Canon 80d

It’s been over 6 years since the Canon t2i was released. With the help of Magic Lantern, the t2i brought us headphone monitoring, focus peaking, audio level meters, in camera gain control and some other very impressive features. There have been 8 or so camera bodies released since then, but none of them have provided the value offered by the Canon t2i in terms of video features.

After all of this time waiting for Canon to make a video-centric DSLR camera, we are finally getting the Canon 80d. With this new interaction, Canon is finally including a lot of the video features that have been missing from the APS-C lineup, but is it too little too late?

Canon 80d side view

What we get in the Canon 80d is a headphone jack, dual pixel AF, touch focus, and a flip out screen. However, what we are missing in this modern age is internal 4k recording, focus peaking, zebra patterns, no clean hdmi output, and a number of features that Magic lantern was able to provide in the late but great Canon t2i.

At a list price of $1200, the Canon 80d has some stiff competition. On the used side of things, you can buy the Canon 5d mark III body used for $1800. That’s only $600 more than the 80d and you get everything but dual pixel AF, plus the bonus of clean hdmi output. In that same $2000 price category we have used Canon c100 bodies that are selling for right at $2000.

Tamron 28-75 sony a7s (1 of 2)

In the same price range, we have the original Sony a7s which will set you back around $1500. You’ll get a full frame body, better low light performance, and the option to have a full fledge XLR audio adapter with the XLR-K1M upgrade.  On top of that you’ll be able to adapt to just about any lens on the market thanks to the mirrorless body.

Panasonic 7-14mm f4 lens on Gh4 (1 of 1)

At $1000, we the Panasonic GH4. Pretty much everything you’d get out of a Canon 80d minus the sensor size, plus you have the option to shoot at 4k video internally and much more affordable lens options.

Sony a6300

To top of the competition, we have the Sony a6300. At $998, we have an APS-C camera that is capable of shooting 4k video, has a suspiciously similar 24mp sensor and most of the features seen in the much more expensive a7 line.

With this kind of competition does the Canon 80d really make any sense? We now have so many options to choose from and all of them make the Canon 80d look a little lame. On top of that, many of us already own older Canon cameras that offer most of the features seen in the 80d. IS a headphone jack and dual pixel AF worth the upgrade?

 

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