60D vs 5D mark II

H

HansSteinert

Well-known member
For filming purposes only and excluding price:

If you could only have 1, which would you choose?

Some points to think about:

Is the extremely shallow depth of field on the 5D mark II a blessing or a curse? Does the low light performance of the 5D mark II at higher ISO's outweigh the 60D's articulating viewfinder? Is the 5D mark II's tendency to overheat more so than the 60D a big deal? What about 60FPS, or the lack of it on the 5D mark II? Does the "full frame look" counter the slight increase in aliasing and rolling shutter compared to the 60D? The 5D mark II also has superior build quality and weather protection.
 
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Well, I would definitely choose the 60D, but my needs are probably very different to yours or anyone else.

For example, I shoot a lot of surfing so that means the 1.6 crop is better for me because with a full frame camera I would need longer lenses. Plus The slow motion is great for actions sports. The articulated screen however, is not a benefit because I have to use an LCD viewfinder outdoors anyway.

It will all come down to your preference and in the end, though we can tell you the benefits and differences, we can't weigh up the options and make a decision for you.

Of course, there is another big flaw in the question you have posed: If you exculde price, then I wouldn't have to choose. I could have both!
 
Ah, but the catch is that you can't have both ;) Mr. Genie Wizard is only giving you 1, and the price is that you can't use anything else.

I'm not trying to get someone to make the decision for me, I know there's different pros and cons for each, and which is most important depends on your needs. I just wanted to get a discussion going :D
 
Why dont you decide instead between the 7D and 5D. I have both, i bought the 7D first. After a year, i got a 5D as my 2nd DSLR for shooting video.

The 7D is weatherproof, slightly heavier than 5D, has HD monitoring and 60P.
The 5D is fullframe, handles color aliasing slightly better than the crop sensors.

I lived with the 7D for a year and made a choice of getting that over the 5D as its an overall better suited for video.
I decided I needed another for "assurance" on several projects that needed a 2nd cam so I later got the 5D as it would allow me to " essentially double"
my number of lenses in my kit due to the full frame, also for its overall better video quality in terms tonal gradation, low light and color aliasing handling.
 
Well, if it's a magic genie... can he throw in a 600mm f/4L with the camera?

At this stage I think APS-C is giving me everything I need. It would be nice to have that little bit extra sensitivity/DR of the 5DmkII but it at the cost of 60p it's not worth it for me.
 
5D = no slow-mo. Overheats all the time. Can't go under 30 shutter. Lousy LCD-screen from 2008. Low-light performance in video should be put in the context of the heat issues, thus really benefiting over other (cheaper...) alternatives you will want to use a different 5D body for lighting & setting up the scene, before hitting record. 10 minutes, and it goes black. 5 minutes before fixed noise starts eating your image; TURN OFF liveview every second of not shooting if only having one 5D on set.

Personally, i see more alaising in the 5D video compared to the APS-C's.

HansSteinert: Wheater proection is 1mm rain spread over hours.... 5D is *not* wheater sealed.

Most people have no idea what they're doing regarding usage of depth of field. 5D is a vistavision size sensor. Bigger than academy film. Do you know what you're doing...?

5Dmk2 is for: people with included photo interest, professionals and/or people who know what they want. 60D = far superior screen & rotating. No overheat issues. Slow-motion. Cheaper glass (you have to pay about double the amout for FF glass with same optical qualities). No, APS-C won't die out.
 
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Martin Oller said:
5D = no slow-mo. Overheats all the time. Can't go under 30 shutter. Lousy LCD-screen from 2008. Low-light performance in video should be put in the context of the heat issues, thus really benefiting over other (cheaper...) alternatives you will want to use a different 5D body for lighting & setting up the scene, before hitting record. 10 minutes, and it goes black. 5 minutes before fixed noise starts eating your image; TURN OFF liveview every second of not shooting if only having one 5D on set.

Personally, i see more alaising in the 5D video compared to the APS-C's.

HansSteinert: Wheater proection is 1mm rain spread over hours.... 5D is *not* wheater sealed.

Most people have no idea what they're doing regarding usage of depth of field. 5D is a vistavision size sensor. Bigger than academy film. Do you know what you're doing...?

5Dmk2 is for: people with included photo interest, professionals and/or people who know what they want. 60D = far superior screen & rotating. No overheat issues. Slow-motion. Cheaper glass (you have to pay about double the amout for FF glass with same optical qualities). No, APS-C won't die out.
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Good argument. I don't have a dog in this fight, mind you. I just wanted to stir the pot. ;)

One could argue that the iso performance of the 5D allows them to stoop down and get the same depth of field with the same noise as an APS-C camera.

As for cheaper glass, I don't want price to be a point on this debate.

Does the 5D mark II really have that big of an over heating issue?

More aliasing with a 5D makes sense.
 
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Color aliasing is better handled on the 5D than on the 7D on chart tests I conducted.
Overheating is slightly bad on 7D compared to 5D due to dual processors.

However, let me add that if I have to go back to zero and get JUST ONE, and I have before me The 7D, 60D, 5D. I would STILL pick first the 7D, and STILL later get the 5D when i need a 2nd cam.

And by the way HansSteinert, before this becomes a flame thread, not being disrespectful but genuinely and respectfully asking, are you planning to get one of these cameras and are getting the pros and cons? or are you, as you mentioned, just Stirring the pot? ;-)
 
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Already have a camera, and not upgrading until the mark III (if it even turns out). I just wanted to stir the pot, as this seems to be an interesting issue. Most go for APS-C cameras because they can't afford full frame, but there are actually a lot of benefits that these APS-C cameras offer even if you disregard price.

Oh, a quick negative for the 60D: the rubber gripping is crap. Mine started pealing off after a couple month's use near the shutter button, and after researching I found out it's apparently a common problem with the camera :(

7D would be a winner in my book if it had manual audio.
 
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I only use the sound of these DSLRs as guide track, even though I have manual audio on the 5D, I still use a separate recorder for audio. I guess it depends on the nature of one's work.
 
Yeah, ideally that's how you should role. For newspaper crap and run 'n gun promos I usually just rock a Rode videomic pro with an H4N on top of the camera since it's a 1 man show.
 
The 60D does have much sharper LCD compared to the 7D and 5D. ;-) So for run n gun like what you do, a 60D + finder is fine.
 
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