Canon 700D vs 750/760D vs 70D as a first DSLR for planespotting

Hello,

I want to ask you for help. I like planespotting, but I tried it with my SX40 and I found it kinda slow and not satisfing. So I want to buy some DSLR. I narrowed it down to those from canon and I stuck at choosing it. I really want to go for 70D, but the internet is making me worried it has issues and don´t focus properly. I really like 760D and it looks like 70D, but do you think there will be some lower specs on it, compare to the 70D?

I don´t want some cheapest variant, since I want it to be a keeper :-) But 70D would probably be my limit.

Please can you help me decide?

Thank you :)

This post has been edited by Tereza Vítková on 20th April 2015 - 14:11

Hello Tereza,

Any canon DSLR are going to be good, the both models you are looking into make gorgeous photos. But please also keep in mind that the most important is going to be the lens you choice. For plane spotting you need a good telephoto lens. This will cost you around the same price(or more) that the camera itself.

Another aspect which is important besides cameras and lens, is good photography technics such as light, angles, shutter speeds etc.

Hope I have helped you.

Jorge Lima

Hello Jorge,

thank you very much for you reply. For the lens I have another part of my budget. I was told, that 70-200 f/4 L would be good choice. Is that right for planes? Or is it too short?

That is a very good lens. I have this lens also and it works perfect for me.

Take into account that if you want to have more zoom you can lose a bit of picture quality. Unless you go for another L series lens which the sharpness will come out great, but these are crazy high prices.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask. Maybe someone with more experience can also help you out.

Jorge Lima

If you buy a 70D with 70-200 f/4 L, you going to have a 112-320mm with APS-C coefficient.

You can add a TC X 2 III or TC 1.4.

70D is a good deal.

with 70-200 f/4 L + TC 2.0 autofocus will not work

Just stumbled across this site and thought I'd create an account just to answer this. I've an SX50 and it's a great camera but, as you say, not suited for tracking fast moving objects. I don't know how close you want to get to your planes but I imagine reach is important. In that regard the extra resolution of the 760Ds will get you a little closer. They should be slightly cheaper, so you can put that towards a lens. Bear in mind that the 70D is older but a higher spec model and has slightly better liveview focus (via the screen), shoots more frames per second, is weather sealed so you can stand in the rain and most importantly is weather sealed - so you can stand in the rain (if you have a lens that is also weather sealed). The 7D mark II is better still with superb focus, faster rate, deep buffer and most importantly can focus I think down to f11 on the centre point (not sure about 70D) meaning it could autofocus an f4 lens with a teleconverter. You don't necessarily need a fast aperture to blur the background if the background is sky. But the 7Dmk II is also expensive. 7D mk 1 is also still a good fast rugged camera and now going cheap.

The 760D (I wouldn't bother with the slightly cheaper but inferior 750D) looks like great value but one feature it doesn't appear to have is microfocus adjustment. This is needed if you have a lens that autofocuses slightly off. You can tune this on a high end body, but not a cheaper model. So if you go for the 760D maybe get if from a shop where you can get a lens that you can test with it. If you don't want to use a 70-200 lens for something else as well then a longer lens without teleconverter might be a better option. Sigma and Tamron both make excellent value 150-600 lenses which would get you about as close as the SX40 but with better focus and far better IQ. For a lot more money the new Canon 100-400 f4-5.6 II would probably be the ultimate. The other body I'd seriously consider is the Samsung NX1, or even NX 500. Superb sensor and fast focus but very limited lens range. Hope that helps.

Hi Tereza,

At first I would like to welcome you in the world of aviation photography/planespotting!

I have a 70D with the 70-200 f/4L. Both the lens and camera are enjoying my recommendation. The 70D is a perfect camera that offers a lot of extra functions on top of the other cameras you have mentioned. It is great value for money in combination with the lens.

In order to give you an example of the sharpness and the ability of the camera I have added some links to my pictures. I am sure Jelle Harberts and Dennis Janssen also agree with me the camera is a winner!

http://www.airplane-pictures.net/photo/549262/d-abyn-lufthansa-boeing-747-8/

http://www.airplane-pictures.net/photo/514147/n347up-ups-united-parcel-service-boeing-767-300f/

http://www.airplane-pictures.net/photo/455349/ec-lyr-air-europa-boeing-737-800/

I hope this will help you in deciding what camera you are about to purchase.

In case you have any questions, feel free to send me an email!

Best regards,

Daan van der Heijden

I agree with Daan. As an upgrade I've bought the 70D almost 1 year ago, and I am still satisfied about the 70D.

The 70D is a nice semi-professional camera to buy for an upgrade!

95% of my pictures online at Airplane-Pictures.net is made with the 70D! ;) So if you want, take a look on my profile! ;)

If you need some more information, you can always contact me!

Kind regards,

Dennis Janssen

Thank to all of you very much. I was told, that it is better, to have shaper shorter lens, than longe, but now sharp.

Your photos with 70D are superbly sharp, they look great :-) So I suppose you had no issue with focus?

80% of the image quality will come from the lense you've got. About the AF of the 70D, yes, sometimes it loses his object, but it depends on which settings you use.

But haven't been annoying to me yet. I think the 70D will be a good choise.

You're welcome ;-)

Hi Tereza,

I have a Canon 70D and I am very happy with its results. I still have a lot of room to improve myself, both in taking pictures and mainly in post-processing my images. As lenses I use the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS and the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM.

I think it is pretty difficult to decide between Canon 70D and 750D or 760D since they are from different generations, the first one was released in 2013 while the other ones are brand new (FEB 2015). When it comes to resolution the new models have some advantage, but I was always told to “cut a zero” every time I would change my gear, that is: from X00d to X0d and then to Xd (semi-pro to pro cameras). That said, for me it would be better to have a 70D than a 700D series.

If you take a close look at dpreview (side by side comparison) many features are very similar or - in some cases - they have only slight differences. I am not a professional photographer, so for while I can’t see any real big difference. My previous camera was a Canon T2i and the overall improvement was just awesome.

Some websites are already comparing the types, and in this one

http://snapsort.com/compare/Canon-EOS-70D-vs-Canon-EOS-750D

there is a “reasons to buy one model” section and the pros and cons of each camera. Maybe you have already seen it. Anyway, in my case, what I am trying to say is if you have similar choices, the final and the most important difference will be held by the one who is behind the camera, so that’s why I consider really important always to pursuit personal improvements in photography and image edition techniques.

Best regards and good photos!

This post has been edited by Ricardo Hebmüller on 24th April 2015 - 19:25

Thank you very much, 70D it is then :-)

I hope, I will get a good one :-)

Look the 300mm f/4 for the lens. It's a very sharp lens, not very expensive ;) .