Canon 7D vs 5D MKII?

alexthecheese said:
Hmm - maybe too quick to react - but the video I saw from that Cameralabs guy shows it to be pretty poor in comparison to the 550d. I'll go check it out.
Click to expand...

First I have ever heard of someone complaining at the D5100 interface. All the buttons are well laid out and easy to access without taking your eyes away from the viewfinder.
 
Im quite interested in the 7D should I wait are Canon going to refresh?

Photography will be a mix though mainly sports and holiday action shots.

Had a 400d and 40d before
 
OK, well I went to have a look at the D5100 and it looked great. Surprisingly small, noticeably more so than the 550d.

It's funny how all the differences that seem so large on the internet are almost entirely irrelevant or unnoticeable when you actually go and use it. I don't think you lot will be surprised by that though eh? ;)

The screen differences are nowhere near as pronounced as I was expecting, and the menus are fine. Nothing wrong with that, despite my earlier slightly-embarrassing panic. :o :p

The guy in the shop, and my good friend, said the sensor was worse on the D5100 and the Canon 550d, with the focussing motor in-built, would be the better option.

However most things say the D5100's trump card is the sensor/image quality, so I will just put that down to the fact that he owns Canon's himself... the point about the lenses though is fair enough. Will I always be able to get AF-S lenses in the future though? Are all the semi-pro ones AF-s?

I only checked out the 18-55mm vs 18-105mm, and the extra zoom seemed to be very handy. I've been looking at the 70-300mm this morning, wondering if that's something worth considering, but I will probably consider it another day. :o

I've also managed to find it for £450 online in the UK, and with £50 cashback if you buy it with a lens, and £65 if you buy it with two lenses, it seems like a bit of a bargain at the moment.
 
alexthecheese said:
The guy in the shop, and my good friend, said the sensor was worse on the D5100 and the Canon 550d, with the focussing motor in-built, would be the better option.

Will I always be able to get AF-S lenses in the future though? Are all the semi-pro ones AF-s?
Click to expand...

Which just goes to show how clueless some shop monkeys can be.
Canon bodies do-not have focus motors in body for a start, they are all in-lens.

And regarding AF-S lenses, its totally a non issue, all modern-ish lenses have in lens motors these days.

Nikon, Sigma and Tamron all have their own version but they all work just the same and its certainly not anything to put you off buying one to be honest.
 
alexthecheese said:
OK, well I went to have a look at the D5100 and it looked great. Surprisingly small, noticeably more so than the 550d.

It's funny how all the differences that seem so large on the internet are almost entirely irrelevant or unnoticeable when you actually go and use it. I don't think you lot will be surprised by that though eh? ;)

The screen differences are nowhere near as pronounced as I was expecting, and the menus are fine. Nothing wrong with that, despite my earlier slightly-embarrassing panic. :o :p

The guy in the shop, and my good friend, said the sensor was worse on the D5100 and the Canon 550d, with the focussing motor in-built, would be the better option.
Click to expand...

No offence, but the guy in the shop, and your good friend are completely clueless, firstly about the sensor, I'v owned two camera's that used those sensors and the Nikon is in another league. ISO is a little better but on the Nikon, but NO canon sensor comes close to the dynamic range and lack of banding, only the D800 beats the D5100.

Secondly as the above poster says, Canon has never used focus motors in the camera body.
 
Yeah, sounds about right. :o He was telling me there was almost no point going for the Nikon as the Canon was better in every regard.

I am sorted for the Nikon D5100, it does seem to be a great little thing and I would rather something a little different to my mates setups. Will probably just start with the 18-105mm and the 35mm 1.8 and then go from there...

Proper excited. :o :cool:
 
Just to add my 2 pence worth, I personally would not get a 550d, let me explain why. I went through the same kind of dilemma you are when buying my first dlsr and chose the 550d. At first I loved it, taking shots of the kids etc. But as I moved on with my photography and started buying faster lenses I quickly started to realise the AF in the 550d was lacking. I have Both a nifty 50 and a 50mm f1.4 and neither will reliably focus wide open, especially indoors (which is one place i really wanted the wider apeture). I have had the body and lens calibrated in an atempt to fix it but still the issue remains. Just to throw a different option into the mix, have you considered the 60d ? Both this and the 7d are often available on the canon outlet nicely reduced in price on the bay.
 
^^ I sometimes shoot with a friend with a d7000 and he gets way more keepers than me wide open.

Also that's why I would lean towards the 7d (if the op wished to go with canon) at least it's AF is known to be good and it also has micro adjust.
 
Last edited:
I traded in my 550D + 50D for a D7000, it was a cracking camera, I would recommend the Op going for a D7000 if possible to budget for it. The extra features are very worthwhile...
 
Yeah, I was looking at that, but it's twice the price of the D5100 essentially, which I could spend on getting another lens like the 85mm, or something like the 70-300mm which seems to be pretty well received - if a little slow on the aperture front (correct me if I'm wrong).

What's micro-adjust? If the focussing of the lens is slightly out?

An Exception - do you have any long lenses, or are the lenses you have all in your signature?
 
No, all my lenses are in my sig, tbh I don't do any nature work or sports so don't need a long lens, and when I have tried my hand at a bit of nature, the 85 was manageable even on FF, and tbh where possible, I prefer the wider angle perspective (includes more background) that you don't get with long lenses, even if I do go and blur it out with bokeh...

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18387906
 
An Exception said:
^^^
That's why I made the switch to the dark side.. consistent AF...
Click to expand...

Lots of disgruntled D800 owners wouldn't agree :D

I've used a 500D, 40D, 50D, 7D, 1D2, 1D3 and 1Ds2 and haven't had any issues with AF. Whether it's lens or body inconsistencies I don't know, but if Canon made cameras that didn't focus they would've been out of business long ago. It's the same with Sigma with some people claiming they had 10 copies of a lens and all were broken, if this was the case then the company wouldn't be around anymore.

To the OP, just buy a camera already! :D The D5100 is a nice little body, you've handled it now so any worries there have been laid to the side. One thing I would mention; although my brother gets more benefit than I do, having the same system as someone you're shooting with does make sense especially if you have a limited selection of lenses (if they'll let you use theirs that is!). Also just for learning as you go.
 
Rojin said:
Lots of disgruntled D800 owners wouldn't agree :D

I've used a 500D, 40D, 50D, 7D, 1D2, 1D3 and 1Ds2 and haven't had any issues with AF. Whether it's lens or body inconsistencies I don't know, but if Canon made cameras that didn't focus they would've been out of business long ago. It's the same with Sigma with some people claiming they had 10 copies of a lens and all were broken, if this was the case then the company wouldn't be around anymore.
Click to expand...

D800 is having some manufacturing teething issues, I doubt that it won't be fixed soon.
However quite a few 1D users I'v spoken to have expressed that when they have tested the Nikon AF system in the D700/D3/D3s, that it is more consistent/reliable.

Also, a few people who have owned both a 7D and a D700, have said non-cross type actually outperforms the 7d's Cross-type AF sensors...

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-10048-10484
 
Well most days it just hits everything so 100% keeper rate is kinda difficult to improve on. It does drop below that occasionally and there will be the odd frame what I think should've been nailed, but misses are generally all down to me.

edit: Of course the 1Ds2 doesn't get as pushed as the 1D3 did. Considering all the the problems with AF surrounding that body it didn't do too badly in floodlit sports.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom