doughboy33

I am not a pro just love photography. I have canon 2ti and a 80D that have been using for about 2 months now. I do love the 80D and just was thinking about a refurb 6D. I like to shoot flowers,birds, Animals,car shows, waterfalls, people, well just about anything. At this time I have 3 lens that will work on the 6D, a 50mm 1.8, sigma 105 macro, and a canon 100-400 mk2. What would the pro's and con's be in getting the 6D. I am not looking to make a living from photography. It's just a hobby to get me off my butt.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

There is a current thread going on regarding FF vs crop bodies: http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-405244-8.html#6813171

Not specifically the 6D in that thread, but applicable. If you do a UHH search on 6D or full frame vs crop or crop vs FF, you'll find a wealth of information.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

In your case, it would be a huge upgrade from a T2i but you wouldn't see that much difference compared to your 80D. When comparing a ff to a crop sensor body the one thing you get is a larger sensor, which will net more information and smoother, less noise, and an overall better outcome. In your case, you'll be able to see a big difference from the T2i because the camera you are using now is several years old. Sensor technology has really improved over the years. But if you were to compare a brand new crop sensor body, such as your 80D, to a full frame sensor body, you would not see a huge difference. You'd get a better result with the ff, but not so as you'd look at the pictures side by side and immediately say "that one is from the ff".

Keep in mind, the 6D is the bottom of the barrel full frame body, just like your T2i is of the crop sensor bodies. I started with a T2i too. The sensor in the 6D is nice, but everything else is very entry level. I wouldn't be happy with the focusing ability of the 6D. It's simply not as advanced as your 80D and the other full frame bodies offered today. If you wait for the new 5DIV, it will have the best focus technology and will compare nicely with your 80D.

jayd Loc: Central Florida, East coast

You wont regret it ....love my 6D . I use tamron 150-600, canon 24-70 2.8, tamron 70-200 2.8, canon 50 1.8, rokinon 14.
I shoot a lot with the canon app and find the wifi really nice to xfer photos to the computer after a shoot, mostly while mobile on the road

Basil Loc: New Mexico

I recently bought a refurb 6D to complement my 7DII and love it. Great for landscapes, portraits, street photos, and low light. Basically I use it for stuff that does not require super fast AF like sports or BIF, in which case I use the 7DII.

SHLeM52 Loc: Jacksonville, FL

If you've sold yourself on the 6D, wait till next year, because there are rumors of a NEW 6D mk 2 coming out.
If nothing else, you'll see a lot of older 6Ds turning up for sale.
Just my 2¢ worth.

Gifted One Loc: S. E. Idaho

Own the T2i, 60D and some great EFs glass. 10-22, 15-85 that are very sharp. In addition I have 18-135 EFs and EF 50mm, 85mm f/1.8, 100 BlkMac 2.8. Two years ago I added a 6D and 24-105 f/4 L and Tokina 16-28 f/4. I love my combo. I would have added a 7D2 and 70-200/100-400 if I was still shooting swim comp of GD.

I find the AF system for me not a problem. I do lots of landscapes and for many shots use center only. I don't use WIFI and Video. I buy on promo so I can shoot and then resell.

J. R.

chaman

The 6D focus abilities are just fine for most people needs are are exaggerated to the extreme. Unless you are concentrating your work in subjects that fast and changing directions suddenly (like birds, sports, etc) the 6D will satisfy your needs and much more. You can get a camera like the 7D Mark 2 with all the bells and whistles in terms of focus power if want that but just check the amount of POOR FOCUSED examples in this very site of people owning this camera and then critiquing the "poor" performance of the 6D to get a grasp of what I am saying. The 6D has a wonderful sensor, its a relatively easy camera to use and will give awesome results that will surely satisfy you. BTW I own a 7d2, a 6D and T2i so I have a good grasp of what each does. I will get a 5d Mark 4 when it comes out and keep my 6d as backup, not thinking of selling it!

Gifted One Loc: S. E. Idaho

Chaman, what glass do you use the most on the 6. You have some great photos.

J. R.

chaman

The one I use the most is the Canon L 24-105mm IS f/4 which it comes surprisingly as a kit lens in FF body offerings by Canon. Im in my 2nd copy of it. The first one I got used and when it died I got a new one without hesitation. Sometimes I use the 70-200mm IS f/4 if the setting requires it. In my Flickr page you can see both in action in albums relating to vacations (Canada, Boston and JAX/Georgia). Thanks for the props.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I use the 6D and the 7DII.
Before I got the 7DII I did get things like birds in flight with my 6D, lots of deleted frames but I got them. I just had to use the old tricks from pre auto focus days. You have the 80D for that stuff and in some ways it has better auto focus than the 7DII, just a bit slower.
The 6D is great in low light (will auto focus in full moon according to some of the test nerds) and in good light it does an outstanding job as long as you learn to work with or around its AF limitations. Chaman mentioned the 24-105L, I got it as the kit lens with my 6D, I have done Civil War Re-enactments and Steam Punk Festivals with that lens on the camera all day.

Teamed with a wide angle for landscapes or a fast lens for low light the 6D will get outstanding images.

That said, you have a great camera in the 80D so you can afford to wait and see if/what a 6DII offers. Or save a lot and go for the 5DIV when it comes out soon.

Oh, my daughter uses a T2i I got her for HS graduation 4 years ago, she gets a lot of great images with it (the nerds in the UCLA Photography Club taught her) and I plan to get her an 80D when she finishes her last pre-med class next month.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

6D would be a very nice camera for flowers, car shows, waterfalls and people who are posing.

It's not so great a choice for birds, animals and active people. It just isn't an "action" camera. It's AF is similar to that in your T2i, in fact.

Your 80D is a much better choice for AI Servo shooting. It also gives you a "free 1.6X teleconverter" effect for small and more distant subjects, when you're using that 100-400mm.

All three of your lenses would work on a 6D. But, any "crop only" lenses... which can be smaller, lighter and cheaper... that you might get to use on your 80D and T2i will not be usable on the 6D. It's pretty much limited to full frame-capable lenses.

But, what are you hoping the 6D will do for you?

Low light/high ISO shooting? 80D is nearly as capable, both in controlling high ISO image noise and it AF performance in low light conditions.

To see any significant difference in image quality, you'd need to make big prints... really big prints. Probably 16x20" or larger. There certainly won't be much difference in images posted online, at typical Internet sizes and resolutions. You will likely only be the only one who ever views the images where you would see a difference... at 100% on your computer monitor. But on most modern monitors that's like making a 40x60" print and then viewing it from 18 or 20" away!

There is some minor difference in Depth of Field. Not that DoF changes with different sensor formats alone. It doesn't. DoF is exactly the same until other factors change. It changes with different focal lengths, working distance and aperture settings. When using a FF camera, in order to frame a subject the same way as a crop camera you need to move closer or use a longer focal length, or a bit of both. So large apertures will appear to blur down backgrounds more strongly, when using a FF camera.

And at the other extreme with small apertures, because FF requires less enlargement, it's a little less susceptible to diffraction. So, you can use slightly smaller apertures with FF, than you can with crop cameras. The difference is about a stop at either extreme. In other words, large apertures appear about one stop's worth more blurred and you can use about one stop smaller aperture when seeking more DoF.

asiafish Loc: Bakersfield, CA

A new one will have more toys and probably more megapixels, but will also be more expensive and not likely to have better image quality.

6D is four-years-old now, but still has close to Canon's best low-light performance (high ISO) and at low ISO only the 50MP models have appreciably nicer files, and only if you crop deep or print large.

I'd say if you want full-frame and don't need sports or event-level autofocus, get the 6D.

doughboy33

Thank's to everyone for there input, I think the best thing to do is play the waiting game and see what is coming out. If it's not what I want then who knows the refurb 6D may even cheaper and can spend the savings on better glass. Thank you very much for the insight.

rusbowden Loc: Lowell MA

I have the 6D, am not a pro, but absolutely love it. To me, it's like owning a Corvette. No matter how good I get, the camera will always be able to do more than I can. I am working with the 40mm pancake and the 75-300 only -wish I had your lenses. You can get an idea of the shots I take here: http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/profile/317675/#recent. The editing process becomes an amazing experience, so so much information on the raw photos.