franbires wrote:
I am considering upgrading to a new camera. I currently have a Canon 60D and before that a 30D. I was hoping to get some insight on which Canon camera I should consider, the 6D II or the 7D II? For the most part, I shoot wildlife, birds and mammals, landscapes and on occasion sporting events such as high school football and basketball games. There's a lot of experience on Ugly Hedgehog and was hoping to get some feedback. Thank you very much. Fran. PS. Great point. I should have cited my lenses. They are: EFS 18-200 3.5-5.6 IS; EF 70-300 4-5.6 IS and Tamron SP 150-600 F/5-63. Fran
I am considering upgrading to a new camera. I curr... (
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My answer is "neither".
APS-C cameras are best for sports and wildlife: 7DII (20MP) or, for that matter, 80D (24MP).
Full frame are best for landscape and architecture: 6DII (26MP), 5DIV (30MP), or 5DS/5DS-R (50MP).
I would recommend you spend as little as possible on the camera, in order to improve your lenses... Specifically, I'd replace the EF-S 18-200mm with....
If you purchase an APS-C camera: EF-S 15-85mm IS USM ($800)... or with an EF-S 10-18mm IS STM ($280)
and EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM ($830). I recommend a wider lens for landscape photography, especially. On an APS-C camera, 18mm isn't very wide. The 15-85mm alone gives a bit wider and would be an upgrade in most respects. But the combo of the 10-18mm (or EF-S 10-22mm USM, $600) with the mid-range EF-S 17-55mm would give you even wider. The 17-55mm also may be helpful with it's larger f/2.8 aperture, for lower light conditions (though the newer camera will help, too, with higher usable ISO). And alternative mid-range zoom is the EF-S 18-135mm IS USM ($600). If you keep the EF-S 18-200mm... you could just add the EF-S 10-18mm or EF-S 10-22mm.
Or if you purchase a full frame camera: EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM ($900) or EF 24-105L f/4L IS USM II ($1100) as a mid-range zoom. You didn't mention, but if you ever want shoot macro/close-ups, get that 24-70mm. It's able to do an amazing .70X magnification on its own (most of the other lenses here can do .21X or .25X, at best). With either of those, a wider lens for landscape and other purposes I'd recommend is the EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM ($1000). Note: with a full frame camera, your EF-S 18-200mm would NOT be usable... so you would definitely need to replace it.
So your first decision is APS-C or full frame. For most of your purposes, APS-C would work fine. In fact, for sports and wildlife full frame would be less desirable becauseyour telephotos will "act a lot shorter". If you ever feel you "don't have enough telephoto" now with your current camera, that will happen more often with full frame. You'll either need to get closer or buy a longer, bigger, heavier and probably much more expensive telephoto lens.
OTOH, if you do a lot of landscape & scenic shots (also architecture, cityscapes, seascapes, etc.).... a full fame camera is ideal. Especially if you make really big prints (upwards of 16x24") from your image.Full frame also may be a little better for low light shooting (but recent APS-C are a lot better than older ones were).
I suspect that you'd be happiest with a Canon 80D. It's a significant upgrade from your 60D. It has 24MP... which is almost as much resolution as the full frame 6DII with 26MP... and 20% more than the 20MP 7DII and 33% more than your current 60D. While the 7DII has a faster continuous shooting rate of 10 frames per second, the 80D is no slouch with a very respectable 7 fps (up from 5 fps with your 60D). The 7DII also has an excellent, high performance 65-point AF system... but the 80D's 45-point is quite good and very capable, too (either would a BIG step up from the 9-point system of your current camera). There's a lot more that the 80D offers, but the bottom line is that it would be a very solid upgrade from 60D, better than 7DII in some ways and very close to it in a lot of others.... and at $1000 for 80D, you'd be tying up less money in the camera (it would leave you $500 more to put toward lenses!). With either 80D or 7DII you don't need to buy any lenses, though I'd recommend something wider, in particular.
In comparison, to "go full frame" you'll need to spend $1900 on the 6DII PLUS
at least $900 for a lens (24-70/4L to replace your EF-S 18-200mm, which isn't be usable on any FF camera). In other words, the minimum you'd need to spend for a 6DII would be $2800... $1800 more than the absolute min. possible with an 80D. I'd sure like to see you put that money to work with lenses instead of FF... but you'll need to choose what's most important to you. 6DII has control layout similar to 60D/80D and it's AF system and frame rate (6.5 fps) are nearly identical to 80D's. (In fact, one relatively minor complaint I've heard about the 6DII is that it's AF system seems rather concentrated in the center of the image area, not as nicely "spread out" in the viewfinder the way the same 45-points are with the 80D.)
I'm not commenting on your EF 70-300mm or Tamron 150-600mm lenses... There are newer versions of both available, but I haven't used them and really cannot say if they would be worthwhile upgrades. Either way, they are both "full frame capable" if need be, too, so there wouldn't be immediate need to replace them if that's the route you choose. Just be aware that if you do opt for FF, you'll be "giving up a lot of reach" with both those telephotos. (Someone earlier suggested you could just crop the full frame camera's images to compensate... but if you crop a 6DII's 26MP images down to the size of APS-C you are only left with around 10MP.... less than half the resolution of the 24MP 80D and little more than half the resolution you have now with your 18MP 60D. Sorry, but no... that's not a good solution!)
You asked 6DII or 7DII... and my answer is neither. I'd recommend 80D instead. I honestly think it would be your best choice.... a significant upgrade from your 60D for most of your purposes and only a slight compromise from 6DII in certain other respects, superior to it in some other ways. A bonus... the 80D also will seem familiar to you since it uses generally similar controls and design as 60D (so does 6DII, BTW... while OTOH, 7DII has slightly different control layout and is more complex, perhaps more "pro-oriented" in some respects). And since the 80D costs less than 7DII and considerably less than 6DII, you'd have more to put toward some improvements in your lens kit, which would ultimate;y make more difference in your images than the camera you use them upon. (Note: On any of these cameras, for optimal autofocus performance for sports and active wildlife, stick with Canon USM lenses or third party equivalents such as Sigma HSM or Tamron USD. STM is great for video and certainly better than micro motor in most respects, but not quite as good as USM for active subjects.)
P.S. Personally I do most of my shooting... sports... with a pair of 7DII. I also have full frame 5DII that I'll eventually upgrade to 5DIV or 5DS, but I don't need or use FF anywhere near as much as I do APS-C. Previous Canon I've used include 7D, 50D, 30D, 10D as well as EOS-3, Elan 7E (EOS-33) film cameras. To a lesser degree, at times I've used several 1D, 1Ds other 5D models, as well as some of the other EOS film cameras. I've got about 20 lenses I that use on my Canon cameras, ranging from 10mm to 500mm.