Something has changed. I didn’t order the Canon 5D MKIV.
I know, I know.
I did a lot of thinking about where I am financially, as well as what I need in a camera to succeed in my career right now. Don’t get me wrong, the 5D MKIV has absolutely everything I need in a camera, however, it has a lot of luxuries that are quite nice, however, they’re simply luxuries, not necessities.
I went with the Canon 6D MKII. A camera that has received a lot of flak the past year for some pretty petty reasons. The 6D MKII doesn’t deserve (all of) that negative stigma.
I’ve used my roommate’s 6D MKII, my friend Izabela’s new 6D MKII, and my only bones to pick with it are:
It has a small focus point spread
The viewfinder doesn’t cover 100% of the frame (but honestly, that’s not a huge deal)
It’s low-ISO dynamic range is technically worse than the 80D that I just sold, but it’s only a half-stop, if not less, different.
The biggest thing I don’t like about the 6D MKII is the focus point spread. It’s literally the same focus sensor and spread as the 80D, but on a full-frame. It’s something I can get over, since I’ve used EOS film SLRs with only three focus points, and Rebels with even worse spreads.
The 6D MKII does and has everything that I absolutely need.
Full-frame sensor
Fast FPS (6.5 and 7 fps are barely different in reality - I only shoot bursts of about 3-5 images, anyway)
Good resolution (26 megapixels is still bigger than what I was working on before, which was 24)
Big body, big grip (I have big hands - no Sony for me, I don’t want to have to buy an attachment to make the grip bigger, especially if it’s as expensive as Sony made it)
Good battery life (and now I have 5 batteries for it - I will never run out of power)
Flipping screen (more of a luxury, but I realized how much I use it has told me it’s more of a necessity for my line of work)
Wifi/bluetooth
Good video (I don’t care about 4K - fight me - but good 1080 is what I care about, and this camera has that all the way)
Not too heavy (lighter than the 5D MKIV by a pretty good amount, and pretty close to the 80D’s weight)
Metal body (good ol’ magnesium alloy painted with plastic-y paint)
Good weather sealing (Canon holds strong its spectacular weather sealing, as I experienced on my 80D surviving pouring rain for over an hour with no problems)
Good dynamic range (I don’t need GFX-50 level dynamic range, I need solid DR across the board, and this camera has it, despite negative views of its DR)
Good low-light performance (especially for my conceptual work and my concerts)
long-exposures at low ISO (If you look at your histogram, you don’t need to worry about slightly worse DR at low ISO)
high ISO (I often shoot concerts at ISO3200 and ISO6400, and the fact that the 5D MKIV and the 6D MKII are nearly identical in dynamic range really sold me for the 6D MKII)
The package I got with the 6D MKII is kind of insane. $1300 for the body, genuine canon battery grip, two extra batteries, a small tripod (it’s okay, not as good as my Manfrotto 190Go! with the horribly named arca-swiss ball-head, but still solid), and a 128 gb @ 95 mb/s Sandisk card. That’s a ridiculous deal. Michael, the salesperson for Adorama I was talking to, really hooked me up when I told him I wasn’t going to buy the 5D MKIV.
I will definitely be sad about the perks the 5D MK IV had to offer, but I have exactly what I need. A camera is a camera, and this camera suits my needs as an artist with a camera.