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I can't believe how much the Canon resembles the Sony line, right down to the menu layout.
Most Canon cameras such as the 40D-7D and the 5D series have had the same menu and buttons layout from their beginning. For example, I switch back and forth between the 40D and 7D, and hardly have to fumble with the control buttons. Once you learn the 40D layout and menu, you can easily figure the rest up to the 5D, except for a very few features in the menus. Also, there is a LCD menu on top (by the shutter control), but you can see several of the settings right through the viewfinder. Then there is the back screen where there are a large number of menus.
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That said, for the price of a 5D III one could have both a 7D and a 5D II. Something I plan to do in the near future, since I already have a 7D. By buying a 5D II to add to the 7D, all I gain is a full-frame sensor (5D) plus slightly better image quality with it, and the speed and focus accuracy of the 7D. The 5D III pretty much covers the weaknesses of both the 7D and the 5D II.
Trying to keep-up with technology makes no sense, at least to me. The Canon 5D III and the Nikon 800 may be outstanding cameras, but at least Canon will upgrade its offering with the 5D IV in about three years if not sooner, and I am certain that Nikon will do the same with the D800.
The way I see it is as follows: I would only buy a brand new camera if the one I use at the moment does not offer enough features for the type of photography work I do. Maybe if I would make a living from the newest toy in the market? But I doubt it. That's why I will buy a Canon 5DII to complement a D7 I already have, but I still use an old Canon 40D every now and then, and a very successful photographer I know is still using a very old Canon 30D
And that is how I think as well. When I look back at a camera from 2003, which still has its own bag in my “hobby closet” and finds use occasionally and to impressive results, I feel that any new purchase should be able to stand the test of time. What it can’t keep up with today is smaller sensor size (but great image quality via a fantastic lens), noise performance and a limiting view finder (the EVFs have come a long way since).
In fact, I’ve been contemplating a full frame DSLR now and with Sony expected to announce its A850 and A900 replacements, the pricing on new/used A850/A900 could just push me towards one instead of whatever the replacement camera might boast.
The problem will not be just creating additional room in my corner of the hobby closet, but also convincing that I need yet another camera to take the total to five (and that is not counting two film cameras that I haven't used in a while).
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