My experience going from A700 to Canon 60D

[bfitzgerald]

Tricky Greg! I see some good and bad things in all the makers. Stuff I like..things that I find very strange.
From Pentax's enforced cooked raw, to Nikon's encrypted batteries, Minolta's inverted hot shoe...Canon's odd 1.6x crop ratio

I could probably write a book on the naughty little lock in's that makers do to try to limit user choices. Nikon's entry models are so cut down even a Dynax 5 35mm looks high spec compared to their D3200/5100 (neither has a DOF preview, neither can do HSS or wireless flash) The devil is sometimes in the details and that goes across the makers to various degrees. Sony put a lot of effort into moving that power switch and I bet few if any actually really give a damn about it. Yet still struggle with the jpegs or the concept of not smearing them to bits.

I think Sony missed a trick to really product genuine updates to the A700 and A900 models, leaving them to fade away slowly. It's a shame because both models updated would have been just the ticket for many users. Nikon basically are not worth a look below a certain price points, Canon are probably more appealing full frame wise, Pentax offer a lot of basic photo stuff done right..but with IMO no customer support and a lens range that isn't that appealing and has been ramped up yet again in price making any expansion very unlikely. Sony seem to be struggling with the flash system/consistency too. And I don't think the SLT strategy has paid off for them, it's def not shaken the top 2 makers to the core or dented their sales much.

I can certainly see why some just ignore smaller makers and do a Canikon. It's just a case of getting something that can focus properly!
Sometimes I wonder if I should bother with a reflex system, or if I made the right choice to move to another maker. Lots to think about in this one..I doubt I'll get a D90 that works properly based on the 2 I bought so far a 100% fail rate for good AF, but I will have to wait and see! I could have bought some more 5d's and 7d's they're pretty cheap..or maybe picked up an A700 or even an A900 invested in some good glass and been happy ish at least.

Problem for me was/is I dislike the SLT's so much I just don't want to buy/use them. Not really sensible being a reluctant purchaser and just cruising along. On the other hand it's meant starting from scratch which is costly esp lenses and flashes.

Going away for a week in a few days, so I have lots to think about on this one. And where I go next if I go anywhere..
Maybe it's time to take stock of things..I can try different Nikon bodies and return dodgy ones..it's not ideal though. I could try to get the D90 working ok and cruise with that until a new d7000 or D600 turns up. But will they focus ok!

[Andy B]

Recently purchased a Sony A57 to use along with my A700 and I'm very satisfied with it for my casual shooting purposes. Yes, it lacks some of the A700's (and A77's) features, but my only real complaint is the inability to set the Auto ISO range to suit my preferences. I love the A57's size and the way my CZ 16-80 feels on it. Might be my imagination, but I think the CZ focuses more accurately on the A57 than it did on the A700. Can't wait to see what Sony has in mind for the next generation of cropped SLTs.

[Greg Beetham]

I agree Barry getting an A700 or an A900 is a great idea if you can find a low mileage one, it seems these days many like to blast off gazillions of shots (managing them surely must be a problem, one would think). Buying a second hand camera from someone you don’t know is always a bit chancy though.
You do hear stories of people finding brand new A700’s in the odd camera store now and then, probably those stores who don’t have a web presence I’d say, otherwise they would have gone long ago.
I did a search for an A700 a few months ago and I actually found one listed, but guess what, the price had gone way back up to what they were not long after the time of release. I suppose they were banking on the fact that you now can’t get a DSLR without any video compromises built in and if you want a top featured pentaprism DSLR that just shoots stills first and onlymost you have too pays your money for the pleasure…that was the impression I got anyway.
I guess there is always the A580 if you can handle the smallish OVF (although some say there’s not much difference to an A100, couldn’t say myself, I’ve never seen one and probably not likely too) it does bash out a good fine textured image though by all accounts, I think it has a delay with the flash as well like the SLT’s, but that might be only when in LV mode, I can’t remember for sure.
The main reason I like Sony even now is because of the colour balance, I still think the colour is marginally better than the others, but I suppose its individual preference on that score.
Greg

[Andy B]

Have never tried the A580, but so far I have not noticed any flash delay on my A57; nor any flash overexposure problems, as many have reported on the A65 and A77. Perhaps Sony is slowly working the bugs out of the SLTs.

[bakubo]

Now that the 70D has been announced the 60D is going for $599 in the U.S.

The new Canon sensor tech in the 70D is interesting. I guess that the main advantage is for LV and video focus though. I have no doubt that it will make it into a future Canon mirrorless camera. Of course, the 70D's OVF could be ignored and the camera treated as a large mirrorless, I suppose. In other ways the 70D looks pretty good with some nice additions/changes compared to the 60D. I really liked my 60D. Best DSLR I have had and if it had IBIS I would have been even happier. More and more lenses have ILIS though so that is somewhat less of an issue than it was 5-6 years ago. For $599 I think the 60D is quite a good deal for anyone who might have an interest in a Canon DSLR.

[NevHi]

I see the stylised R for Richardson on the buttocks of the second photo.

[bakubo]

I see the stylised R for Richardson on the buttocks of the second photo.

Yeah, the Hawaii beach babes all love me and try to show it in various subtle ways.