5D III, or 6D+7D combo - your thoughts?

[papa-razzi]

I have a 7D and love it.  I primarily shoot my kids sporting events.  Football, volleyball, basketball, track.  Indoor/Outdoor.

Here is my dilemma.  I want to buy a FF camera to do more portraits, landscape, etc.  Do I sell my 7D and get a 5D III, or keep my 7D and get a 6D for a second body? (I couldn't justify the cost of the 5D III unless it could replace the 7D as well)

With the 5D III, I really only give up a couple of FPS vs the 7D and some reach which I would probably only miss in football.  I gain much better ISO performance for the indoor sports like volleyball, where the 7D can struggle (even with an 85mm f/1.8 I need ISO 3200 which honestly is poor on the 7D).

I know many of you have owned a 5DII & 7D combo and have some experience with that.  For those of you that moved to a 5D III - did you find yourself still using the 7D much?

I'm not in a hurry.  I want to wait out the release of the 6D and see the reviews, and decide if I would go with the 6D vs. a 5D II (new or used).  So, maybe next spring I would pull the trigger on the FF.

[Camerajah]

Keep the 7D and get the 5DIII you must learn to read the Canon tea leaves and follow the EYECUP.

The interface is close in the above cameras 1.6 vs fullframe

[RLPhoto]

I have a 7D and love it.  I primarily shoot my kids sporting events.  Football, volleyball, basketball, track.  Indoor/Outdoor.

Here is my dilemma.  I want to buy a FF camera to do more portraits, landscape, etc.  Do I sell my 7D and get a 5D III, or keep my 7D and get a 6D for a second body? (I couldn't justify the cost of the 5D III unless it could replace the 7D as well)

With the 5D III, I really only give up a couple of FPS vs the 7D and some reach which I would probably only miss in football.  I gain much better ISO performance for the indoor sports like volleyball, where the 7D can struggle (even with an 85mm f/1.8 I need ISO 3200 which honestly is poor on the 7D).

I know many of you have owned a 5DII & 7D combo and have some experience with that.  For those of you that moved to a 5D III - did you find yourself still using the 7D much?

I'm not in a hurry.  I want to wait out the release of the 6D and see the reviews, and decide if I would go with the 6D vs. a 5D II (new or used).  So, maybe next spring I would pull the trigger on the FF.

Once I moved to my 5Dc, I used my 7D less. When I got my 5D3, My 7D hasn't really been used much at all.

Once you go FF, Crop is rubbish.

[papa-razzi]

Keep the 7D and get the 5DIII you must learn to read the Canon tea leaves and follow the EYECUP.

The interface is close in the above cameras 1.6 vs fullframe

Ideally, I'd do exactly that.  However, that is an extra $1,000+.  I'm happy with the 7D for what I use it for, but if a 5D III can replace it I get the best of both FF and what the 7D offered.

[JaxPhotographer]

Before I got my 5DIII I was using only a 7D for a lot of sports (mostly high school). I think a lot of the replacing the 7D depends on the set of lenses you currently own. For the indoor sports I found myself using my 70-200L f/2.8 IS almost exclusively and reach is not a real issue with either body so given generally poor lighting I default to the 5DIII for indoor sports.

Once you shift to outdoor sports the dilemna changes based on day/night games and lighting vs. reach compromise depending on your available lenses. 5DIII AF is pretty fantastic if you have the glass to use it for football or track. If not, keep your 7D for outdoor (at least daytime) for the extended reach from the crop factor.

I am using my 7D still for daytime outdoor sporting events until I can save enough for a super-tele. Otherwise, whenever I can I use the 5DIII and fallback to the 7D for daytime reach.

[RC]

Well obviously the ideal combo would be your 7D and a 5D3 but you need the 7D to help fund a 5D3.  I considered the very same a few weeks ago, sell my 7D for a 5D3.  After looking at my local CL ads, It didn't look like I was going to get more than $800 for my low shutter count, perfect condition 7D.  So I decided it was worth much more to me than what I could get for it.  Besides, I don't really think I could give up the reach and FPS.  With the 6D and rumored 7DII, I think the resale for a 7D has (or will) drop.  You will have to decide if you can get enough for your 7D to make it worth losing.

I did consider a 6D with my 7D, but soon realized the 6D is lacking way too much and felt it would be a down grade from my 7D (AF, view finder, ergo, SD).  I ranted for weeks about the 6D--I won't get started again.  I almost pulled the trigger on a 5D2 but realized I would always wish I had the 5D3 (investing in RT flash among other things).

So for me it will have to be a 7D and 5D3.  Right now I'm not willing to spend $3500 so I'll just have to be happy with my 7D only for a while.

If the reach & FPS of the 7D is too much to give up and you can't get a decent price I would keep your 7D.  Do you have any EF-S lens to sell to help offset the cost?

If you are not in a hurry, then wait thru the holidays to see what kind of sales and rebates come up.

[papa-razzi]

I think a lot of the replacing the 7D depends on the set of lenses you currently own.

My lenses:
I use a 70-300L for my outdoor sports and I'm very happy with it. 
When I don't need the reach I use my 24-105L for everything else outdoor.

Indoor, I mostly use a 85 f/1.8 and a 50 f/1.4.  I got these primes as an affordable way to get to a decent shutter speed for indoor sports within the ISO range of the 7D.  It barely does that.

Other lenses I have:
EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 - my general purpose indoor lens.  If I sold the 7D, this would be sold with it.
EF 35 f/2 - I just wanted this to try out a "normal range" prime, but haven't used it much.
70-200 f/2.8L IS USM (Mach I) - AF doesn't keep up with sports, so I don't use it much for that.  I got this used and haven't been happy with it, so I am considering selling it and getting a 135 f/2L - but I first wanted to try all my lenses on my FF camera when I get it before making a decision to sell any of them.

[Robert Mark]

I don't want to get flamed by 7D lovers, but I always found my 7D images to have a rough quality to them. I'm not talking about ISO noise -- that body let me make lots of great images at 3200, but a general granularity of the images even at ISO 400-800 (which should be very smooth these days).

When I moved to the 5D3, the roughness was all smoothed away. I love the 5D3. Miss the higher frame rate, miss the reach. The images are beyond compare to the 7D images, though.

Bodywise, your hand will fall onto the 5d3 controls instantly. Not sure about the 6.

[Trovador]

I have exactly the same dilemma.  Have a 7D and will get a FF.  I'm just waiting for tests/reviews on the 6D and will probably get it to compliment my 7D.  If I want to shoot sports, action, wild life etc the 7D is great for that with even more fps than the 5D mkIII and crop factor for the extra reach.  If I want portraits, landscapes, more image quality 6D will be the tool of choice.  I think they pair up nicely.  Of course it will depend on how good the image quality/sensor really is compared to the mkIII, so we have to wait.

[instaimage]

I moved from two 7D's to a 5D3 while waiting for my 1DX's to arrive (I wanted to shoot FF and also take advantage of the higher ISO capabilities of the 5D3 over the 7D...)... I shot 14 days of a little league tournament with the 5D3 (shot the last two days with the 1DXs)... don't get me wrong, I loved my 7Ds and had great successes with them... but I shoot a lot at night under the lights and in gyms that have questionable lighting... (none of which "allow" me to flash) and just as I sold my 1DMk2 the day I got my first 7D... I sold one of my 7Ds within days of first shooting the 5D3 (had to have a backup if the 5D3 died...). When the 1DXs came, off went the other 7D, I knew I would never use it again...

The main reasons...
Higher ISO capability
Better IQ
Better AF system (all around... points, speed, etc.)
larger screen (anyone here getting younger, do tell your secret!)
Because FF, beautiful DOF shooting wide open... (but that's probably one of your reasons for wanting FF...)

During the day, the 7D is great... once the light starts to get questionable, the 5D3 will step up and allow you the shots that others cannot get... this is a business for me, that is critical now with soccer mom and photo dad being my biggest competitors...

In your situation papa-razzi, I'd consider selling the 7D to help offset the cost of the 5D3... will you really use both?  Once I've gotten used to the newer gear, I have a hard time going back... these days newer really is that much better...

I'm also having a similar dilema as you for my "family" camera... I have a 60D, which I had to put into business operation once when I sent off my 7Ds for service... I found the WB better and more consistent on the 60D than the 7D (it's newer it should be better right?)... but I simply LOATH Canon's 9 point AF system... yet now with two 1DXs and a 5D3 as "business" tools I'm finding it hard to look at anything "lesser" and not kinda cringe at the thought of not having the performance, responsiveness and capabilities of these two fine bodies...    The troubles we have in life!  HA!

[Wilmark]

The 7D is worthless unless you are shooting in good light - Once you go full frame all this crap about "greater reach" is nonsense, thats like digital zoom. The 7D is sadly short speced in the most important part of the camera - its sensor. How canon could put a rebel sensor in a camera and sell it for twice the price beats me.

[neuroanatomist]

With the 5D III, I really only give up a couple of FPS vs the 7D and some reach which I would probably only miss in football.  I gain much better ISO performance for the indoor sports like volleyball, where the 7D can struggle (even with an 85mm f/1.8 I need ISO 3200 which honestly is poor on the 7D).

I know many of you have owned a 5DII & 7D combo and have some experience with that.  For those of you that moved to a 5D III - did you find yourself still using the 7D much?

I had the 7D, and subsequently added the 5DII.  After getting the FF, the only times I reached for the 7D were when the AF of the 5DII just wouldn't cut it (and sometimes I'd pick the 5DII even knowing the AF would mean a low hit rate, since the IQ was much better, particularly the ISO performance.

I'm not the one to answer the last question, since I replaced my 5DII with a 1D X.  Since getting the 1D X, the 7D was used extensively....for one day.....by someone to whom I loaned the camera. 

If you're anything like me, once you start capturing FF images, you'll start making excuses not to use APS-C.

The 5DIII has a better AF system than the 7D, and much better high ISO performance. I'd bet your keeper rate will be noticeably higher, even giving up 2 fps.  Also, what do you use the files for - printing large?  In some fairly detailed testing I did comparing 7D images to 5DII images shot from the same distance to the 7D's FoV, and the IQ was a wash (cropping results in deeper DoF and an increase in perceived noise) - basically, the only real difference was 8 MP vs. 18 MP. The 5DIII should do slightly better.  So, if you don't need the full 18 MP, you won't really lose the reach of APS-C (although you won't gain the IQ benefit of FF if you crop the full 1.6x.

Bottom line, I'd recommend the 5DIII over a 7D + 5DII or 6D combo.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

The 7D is worthless unless you are shooting in good light - Once you go full frame all this crap about "greater reach" is nonsense, thats like digital zoom. The 7D is sadly short speced in the most important part of the camera - its sensor. How canon could put a rebel sensor in a camera and sell it for twice the price beats me.

The 7D came first, three years ago.  The rebels use the 7D sensor.  For a APS-C sensor, there are no big breakthrus in technology. 
I have a 7D and FF.  There is little doubt that If I move my 100-400mmL from my 5D MK III to my 7D, I get greater reach without loss of resolution from cropping.

[ishdakuteb]

The 7D is worthless unless you are shooting in good light - Once you go full frame all this crap about "greater reach" is nonsense, thats like digital zoom. The 7D is sadly short speced in the most important part of the camera - its sensor. How canon could put a rebel sensor in a camera and sell it for twice the price beats me.

so you mean before 2006, photographer do not shoot at low light? or it is just you do not know how to get away with your limitation?  yes, i go ff but still use my 7d in decent light condition if using my 70-200is II or with flash and gel if 24-105mm f4.

[TriGGy]

After I got my 5D3 I have not used my 7D much, just a couple or so shots here and there, and I just like to handle the 7D when I'm bored.

I don't know, but I'm one of those folks who got amazed with FF after years of APS-C (I came from 35mm film as well, so I'm very much used to the FF Field of View). I know the 5D3 is the camera that will serve me well for many years. 

The reason why I didn't settle for the 5D2 is because I was spoiled by the 7D's functionality and responsiveness. But if I was handed a 5D2 for free I'd love to have it 

I still don't want to let go of the 7D though, having two cameras can be useful. I don't feel having a 5D3 and 7D as redundant. Knowing I still have the 7D around if I need it feels reassuring.