Upgrade body? Lenses? or Both? Canon 70 vs 6d Mii

Alec Lovely said:

Hey all,
Amateur/weekend warrior/traveller here. I've had my Canon 70D for around 2 years, and it's been good to me. I use the stock 18-135mm with mixed results, and have a 50mm 1.8 that I really enjoy, but the crop sensor does make it a little difficult to shoot street photos or in 'dense' areas. Anyhow - here is my situation:

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A 70D is a pretty good camera. You should be able to take excellent photos with it. The 18-135 gives you a wide range of focal lengths. I don't the the 50mm being a real asset.

Alec Lovely said:

1) Do I keep my 70D body and add a EF 17-40mm 4.0 ($650) and a 70-200mm 4.0 ($550)?

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Good lenses, but how do they help you? For street, get something like a 24mm f/2.8.

Alec Lovely said:

2) Do I upgrade to a 6D Mark ii ($1750, with battery grip bonus) and add a single lens somewhere in $400-600 price range?

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A 6D with a single lens is not a very flexible tool.

Alec Lovely said:

3) Or, do I pick up some overtime shifts and get both the lenses and the 6D Mark ii while selling my 70D set-up for $800(ish)?

For option 3, the entire cost would be around $2300, assuming I sell my 70D for a reasonable price.

I'm very tempted to buy the full-frame. I'm leaving for a trip to South America in the fall and intend to use my camera daily for wildlife and landscape primarily, and then everything in between. It looks like there are solid sales on right now!

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I'd get something like a 70-300 for wildlife and keep the 70D for the extra reach.

I would buy the 6DII and add a lens, keep the 50mm and sell the 70D and the 18-135mm.

You could buy a used 24-105mm.

The 70D is a great camera, but FF offers low light advantages and wider framing usinge fast wide primes for street.

Alec Lovely said:

Hey all,
Amateur/weekend warrior/traveller here. I've had my Canon 70D for around 2 years, and it's been good to me. I use the stock 18-135mm with mixed results, and have a 50mm 1.8 that I really enjoy, but the crop sensor does make it a little difficult to shoot street photos or in 'dense' areas.

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How is that? Any camera will work equally well here - what you need is a suitable lens, not a new body. As someone has already suggested, 24mm can be a good focal length on your D70; or perhaps 28mm.

Alec Lovely said:

Anyhow - here is my situation:

1) Do I keep my 70D body and add a EF 17-40mm 4.0 ($650

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Yes. As noted above, for street photography buy a 24 or 28mm fast prime.

Alec Lovely said:

) and a 70-200mm 4.0 ($550)?

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See below (*).

Alec Lovely said:

2) Do I upgrade to a 6D Mark ii ($1750, with battery grip bonus) and add a single lens somewhere in $400-600 price range?

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This seems pointless - spending a lot of money to restrict your options.

Alec Lovely said:

3) Or, do I pick up some overtime shifts and get both the lenses and the 6D Mark ii while selling my 70D set-up for $800(ish)?

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No. See below for reasons.

Alec Lovely said:

For option 3, the entire cost would be around $2300, assuming I sell my 70D for a reasonable price.

I'm very tempted to buy the full-frame. I'm leaving for a trip to South America in the fall and intend to use my camera daily for wildlife

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Wildlife tends to need longer lenses. The main thing here is to get as much as possible of the sensor filled with the subject. Let's run with the 200mm lens you mention above. On FF that will need 320mm to fill the frame with the same subject. Now look at the cost - and, especially, weight - of the equivalent FF lens.

You either need to carry two bodies (in which case you can't sell the D70) or you burden yourself with heavier lenses. Either way it makes life harder as well as significantly more expensive.

(*) It makes more sense to buy a longer (and possibly faster) lens than the 70-200/4 to get more reach for wildlife. Even though such lenses can be quite expensive this is stil a cheaper option than going to FF.

Alec Lovely said:

and landscape primarily, and then everything in between. It looks like there are solid sales on right now!

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

Alec

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Leonard Migliore said:

A 70D is a pretty good camera. You should be able to take excellent photos with it. The 18-135 gives you a wide range of focal lengths. I don't the the 50mm being a real asset.

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Ya, it is a good camera for that price range, and in general. Perhaps I am pushing myself for the FF just to satisfy the inner gear-junkie in me's need to constantly upgrade. Next year it will be the Mark IV, then lenses, etc.!

The 50mm can take beautiful shots, but the times that I use it are much fewer than my 18mm. I admit, I purchased it on a whim not realizing it wasn't as compatible with the 70D, in terms of 1.6 crop factor.

Perhaps the 17-40mm is an ideal candidate, then, as a portrait/landscape/general use lens, rather than the 24mm f/2.8.

1) Do I keep my 70D body and add a EF 17-40mm 4.0 ($650) and a 70-200mm 4.0 ($550)?

Leonard Migliore said:

Good lenses, but how do they help you? For street, get something like a 24mm f/2.8.

Leonard Migliore said:

2) Do I upgrade to a 6D Mark ii ($1750, with battery grip bonus) and add a single lens somewhere in $400-600 price range?

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A 6D with a single lens is not a very flexible tool.

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Good point! I'd need at least 2 lenses.

Leonard Migliore said:

I'd get something like a 70-300 for wildlife and keep the 70D for the extra reach.

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So maybe a set up like this:

Canon 70D, 17-40mm f/4, and 70-300mm (or comparable zoom). It would certainly be cheaper.

If you are looking to buy something new, but not sure what, maybe the 40mm stm pancake.

It’s not expensive, and you can use it on some other body later.

It’s a tiny bit like the 50, but wider, and quite probably a bit sharper, but not much.

I have used the EF 17-40 on my 50D. Nice lens, but pretty big and heavy for a crop body. In my view a 17-50/55 would be more practical. I do have one of the Tamron 17-50 zooms.

Kelly Cook