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Sunday, December 29, 2013

[Rant] Is the Canon 70D too heavy and is it worth $400 more than the 700D?

Ok it is that time of the year where I want to reconsider getting a DLSR to replace my point and shoot camera.

The last time this idea crawled into my mind, my choice was to get a Nikon D7000 with a 18-200mm lens – purely looking at the specs and the price. But when I held the Nikon D7100 and the D5300 (as the D7000 is not available at Yodobashi or Biccamera, I didn't like the feel. Plus, I hear that the 18-200 lens isn't that great of a lens. Anyways, the one with the 18-200mm lens is out of stock. I can only find one with 18-105 lens or 18-300 lens.

When I held the new Canon 70D though, I really fell in love with it. But the darn thing costs $1260 with the 18-135mm IS STM lens as of today. But the D7000 costs the same, while being quite old. 70D is new and feature rich. Even though the 70D is a better camera than the D7000, with this year’s sucky bonus, I feel that spending over $1000 on the camera is a bit of a stretch. I want to buy a lot of stuff averagely priced stuff than buy high-end stuff for the same total amount of money. For example, if I can buy a $800 camera and a $400 video card instead of a $1200 camera, I would go with the former.

Anyways, the D7000 is out. It is just old and I don’t like Nikon although the image is sharper with Nikon. The reason for that is mostly due to the anti-aliasing filter in the Canon DSLRs.

In fact, there is the 700D which is also new, but not so powerful as the 70D. With the same 18-135mm IS STM lens, it costs $830 – which actually fits my model. I can get the 700D and a video card instead of the 70D.

Canon-EOS-70D

My issue is, I don't know if I really need the 70D or if the 700D would be enough. The 70D has a better auto focus system, the camera is faster, more focus points, feels sturdier and well built, faster maximum shutter speed, better quality at high ISO and built in Wi-Fi. I don’t expect to buy a new camera for a long time, but if I bought a 700D, I don’t know if I might have to upgrade in a couple of years. 70D would stay with me a long time. Remember, getting the camera with the lens is cheaper than getting them separately. So, if I just upgrade the body while keeping the same 18-135mm lens, it might not be worth it. Buying the 70D now and maybe upgrading it in 5 years or so would be the best option. But then again, I’m a novice. I might not use more than 20% of the features in the 70D.

But on the other hand, the 70D is heavier. I don't know if this would be a deal breaker. I haven't held it for a long time. In the real world scenario, I would have to carry it for hours. “The best camera is the one that is with you, not the one that is at home”, so if I don’t feel like carrying is everywhere I go, then the 70D won’t be worth getting. Anyways, I am planning to pay a visit to Yodobashi tomorrow to get a better feeling of the 700D and the 70D. If the 700D doesn’t feel well in my hands, then I don’t want to get it. I know the 70D feels great.

That's where I love the Canon PowerShot S95 camera which I currently own. You can put it in my pocket and forget that it is even there. But the S95 is slow to focus, slow to take shots, much worse ISO performance, sucks when it comes to video recording and last but not least, it is a Point and Shoot.

P.S.

There is the old 60D which is also a good camera, but doesn’t have the “feature set” of the new 70D even though the image quality is almost identical. But the 60D’s available in the market come with the 18-135mm non-STM lens. I can get the body and the STM lens separately, but that would bring the total somewhat closer the the 70D + 18-135mm STM lens. $1035 to be exact. For 20% more, I would gladly go for the 70D.

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