Canon 650D or Sony A65

unklerosco

Looking to pick up a new camera and had planned to go for a Sony A65 till the 650D was announced. Now I don't know which one to go for!

I've used Sony cameras for a while hence the reason for going with the A65 but the Canon as some nice features and the benefit of there being a much wider choice of lenses etc. that are more readily available on the 2nd hand market. Not that I plan on having many lenses, the range of the kit lens would do me (but I'd be open to getting a better lens with the same range) and I'd prob look to get a decent zoom lens at a later stage...

Anyways, anyone got any suggestions?

Gregor Samsa

I'd try to handle both if I were you. Spec lists aside, the A65 has an EVF, and 650D has an OVF. I have a Sony A77, and I love the EVF (personally wouldn't go back to OVF), but it's not to everyone's liking.

Ballyman

I'd go for the canon simply because there is way more second hand gear available for it.

Dazzling D

The higher fps on the Sony would sway it for me personally. Plus, I use my Alpha for quite a bit of video shooting and lack of continuous AF on the Canon would be a massive pain for me.

Plus, EVF!

djgaillimh

Yeah, I also think Canon is the smart choice.

And even leaving aside the second hand gear, they make some very respectable cheap(ish) lenses.

For about 250 quid you can pick up a 50mm 1.8 and a 55-250mm IS to go with the camera.

Oh and if you're looking for a replacement for the kit lens, the Tamron 17-50/2.8 has a lot of fans. The older non-Image Stabilised version is supposed to be a really great general-purpose lens.

Stephen P

I bought the A65 about a month ago and love it. I had the A200 before that so this was a big upgrade for me. I love the EVF but I'm still getting used to it. There's so many extra little features on it that I love, like the picture effects and Auto HDR. The AF on it is great. The kit lens isn't bad either. I'm looking to get myself a Prime Lens, there's not a huge choice out there though.

af_thefragile

I like Cannons as the lenses and accessories are cheaper to buy and they have the best video capture capabilites of all DSLRs currently.

But the Sony is good too. Its often comes down to personal preference and what you end up liking more when chosing between different brands as you really can't go wrong with either.

Though the 650Ds touch screen LCD looks really impressive. Only downside I see is the amount of fingerprints that'll end up on it and you'll have to constantly keep cleaning them off! The 650D has really good auto-focus system too and has continuous auto-focus in video mode which is a handy thing to have but doesn't really work too well like most such video auto focus and to shoot professional looking videos, you will have to resort to manual-focus. That is if you're into video.

Gregor Samsa

af_thefragile wrote: »

The 650D has really good auto-focus system too and has continuous auto-focus in video mode which is a handy thing to have but doesn't really work too well like most such video auto focus and to shoot professional looking videos, you will have to resort to manual-focus. That is if you're into video.

The 650D has cut down PDAF on the imaging sensor. It's better than CDAF, but not as good as the dedicated PDAF sensor that's used when taking stills. It can't use the main PDAF sensor for video, because the mirror has to flip up when you're shooting. (the mirror directs some of the light to the PDAF sensor, and the rest to the OVF when it's down).

The A65 uses the dedicated PDAF sensor all the time, in both stills and video. So AF performance is exactly the same for stills and video (i.e very good). The A65 has a semi translucent mirror that doesn't move, so light is split, and so always goes to both the PDAF and imaging sensors.

Two different solutions to the same problem, each with their pros and cons.

Interesting times for camera technology, with each new release from all manufactures bringing out genuinely new technology and features.