Canon Video Creator Kit [EOS 80D] with EF-S 18–135mm Lens, Rode VIDEOMIC GO, and 32GB Sandisk Memory Card with EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens - Black

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I spent many weeks reviewing cameras and finally decided on the Canon 80D. I shoot mainly wildlife and have been to Africa twice, using a Nikon D3200. But with another trip booked in September I knew I wanted to step my game up. I finally narrowed down my decision to the 80D and the 7D mark ii and went with the 80D, mainly for the newer features and better image quality. I also purchased the Canon 100-400mm ii lens to round out the perfect safari combination. Then I took my camera and lens to the LA zoo a few days ago and was blown away by the image quality! In one word, amazing!! Check them out for yourself. Both pics are shot at 400mm and look impressively sharp!!

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Buyer beware. If you’re buying this camera make sure you’re getting a new camera. The quality of the unit I got is good but after buying the camera putting a brand new card in, setting it up and taking it on a shoot, I dumped the files on my computer to find my image numbers starting at 600 plus. A quick check of my other cameras finds that with a brand new card installed the numbers start at 001, so I was sold a used unit for full price. Needless to say this was kind of a punch in the gut.

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- BUILD QUALITY - So let’s first take a look at the build quality and design of the Canon 80d. Now Ive been testing the 80d out for a while now and felt comfortable using it pretty much straight away. That’s because the body itself isn’t changed that much from the old 70d, which his the camera I’ve used for 2 years or so. There are a few new things that have changed though. The buttons on the back of the camera are different and feel a lot easier to use. They’re a little bit more pronounced and this is nice. The grip itself is nice. It’s not a very heavy camera like the Canon 5d or 6d, but it’s also got enough weight on it to easily deal with a heavier lens like the Sigma 18-35mm that I also use. On the side of the camera you’ll also notice a new port, the headphone jack which is something I’ll talk about in a bit. But overall the build quality is fantastic, and to me is the sweet spot size for DSLR’s. - MENUS - Now when I first heard about the new Canon 80d, one thing I didn’t expect to change was the menu system. But it has. It’s now a little bit more compact and is using a new tabbed system rather than the old system. It’s taken me a little bit of time to get used to it but it does seem pretty easy. Fortunately it’s not too overloaded with options, especiaslly for beginners, but if you do put it in manual mode you do get a lot more options to play around wiht. - LCD SCREEN - Now one of the best features of the old Canon 70d was it’s touch screen and I’m pleased to say the Canon 80d is just as good. Because the Canon 80d has such fantastic autofocus, having the touch screen really makes things easy, especially if you want to do some nice focus pulls. I use this nearly overtime i make videos and it’s how I do those product focus pulls from time to time. Of course the 80d’s screen is also articulating and it’s something I couldn’t live without now. Being able to switch it around to any angel is great, especially for someone like me who films all my own videos. Its also a pretty big lcd screen, especially compared to a smaller camera like the Sony A6300 and that’s something I like. It’s deinfitely one of the best LCD screens I’ve ever used. - AUTOFOCUS - One thing that I’ve been incredibly impressed with on the new 80d is it’s autofocus performance. And to be fair I was a little bit sceptical at first. That’s because the Canon 70d’s dual pixel autofocus was so good. But Canon have seemed to have been able to make it quicker and a little bit more acurate. Especially using the LCD on the back. Its incredibly snappy autofocus and when you pair it up with one of the dedicated Canon lenses it really is impressive. I’ve even used it with my Sigma lenses, and it’s pretty consistent across the board. -VIDEO - Now the Canon 70d was one of the most popular video cameras over the last 2 years and for good reason. It’s dual pixel autofocus system was by far the best around. But it was lacking a few things. Firstly it could only shoot 60 frames per second in 720p. Now I’m not a huge fan of filming in 60p, but i was impressed with it. If you want to see a test video I made in 60frames per second, click the link here to see. I didn’t really expect the dual pixel autofocus to be any better than the 70d but it is. Which is pretty incredible. Being able to quickly pull focus using the touch screen is great and the face tracking works pretty well. It does have problems every now and then if you are wearing a hat or sunglasses though. To be fair, the Canon 80d is still lagging a little bit behind in terms of resolution. There are a lot of cameras that have 4k now and it would have been nice to see it included, but I didn’t expect it to be fair. Although it is still only 1080p thought the video quality was nice and I’ll definitely be upgrading to the 80d from my 70d for my future videos. - HEADPHONE JACK - One of my favorite new additions to the Canon 80d is a little inclusion on the side here, a headphone jack. This is something so basic that has been missing from a lot of Canon DSLR’s for so long and it’s great to see it in. Being able to really monitor your audio is huge and it’s worth the upgrade in itself. If you’re going to be filming a lot, then the 80d is definitely going to worst the upgrade.

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This camera has come under a lot of criticism for its lack of 4K, and I think that resentment trickled over into a lot of the venom being thrown at it in some online reviews. I know it deterred me from purchasing it right away. But then I saw a glowing review on Chris and Jordan’s YouTube channel (TheCameraStoreTV), so I decided to take the plunge. And I’m so glad I did. This is a seriously amazing camera, and a considerable improvement over its predecessor, the 70D (which I owned). First, the 4K issue. I also own a Samsung NX1, which is more or less the gold standard in hyper-detailed 4K realism. It’s a visually stunning image, and it’s no exaggeration that you can see every single blade of grass in a lawn. But while stunning, it’s not “filmic.” By that, I mean we’re accustomed to a certain “look” and “feel” in movies. Film flickers past at 24 frames per second; and if it’s shot at 30 frames per second (NTSC video rate), it feels “off” – the so-called “video” look. The same goes for detail. The hyper-detail in 4K cameras feels off cinematically. A cinematic image needs to be focused; but if you’re seeing pores on a face (which 4K is more than capable of rendering), then the image is no longer pleasant. The footage from the 80D is pleasant, focused, and cinematic. I also wanted to touch on the ALL-I codec. The immediate default for filmmakers is to shoot “flat,” and turn sharpness completely off. The reasons for this are twofold – to reduce aliasing and moire artifacts; and historically, in-camera sharpness was just ugly. That’s not the case with the 80D’s ALL-I recording codec, which produces an impressive high-bitrate recording (I’ve heard it’s around 100 mbs). Using ALL-I, and with in-camera sharpness at 2, I put the camera through the ringer on everything I could find that produced aliasing and moire in every other camera I’ve owned (a bookshelf of DVD’s, telephone wires, brick walls, etc.), and none of it resulted in aliasing or moire. And the in-camera sharpness looks great! It no longer has the harsh, scrunched up contrast lines; the 80D’s sharpness looks better than anything you could do in post, and still allows for a gentle falloff on highlights and shadows. As for the cameras dual-pixel auto focus, its everything youve read about it and more. It really sets the gold standard for video auto focus. It locks in smoothly, and accurately, without any back-and-forth "hunting." Anyway, that’s my two cents.

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LOVE IT!! FIRST CAMERA AND I LOVE IT. IT MAKES ME SO EXCITED TO SHOOT. Its extremely comfortable to hold its light and makes me so more passionate about shooting and I just love it I cant wait to get home from work to go shoot I cant wait to start doing night time shooting its amazing. This is the picture that I took with it.

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LOVE LOVE LOVE!! I was a little hesitant to go with a crop sensor but I absolutely love it! You just cant beat the face tracking, autofocus, plus photo capabilities! Ive used a variety of lenses as well and had great results. Also came within 2 days with Prime shipping and I strongly recommend getting the Amazon Hard Drive with it!

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I like my camera, I really do. However, after 1.5 years of light usage (took maybe ~500 pictures) it just stopped working. I get an error 20 which means most likely there is a mechanical problem with the shutter. There is no way that I have used the camera enough to have a shutter failure but anyway. It is an electronic device and devices sometimes fail. When I called Canon Service (which is 15 minute drive from my home), they said they dont accept walk-ins and I need to ship my camera to them for a repair estimate. After I shipped my camera, I received a quote of $520!!!!! for a camera that costs $1000 without any explanation of why the camera was not working at the first place. It only says that they need to change mirror box, W/AF sensor and the PCB assy . Why would they change circuit assembly and battery? If there a circuit break at some point; I was using canon batteries, so how can they guarantee same thing will not happen in another two years? When I asked all these questions, the response I get is even better : "Because we dont charge for estimates, we dont disassemble the camera until the repair has been approved." They did not even bother to open up the camera!!! Then why was I asked to sent the camera in the first place? If only thing you needed was to look at the exterior for damage, I could have easily sent pictures... We are living in a digital age Canon people. Now, they wont open up my camera until I approve $520 charge - which is based on nothing. And then when I approve, Im sure that theyll change all of these things regardless, Ill never get an answer why it was broken down in the first place. Oh and there is no guarantee that it wont break down in another year. Im so disappointed with Canon. I basically wasted $1000. Now I either need to pay $520 to get fixed to work for who knows how long or spend another $1000 to get a new camera (definitely not Canon).

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So far, Im really liking this body. I shoot a lot of wildlife and my dog with this camera. Id prefer to have more frames / sec and so I strongly considered the Canon 7D Mark II which has a faster frame rate and reportedly faster focus, but the touch screen on this camera is a big bonus for me and a few other features. Im getting great results. They brag about the 45 point focus system, but Ive always found I get mediocre focus when I use anything but single point focus mode for action shots. Good performing camera. Id make the same decision again for sure.

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I dont recommend purchasing this product (at least through Amazon as it creates too much red tape if you have an issue). The RODE mic came to me broken and to get it fixed is a logistical nightmare in which Amazon sent me to Canon, Canon sent me to Rode, Rode says they will fix it, but are not responsible for the repair shipping costs because its a third party sale. So its costing me more money to fix a product that came to me defective. Frustrating.

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Love it!!! The zoom controller and the mic work great, the zoom controller acts as if I had a handheld video recording camera, a little awkward the location of controls, I am right handed, but still I can not shoot as magnificent pictures with a video camera as I can with this one and the video quality is really good shot with the original 18-135 mm lens included in the kit. When shot with a high end lens f 2.8 stop, the video quality improves but only for the trained eye, as did the pictures, but again the zoom controller only works with the included lens, the microphone added a ton of clarity to the audio compared to the on-camera mic and very comparable to a zoom mike bought eight years ago priced three times this one Rode included. The camera itself is no surprise in quality and controls, Ive owned the 40D, the 60D, and the 70D prior to this one, the audio monitoring jack is a plus long needed. As a note; the mic and zoom controller cost $100 more as compared with price of the same camera paired with the same lens as a kit, when these two items bought separately they cost over $250 more.

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