T4i vs 60d camera help

Chinchi

Chinchi

Active member
Ok NS so I have about $1500 to spend on a camera, I was thinking either t4i or 60d. I heard about the t4i quite lens thing but is it worth it? Thanks for all the help I truly appreciate it!Here is the fill out just in case:

1) What is your budget? How much money can you spend right away, and do you think you can get more money to invest in the future? $1500 right away, more money in the future (don't know yet)

2) What experience do you already have with cameras? Have you ever even used one before? Have you helped your friend out with his camera? Have you owned your own? I don't have a ton of experience, I've filmed with my friends sony dslr, but I know most of the basics and I've been practicing on manuel on a canon g10 for a long time. I will also put in the effort to learn. I currently film on a combination of gopro, canon vixia HF m31 and have filmed a little bit with a sony DSLR.

2) What gear, if any, do you currently have? (tripod, old camera lenses, mics, etc) I own a tripod, some mics, old vintage lenses (that im selling) and an x-grip.

4) What are you planning to shoot and how do you want to use your camera? Are you going to use this with the sole purpose of shooting skiing? or do you think you might try other stuff as well (movies, documentaries, short films, etc) I'll primarily be shooting skiing, but I definitely want to try filming other things as well (summer edits and skating) and short films if I take the class in school. Also I want to get into taking stills.

5) Do you want a camera that you can hand to your friends, that could or could not have film experience, and let them shoot you? or will you be doing all the filming? I have a friend who will also be filming with my setup, but he has a little more experience than me and would also be willing to learn.

6) When filming skiing, how do you tend to shoot? (follow cams, leave it on record on a tripod and hike, film from a tripod, etc) A mixture of all typed but follow cams are the most fun for me. I want to experiment with different shots/angles though.

7) What computer do you currently have/use to edit (if not currently editing, what would you most likely use)? If you can provide specifics, such as hard drive space, RAM, processor size, that would be great. Well right now for videos I have an '09 macbook pro, and two external 1 tb hardrives. I think it has an i3 but could have an i5 and 8 gigs of ram.

7) What program do you currently edit on? How familiar are you with it (1- just learning; 10- I can make tutorials and know the keyboard layout) FCE and probably like 8, I want to upgrade to FCP soon though.

---------------------------Optional Section, for those seeking a more intensive upgrade/purchase------------------------

1) Do you think you might consider using a DSLR? yes

2) Do you have any knowledge about the HDSLRS? not sure

3) Do you know the limitations to using HDSLRS? nope

4) Are you willing to take the time to learn about a DSLR, and how to shoot with manual lenses? yes

Once again thanks NS, and sorry to clog up the M&A section with more "what camera" threads but I really need the help. Thanks!

 
Personally I know little to nothing about the t4i but I have a t2i right now. If I were you I think I would spring for the 60d and get a good lense for it. I wish I had a 60d because of the various different button layouts and the screen...but the t4i also has the screen. It's good to see a thread so filled out and you already have a tripod and mics so that's good. Also, if you're gonna do follow cams you should look to invest in some sort of glidecam or something
 
i'd say go for the t4i, body only. 774 bucks @ http://www.buy.com/prod/232982667.html

then get a tamron 17-50 lens, which will cost about 350-400 dollars

get rid of the x-grip, it wont work very well, you can make diy glidecam (which i have made and it works excellently for the pricing - 40ish dollars):

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with your last 300 or so, i'd recommend getting a tripod, probably a manfrotto 055XPROB with a 701HDV head!

that should get you on your way. after that, probably look at getting a tokina 11-16 for wide angled follows, but that lens runs for 600 dollars.
 
Do you have acses to canon lenses or own canon lenses? If no go with the panasonic GH2. It is a great camera for the money. It will surpass the canons in video quality. But the build quality is not that solid. Google Panasonic Gh2 and you will find all you want to know. Its definitely a camera to consider.
 
I do not currently have any canon lenses, and I'll look it up right now. Thanks everybody for the great advice!
 
The gh2 does look sick. Do you recommend any lenses for it (lenses are not my strong point I don't know much about them).
 
Literally any SLR lens can be easily adapted to it. So its very easy to pick up an entire set of vintage primes for cheap. Personally I have a a Minolta 24mm f2.8 and 50mm f1.4, and Nikon 35mm f2 and 135mm f2.8. In total, those four lenses cost me about 200 bucks. Vintage Canon FD, Minolta MD/MC, or Nikon glass are all good choices. Also, the kit lens is slow and cheap feeling, but optically it is pretty decent for the price ($50). Only downside is there arent many options as far as wide angle. Pretty much you can either get a nikon mount tokina 11-16 ( around $600) and use an adaptor, or you can spend 900 bucks on the panasonic 7-14 f4 (which I have and am very happy with).

The gh2 blows everything in its price range out of the water as far as IQ, and the ability to adapt any lens is awesome. I would definitely recommend it over any canon/sony/nikon DSLR if you're focus is mostly video.
 
Ok so I right now the GH2 is definitely my leader, some reviews I read said the build quality is fragile though and breaks easily, is this true? Also it doesn't take horrible stills right? Because I want to start working into stills as well (although main focus will still be video).
 
what vintage lenses do you have that you might be selling? You could potentially adapt some of them to a gh2 or dslr and save some $
 
Its true that the build quality is less robust than canon DSLR's especially the 7D. I've shot mine in the snow and light rain though and haven't had issues. I also dropped it once with my tripod attached to it and the tripod screw got slightly bent. It cost me 75 bucks to get that fixed. Guess you've gotta be a little more careful with it but IMO the IQ advantage is worth it. A lot of people also say the interface is awkward but I actually like it better than the canon interface for video.

The photo features and quality are definitely not up to par with Canon/Nikon but it is definitely capable of taking some really great stills under the right conditions. Forget about taking long exposure at night though, the long exposure noise handling is god awful. Thats really the only major gripe I've had about photo performance though.

Another thing that makes it a great filming camera is the ExTeleConv mode, which effectively doubles the focal length of your lens by cropping the sensor. In other words, a 50mm 1.4 could be used as a 35mm equivalent of a 100mm 1.4 or 200mm 1.4.

Also the GH3 is supposed to come out soon and that is supposedly going to be weather sealed. You could always wait for that.

 
it all depends on budget and the look you are going for. I love my leica 25mm, very useful and versatile. the kit isn't terrible as a wideangle, and for the most part the nicer m43 glass (non kit) is very sharp. For longer lenses though, I would recommend vintage glass as it is much cheaper, the lenses are still very good, and depending on the mount you buy they will be more future-proof
 
I was in a sort similar position to you a little while back.

I wanted video mainly, but have grown to like photo a lot more since then.

I'd stick with a canon if I were you, it leaves much more room for growth on the photo side of things.

Question not directed to OP:

Is the digic 5 in the t4i that much better than the digic 4 in the t2i/t3i/60d?

That's the only big reason I could see t4i over t2i
 
I may do this, because being in the east coast means that I will rarely get to film/be filmed in good weather. Also thanks for even more advice guys, a lot to think about, thankfully I have can wait a little while to purchase the camera, but, I do want it for this season. Oh and I forgot +K for all!
 
I film skiing with my gh2, and its fine. While the gh3 is expected to be a more professional level camera, it will be much more expensive than the gh2 is now, and panasonic has a pretty bad rep as far as timely releases. I got my gh2 6 months after the release and the only place that had any was an ebay seller
 
Ok I need to bump my thread, I just got a budget increase to about $1600 and I was wondering if the 60d, 7d, or any nikon camera's are better then the current options, I still want enough for one or two quality lenses though. Thanks guys!
 
if you're still buying the glidecam, then the 7d will be cutting it close to your budget. even used.

in my opinion, go with the t4i. it lookds pretty damn good and the touchscreen is the same one used on the iphones apparently, and the new processor is better at handling high iso's with minimal noise. then go with a tamron 17-50 to start off with.

t4i body: 815

tamron: 425 (mail in rebate from b&h til 9/30, usually 500)

glidecam: (diy) 40

get a tripod, then save up for a tokina 11-16. thats what i would do.
 
Seriously just get a T2i and good glass and a glidecam or whatever. It's not worth the extra $300+ for a T4i or 60d if you're on a budget. Buy a T2i ($500 approx), a 17-50 2.8 (also $500) and a glidecam and then save for a tokina or you can get a rokinon 8mm or 14mm prime. If you want to spend more than the T2i go for a T4i, but if you get a T2i you can invest more in lenses which matter more.
 
I thought I'd bump this thread because well I had a nice budget increase, now up to about $1900, and I have still yet to buy a camera. Also the gh3 came out and I was wondering if that could possibly be the camera of choice.
 
Pretty simple...

T4i if you're going to be filming more than just taking pictures, as it has better video mode.

60D if you're going to be taking pictures more that filming, as it is a semi-pro dslr so you can have it for a long time and still not bet bored of it.
 
Hey if you still want a 60d i am selling mine with a 50mm 1.4 lens 2 batteries and vivitar viewfinder for 1100. Its a great cam! I am just upgrading so got to sell it to be able to upgrade!
 
don't get a t4i, the only good thing about it is the touch screen which you can totally go without. The real time video mode autofocus is absolute garbage and it is basically just a t2i with better fps and digic 5.
 
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