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Archive 2013 · 50D or 7D?

dafoosballking
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · 50D or 7D?

I've been toying around with upgrading my 50d to a 7D for improved AF. Baseball season will be starting soon for my son, so I'll be doing a lot of shooting there. Anyway, money is extremely tight, so here are the two options I'm looking at. Which do you think would provide the best image quality? This is the classic cheaper body and better glass, but from what I've heard about the 18-135 STM, I may be gaining more by going from 50D to 7D than I'd be losing in the lens.

Yes, I know that neither of those lenses are near long enough for baseball. I'll also be looking at the Canon 70-300 or Tamron 70-300.

Edited on Jan 21, 2013 at 03:45 PM · View previous versions

Jan 21, 2013 at 03:24 PM

dafoosballking
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · 50D or 7D?

Another option: wanting to start doing more portrait work.

50d + 15-85 + 50 1.4

Using kit lens now and want to upgrade for AF speed, increased FL. Just not sure if I should just spend money on lenses or do the body too and have less for a lens.

Jan 21, 2013 at 03:45 PM

Photon
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · 50D or 7D?

You have the kit lens now (18-55 or thereabout?), so why not just add the 70-300, and trade the 50D for a 7D if you can. Worry later about a new mid-range zoom. The 70-300 will serve well for portraits and baseball, a little long for a "crop" body and portraits, but workable and capable of good background separation.

Jan 21, 2013 at 03:51 PM

dwweiche
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · 50D or 7D?

Which Canon 70-300?

You could also consider the 70-200L f/4 non-IS. Very fast AF and very sharp. Very inexpensive for what you get.

Jan 21, 2013 at 03:51 PM

gse53
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · 50D or 7D?

FWIW, I had the same question last winter and people here convinced me that moving from a 50D to a 7D was not that big of an upgrade and not worth it, so I ended up getting a 5d II and I am glad I did. When I got my 50D, I found that the sensor out-resolved the lenses I had at the time, so I started to upgrade my glass. BTW, the Tamron 70-300 is an excellent low cost lens.

Jan 21, 2013 at 04:02 PM

Paulthelefty
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · 50D or 7D?

I have both the 50d and 7d. In good light, they both focus equally well. Poor light is where the 7d shows its advantage, and I don't think it is a huge advantage, but it is noticeable. 15.1 vs 18 megapixels is not that significant either. The menus are very similar, and the screens are basically equal.

As far as lenses, the kit lens is a good basic portrait lens, it is plenty sharp and gives you 85mm equivalent of a full frame. I second the 70-200 f4 recommendation. I had one and it was amazing as long as you have good light. You can get one used for around $500 (non-IS) these days.

Paul

Jan 21, 2013 at 04:40 PM

jctriguy
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · 50D or 7D?

dwweiche wrote:
You could also consider the 70-200L f/4 non-IS. Very fast AF and very sharp. Very inexpensive for what you get.

+1 on the 70-200 non-IS. Cheaper than the 24-105 and a better range for baseball I would think.

The 7d is nice but I think if money was tight I would get a nice 70-200 for $4-450 and you would have a great kit. You would also have some money from a wider lens if your current kit lens doesn't satisfy your needs in that area.

Jan 21, 2013 at 04:44 PM

scottam10
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · 50D or 7D?

I'm not a fan of the 24-105 on a crop camera; it's a very useful range on full frame but 24mm is just not wide enough for a walkaround on crop.

- I'd prefer the 15-85, I wouldn't bother with the 18-135mm.

I love the 50mm 1.4 for portrait work, it's equivalent to 80mm when you put it on a crop camera which is a great length for portraits. I have the Canon, but some prefer the Sigma 50mm (I haven't tried it)

The Tamron 70-300mm VC is a decent low-cost telephoto. If you're on a really tight budget, even the Canon 55-250mm IS is respectable.

Jan 21, 2013 at 04:47 PM

dafoosballking
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · 50D or 7D?

Paulthelefty wrote:
I have both the 50d and 7d. In good light, they both focus equally well. Poor light is where the 7d shows its advantage, and I don't think it is a huge advantage, but it is noticeable. 15.1 vs 18 megapixels is not that significant either. The menus are very similar, and the screens are basically equal.

As far as lenses, the kit lens is a good basic portrait lens, it is plenty sharp and gives you 85mm equivalent of a full frame. I second the 70-200 f4 recommendation. I had one and it was amazing as long as you...Show more →

That's good to know. If there's not significant difference in IQ, then maybe I'll stick with the 50D and just buy better glass. The 70-200 f4 is tempting, but the Tamron 70-300 for $330 used is a tempting too. Other than 6 weeks of little league baseball though, I don't really have a need for the extra reach. I was thinking the 18-135 STM would be an upgrade to the 18-55 for FL and possibly IQ, and 135 would help at the baseball field if I'm close. It's little league, so it's not like a big stadium

The 18-135 and 50 1.4 would be a nice combo. I'd have a good walkaround lens and a good portrait lens.

Jan 21, 2013 at 04:52 PM

M Lucca
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · 50D or 7D?

I say stick with what you have. The 7d is definitely better than the 50d. But only if you take the time to learn it's AF features and tweak along the way.
There are other niceties with the 7d. But I think the 50d is no slouch and is often an underestimated camera because of the 7d.

I say get a nice lens.

Jan 21, 2013 at 04:59 PM

uz2work
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · 50D or 7D?

I had a 50D for a couple of years, and I've had a 7D for the last 3 1/2 years. While the 50D AF is capable with relatively static subjects, the place where there is a significant difference in AF performance is with moving subjects in servo mode. Having over twice as many available focus points and having the ability to customize AF to expand the selected AF point to use surrounding points, can have a significant effect on the percentage of in-focus shots. I found that, in servo mode, if I could keep the selected AF point on the subject with the 50D, it did just fine, but that isn't always possible. The 7D is the first non-1 series body that I have used whose AF made me feel confident of getting the shots of moving subjects. Besides being able to expand the AF point to surrounding points, there are a number of other very useful customizable AF options.

While there may not be significant image quality differences between the two cameras, if your intent is to shoot baseball or any moving subjects, you shouldn't minimize the value of the 7D's AF and how much better it is than the AF system of the 50D.

Jan 21, 2013 at 05:07 PM

Wahoowa
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · 50D or 7D?

I'd go with 7D + 15-85 IS.

Jan 21, 2013 at 05:16 PM

dafoosballking
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · 50D or 7D?

Wahoowa wrote:
I'd go with 7D + 15-85 IS.

I wish! The 7d take to much of the budget. For my limited baseball shots, the 50d will probably be fine. Debating between a 24-105 or an 18-135 stm/70-300 combo.

Jan 21, 2013 at 06:07 PM

didierv
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · 50D or 7D?

dafoosballking wrote:
Anyway, money is extremely tight, so here are the two options I'm looking at. .

Go the third option ! Don't buy anything...
Good luck
Suz Orman

Jan 21, 2013 at 07:47 PM

Ferrophot
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · 50D or 7D?

If money is extremely tight don't buy anything. A fancy DSLR and L lens is a want, not a need.

Jan 21, 2013 at 08:01 PM

ratsnest74
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · 50D or 7D?

get the Canon 75-300 used for about $120, great cheap telephoto in good light with the corrections made in post processing. Here is a shot I recently took of my dog running full speed ahead with this lens wide open at f5.6 300mm

Jan 21, 2013 at 08:10 PM

AmbientMike
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · 50D or 7D?

Id hate to have 24 as my widest and 7d probably slightly better body. No contest.

I am sure the 18-135 isn't the greatest lens. But Im making an effort to use mine more I get great stuff with it.

I like my 55-250.

Suspect af might be too slow for sports with the lenses you mentioned.

Jan 23, 2013 at 05:58 PM

skibum5
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · 50D or 7D?

dafoosballking wrote:
I've been toying around with upgrading my 50d to a 7D for improved AF. Baseball season will be starting soon for my son, so I'll be doing a lot of shooting there. Anyway, money is extremely tight, so here are the two options I'm looking at. Which do you think would provide the best image quality? This is the classic cheaper body and better glass, but from what I've heard about the 18-135 STM, I may be gaining more by going from 50D to 7D than I'd be losing in the lens.

Yes, I know that neither of those lenses are...Show more →

Personally I wouldn't go with either of those lenses for either of those bodies but look into stuff like:
Tamron 17-50 2.8 non-VC
Canon 15-85 IS

Anyway if baseball is the main goal yeah you want to focus on some longer lens first, trying to keep the price under some control:
tamron 70-300 VC
canon 300 f/4 non-IS

An upcoming 7D2 might have noticeably better AF than the 7D, although it might also cost a fair amount more than a 7D can be had for now.

For some action 7D did way better than 50D. Surfing for instance. OTOH for soccer, sometimes it did much better, but sometimes it didn't seem to do any better at all. OTOH my 5D3 always does at least as well as the best the 7D does for soccer and often much better (although for surfing it doesn't really seem to do any better at all).

For one shot, fast aperture lenses the 7D does a bit better than a 50D although worse than 5D2 in dim lighting and much worse than 5D3 in dim lighting and worse in good lighting.

Action using other than center point is much better with 7D than 50D.

8fps is a bit nicer than 6.5 fps.

I believe the 7D has a bigger buffer used with fast UDMA7 cards.

Edited on Jan 23, 2013 at 06:18 PM · View previous versions

Jan 23, 2013 at 06:06 PM

AmbientMike
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · 50D or 7D?

24-105 fine for portraits.

Jan 23, 2013 at 06:09 PM

msalvetti
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · 50D or 7D?

dafoosballking wrote:
That's good to know. If there's not significant difference in IQ, then maybe I'll stick with the 50D and just buy better glass. The 70-200 f4 is tempting, but the Tamron 70-300 for $330 used is a tempting too. Other than 6 weeks of little league baseball though, I don't really have a need for the extra reach. I was thinking the 18-135 STM would be an upgrade to the 18-55 for FL and possibly IQ, and 135 would help at the baseball field if I'm close. It's little league, so it's not like a big stadium

The 18-135...Show more →

I went from a 40D (and 30D and 10D before that) to a 7D, and I completely agree - in sunlight, I don't think the AF of the 7D gives you a big enough advantage over the 50D to upgrade.

Also, when you say LL baseball, are you talking 45-foot basepaths? If that's the case, then a 70-200 would be plenty, and f/4 is fine in daylight too. It's also a very fast focusing lens, even on a 50D. Assuming you have a good shooting position (dugout, or along the baselines) you can easily get the entire infield and the batter with a 70-200. Outfielders (who rarely see much game action anyway in LL), I used to shoot warming up between innings. Impossible to tell that it's not game action.

Mark

Edited on Jan 23, 2013 at 06:14 PM · View previous versions

Jan 23, 2013 at 06:12 PM

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