Canon has pass age making incremental melioration to its DSLR billet ’s video features , yet it ’s been ages since we ’ve seen a major footprint forward in functionality . While the60Dadded some nice touches , its successor , the EOS 70D , makes one very specific leap towards excellence .
https://gizmodo.com/canon-60d-impressions-the-perfect-video-dslr-is-just-a-5622239
What Is It?
A $ 1200 ( body only ) DSLR with a 20.2 megapixel APS - C sensor and some serious video auto - focusing chops .
Who’s It For?
Enthusiast or budding photographers who also shoot a lot of documentary film , political campaign and accelerator , or home video recording .
Why It Matters
Despite the extent to which DSLR video has been hug in the preceding 5 years or so , one of the greatest challenges has been the deficiency of full auto - stress . With what Canon forebode Dual - Pixel AF , the 70D is the first DSLR television camera we have seen that performs raw and consistent focusing while shooting video . That think multitude without much experience can shoot casual video with better termination , and even certain professional users can profit .
Design
The classical Canon DSLR profile remains intact with the 70D — comfortable and solid . canyon loves experimenting with button layouts , and every model is slightly different . The 70D is no exclusion . A match of buttons , like trash , have been moved to the correct side of the television camera , while the bill of fare and info clit have move to the left hand . There ’s also the addition of the useful alive - view / TV way on/off switch , inherit from the 7D. While the changes are n’t high-risk necessarily , you kind of just want Canon to pick a layout and beat with it .
There is one major mar , and that is the directive launchpad within the rear control bicycle . Not only is it smaller than the one on the 60D , it also has a squishy tactile property , is tough to differentiate with your thumb , and is well-fixed to circumstantially press when rotating the outer roulette wheel . Just really bad ergonomics there .
Using It
permit ’s start with stills , because as much attention as the TV features deserve , this is still a camera establish for photos . The trueness is , there are no improvements to get delirious about here . The images from the 70D are largely the same as Canon ’s retiring 5,383 APS - C DSLRs , without much of an image quality improvement over model that came out 5 years ago . That ’s unsatisfying . It does n’t mean the double tone is big ; in Sojourner Truth , image quality across all brands has only seen modest addition in the retiring few year . But even accepting that reality , Canon ’s products in finicky have only prove modest evolution .
That said , the shooting experience is still terrific , aided by the responsive and nonrational touch - screen . canyon has mastered this engineering ripe than any other television camera - maker , and it show . motorcar - focal point is snappy , inherit the 7D ’s 19 bad-tempered - type points , though the single - shot AF speed is still behind some mirrorless cameras like theOM - D E - M1 . Servo tracking is another chronicle , and is one of the few areas where traditional DSLRs are superior over mirrorless up - and - comers .
f/8 , 1/125 , ISO 100 :
f/5.0 , 1/125 , ISO 100 :
The tv camera ’s ups and down feather aside , where the magic of the 70D lies is in video musical mode . With the new Dual Pixel AF , which basically splits the pixels on the camera ’s sensor , using one-half of each as phase - detection sites , Canon has promised still and exact auto - focus during TV recording . It work exceedingly well . When prompt from one subject to another , the camera automatically refocuses smoothly , without back - and - forth hunting or jittering steps . Sure , there is the episodic girl , but overall it ’s howling , and makes “ point and shoot ” video potential for many beginners who would otherwise be frustrated by the difficulty of constantly racking focus in video mode .
Furthermore , as a professional exploiter , I would not fire this feature as only for beginners . When shooting run and ordnance documentary footage , I would not hesitate to use the 70D ’s auto - focus when not in a location to effectively supervise and align the crystalline lens manually .
unluckily , for Canon and its many frantic customers , the 70D stops there when it come to offering video shooters anything new . The video lineament is not better one minute over premature models . It still exhibits significant watered-silk aberration in certain subjects , and just look a bit squashy in finely detailed shot . dependable , it ’s no worse than every other DSLR out there except the very top end — the 5D Mark III and Nikon D800 . But still , we should expect some sort of quality improvement over 5 years .
Perhaps more incomprehensible is the want of headphone mariner . How does Canon expect a video shooter to take the 70D when they are unable to monitor audio ? It does n’t make sentiency .
f/2.8 , 1/200 , ISO 640 :
f/2.0 , 1/250 , ISO 3200 :
100 % crop , f/2.0 , 1/250 , ISO 3200 :
Like
That solid Canon feel — in both hardware and software — makes for a great exploiter experience . The well put through rotating touch - screen is a blessing to the camera ’s usability , particularly for picture transcription . The flagship feature , machine - focussing during television transcription is terrific and peerless , and congratulate the 70D ’s unanimous still AF performance .
No Like
look-alike quality is nothing to get delirious about . It ’s good , but overdue for a boost , specially in low-toned spark . television quality is also the same as what we saw in 2009 . The rear directional pad is a tactile and ergonomic incubus — squishy and imprecise . Despite Canon marketing the 70D toward telecasting shooters , it still miss key video features like a earpiece jack . And why you must incapacitate Wi - Fi before shooting in video mode is beyond me .
Test Notes
funnily , Wi - Fi must be handicap before you phonograph record telecasting . It ’s annoying and beguiling to have to jump into the menus for this .
All of our image samples were shot RAW and convert in Adobe Lightroom .
Video AF performance will deviate free-base on which lens you use . Most lenses that are n’t exceedingly old should work out fine , but the sound of the motor will definitely be apparent if you are using the on - plug-in mic . But really , you should never be using the on - circuit card mic anyways . And if you have the new STM ( silent stepping motor ) lenses , AF will be very quiet .
In our exam TV , the focal point test was done using a 35 millimeter f/2 IS , and the touch - focus test was done using the 24 - 105 mm f/4 IS .
View ourfull - size of it range of a function samples here .
Should I Buy It?
If you want a snap - all DSLR that is good in most area but not incredible in any ( besides video auto - focus ) , the 70D is a solid buy at$1200 for the soundbox . The Nikon D7100 ( $ 1200 consistence - only ) , is a bit more rich with better image quality and low - light performance , but not good at all for picture . The Canon T4i , at a much cheaper $ 650 ( body only ) , will give you about the same image quality as the 70D , but without the useability and video recording public lavatory .
regrettably , the current camera landscape is such that DLSRs really do n’t have much Modern to extend . There is more innovation in the mirrorless world . Canon insists on making products that tender one or two big new feature — Dual - Pixel AF is a great lineament — but refuses to coalesce the best of them into one with child camera .
CamerasCanonDSLRsVideography
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