# best place to buy a canon body?



## halfuncle (Jan 25, 2017)

Wanted to have some feedback before making a purchase, I am planning to get a canon body at bestbuy because they price match some stores and also have a 12 month credit card play plan.

So where is the best place to get a dslr brand new for the best price?
(also I am in college so if you know any places that offer discounts to people in school please let me know; best buy offers no discounts for that)


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## JonA_CT (Jan 25, 2017)

What are you looking to buy? If you're short on cash, I'd highly recommend buying a used or refurbished unit rather than taking a payment plan out for it.


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## halfuncle (Jan 25, 2017)

JonA_CT said:


> What are you looking to buy? If you're short on cash, I'd highly recommend buying a used or refurbished unit rather than taking a payment plan out for it.


looking for a canon 6d, anything around 1300


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## JonA_CT (Jan 25, 2017)

halfuncle said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> > What are you looking to buy? If you're short on cash, I'd highly recommend buying a used or refurbished unit rather than taking a payment plan out for it.
> ...



Is that a total budget, or just for the camera body? Also, do you own Canon full-frame lenses already? 

If your budget is tight, there might be some better options if you don't own Canon glass yet.


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## halfuncle (Jan 25, 2017)

just for the body but i do have a full frames lense


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## zombiesniper (Jan 25, 2017)

From your other thread.


halfuncle said:


> I was doing some research before getting a canon body and was thinking witch one is the best to get.
> seems like 6d is out dated but the best in my price range because its full frame
> 
> trying to spend around 1300
> ...



My answer from the other thread.
What do you like to shoot?
What lenses do you have?
You have a wide range of cameras there. Nobody could intelligently give you an answer without a bit more info as to what gear you currently have and expected type of photography.


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## halfuncle (Jan 25, 2017)

mainly portraits and skateboarding, but also some landscape
I currently have a canon 1.4 50mm and a rokinon 8mm 3.5


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## zombiesniper (Jan 25, 2017)

Okay for skateboarding I would lean heavily towards the 80D. The 7Dmk2 would be excellent as well but the 80D has a newer sensor. 
For portraits and landscape I'll let others chime in since I have almost no landscape experience have only done portraits with a 7Dmk2.


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## halfuncle (Jan 25, 2017)

Do you not think a canon 6d would be a good choice?  
I heard full frame makes a huge difference




zombiesniper said:


> Okay for skateboarding I would lean heavily towards the 80D. The 7Dmk2 would be excellent as well but the 80D has a newer sensor.
> For portraits and landscape I'll let others chime in since I have almost no landscape experience have only done portraits with a 7Dmk2.


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## zombiesniper (Jan 25, 2017)

The 6D would be the worst choice for skateboarding but for portrait and landscape I have a feeling it would be a fair choice. Now having said that what do you shoot most?
portraits/landscape 50% or more....likely the 6D
skateboarding or mild action 50% or more 80D
7Dmk2 is really not the right tool for either.


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## halfuncle (Jan 25, 2017)

zombiesniper said:


> The 6D would be the worst choice for skateboarding but for portrait and landscape I have a feeling it would be a fair choice. Now having said that what do you shoot most?
> portraits/landscape 50% or more....likely the 6D
> skateboarding or mild action 50% or more 80D
> 7Dmk2 is really not the right tool for either.



could you explain why the 6d would not be good/better for skateboarding


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## zombiesniper (Jan 25, 2017)

The autofocus on the 6D is the worst of the 3 and it has the lowest frame rate.


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## astroNikon (Jan 26, 2017)

I've bought the last 3 of 5 camera bodies new from Best Buy on their 12 or 18 month no interest plan.  You'll want to pay it off  within that timeframe other wise you get whacked with built up interest for the entire amount even if you owe a fraction of it.

You being a college student this also would be good because you can build up your credit worthiness.  Just pay it off in time.

Can't help you on the body but I shoot Nikon full frame and crop.


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## TCampbell (Jan 29, 2017)

Back to your original question... at the Canon website you can get "refurbished" cameras at a fairly decent discount and that typically is about the best price you'll find.  A "refurb" isn't technically "new" because you're not the first consumer to open the box... but usually these are camera that were returned for whatever reason (usually the buyer changed their mind) and didn't have anything wrong with them at all.  Regardless, everything sold as a refurbished camera is fully check out, repacked, and includes the same warranty that "new" cameras get.  Mostly that just means you get a better price.

Here's the link to the refurbished section:  Canon Refurbished EOS Digital SLR Cameras | Canon Online Store

As for the cameras.   

A "full frame" body naturally has a wider angle of view when using the same lens but this changes some dynamics about how far away you'll stand from a subject to compose a shot, etc. and it has a noticeable impact on things such as the depth of field.  It's easier to create a blurred background with a full frame camera than it is with a crop-frame camera (assuming the same lens is used).  

The APS-C sensor cameras have a 1.6x crop factor.  That means if you take the diagonal measure of the full frame sensor and divide by the diagonal measure of the crop frame camera you'll notice that it divides in 1.6 times.  It turns out that math carries through into the focal ratios.  If you compose a shot of a subject at f/4 using a full frame camera and compose the same shot with the same lens and the same cropping using an APS-C camera you'll find that to get the blur to work out, the crop camera would need to shoot with a focal ratio which is 1.6x lower than the full-frame camera (you would need to be able to shoot at f/2.5 to get an equivalent looking shot).  

Full-frame cameras tend to be preferred for portraits and also there's a side-effect to sensor technology that also tends to mean that full frame sensors exhibit less noise when shooting at high ISO (assuming both cameras are using sensors with similar technology).

The 6D is designed to be an "entry level" full frame body camera.  Full frame cameras tend to be expensive... almost always $2500 or more.  The 6D provides a much lower-cost entry into the market, but the camera is simpler in other ways.  It uses a rather simple 11 point focus system and it doesn't have a particularly fast shutter speed.  This makes the camera less desirable for "action" photography.

The 80D is a newer generation of camera (so it has that on it's side) and it's especially well-suited to video.  But it has a noticeably better focus system and a faster shutter speed.  It's intended to be a mid-tier camera... a bit above the entry-level category but not quite into the pro category.  The 7D Mk II, on the other hand, is really more of a pro-level camera with emphasis on use ability for action photography and use in the field.  It's physically larger and heavier.  It has a magnesium alloy (lightweight metal) body instead of polycarbonate (plastic).  It has weather sealing.  It has a substantially better focusing system.  The list of benefits goes on... but mostly it's features tend to be optimized toward action photography.


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## halfuncle (Jan 29, 2017)

TCampbell said:


> Back to your original question... at the Canon website you can get "refurbished" cameras at a fairly decent discount and that typically is about the best price you'll find.  A "refurb" isn't technically "new" because you're not the first consumer to open the box... but usually these are camera that were returned for whatever reason (usually the buyer changed their mind) and didn't have anything wrong with them at all.  Regardless, everything sold as a refurbished camera is fully check out, repacked, and includes the same warranty that "new" cameras get.  Mostly that just means you get a better price.
> 
> Here's the link to the refurbished section:  Canon Refurbished EOS Digital SLR Cameras | Canon Online Store
> 
> ...




hey man, I really appreciate you taking your time to inform me about all this stuff.

Right now I'm deciding between the 6D and the 7D ii. 
For skateboarding frames per second doesn't matter at all because I personally don't like holding down the shutter.
 (its like saying id rather use a sniper than an automatic weapon)
and also 1/500-1/600 is the highest shutter speed I would need.
Also I use 8mm for skateboarding so I tend to never use the auto focus.

So basically right now I am thinking either get the 6D for the full frames, or get the  7D ii because it is a newer camera.
I dont know to much about cameras but They both have the same mega pixels (i think XD) 

Also I dont want to get the 80D because I don't think it is as cool as the 6D, all the vloggers on youtube use it and hearing that is a good vlogging camera makes me cringe. Well thats my opinion but that takes the 80D out of the picture for me haha.


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## TrolleySwag (Jan 30, 2017)

zombiesniper said:


> The autofocus on the 6D is the worst of the 3 and it has the lowest frame rate.


I first read this as atrocious focus. I have a 6d and hate the af. I'm thinking of "downgrading" to a 5d classic and a 7d classic to cover my portraits & kids sports. I really want a 1dx classic but not sure I want a full body to carry everywhere. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## TCampbell (Jan 30, 2017)

halfuncle said:


> Also I dont want to get the 80D because I don't think it is as cool as the 6D, all the vloggers on youtube use it and hearing that is a good vlogging camera makes me cringe. Well thats my opinion but that takes the 80D out of the picture for me haha.



The reason for this is two-fold... 

(1) the vlogger could use a webcam ... but the image quality (due to lenses and sensor size) isn't as good.   They prefer a camera with interchangeable lenses (like a DSLR) where they can select something that offers a nicer image quality.  However, most DSLRs -- while capable of shooting video -- do not do a good job of continuously auto-focusing in video mode.  This is because most DSLRs rely on "phase detect" auto-focus sensors located on the floor of the camera.  When the reflex mirror is down (shutter is closed) the mirror bounces light down into these sensors which can focus _much_ faster then most other focus systems.  But when the shutter is "open" and the mirror is raised clear of the sensor (as it would be during a video), it can't use those sensors and has to use something called "contrast detection" AF instead.  This system isn't nearly as fast and it requires that the camera make several "guesses" to refine focus.  You'll see the camera (during a video) do an annoying thing called "focus hunt".

(2) the 80D has a feature called "Dual-Pixel CMOS AF" (the 6D doesn't have this feature).  The feature is especially useful during live-view.  Canon found a way to integrate the sort of technology used by phase-detect AF sensors into the actual imaging sensor itself.  This gives them the speed and accuracy of phase-detect AF, but they can actually use this during video.  This allows the camera to focus continuously during video and the focus is much faster and follows the subject much better (you don't get "focus hunt" issues as the camera makes guesses as to how to refine focus.)

There were a few Canon models that experimented with earlier versions of the dual-pixel CMOS AF system, but with each iteration the system has gotten better.  The 80D has one of the most recent implementations and it's pretty good.  The 6D doesn't have this feature at all.

Canon's newest cameras have it.  The feature is now found in the 1D Mark II (Canon's flagship DSLR), the 5D Mark IV, the 7D Mark II, as well as the 70D and 80D.  The newer Rebel series cameras have something called "Hybrid CMOS AF" which is an older implementation that works pretty well (much better than contrast detect AF) but not quite as good as the dual-pixel CMOS AF system.

So basically if the vlogger buys an 80D, they get a camera optimized for video (it's about as close as you can get with to just buying a dedicated movie camera -- but with the interchangeable lens capabilities of the DSLR).  This makes the 80D one of the most popular DSLRs on the market for those who are primarily interested in the video features.

The 80D certainly has a better AF system then the 6D.    

Though sensor resolutions are similar, the 80D has a tighter pixel density (the 6D spreads the pixels out over a 36mm x 24mm area whereas the 80D fits them into the smaller ~23mm x 15mm area.)

The other thing to consider is that the 80D is a newer generation sensor and it's quite an improvement.  So while it's technically an APS-C sensor, it actually does outperform the 6D on low noise at high ISO and dynamic range.  The 6D has been out quite a few years and the rumor speculation is that there may be a replacement 6D (e.g. 6D II out ... probably within a year, but who knows.)


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## jtran76 (Jan 31, 2017)

halfuncle said:


> zombiesniper said:
> 
> 
> > The 6D would be the worst choice for skateboarding but for portrait and landscape I have a feeling it would be a fair choice. Now having said that what do you shoot most?
> ...



Just because a camera is full frame doesn't automatically make it better than the APS-C camera. You can also look at the 7D Mark 2 as well. Much faster focus than the 6D also has a lot more auto focusing points and faster shutter speeds as well which is great for sport photography.


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## Resqu2 (Feb 3, 2017)

I will just say I love my 6D and I didn't break the bank getting it. Would of loved the 5D m4 but nope it's to much. I use my 6D to take pics of my dogs running and playing all the time, no issues at all with it not being as fast as other cameras. 


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