Canon offers enthusiast photographers and videographers a choice

Part of the reason cameras have been getting smaller over the years has been the convergence of technologies. For instance, you don’t need a top LCD if the big one at the back can do it. But while Canon has made changes like that in its own cameras, it will now be giving camera owners the choice.

This week, Canon is unveiling two models that look identical from a spec point of view, and identical from a feature point of view, because they are. In fact, the only way they really change is from the look, control positions, and the inclusion of one element as far as we can see.

The cameras are the Canon EOS 750D and 760D, follow-ups to entry-level and enthusiast cameras that started with the 300D and have gradually gotten better as time moves on.

Canon 750D on the left, Canon 760D on the right.

This year, the cameras will bring a host of features and updates to the 700D, a model that has been in the marketplace for a little under two years and offers up an 18 megapixel sensor, ISO range up to 12800 with 25600 extended, Full HD capture, and 9 cross-type AF points.

While that’s not bad even by today’s standards, the 750D and 760D models will bring more megapixels with 24.2 on offer, ten more AF points to hit 19, a new processor for making images look good — the same one found in the recently announced 5Ds, the DIGIC 6, though only one compared to the two found in that model — and built in Near-Field Communication and WiFi so owners can control their cameras from afar and transfer images to their phones.

Full HD video recording is also here, though the technology has been upgraded slightly, now offering 60p video shooting compared to the 30p in the prior model.

Interestingly, Canon has two models for this camera, discerned by a different digit, with the 750D and 760D.

Canon EOS 750D

The two are very, very similar, and from our understanding of the specs, are close to identical with the exception of two things: the 760D has a slightly different control scheme and heralds the return of the top LCD single-lens reflex cameras have usually been made with.

That last one is a feature that went away some time ago on entry-level digital SLRs, as manufacturers realised they could cut a corner and make the camera smaller, pushing the information that would normally pop up on this screen to the main LCD on the back of the camera.

Canon 750D on the left, Canon 760D on the right.

Canon looks set to change that in its 760D, a variant of the 750D with the top LCD screen thrown back in, ideal for photographers that only want to take a quick glance at the top of the camera to see their settings in a pinch.

Beyond these two features, however, the two appear very, very similar, with the same connectivity options and camera quality.

One area that does show some differences is in the video mode, with the 760D sporting a little more in the way of video control, offering a high dynamic range (HDR) movie mode, a miniature effect mode to emulate tilt shift videography, and the possibility to control videos with a manual exposure.

But that’s it, otherwise, they appear to be the same.

Canon 750D on the left, Canon 760D on the right. The flash is included on both.

We don’t expect pricing to be identical, mind you, as you’re likely to pay a little more for the LCD-equipped variant. That said, you can expect them both at the same time, arriving in stores from April.