I use my 7D for kids sports and my 5D2 for mostly everything else. I love the 8fps the 7D gives me. I am very happy with my current lineup of lenses. I am on the edge of selling my 7D and 5D2 bodies to get a 5D3. What is the wisdom of the FM community on this?
Why? What do you think you'll gain by selling? You'll lose reach for your sports giving up the 7D.You'll also have to shell over another $800 to get the 5D3. I would not do it.
Carefully consider what you're trying to gain with the 5D3. You mention the 7D gives you the fps you want. Does the AF of the 7D meet your needs? You've got a good setup now, I'm not sure what you would gain for the money it would cost.
The only upgrade I would consider would be from 5D Mark II to Mark III for the vastly improved AF performance and that only if you feel that your existing 5D Mark II is not quite there AF-wise and if the upgrade cost doesn't pose any burden.
You gotta ask yourself...do I really "NEED" what the 5DIII offers? I used my 1DMKIIN & 40D for years, and had no complaints or every missed a shot. I you do decide that you "NEED" one, I would wait for (1) the price to come down a wee bit, & (2) for Canon to work out all the bugs.
I would sell the 5D2 and the 40D and scrounge up the extra cash (if you can) to get a 5D3. I had a 5D2 - thought it took amazing photos - but felt like it was a great sensor handicapped by a weak AF system. The 5D3, which I just acquired it nothing short of amazing in the AF department, specifically in the all important outer focus points.
The 7D is a competent body with really good AF, it makes an outstanding back up to the 5D3.
AGeoJO wrote:
The only upgrade I would consider would be from 5D Mark II to Mark III for the vastly improved AF performance and that only if you feel that your existing 5D Mark II is not quite there AF-wise and if the upgrade cost doesn't pose any burden.
+1 on what Josh said. I use my 5D2 for mostly still people photos and landscapes, and can't quite justify 5D3. I really tried to, though.
When all these 5D3 recalls get fixed and Canon has a batch of refurb CLP 5D3's - maybe then I'll pounce.
ETA: And never take advice from anyone named KewlCanon
Eric Mastilak wrote:
I use my 7D for kids sports and my 5D2 for mostly everything else. I love the 8fps the 7D gives me. I am very happy with my current lineup of lenses. I am on the edge of selling my 7D and 5D2 bodies to get a 5D3. What is the wisdom of the FM community on this?
Everyone is different, and your values and needs will not be the same as mine. However, if I had a 5D2 and a 7D I would not likely sell the two cameras in order to have one 5D3. A few reasons:
There is value in having two cameras. First, you have a backup when something inevitably goes wrong with one camera. Second, you can have different lenses on each camera and be ready to cover different needs without swapping lenses. Third, each has certain particular strengths and weaknesses that are complimentary, and you'll give up some of that with the excellent 5D3.
Since you already have a 7D with its faster burst mode, greater "reach" (or whatever you want to call it), and more advanced AF system, the advantage of the 5D3 in situations where those things will be useful is very small.
The image quality from the 5D2 is going to be almost identical to that of the 5D3. The 5D3 provides 1MP more photo sites, but this is completely insignificant. There are reports that it might provide a bit more dynamic range and higher ISO - good things, but how important to your photography is the question.
My general feeling, while acknowledging that there can be a few real exceptions, is that the real world difference between the 5D2 and the 5D3, while there, is likely to be very small overall for you in the end. My feeling is that the 5D3 is not really targeted at those upgrading from a 5D2 but rather at a different market.
Keep in mind that it is all too easy to get caught up in the "I must have the best thing" loop, especially when a new thing comes out that is, indeed, "better" than the old thing. However, the real question is whether or not that betterness is of a magnitude that will make any sensible difference in your photographs. In your situation, my hunch is that the differences, if you really see them at all, would be so small as to make the switch not worthwhile, especially in light of going from having two bodies to having only a single body. I sure wouldn't do it.
Eric Mastilak wrote:
I use my 7D for kids sports and my 5D2 for mostly everything else. I love the 8fps the 7D gives me. I am very happy with my current lineup of lenses. I am on the edge of selling my 7D and 5D2 bodies to get a 5D3. What is the wisdom of the FM community on this?
Only you can answer your question
To get you thinking what does the 5D3 have that you are missing right now?
I had the 5d2/7d combination, which I really loved. I just replaced the 5d2 with the 5d3. I have serious doubts as to whether I'll ever use my 7D again, but I'm keeping it for a while to see (and I really like having a backup body).
The 5d3 is a truly great camera. It certainly will do what you want it to do just fine (heck, I took thousands of vacation and kid-sports photos with my 10D, and loved it for many years).
But you really should be asking what about your current lineup is inadequate for your needs/wants, that you would consider trading two-for-one. Yes, the 5d3 is a very significant improvement over the 5d2 in many departments, but are those improvements important for your uses?
Only you can answer your question, but I hope these are things to consider.
I have all 3 and if you have a 40D ( not sure where you said that though) then I would sell. Since owning the 5D3 I haven't touched my 7D but I use my 5D2 as my second body as I always have at least two ready to shoot with different lenses. 5D3 is sooooo much better than the 7D in every single way except the extra two frames per second. I don't see any significant reach difference as the 7D IQ has so many issues with low ISO noise, and can't shoot as cleanly as the 5D3 does at higher ISO. Therefore cropping 5D3 is equal to the 7D in 90% of situations anyways.
My 1DMKIIN is an AF monster. If it moves, the 1DMKIIN tracks it. Sure I don't have the MP's, but I feel it makes me more conscious of my composition since I can't crop a photo to death, and in the end a better photographer. A full frame body with a competent AF system is tempting, but will it satisfy a need, or fill a gap that justifies spending that amount of money? Only you can answer that.
dmacmillan wrote:
Carefully consider what you're trying to gain with the 5D3. You mention the 7D gives you the fps you want. Does the AF of the 7D meet your needs? You've got a good setup now, I'm not sure what you would gain for the money it would cost.
I agree... Speed the extra money going somewhere to shoot...
Eric Mastilak wrote:
I use my 7D for kids sports and my 5D2 for mostly everything else. I love the 8fps the 7D gives me. I am very happy with my current lineup of lenses. I am on the edge of selling my 7D and 5D2 bodies to get a 5D3. What is the wisdom of the FM community on this?
i've been thinking of it too, the new 5D3 pricing makes it a bit less appealing though
it would be an easier call had they priced it the old 5D2 price or given it all the video specs it should've had or the early rumored 7fps or 1.5 stops more dynamic range or 8-14 more MP and left it with the old style viewfinder and kept the rest as is. (sadly they still didn't even make a working autoiso, not the biggest deal, but it was such an utterly ridiculous petty little crippling, good companies don't pull stuff like that)
still you do gain, much better SNR for video (probably a good 1.5 stops), no line skipping for video so no basty moire/aliasing, hopefully much better AF than on either body (I never found the 7D AF to be THAT amazing, my 5D2 center point for stills was as good or better and even for ai servo, if the subject wasn't too close, it seemed to do as well but both had plenty of issues for tracking serious-level sports at times), hopefully a solid 2/3 stop better SNR (although this really remains to be seen, if it is like 2/3-1 stop better then OK they did do something solid with the sensor, if it is just 1/3 stop then....), histogram visible outside in the sun, better quick image review options, faster response an fps on the FF body, get it all at once in one (FF) body
you do lose reach which is a shame for wildlife (and sports at times), 2fps (IF the AF is THAT much better it might partially make up for the lost 2fps, not always, but sometimes), nice 5D2-style viewfinder where you can actually see everything that is going on, a second body for when that helps, a solid chunk of money even after selling both used bodies off (and their dumping 5D2 for cheap now hasn't helped the resale value any which just makes the $ side look even yet worse again and they won't even have pro 5d3 kits ready now for months, if ever, which helps $ yet even further less)
you sadly don't gain any low ISO dynamic range or detail or FF reach or truly crisp video or video focus peaking or stuff that 100% needed to be in there such as zebra stripes for video or a c300-like 2x2 sampled 1.6x crop video mode and working AutoISO and more control over video codec/better codec
StarNut wrote:
Lots of good advice being given here.
I had the 5d2/7d combination, which I really loved. I just replaced the 5d2 with the 5d3. I have serious doubts as to whether I'll ever use my 7D again, but I'm keeping it for a while to see (and I really like having a backup body).
The 5d3 is a truly great camera. It certainly will do what you want it to do just fine (heck, I took thousands of vacation and kid-sports photos with my 10D, and loved it for many years).
But you really should be asking what about your current lineup is inadequate for your needs/wants, that you would consider trading two-for-one. Yes, the 5d3 is a very significant improvement over the 5d2 in many departments, but are those improvements important for your uses?
Only you can answer your question, but I hope these are things to consider....Show more →
the 5D3 is probably the best one body solution (if you don't want or need back-ups)
I would agree if you have to move to only owning one body then stick with your current combo. If you have a way to have the 5D3 and another body as backup or like me as another lens mounted, dual camera shooting, always ready to go type situation then I'd get the 5D3 in a heartbeat. Even if that backup is a t3i or t2i that would be sufficient to be a better setup than the current 5D2/7D combo IMHO, YMMV. If you can get a 5D3 and keep one of the other 2 then that would be really good. As I said earlier I still have all 3 of them and would get rid of the 7D but something in me just wants to have it around just in case.
Also, wiht the 5D3 scenario, when you are not distant limited and do want ok speed and fancier AF you'd do much better for image quality since it'd be FF sensor vs. APS-C sensor.
I use my 5D2 for mostly still people photos and landscapes, and can't quite justify 5D3. I really tried to, though. 
