Trying to decide whether to buy the Canon 7D or the T2i/550D or the new 60D?
As they have the same sensor, any one of the three cameras will do a great job of shooting DSLR video. If you’re mainly shooting stills, the 7D offers enough advantages to make it the better choice of these three. But if you’re mostly shooting video it’s a different story.
For most people buying their first DSLR for shooting video I recommend the Canon 60D. It offers clear advantages over the T2i or 7D for shooting video as we’ll see in a moment.
The same goes for Canon 7D or T2i owners looking for a second camera body.
But if you own a Canon T2i and are thinking about selling it to buy the 60D you may want to take a closer look.
But first, what is the cost of upgrading from a T2i to a 60D?
You can probably sell a T2i body for around $700 if it’s in good shape. You’ll pay around $1,100 for a 60D body. For our purposes, let’s call it $400 USD not including shipping or taxes.
Articulating LCD
Of course, the most obvious improvement for shooting video on the 60D is the articulating LCD screen.
- Having to keep the camera at eye level can make for boring shots.
- Putting yourself at the camera level on low or high shots can be difficult or impossible.
- Having to use an external monitor adds to the cost of your rig and it’s another piece of gear to carry, support, connect, and supply power.
However, the Canon 60D has only one processor. It’s likely that it will be just like the T2i and shut off the video going to the LCD when you plug in an external HDMI monitor.
I haven’t found any reference to this on the web yet but we know how single processor cameras work.
So, the articulating LCD of the 60D makes this shooting video with this camera much more usable unless you already have an external monitor.
Yes, shooting with an external monitor takes more time to setup. There’s more gear to carry, connect, support and power up. But it’s easier to adjust focus on a bigger monitor. And it’s vital to have an external monitor if more than one person needs to see what’s being shot.
I know the swing-out LCD is a huge benefit for some people. But is it worth the $400 you’ll spend to swap your T2i?
Manual audio control
Finally, a DSLR with decent audio level controls!
The Canon 60D has a reasonable set of meters for the left and right channels. And it provides a smooth manual level control so you can adjust the audio levels with no auto-gain messing up your sound.
Unfortunately, the meters and level controls are only available as a menu setting and can’t be accessed while shooting. I can’t find a published spec for the sample rates for the audio channels but I’m guessing that they are less than the 24bit/96kHz of the Zoom H2. And it’s likely that the microphone preamps are not the highest quality.
I haven’t found any audio specs or examples of quality audio tests but it would be amazing if this audio even comes close to the quality of a $99 Zoom H1.
So, while this feature means that basic productions can get by without an external audio recorder, it’s not a perfect solution.
For instance, meters won’t tell you if you have good sound. You can have plenty of audio level and still record bad audio full of hum, buzz, static or extra loud ambient sounds. If you use an external recorder with a decent pair of headphones you can find these issues and deal with them before you shoot rather than trying to fix it in post.
I’ve seen people hack the AV outputs of some cameras to drive a set of phones but that hasn’t been done yet for the 60D.
So, should you bag your T2i and grab a 60D just for the improved audio?
ISO in 1/3 steps
One of this issues in shooting video in low light is adjusting the ISO to get the shot with the lowest noise possible.
The T2i only provides full steps for adjusting ISO. Each step doubles the previous so you can only go from 100 to 200, 200 to 400 and so forth.
In some situations that’s too big a step. You may have to choose between shooting with a bit more noise or recording a clip with the video signal too low then having to boost it in post.
The 60D provides 1/3 step adjustments for ISO making it easy to hit the perfect balance between ISO and f-stop for every shot. This is one of those things that you can live without but you’ll always miss if it’s not there.
Does this mean you should find someone to take your T2i off your hands so you can cozy up to the nice, heavy body of the 60D and slide between those sweet, small ISO increments?
Manual white balance
Yes, all three cameras offer automatic white balance that’s pretty good. And all three offer a choice of preset white balance settings for normal scenes.
But, like the 7D, the 60D lets you drop into full manual control of the white balance and dial in the color temperature to exactly meet your needs. This is most useful when you’re shooting scenes with mixed lighting that falls somewhere between the presets.
Is it worth the cost of upgrading from a T2i?
My perspective
There’s an old saying in the film business. “Put the money on the screen.”
Spend money on things that increase production value and you’ll improve your career. Spend money on things with no obvious increase in production value and won’t be in the production business for long.
I believe most T2i owners would be better served by spending the $400 on a better microphone, a basic audio mixer, additional lighting, an external monitor or improving their camera support system.
Besides, you really want more than one camera body and this market will keep evolving. Whatever you decide, it’s wise to put your money on solid equipment that returns increased production value.
See for yourself and decide what’s right for you
Here are a couple of decent videos that walk you through all of these features and more. Take a look and leave a comment below – let me know what you believe about swapping a T2i for a 60D.
Canon 60D quick review video from Orange Wedding Films on Vimeo.
Canon 60D vs T2i vs 7D from emmagination on Vimeo.
