows what Pentax will do.

You have a Canon body so in your situation I would be quite happy to invest in another Canon DSLR body or lenses. If I had Nikon or Pentax bodies I would be inclined to try to wait until at least Photokina in the hope that their future plans might become clearer.

The other side of possible announcements by Canon and Nikon is whether there will be room in the longer term for all of Sony, Fujifilm, M4/3 and Pentax in the mirrorless market after Canon and Nikon enter it in a big way.

Good reasoning. I just want to add my thoughts. Anything mirrorless from Canon and Nikon in APS-C or larger format is going to be a new area for them and I am not going to be surprised if they have problems/bugs in their hardware and firmware designs before they get it as right as their current DSLR systems.

Consequently, I would certainly not want to invest in their first experiments in mirrorless. If I were deciding on a system today, I would crossing them off my list of possibilities and go with what we know for sure works.

Chris R-UK · Apr 1, 2018

Alex Ethridge said:
Chris R-UK said:

I think that the situation is particularly difficult because of likely upcoming mirrorless announcements. Canon is very strongly rumoured to be ready to announce a FF mirrorless camera either at Photokina in September or early next year. Nikon is also rumoured (but less strongly) to be going to introduce a new mirrorless system.

The crucial part of the announcements is going to be what lenses will be supported on the new mirrorless systems and how. I am sure that Canon will support all EOS lenses but it could be via an adapter or it could be by retaining the EOS DSLR mount.

Nikon is much more complicated because only the very latest lenses are fully electronic so they are going to have to support lenses without AF motors and with mechanical diaphragm actuation. That means that they may need several different adapters like Sony for A mount lenses on E mount mirrorless bodies.

Who knows what Pentax will do.

You have a Canon body so in your situation I would be quite happy to invest in another Canon DSLR body or lenses. If I had Nikon or Pentax bodies I would be inclined to try to wait until at least Photokina in the hope that their future plans might become clearer.

The other side of possible announcements by Canon and Nikon is whether there will be room in the longer term for all of Sony, Fujifilm, M4/3 and Pentax in the mirrorless market after Canon and Nikon enter it in a big way.

Click to expand...

Good reasoning. I just want to add my thoughts. Anything mirrorless from Canon and Nikon in APS-C or larger format is going to be a new area for them and I am not going to be surprised if they have problems/bugs in their hardware and firmware designs before they get it as right as their current DSLR systems.

Consequently, I would certainly not want to invest in their first experiments in mirrorless. If I were deciding on a system today, I would crossing them off my list of possibilities and go with what we know for sure works.

I am not so sure about that. Canon already has its DPAF sensor in full frame bodies like the 5D MkIV and the latest EOS-M bodies seem very competent with an adapters for all(?) EOS lenses. Nikon had the Nikon 1 system that, in its day, had the best mirrorless AF system of any manufacturer. It also has a 1 Series adapter that supports AF-S lenses.

It really depends on whether either of them is going to introduce something really new, e.g. a replaceable mount (like the Ricoh GXR system but with a fixed sensor?) rather than an adapter or some kind of dual OVF/EVF as has been suggested on these forums.

Alex Ethridge · Apr 1, 2018

Chris R-UK said:
Alex Ethridge said:

Chris R-UK said:

I think that the situation is particularly difficult because of likely upcoming mirrorless announcements. Canon is very strongly rumoured to be ready to announce a FF mirrorless camera either at Photokina in September or early next year. Nikon is also rumoured (but less strongly) to be going to introduce a new mirrorless system.

The crucial part of the announcements is going to be what lenses will be supported on the new mirrorless systems and how. I am sure that Canon will support all EOS lenses but it could be via an adapter or it could be by retaining the EOS DSLR mount.

Nikon is much more complicated because only the very latest lenses are fully electronic so they are going to have to support lenses without AF motors and with mechanical diaphragm actuation. That means that they may need several different adapters like Sony for A mount lenses on E mount mirrorless bodies.

Who knows what Pentax will do.

You have a Canon body so in your situation I would be quite happy to invest in another Canon DSLR body or lenses. If I had Nikon or Pentax bodies I would be inclined to try to wait until at least Photokina in the hope that their future plans might become clearer.

The other side of possible announcements by Canon and Nikon is whether there will be room in the longer term for all of Sony, Fujifilm, M4/3 and Pentax in the mirrorless market after Canon and Nikon enter it in a big way.

Click to expand...

Good reasoning. I just want to add my thoughts. Anything mirrorless from Canon and Nikon in APS-C or larger format is going to be a new area for them and I am not going to be surprised if they have problems/bugs in their hardware and firmware designs before they get it as right as their current DSLR systems.

Consequently, I would certainly not want to invest in their first experiments in mirrorless. If I were deciding on a system today, I would crossing them off my list of possibilities and go with what we know for sure works.

Click to expand...

I am not so sure about that. Canon already has its DPAF sensor in full frame bodies like the 5D MkIV and the latest EOS-M bodies seem very competent with an adapters for all(?) EOS lenses. Nikon had the Nikon 1 system that, in its day, had the best mirrorless AF system of any manufacturer. It also has a 1 Series adapter that supports AF-S lenses.

It really depends on whether either of them is going to introduce something really new, e.g. a replaceable mount (like the Ricoh GXR system but with a fixed sensor?) rather than an adapter or some kind of dual OVF/EVF as has been suggested on these forums.

Difference of opinion noted and both are valid and based in different personalities. It's just something to consider. I'm just naturally cautious of their first attempt at something drastically different from what they've done before. Granted, they aren't totally new at this; but, they've neither done a full-frame mirrorless, either.

I think I would want to see how whatever they come up with fares for a year and if it does well, go for it. I just don't want to be the happy first guy on the block to have one and have that excitement dashed by an inferior product. Mine's a wait-n-see approach.

Chris R-UK · Apr 1, 2018

I think on reflection that if I was a Canon or Nikon owner I would also wait for a while.

If announcements take place they should make Canon's and Nikon's future plans for mirrorless clearer. Are they going to introduce a model that is directly competitive with their FF DSLRs or will they (especially Nikon) introduce a model that just competes with their entry level DSLRs as Canon EOS-M cameras do?

If I were a Canon owner I would also be interested in seeing whether all of Canon's current DSLR lens range perform equally well in AF terms on a new mirrorless body. The various Canon adapters available for Sony E mount and M4/3 work better with some lenses than others which suggests that AF performance on a new Canon mirrorless body might be variable as well.

If I were a Nikon owner I would just want an indication of what direction Nikon is taking, what DSLR lenses will be supported and how well they are likely to perform in AF terms.

If I wanted to stay with DSLRs then new information might influence my new lens choices for the longer term.

osv · Apr 1, 2018

Chris R-UK said:
If I were a Canon owner I would also be interested in seeing whether all of Canon's current DSLR lens range perform equally well in AF terms on a new mirrorless body. The various Canon adapters available for Sony E mount and M4/3 work better with some lenses than others which suggests that AF performance on a new Canon mirrorless body might be variable as well.

that's a good point... sony designed and produced an entirely new set of lenses for ff e-mount, and afaik they are all rated to do continuous af at either 15fps or 20fps, on the a9 body.

ILCE-9 Continuous Shooting E-mount lenses | SONY

Continuous Shooting and Autofocus Tracking

support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp

for example, i shot these action sports pics with an a9 and the fe90 macro lens, at 15fps... who ever heard of shooting sports with a macro lens? much less a macro lens that can do 15fps, with xlnt af?

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/60889046

canikon doesn't have any lens af fps rating system, and the glass that they do have is all designed to work with an external pdaf module... sony lenses are designed to work with ospdaf and a cdaf trim, if necessary, it's real hybrid af.

canikon hasn't show any indication that they have an overall game plan for mirrorless, like sony has already demonstrated, so if you are waiting for canikon, it'll probably be awhile before they can deliver anything that's on the cutting edge.

Alex Ethridge · Apr 1, 2018

Chris R-UK said:
I think on reflection that if I was a Canon or Nikon owner I would also wait for a while.

If announcements take place they should make Canon's and Nikon's future plans for mirrorless clearer. Are they going to introduce a model that is directly competitive with their FF DSLRs or will they (especially Nikon) introduce a model that just competes with their entry level DSLRs as Canon EOS-M cameras do?

If I were a Canon owner I would also be interested in seeing whether all of Canon's current DSLR lens range perform equally well in AF terms on a new mirrorless body. The various Canon adapters available for Sony E mount and M4/3 work better with some lenses than others which suggests that AF performance on a new Canon mirrorless body might be variable as well.

If I were a Nikon owner I would just want an indication of what direction Nikon is taking, what DSLR lenses will be supported and how well they are likely to perform in AF terms.

If I wanted to stay with DSLRs then new information might influence my new lens choices for the longer term.

Agreed.

a_c_skinner · Apr 1, 2018

Yes, I'd wait. The OP has gear that will produce really good images in the right hands and this year is supposed to be when Canon and Nikon both break in to serious mirrorless. I've no idea how well they will do this and I too wonder if there is room in the market for everyone, so I'd wait. I think it is highly likely Canon will produce a competent offering that will use existing lenses well. Like one of the other contributors I found my D800 never left the house after I bought a smaller system (Fuji for me) and it has been sold. All of it. Had I been starting from absolute scratch it would have been harder to choose.

Chris R-UK · Apr 1, 2018

osv said:
Chris R-UK said:

If I were a Canon owner I would also be interested in seeing whether all of Canon's current DSLR lens range perform equally well in AF terms on a new mirrorless body. The various Canon adapters available for Sony E mount and M4/3 work better with some lenses than others which suggests that AF performance on a new Canon mirrorless body might be variable as well.

Click to expand...

that's a good point... sony designed and produced an entirely new set of lenses for ff e-mount, and afaik they are all rated to do continuous af at either 15fps or 20fps, on the a9 body.

http://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp...ilce9/continuousshooting/en/index.html?id=spt

for example, i shot these action sports pics with an a9 and the fe90 macro lens, at 15fps... who ever heard of shooting sports with a macro lens? much less a macro lens that can do 15fps, with xlnt af?

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/60889046

canikon doesn't have any lens af fps rating system, and the glass that they do have is all designed to work with an external pdaf module... sony lenses are designed to work with ospdaf and a cdaf trim, if necessary, it's real hybrid af.

I don't think that Canon or Nikon are going to go the hybrid PDAF/CDAF route like Sony and Fujifilm, although I believe that the latest Sony bodies use pure PDAF when a DSLR lens is mounted. Do you know if that is correct?

Olympus uses pure PDAF on its E-M1 bodies. It went that route initially to enable Olympus 4/3 DSLR lenses to be used on the E-M1 but the E-M1.2 uses it exclusively for all CAF. Canon has its DPAF sensor which I assume, given enough processing power, can match DSLR AF. Nikon has a lot of AF experience with its 1 Series and I can't believe that they will use a hybrid AF system that penalises DSLR lenses.

My doubt was whether all Canon lenses, especially the older ones, will perform equally well on a DPAF sensor.

Tim Reidy Productions · Apr 1, 2018

You should look at the specs to get a camera/ body that will meet your need.

I look at the specs and look to see what will work within my set budget.

for your work, I would really look at lenses, and get the body that will match your shooting style.

All the camera bodies deliver a product, so know you are getting.

jshen808 · Apr 1, 2018

RollTideRoll said:
Looking ahead a little to my annual bonus, I pondered what body I may move on to if I still want to at that time. What I've learned, however, is that there are so many options and it's difficult differentiating between which would be better, what would do an admirable job but for less money, etc.

Considering portrait and/or beauty work both as an interest and to help family and friends(that do a lot of that) expand their businesses and potentially earn a little on the side a couple years from now, I don't know what I should be looking for.

The Canon 5D(xxx) series cameras seem popular but then there's a huge difference in resolution between, for example, the 5D4 and the 5DS(r) bodies. There's then bodies like the 6D2 which look nice and for half the price.

It's just a little overwhelming, to be honest, because they're clearly all very capable and all seem to having their own selling points.

How do you go about choosing a camera and what process do you go through in determining its suitability for intended purpose?

--
Regards,
RTR.

Considering portrait and/or beauty work both as an interest and to help family and friends(that do a lot of that) expand their businesses and potentially earn a little on the side a couple years from now, I don't know what I should be looking for. [end quote]

Click to expand...

..if going to seek a camera for 'work' related, then best to seek for a 'meaningful' camera, and not a 'pocket' camera..

..however, with that said, a camera is just a 'tool'.. and sometimes, even a pocket camera can get the 'job' done..

..remembering from past readings.. maybe read the links below.. if anything, just for kicks..

https://www.gq.com/story/pete-souza-obamas-chief-white-house-photographer-interview

https://www.popsci.com/inside-white-house-photographer-pete-souzas-camera-bag

https://www.slrlounge.com/whats-inside-white-house-photographer-pete-sousas-gear-bag/

..ultimately, select the camera(s) that's right for you, and for what you're doing..

..Cheers..

--
Regards, John..
..down with naysayers!
[YI M1 camera, Olympus 17mm f/1.8 lens, firmware 3.0]

osv · Apr 1, 2018

Chris R-UK said:
osv said:

Chris R-UK said:

If I were a Canon owner I would also be interested in seeing whether all of Canon's current DSLR lens range perform equally well in AF terms on a new mirrorless body. The various Canon adapters available for Sony E mount and M4/3 work better with some lenses than others which suggests that AF performance on a new Canon mirrorless body might be variable as well.

Click to expand...

that's a good point... sony designed and produced an entirely new set of lenses for ff e-mount, and afaik they are all rated to do continuous af at either 15fps or 20fps, on the a9 body.

http://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp...ilce9/continuousshooting/en/index.html?id=spt

for example, i shot these action sports pics with an a9 and the fe90 macro lens, at 15fps... who ever heard of shooting sports with a macro lens? much less a macro lens that can do 15fps, with xlnt af?

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/60889046

canikon doesn't have any lens af fps rating system, and the glass that they do have is all designed to work with an external pdaf module... sony lenses are designed to work with ospdaf and a cdaf trim, if necessary, it's real hybrid af.

Click to expand...

I don't think that Canon or Nikon are going to go the hybrid PDAF/CDAF route like Sony and Fujifilm, although I believe that the latest Sony bodies use pure PDAF when a DSLR lens is mounted. Do you know if that is correct?

that's how i've seen it with adapted lenses on the latest sony bodies, you have to choose either pdaf or cdaf in a menu item, that only becomes available when there is an adapter on the body.

what's weird is that you can get good eyeaf with pdaf selected, and eyeaf was something that people always claimed was done with cdaf... the mb adapter is supposed to handle things differently to some extent.

the sony lenses apparently do not always do a cdaf trim, for example i can't imagine cdaf trimming happening with af-c at 20fps :-0 but who knows.

Chris R-UK said:
Olympus uses pure PDAF on its E-M1 bodies. It went that route initially to enable Olympus 4/3 DSLR lenses to be used on the E-M1 but the E-M1.2 uses it exclusively for all CAF. Canon has its DPAF sensor which I assume, given enough processing power, can match DSLR AF. Nikon has a lot of AF experience with its 1 Series and I can't believe that they will use a hybrid AF system that penalises DSLR lenses.

the nikon 1 series was circa 2012 or so, i have to wonder how much of it is applicable today.

that's interesting about olympus, it makes sense.

Chris R-UK said:
My doubt was whether all Canon lenses, especially the older ones, will perform equally well on a DPAF sensor.

canon can't even get consistent dpaf performance between different models of cameras, aka the 6dmk2 dpaf fiasco for instance, so that wouldn't surprise me.

fanbois keep claiming that canikon will take over the mirrorless world, but there certainly isn't any evidence of that so far... i don't see 'em ever catching up to what sony has done, in part because sony designs and manufactures it's own sensors.

"Switch into live view and you'll be using Canon's Dual Pixel AF, which covers around 64% of the frame (80% in each dimension) and is usually quite accurate, since it takes autofocus measurements from the image plane. Disappointingly, as you'll see, it has limited usefulness on the 6D Mark II. Continuous autofocus performance during burst shooting at maximum speed in live view resulted in a dismal hit rate, and when you switch to a slower burst speed for focus priority, you'll only be firing off shots at 1-2 fps."

https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-eos-6d-mark-ii-review/7

--
dan

beagle1 · Apr 1, 2018

osv said:
Chris R-UK said:

osv said:

Chris R-UK said:

If I were a Canon owner I would also be interested in seeing whether all of Canon's current DSLR lens range perform equally well in AF terms on a new mirrorless body. The various Canon adapters available for Sony E mount and M4/3 work better with some lenses than others which suggests that AF performance on a new Canon mirrorless body might be variable as well.

Click to expand...

that's a good point... sony designed and produced an entirely new set of lenses for ff e-mount, and afaik they are all rated to do continuous af at either 15fps or 20fps, on the a9 body.

http://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/www/supporoducts/ilce9/continuousshooting/en/index.html?id=spt

for example, i shot these action sports pics with an a9 and the fe90 macro lens, at 15fps... who ever heard of shooting sports with a macro lens? much less a macro lens that can do 15fps, with xlnt af?

https://www.dpreview.com/f

canikon doesn't have any lens af fps rating system, and the glass that they do have is all designed to work with an external pdaf module... sony lenses are designed to work with ospdaf and a cdaf trim, if necessary, it's real hybrid af.

Click to expand...

I don't think that Canon or Nikon are going to go the hybrid PDAF/CDAF route like Sony and Fujifilm, although I believe that the latest Sony bodies use pure PDAF when a DSLR lens is mounted. Do you know if that is correct?

Click to expand...

that's how i've seen it with adapted lenses on the latest sony bodies, you have to choose either pdaf or cdaf in a menu item, that only becomes available when there is an adapter on the body.

what's weird is that you can get good eyeaf with pdaf selected, and eyeaf was something that people always claimed was done with cdaf... the mb adapter is supposed to handle things differently to some extent.

the sony lenses apparently do not always do a cdaf trim, for example i can't imagine cdaf trimming happening with af-c at 20fps :-0 but who knows.

osv said:

Olympus uses pure PDAF on its E-M1 bodies. It went that route initially to enable Olympus 4/3 DSLR lenses to be used on the E-M1 but the E-M1.2 uses it exclusively for all CAF. Canon has its DPAF sensor which I assume, given enough processing power, can match DSLR AF. Nikon has a lot of AF experience with its 1 Series and I can't believe that they will use a hybrid AF system that penalises DSLR lenses.

Click to expand...

the nikon 1 series was circa 2012 or so, i have to wonder how much of it is applicable today.

that's interesting about olympus, it makes sense.

osv said:

My doubt was whether all Canon lenses, especially the older ones, will perform equally well on a DPAF sensor.

Click to expand...

"Switch into live view and you'll be using Canon's Dual Pixel AF, which covers around 64% of the frame (80% in each dimension) and is usually quite accurate, since it takes autofocus measurements from the image plane. Disappointingly, as you'll see, it has limited usefulness on the 6D Mark II. Continuous autofocus performance during burst shooting at maximum speed in live view resulted in a dismal hit rate, and when you switch to a slower burst speed for focus priority, you'll only be firing off shots at 1-2 fps."

dan

true, Canon dual pixel PDAF is quite accurate even with 30 year old DSLR lens

www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless

RRowlett · Apr 1, 2018

I don't upgrade my camera bodies very often. Maybe every decade. I like choosing a workhorse and sticking with it until there is a very significant technology change that makes it worthwhile. Of course if you have a DSLR you will want to maintain compatibility with your good lenses.

I started digital with a Nikon D100, and changed it out for a D7100 10 years later. I'm not in a hurry to upgrade as the D7100 is still very capable. I kept all my lenses, and have added a couple of new ones as better optics come out.

The cam body is not usually the limiting factor in photographic expression, unless you are doing something very demanding, like low light sports photography. I'm more likely to shoot garden, landscape/travel, and macro subjects.

rb61 · Apr 1, 2018

Make lists of what you like and dislike about your current kit.

Cross off equipment that have most of what you currently don't like.

Of the remaining cameras available, list which ones have the features you currently like.

After that exercise, narrow the list down by rated performance vs price (if price is an issue).

Finally you really need to get your hands on the few that are left on the list. Do you feel comfortable with dial, button placement, menu use .

How do you decide on a new camera body given the vast variety available?

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