Canon camera advice please

[JumboBeef]

My wife currently has a Canon 40D (with grip), plus a number of L lenses. She would like to upgrade this body, and has around £1,000 to £1,500 to spend (ish).

We have ruled out the 50D.

This leaves the 7D, 5D MKII or a s/hand 1D. She shoots people/events (not weddings) and some landscapes.

What would you buy?

Thanks.

(PS: no 'change to Nikon' replies please They might well be fine cameras but she has too many L lenses to consider swopping now).

 

[Dryce]

My wife currently has a Canon 40D (with grip), plus a number of L lenses. She would like to upgrade this body, and has around £1,000 to £1,500 to spend (ish).

We have ruled out the 50D.

This leaves the 7D, 5D MKII or a s/hand 1D. She shoots people/events (not weddings) and some landscapes.

With a decent set of lenses I would be seriously tempted to stretch and go for a 5D - esp. as VAT goes up in January.

The format change from the 40D is a bit of hassle perhaps but the range of all the lenses effectively gets extended wider. (you can still crop back to APS-C so no loss at the other end of the range).

 

[Bryan Allman]

My wife currently has a Canon 40D (with grip), plus a number of L lenses. She would like to upgrade this body, and has around £1,000 to £1,500 to spend (ish).

We have ruled out the 50D.

This leaves the 7D, 5D MKII or a s/hand 1D. She shoots people/events (not weddings) and some landscapes.

What would you buy?

Thanks.

(PS: no 'change to Nikon' replies please They might well be fine cameras but she has too many L lenses to consider swopping now).

Given your budget it would either be the 7D or a secondhand 1D. The 7D has the latest gadgets but if its durability and weatherproofing you are after (and I would guess given the nature of the type of work you describe, it will be) then without doubt the 1D.

I use both a 1DMkIII and a 1DMkIIN for fashion location work - both perform brilliantly in rain, snow and blazing heat. Shopping around you should get some really good deals on the MkIIN, and maybe even an early MkIII after January when the MkIV hits the shops - there will be a few people upgrading at that point

 

[Wizeng]

+1

 

[BTB 500]

Key question really is what she's looking for in the upgrade i.e what does she want/need that the 40D doesn't have?

As an aside the pop-up flash on the non full-frame Canons is very handy for fill-in etc. when you're travelling light.

 

[JumboBeef]

Thanks.

Didn't the 1DMKIII have some 'issues'?

Would it be worth spending the extra and buying a 5DMKII?

 

[Bryan Allman]

Thanks.

Didn't the 1DMKIII have some 'issues'?

Would it be worth spending the extra and buying a 5DMKII?

Yes the early versions did - but they were sorted with a downloadable firmware fix or through a workshop mod. Don't be put off by it - the issue was only ever really experienced by people shooting high speed sports events/airshows etc and nine times out of ten was because they didn't read the manual regarding the various Autofocus settings in Custom Functions.

The 5DMkII is a great camera - but once you have held and used a 1D, you will never want to use anything else

 

[JumboBeef]

Thanks, but please can you explain how a 1D with less MP is better than a 5D?

 

[Bryan Allman]

Thanks, but please can you explain how a 1D with less MP is better than a 5D?

MP is not everything - unless you are blowing up images to sizes greater than A2 on a regular basis, or cropping images out of shots, you wont see the difference.

What is important is durability - If I remember correctly the expected MTBF life of a 5D Shutter is 100,000 actuations - The 1DMkII is double that - plus the weather sealing and general robustness of the 1D body is substantially better than the 5D - which makes it far better on location for events and landscapes.

The 5D is a fine camera but most of my colleagues who have them, or used to have them, limit their use to studio work or the occasional shot where full frame is essential.

My advice would be to go to any of the local main camera stores or visit one of the many exhibitions and get your hands on one. The feel and operation of each is substantially different and one may not appeal as much as the other.

 

[219]

Although not a Canon user , I have to endorse the reply above 'MP is not everything' .

An example I often use to demonstrate to people who come in with files from their 10MP compacts then wonder why even A4 prints are not good , is I pick up the old Nikon D1 we still have kicking around the department , take a picture and show it full screen - when they invariably ask 'how many MP is that ? ' , they are always astounded when I tell them it is only about 2MP ! It does have a larger sensor than their compacts and it does have a very nice piece of glass on the front so can still produce quite acceptable pictures .

The downside of the MP race is always increasing file sizes and the associated storage problems ; reducing the sizes of individual pixels to cram more onto a given size of sensor also brings the problem of noise to the fore : smaller pixels can only 'see' a smaller amount of light therefore output less therefore a tiny fingernail sized sensor with 10MP is going to have a very poor signal/noise ratio ( the sensors on most digital compacts are about the same size as the fingernail on your smallest finger ) .

I do a lot of night time photography out at fire scenes and , if just taking 'general' shots of firefighting going on for PR purposes , I often use my 6MP Pentax *istD in preference to the Nikon D300's provided by my employer purely because the Pentax has much better noise performance under low light conditions , and waay better than the D100 which used the same sensor ! Also , thanks to Pentax keeping backwards compatibility with all the old lenses , I can use all my old , fast , prime lenses from my film days and gain a few stops over the Nikon AF lenses provided with my other kit .

However , I'm sure whichever camera you go for you will be happy - there really are no bad cameras out there these days - only bad photographers !

 

[RoseTattoo]

MP is not everything - unless you are blowing up images to sizes greater than A2 on a regular basis, or cropping images out of shots, you wont see the difference.

What is important is durability - If I remember correctly the expected MTBF life of a 5D Shutter is 100,000 actuations - The 1DMkII is double that - plus the weather sealing and general robustness of the 1D body is substantially better than the 5D - which makes it far better on location for events and landscapes.

MP is a poor guide. Always go for a good camera, even with lower MP. Sensor size and how it is all manged is more important. You can find some small P&S cameras with astounding MP's and they will give good shots but start expanding their range in size and other aspects and they soon fall far behind.

 

[JumboBeef]

Thanks for the replies.

I know MP is not everything, but I wasn't talking about comparing a P&S with a 'real' camera:

Thanks, but please can you explain how a 1D with less MP is better than a 5D?

Will an older 1D give 'better' photos than a 5D, build quaility aside?

 

[GordonTarling]

Always go for the largest sensor in the body that suits your needs.

 

[RoseTattoo]

Thanks for the replies.

I know MP is not everything, but I wasn't talking about comparing a P&S with a 'real' camera:



Will an older 1D give 'better' photos than a 5D, build quaility aside?

As has been said any camera in the price range that you are talking about will give more than satisfactory images. I sometimes still use an older 5MP camera as against my Nikon D700 and have pictures in the national press from the 5MP camera. But here is an article that may help you; The Megapixel Myth
Ken Rockwell is a bit on the zany side of life but he is well educated technically.
Incidentally,I would even classify a phone camera as 'real'. At times when it is difficult to lug around all my kit I still have a little Canon P&S and that gets the shots.

 

[Geoff A]

JB, not sure if you ever made a step forward with your camera, but I could soon be trading up from my Canon 1D MkII N to a 1D MkIII ......

 

[JumboBeef]

Thanks! Just bought a 1D MK IV

 

[Setanta]

JB, not sure if you ever made a step forward with your camera, but I could soon be trading up from my Canon 1D MkII N to a 1D MkIII ......

Can you send me some details on this please - I know someone who may be interested