Camera buying choices (Canon)

Alz_D

Alz_D

Alz_D

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Afternoon,

I know that the following two cameras have been compared countless times in the past. I have googled and read / watched / listened to a huge amount of different peoples opinions on the pro's and con's of each…. but I thought I would ask for the thought's of you guys + girls before making a final decision as you are very rarely wrong.

So here is my situation. Current camera is a 550D which I have had for a couple of years. Love it and have been having loads of fun with it. Also have a few lenses but nothing expensive (18-55 kit lens, a 55-200 canon same quality as the kit lens and a 50mm 1.8 canon) and a 430 ex II speedlight.

Now there is nothing wrong with the 550D but my other half has been pining after it for a while now. She had a new laptop for her birthday and PS elements but her camera is pants. I was planning on getting her one for Christmas but at the same time I am thinking of upgrading mine and was just about to buy myself a 24-105 f4 L before I came up with this idea.

The two cameras that I am looking at (yes you guessed correctly :D ) the 7D and the 5D MKII.

So I can get the 7D for £1900 with the above mentioned L lens. It’s picture quality is going to be the same as what I have now as I believe it uses the same sensor as the 550D, but it has a faster burst speed, better AF system and still retains the pop up flash. I am sure if I go this way I will want to upgrade again to full frame sooner rather than later.

The 5D MKII can be had with the same lens for £2200 and is full frame which I think will suit me better as I mainly shoot portrait and landscape. I do think I would miss the pop up flash (for convenience as I do have a speedlight but it’s massive).

I can’t afford a MK3 :(

Reading this back I do think I am selling myself the 5D MKII :p

What are your thoughts? Am I leaning the right way.

And sorry for the wall of text – Thank you if you made it to the end.
 
The next closest thing to a 5diii in a practical sense is a D700 imo,
With the 7d you sacrifice IQ (slightly stronger AA filter + noise then 550D)
5Dii sacrifices performance and features.

But if you don't mind the sacrifice, stick with Canon. I would personally go for a 5D1 until I could afford a 5d3.
 
Mkii for portraits and landscape. You don't need a mkiii for that and if and when you can afford to upgrade then do it.

Personally if you can stretch to £2200 then I would save up for a little bit more and go for the mkiii, it will save you money in the lose you will incur in selling your mkii anyway.
 
^^^
Strategically placed AF points with decent performance is very useful for portraiture imo.
I agree about landscapes though, manual focus with Liveview seems to be the way to go.
 
An Exception said:
^^^
Strategically placed AF points with decent performance is very useful for portraiture imo.
I agree about landscapes though, manual focus with Liveview seems to be the way to go.
Click to expand...

The mkii served thousands fashion photographers fine for the past 3 years, the mkiii and D700 is better but it does not make the mkii a paperweight in AF terms. Better AF is useful, obviously, but portraiture, subject is more or less where you want them, stationary, the mkii AF is more than adequate for that.
 
Alz_D said:
The 5D MKII can be had with the same lens for £2200 and is full frame which I think will suit me better as I mainly shoot portrait and landscape. I do think I would miss the pop up flash (for convenience as I do have a speedlight but it’s massive).
Click to expand...
You don't need full-frame to shoot the subjects you do and I'd question your 'readiness' for a serious full-frame camera like the 5D MkII if you honestly think you'll miss the pop-up flash of your current camera.

If you absolutely, positively must go full-frame, pick up a second-hand 5D, stick a Ee-S focusing screen in it and rinse every last ounce of creativity out of it before you think about upgrading again.
 
Raymond Lin said:
The mkii served thousands fashion photographers fine for the past 3 years, the mkiii and D700 is better but it does not make the mkii a paperweight in AF terms. Better AF is useful, obviously, but portraiture, subject is more or less where you want them, stationary, the mkii AF is more than adequate for that.
Click to expand...

Not if you want the subject on the rule of 1/3's as you have to do the focus recompose dance. 5Dii was popular with fashion photographers as it was the poor man's MF. Just like with MF, AF isn't important when your at F8, but not all portrait photography is like that.
 
5Dii af points.

5dscreen2.jpg



Where they should be.
5dscreen4.jpg


http://blog.kareldonk.com/canon-eos-5d-mark-ii-not-all-it-could-have-been/
 
An Exception said:
How do you do that when there isn't a focus point on the rule of 1/3's?
Click to expand...

No, it's not bang on 33.3333333333333333333333333 recurring % on the 1/3 line, no...anyway, what are we talking about? What does it matter? Since when does a photo need to be bang on that line to qualify as a good photo?

The point is that the mkii will serve him fine for what he wants it for. Look at the millions of fashion and advertising photos shot in the past 3 years. (please don't go through them all and point out that they don't conform to rules of thirds!)
 
Yes, I saw above, and now show me how that actually means anything?

If it does, are all these photos taken with the mkii somehow all wrong?

If it isn't then what is this debate about?
 
What photo's taken with a mkii are you actually talking about?
Actually don't worry about it, it's merely a distraction from the actual point I was making anyway.
The AF point's hinder composition, mean you either need to focus recompose, or crop in post.
Neither of these are ideal, but sure, it's not like people haven't been able to work with these short comings to produce excellent images, but that doesn't mean what I'm saying isn't correct. I think this is the main reason why so many Canon users are now soo happy with their 5diii upgrades.
 
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And I go back to my original point before this rules of 1/3 malaky that you started lol

Raymond Lin said:
Mkii for portraits and landscape. You don't need a mkiii for that and if and when you can afford to upgrade then do it.

Personally if you can stretch to £2200 then I would save up for a little bit more and go for the mkiii, it will save you money in the lose you will incur in selling your mkii anyway.
Click to expand...
 
Are we talking about the difference between fashion portraits and regular portraits now?

/confused

It's still people....
 
Yeh, they have different needs. F8 studio portraiture doesn't require the same focus accuracy as F1.2 portraits where you have to re-focus for every picture.
 
^^^
Most of the location work I see is around F8 or with plenty of DOF. Still 2.8 isn't that wide. I don't very often see fashion pictures at wide apertures tbh, but when they are, I doubt the 5D focus system is ideal. Prior to the D800, I would have imagined a 1ds would have been the tool of choice for those that could afford it, and I'v spoken to a couple of fashion togs (who like shallow DOF) who upgraded their 5D's to 1ds's just for the AF.
 
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