canon eos 60d or eos600d

Hello,

I took your advice and went to a camera shop to look at and try a
Canon EOS 600 but the salesman also showed me the 60D. I'm wondering
if anyone has opinions on either of these?

What are the differences between them? These are ones I can think of,
perhaps you can tell me how important they are:

I know from reading reviews that the 60d has cross point auto
focusing, whereas the 600d has only one cross point but being new to
all this, I am not sure what the implications of that would be in the
real world?

The 60d has an lcd on the top. I'm not sure how useful this would be.
When would you look at this? Surely you'll be looking through the
viewfinder? If you need to look at a screen, what's wrong with the big
articulated one on the back?

Wasn't there a problem with another Canon dSLR where light from the
lcd was "leaking" into the camera?

The salesman told me that the 60d is more weatherproof and dust proof
than the 600d. I couldn't see any difference but I guess the magic is
on the inside.

I think the 60d has a bulb setting on the dial, whereas the 600d has
the bulb setting hidden in a menu.

Is it worth me paying £150 more for the 60, or should I use that money
on a lens?

Thanks,
Stephen.

 

It depends on how serious a photographer you are. The 60D is the better
camera. Its larger and may feel better in the hand than the 600D. It is
built with better materials and has better weather sealing. Its the sort
of camera that entry level users upgrade to after deciding that they
want to take their hobby further.

If you are absolutely sure that photography is going to be part of your
life for a long time then you may as well save on the upgrade path and
buy the 60D now. If you are unsure or will only be taking the occasional
shots then stick with the 600D which is still a good camera.

Do think carefully about lenses. They are just as important as the
camera but they will actually hold their value better than the camera.
Buy the best you can afford and buy once.

 

The LCD on top is for camera settings, the point being that it's near
the buttons for controlling those settings. Useful if you're changing
those settings a lot, less so if you're not.

http://www.canon.co.uk/ has a compare button that lets you put them side
by side.

You don't sound very enthused about the 60D's extras, so perhaps the
money would indeed be well spent on glass instead.

 

I've never used the 600D so can't compare but am well satisfied with the
60D - partly because it fits my hand so nicely, mind.

Don't forget auto focus has to be able to focus, unerringly, on the
wrong object. In automated modes the 60D can choose its AF point from a
pattern of possible points, instead of always focussing on whatever's in
the middle of the frame. You can avoid this by not using basic modes.

In other modes you can move the AF point around the picture, instead of
it always being in the middle, so you can focus on an off-centre object
and shoot without moving the camera. This is dead handy if you're using
a tripod but not so popular if you activate it by accident when tracking
a moving target.

The display on the top shows things you'd normally set while not looking
through the viewfinder. It works with a row of buttons when you set
manual AF mode (one shot or servo), drive (one shot or machine-gun) ISO
or exposure metering. The rest of the time it shows your current
settings and battery status. It uses a lot less battery than the back
screen because it isn't illuminated unless you press a button, and then
only lights up orange.

Dunno. Never had a problem myself.

The technology's always improving and the 60D is a recent model.

Yes, I once engaged it by accident...

Only you can decide. You can download the PDF user manual from any of
several third-party websites; I'd suggest you do this for both cameras
and study them carefully, also some review sites. You should then be
able to decide whether the extra money is buying features you really
want and would use.

 

Hello Stephen.
I'll offer my usual comment of "why not buy second-hand". Should save money
compared to buying new and it won't hurt so much if you decide that you have
bought the (for you) wrong camera.

Canon's model numbers tend to work on a "the lower the number then the
bigger, heavier and more expensive the camera".
I've had a 350D (predecessor of the 400D, 450D) and now use a 50D. The 50D
is significantly bigger and heavier than the 350D. I changed from a 350D to
the 50D because the 50D offered me:
- spot metering
- more frames per second
- a useful increase in the number of pixels
but note that I used the 350D for several years before I decided I would
benefit from changing to the 50D.

Hopefully, this link
http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_SLR/index.aspx#
takes you to Canon's DSLR page and you can run a comparison of the 60D and
600D:


Looking very quickly through the comparison, the 60D offers more frames per
second, has a tougher body, more custom functions (which suggests that the
user can customise it better to their needs), has a faster shutter speed
(1/8000) and slightly higher flash sync speed than the 600D.

My 50D has a feature that lets me set the flashgun options via the 50D's LCD
screen. Where the flashgun shows custom functions as F01, F02 and so on, the
50D uses plain English to tell me what the options do and that's very
helpful. I don't know if this is also found on the 600D or only on the lower
numbered Canon cameras (50D, 5D, 1D etc).

Hope this is of help.

Kindest regards, Ian.