Piece of cake!

A friend asked me if he should upgrade his camera body. The first thing I asked him was is there anything your camera can't do that you want it to do? He said no. Plain and simple, you don't need an upgrade until that happens or if that camera dies. His basis was the newer processor and technology.

I understand having the latest and greatest is nice to have. But not being able to use or appreciate the new features and capabilities of a new camera is a waste. It's not until you've out-grown the capabilities of your current camera is when you'll appreciate and warrant an upgrade.

I told my friend to save his money. He said he had money burning a hole in his pocket so I suggested a new f2.8 telephoto lens would cure that problem really fast.

It took me less than 10 minutes to clean the first time I tried it myself. That includes taking test shots of the sky and checking them on the computer screen. Using 2-3 drops of Eclipse (methanol) on the cleaning swab dries or evaporates really fast. I think the key is not over-saturating the cleaning swab. 2 drops for APS-c and 3 drops for FF. It took 2 tries, but it was all done within 10 minutes.

Here are some samples of my playing here. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm?bandID=267427

Now that I'm semi-retired, I can afford to be a musician. :)

I have both 7DII and the original 6D. They are very different and nice to have both because they specialize in different areas. The 6D excels in low light performance and has great image quality being a full frame camera. It's weakness is the focus system.

The 7DII has a much better focus system with wider coverage. It also has a joystick to move and select your focus points. It also has a higher burst rate. It's loaded with features. It's weakness is the image quality isn't as good as the 6D.

Now that I have both cameras, I've learned the most important feature for me is the focus system. If a shot is out of focus, you can't fix it in post. High ISO performance and all of a camera's great features go out the window. If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose the 7DII because of it focus system.

Having said that, I'm glad I have both bodies. One picks up where the other leaves off. The 7DII is for sports and wildlife. The 6D is for everything else.

Thanks. It was a perfect night with no wind or clouds. The temperature didn't get lower than 60 degrees. The moon didn't come up over the horizon until 11pm. We had almost 3 hours of prime viewing.

Last night I got lucky and caught a couple of meteors during the Perseid meteor shower.

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I have the 7DII and the original 6D full frame. The IQ is better on the 6D and Hi ISO performance. My biggest complaint on the 6D is the focus system. The focus system is better on the new 6DII but in reality not much because you have all of the focus points tightly in the center. That means you still have to focus and recompose most of the time. If your coming from the 7DII which has a better focus system and wider coverage, you'll probably be disappointed with any of the 6D's focusing system. If I were to choose between a 6DII or 5DIII, I'd take the 5DIII because of the wider spread on the focus points. Focus system is more important to me than any other feature on a camera because if a shot is out of focus, nothing else will matter. High ISO performance, FPS, IQ and everything else becomes irrelevant when a shot is out of focus. Hindsight, I should've bought the 5DIII instead of the 6D at the time. Don't get me wrong, I still love the IQ and high ISO performance of the 6D but spoiled with the 7DII focus system.

I went through this ordeal about a month ago with a used camera I purchased. Try blowing with rocket blower. If that doesn't work, the next step will be a wet clean. This is where someone might get nervous but it's actually really easy. Buy the individually wrapped swabs for your size sensor. Get a good cleaning solution like Eclipse which is specifically for camera sensors. It's methanol so it will dry quickly not leaving any streaks on the sensor cover. Streaking is what most fear along with scratching the sensor. Get into the menu of your camera and set the menu for cleaning or mirror lockup to raise the mirror exposing the sensor. Make sure your battery is charged. If the battery goes dead, the mirror will close down while cleaning with the swab. That will cause some damage. Apply 2-3 drops on the swab. Don't over saturate the swab leaving it too wet. Swipe the swab across the sensor cover with light pressure, not hard. Flip the swab over and swipe in the opposite direction. Throw away the swab. It shouldn't be used more than once. Take a shot of the sky or light background with a small aperture. Inspect for spots. It may take more than one try as it took me 2 tries to get mine cleaned. It was very easy so I wouldn't hesitate to do it again if needed. I can't see paying $100 plus for something that can be easily done in 10 minutes or less.

In AV mode, you have to raise ISO to raise the shutter speed.

No. You're thinking about Ni-Cad batteries.

Having a 6D and a 7D II covers all of my needs. I have 3 L zoom lenses ranging from 24mm - 400mm. I also have 4 fast primes. If I can't do what I need to do with my gear, then it's on me, not my gear. Sure technology is advancing and evolving. But I don't feel the need to upgrade until I feel my gear is limiting my ability to do what I need to do. I think I'll be set for a long time.

You may be right about the low light performance 6D II, but the 6D and 5D Mark III are already pretty darn good. I agree with Basil 100%, especially about the focus points and recomposing. If you can't nail the focus all the low light performance goes out the window. An out of focus shot is a throw away. Nothing else matters if a shot is out of focus. Like Basil, I also have the 6d and 7D Mark II. I really got spoiled with the 7DII focus system. Having more focus area coverage is more important to me and trumps high ISO performance. Don't get me wrong. Having high ISO performance is still a great thing to have. Choosing between the 6DII and the 5DIII with today's prices of the 5DIII, I'd rather have a 5DIII because of the larger focus area coverage. Just my humble opinion.

I never said it was too much. I said I'd rather have less focus points spread out. I have a 7D II with 65 points covering most of the screen and love it. What I meant was I'd rather have less focus points spanning across the screen rather than several in the middle of the screen tightly grouped. Canon borrowed the focus points from the 80D and put it on a full frame. They should have added more focus points on the new 6D II or spread them out beyond the middle of the screen.

I have a the original 6D which I bought 3 years ago. At the time, I figured I could get a 6D and a 7D Mark II for around the same price as a 5DMark III. If I had to do it all over again today, it would be different. I would get a 5D Mark III over the 6D or the 6D Mark II. A 5D Mark III is pretty comparable to a 6D Mark II in price and a better camera. The price of the 5D Mark III has come down since the 5D Mark IV came out. My complaint about the 6D is the focus points are tightly grouped in the center. The new 6D Mark II has 45 focus points and Dual Pixel Auto Focus which is great, but again they are tightly grouped in the center of the frame. I'd rather have less focus points and have them spread out. Having 45 focus points in the center of the screen doesn't work for me, maybe others but not me. That's because I don't like to focus and recompose.