No DSLR camera bought yet, which one has the ML features I need ?

[PhilippeV8]

Hi,

I'm looking into purchasing a Canon EOS camera and I'm not sure which one to chose.

As a hobby I'm interested in extreme weather (thunderstorms, cloudscapes, night-lightning, etc).  I now have a Sony DSC-H3 which is absolutely more and more slowing me down in what I want to do.  So I figure I need a DSLR for mulitple reasons.

So what I want to do (which I currently can't) is:
- create photographic timelapses (not increased speed video as I do now) (intervalometer function in ML ?)
- have more flexible control over exposure for (night) lightning photography (my current camera takes equal time to process a shot after recording it, so 30" recording means 30" processing, which results in a LOT of lighting-bolts not ending up on my photo's simply cuz my cam is buzzy 50% of the time not recording).
- be able to use a remote/wire trigger for night-trypod photography (now I have to use the timer-trigger in order to have no movement in the picture).
- generaly better photo quality.

SO .. all this brings me to my question.
Since I learned that not all models have ML support .. and not all that do have all features available .. which model DOES have the "Shoot features" .. I think the intervalometer is what I want for timelapse, right ?
Before I learned about ML, I was looking at 1200D, 100D or 700D.  So now .. 700D remains .. but does it have the intervalometer function ?  If not, which models ML does ?

Thnx !

This maybe a tip for the website-builders ... instead of listing the models that have variable degree of ML support .. show a table with checkmarks to show which models have which options available ... ? no ?

[Walter Schulz]

Top of page -> Downloads -> Browse Nightly Builds -> Features

[Levas]

You're thinking about a 700d.

Not sure, but as far as I know the 700d is a 600d, with a higher price tag. Both are 18 Megapixels APS-C size sensor canon cameras.
600d is supported by magic lantern nightly builds...so there should be an intervalometer function available.
My suggestion, save money and go for the 600d (or go for the 650d, which is also the same...).

[Walter Schulz]

Hybrid AF was introduced with 650D.
600D card interface is limited to about 21 MByte/s. 650D and 700D limits are about 40 MByte/s.

[PhilippeV8]

Walter!  Thnx for the directions to the feature list .. or I better say feature table !  That's awesome.

I'll dig into 600D vs 650D vs 700D a bit more.

I had an offer this weekend for a used 550D with a 18-55mm IS lens, a battery & charger, a fast 32GB card, a bag and a UV-filter .. all that for 350€ ... still undecided.  A new 100D with all that would cost me more like 520€.  A 650D set would be close to 600€

[Walter Schulz]

Let me decompose this offer (from my perspective, of course):

550D: Not that bad. And ML available for it. 100D is not supported yet.
18-55 IS: According to your first post IS is unneccessary. I would consider an ultra-wide angle lens or fisheye. Manual lenses will do fine for your needs.
Battery + charger: Included in original packages. LiON batteries will degrade with every charging/uncharging cycle.
Fast 32 GB card: What is fast? 550D's card interface is limited to about 21 MByte/s. Cards offering this speed will be about 16 Euro. And for what purpose? Your only advantage will be faster transfer from cardreader to computer.
Bag: I don't use a dedicated bag most of the time. The one I use sometimes was a gift from the company I ordered some paper for my photo printer. Bag can mean anything from there to several hundred Euro. And from: "I can't live with that monster" to "I can't do without". And this may vary with pricing. Or not.
UV-filter: For night photography? I would prefer not to! Read
http://www.lenstip.com/113.1-article-UV_filters_test.html
http://www.lenstip.com/index.php?art=120

EDIT
My 2 cents on touchscreens:
First thing to turn off when shooting stills. Not my cup of tea. Don't like nose activated features.  If you want to browse menus fast: Customize menu.

Touchscreen may be of limited use in video mode because you can change settings noiseless. ISO for example but aperture ...
Or move focus field in liveview.

[PhilippeV8]

Thanks for the input Walter !

First off, I'm not only 'bout night photography.  I mentioned cloudscapes as well, which includes daytime special clouds and sun/cloud optics.  I'm quite sure I'll be looking for a polarising filter as well.
Also lets not forget that I'll use this camera just as much for my family & holdiday shots, just the same.

Either way, with a budget preferably below 500€ .. whith this offer 350€ I got some margin left to get that polarising filter and maybe a couple other things when I need them .. maybe a wider angle lens or a longer one .. perhaps starting at 350€ is a good point, future will teach me what I might need further down the road, no ?

[Walter Schulz]

Well, if you ask for x and add z to the equation later you will get different answers.

Do you have experience with polarizers and wide angle lenses? I avoid using polarizers on wide angle in landscape photography because of
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Zuerich_Sunrise_Tower_7.jpg
http://www.elmar-baumann.de/fotografie/techtutorial/abbildungen/filter-polfilter-stellung-stark.jpg
You will find more info about the filter effect's dependency on angle and position to the sun in the web.
The cam you use right now has 38 mm focal length on the short side ("converted" to full-frame). If you use the 18-55 (= 28-85 in full frame) your field of view will be significantly wider.

Lenstip has a polarizer test suite, too: http://www.lenstip.com/115.1-article-polarizing_filters_test.html

[PhilippeV8]

Ok, so I figured a few things out today.

650D and 700D have much improved video capability, especialy if you have an STM lens.  Alos with the new sensor they have much better noise reduction.  But all that is not worth the increased price to me (+200€).

600D is not enough of an improvement over the 550D too.  If I go for 600D I'll end up with 500€
100D has no current working ML and would also end up around 500€ ... but ML is something I really look forward to using, so .. no 100D.

So I've decided to go for the 550D occasion, which will end me up around 400€ with all accessories I need/want.

Thnx all for the help/feedback.  Much appreciated!
I'll be member of the DSLR-club soon now