Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

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 camera's dual-pixel auto focus, it's everything you've 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.