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Canon Eos 550D VS Canon 60D... FOR VIDEO

jwheeler said:
The camera came with a either Chinese or japanese warranty sheet. I still get the same warranty.
Click to expand...

Except you have to ship the camera to Hong Kong in order for the warranty to be honored. As for the duration and terms of the warranty, well, they're clearly spelled out for you...in Chinese.

Gray market is potentially worth it if you're aware of the trade-offs. But there are trade-offs.
 
sorry for all the offtopic in this thread

i just saw you can turn in an old broken canon ps and you can buy a refurbished 7d body only for 1087$+ tax .. 90 day warranty .. the rep told me they arent used units so the shutter count is 0 .. im kinda tempted
 
jetjaguar said:
sorry for all the offtopic in this thread

i just saw you can turn in an old broken canon ps and you can buy a refurbished 7d body only for 1087$+ tax .. 90 day warranty .. the rep told me they arent used units so the shutter count is 0 .. im kinda tempted
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I'd upgrade a t2i for it. But yur 60D....., unless u need the HDMI out to be really high res when recording, I'd stick with the 60D.

I mean the only reason I can think of for getting the 7D is if I was more serious about photography, or if I were a proper video company with two "specific" crew per camera (One operator, one focus puller). And even then I'd go for the 5DmkII for the full frame-ness :D
 
yea i really just like how solid it feels and also the button layout .. but lcd on the 60 seems to be way more useful for video unless you have a nice setup for the 7d
 
jetjaguar said:
...but lcd on the 60 seems to be way more useful for video unless you have a nice setup for the 7d
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Exactly. For me I can't afford a rig, let alone a screen. So the screen has been brilliant. But tbh it's been fantastic for photos too. So please for the screen.
 
yea i figured im better off saving money and using the 60d .. learning how to use it and to shoot video with a dslr .. then a year down the road or whenever they update the 7d ill upgrade the body
 
jetjaguar said:
yea i figured im better off saving money and using the 60d .. learning how to use it and to shoot video with a dslr .. then a year down the road or whenever they update the 7d ill upgrade the body
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Good plan. I actually hope hey add the screen thing to all the cameras though. Its so handy for photos too :)
 
Just to throw a cat amongst the pigeons here.

it's worth taking a look at some of the "jail-break" developments taking place for the T2i/550D

what is being developed really puts the the 550D out near the front with cameras like the 5d Mk II

anyway have a look at this:-

http://vimeo.com/17786851
 
bimmzy said:
Just to throw a cat amongst the pigeons here.

it's worth taking a look at some of the "jail-break" developments taking place for the T2i/550D

what is being developed really puts the the 550D out near the front with cameras like the 5d Mk II

anyway have a look at this:-

http://vimeo.com/17786851
Click to expand...

Just what I was about to say! As already stated they are developing for 60D but it is not there yet...
The 4K thing was a rather uninventive excuse to Rick Roll us btw. (although the people behind magic lantern thought it could be possible....)
Anyway to restate what others have said - GLASS
I got a 550D as I wanted the hack asap.
(I use a Sanyo Xacti HD2000 when I shoot anything that would really require a moveable screen or without aliasing/moire.)
550D I go with view finder and money on Lenses -
I got -
Tokina 11-16 (cost as much as the camera near enough)
Second Hand Sigma 28mm f1.4
Canon 50mm f1.8
Then Various filters, polarising, Neutral Density etc.
Also accessories like an Intervalometer for time lapse, cheap shoulder rig, LED light (made one), some big 4 way reflector/diffusers and an external audio recorder (already had one) all push the price up.
I easily tripled the price of the body on all of the extras so if you can afford to do something along those lines and get the 60D it is worth it... but the 550D will do you proud if you can live without the swivel screen.
 
im really new to dslrs .. im going to start paying around with the 60d today .. i have no idea what the magic latern firmware adds but i am unsure if i wanna get into hacking the camera .. or is it worth it ?
 
jetjaguar said:
im really new to dslrs .. im going to start paying around with the 60d today .. i have no idea what the magic latern firmware adds but i am unsure if i wanna get into hacking the camera .. or is it worth it ?
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The camera records video fine without it. Wait until you know what you're doing before you think of installing stuff like that.
 
firestarter said:
The camera records video fine without it. Wait until you know what you're doing before you think of installing stuff like that.
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yea from that video posted about the magic lattern firmware on the 550d it looks like it just allows switching options while having the liveview up among other things ..

another question .. is it worth buying canon batteries and battery grip or getting cheaper alternatives ?
 
firestarter said:
The camera records video fine without it. Wait until you know what you're doing before you think of installing stuff like that.
Click to expand...

what is worth remembering about the current magic lantern development is that it is still a pre-beta, so there are risks involved in installing the up-grade.

if the guidelines are followed closely the 'jail-break' is only temporary as the extra enabled features are booted from the SD card its self currently seated in the camera.
take the card out and the 5550D returns to its current canon firmware instal.

clearly a change to the firmware away from the manufactures own is a risky undertaking, but magic lantern has a great record in modding other similar cameras.
 
Magic Lantern doesn't work on 32GB cards (or at least it didn't for me and a bunch of others online), for that reason alone, if you're serious about using the 550d for filming, I'd say go for the 60d at bare minimum.

It's great software, a bit buggy at times, the UI is terrible and changing log files before booting up the camera is completely non-viable way of adjusting the set audio levels, but it's clever how fast it's moving, just a shame it's set back a bit on a few key features.
 
jetjaguar said:
im really new to dslrs .. im going to start paying around with the 60d today .. i have no idea what the magic latern firmware adds but i am unsure if i wanna get into hacking the camera .. or is it worth it ?
Click to expand...
It'll be worth it when they get a version up that the menu's properly work with. They don't have a 60D atm so they're just guessing, using brave testers before releasing. So although the released version won't brick your camera, It's not completely functional yet.

As an off topic thing, turns out my dad has a load of old lenses from when he was my age (30 years ago - I'm 20 in 24hrs). They use the M42 mount. I was wondering wether it was worth buying a load of adaptors and trying them out on my 60D?
http://www.virtualvillage.co.uk/m42....html?utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=shcomp
 
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What type of lenses are good to start off with for video? I just have the 18-135 kit lens... Are primes the way to go? 50mm 1.8? Or is the 1.4 worth three times the cost? And is there a lens that is a great everyday lens for pictures as well as for video? I keep hearing everyone mentioning the 17-55 for everyday pics .. It's 999 on amazon tho
 
Schtumple said:
Magic Lantern doesn't work on 32GB cards (or at least it didn't for me and a bunch of others online), for that reason alone, if you're serious about using the 550d for filming, I'd say go for the 60d at bare minimum.
Click to expand...

Please explain that logic. :confused: Are you saying the 550d doesn't handle more than 16GB cards and that the 60d does? Why throw Magic Lantern into the conversation when I see in the past messages that it doesn't work with the 60d.
 
xStep said:
Please explain that logic. :confused: Are you saying the 550d doesn't handle more than 16GB cards and that the 60d does? Why throw Magic Lantern into the conversation when I see in the past messages that it doesn't work with the 60d.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming that his thought process is:
- I like to manually set audio levels
- So I need magic lantern on the 550
- But I also like 32GB cards and ML on the 550 doesn't like them (32GB work fine on the camera normally)
- So to use manual audio and 32GB I need a 60D

Which is all a bit tortuous a set of assumptions to make.

Suffice to say:
- The 550 is great for video
- It works fine with 32GB (I use 16GB mostly TBH)
- You don't need to run Magic Lantern (I don't)
- If you want decent audio it's better to use an external recorder and not fuss with the on-camera audio anyway (I have a Zoom H1 and Zoom H4n)
- Unless you need the movable screen, the 550D+money for lenses is probably a better value video tool than a 60D
 
xStep said:
Please explain that logic. :confused: Are you saying the 550d doesn't handle more than 16GB cards and that the 60d does? Why throw Magic Lantern into the conversation when I see in the past messages that it doesn't work with the 60d.
Click to expand...
I think he means that Magic lantern can only handle 16gb and less, which seems odd???

I think if yur going for a barebones video setup, the 60d is best. If you have enough money to buy to a rig, then perhaps save the money on the camera for extra lenses (or perhaps save for a 5DmkII)

EDIT: I need to learn to not load up reply and then do something else before replying.

The guy above said what I was saying in better way:p
 
video needs primes

@jetjaguar

I don't feel that the 1.4 is worth the cost if you are starting out. The 1.8 is great. It's the gateway drug into prime lenses. After the 50mm f1.8, I suggest sigma's 30mm 1.4.. now that is a sexy piece of glass. Tonika makes a 11-14mm that i hear is to die for.
 
firestarter said:
I'm assuming that his thought process is:
- I like to manually set audio levels
- So I need magic lantern on the 550
- But I also like 32GB cards and ML on the 550 doesn't like them (32GB work fine on the camera normally)
- So to use manual audio and 32GB I need a 60D
Click to expand...

Correct, 32GB cards work fine on the 550d, but, magic lantern doesn't seem to like them, something to do with formatting them for booting doesn't work with certain cards, I had 2 completely different brand cards, tried every formatting choice (windows and mac) and neither card worked, but, on my 4GB cards, ML worked wonderfully.

If it wasn't for that 32GB problem, I probably would've stuck with the 550d + ML, but saying that, having got the 60d, I've found there's just a few extra features that I've now become SO very dependant on (Kelvin based white balance for example), that makes me glad I upgraded to the 60d.
 
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jetjaguar said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

What type of lenses are good to start off with for video? I just have the 18-135 kit lens... Are primes the way to go? 50mm 1.8? Or is the 1.4 worth three times the cost? And is there a lens that is a great everyday lens for pictures as well as for video? I keep hearing everyone mentioning the 17-55 for everyday pics .. It's 999 on amazon tho
Click to expand...

I don't think you'll need the 1.4. But I wouldn't recommend the Canon 1.8 either. It's not a terrible lens by any means, but there are much better lenses out there on the used market with better optics and much better build quality.
 
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