hello, and another request for suggestions

[wellfedCanuck]

Hey, thanks for resurrecting my thread. 

I've been lurking here ever since that post and have learned quite a bit from the forum regulars. (One of those things was not to link to a controversial opinion piece, but that's another story...)

I've ended up sitting out the upgrade both for financial reasons (made another big non-photo purchase) and to wait and see what happens to the 7D & 5D lines.

[koolman]

The 7d will not give you much more IQ then the rebel you have. Additionally its large and heavy.

In your place - I would either wait - or get a 60d.

[briansquibb]

The 7d will not give you much more IQ then the rebel you have. Additionally its large and heavy.

Are you suggesting a Rebel XT is as good as a 7D?

[wellfedCanuck]

The 7d will not give you much more IQ then the rebel you have. Additionally its large and heavy.

In your place - I would either wait - or get a 60d.

Well, as someone else pointed out- my Rebel is an 8MP XT, so pretty much anything would be an upgrade from that. But, additionally- I've missed a lot of really great air-to-air shots because the autofocus can't handle closure rates of 1100 mph. In fact, I got lucky with the manual focus a few years back for a Discovery launch as I passed Cape Canaveral at 35,000 ft... will try to upload that photo here.

[handsomerob]

that's a nice shot, thanks for sharing. I find it quite more interesting than the regular lift-off shots.

btw, what are you photographing exactly from that platform that requires fast AF? whatever it is, 7D will sure do the job. you'll also be able to crop freely since it offers a lot more pixels than your current body.

[wickidwombat]

I hear a lot of pros that say the 5d af in lowlight is shoot and pray, but it also depends on the speed the the lens using. 2.8 lenses will give better af than 5.6 lenses.

Too bad they do not own one.   The 5d MK II AF is better than the 7D, the 1D MK III, and the 1D MK IV in low light.  I have a 1D MK III and a 7D, as well as a 5D MK III, the 1D is close, but not quite up to it.  The 7D can't even take a decent image at ISO 6400, much less focus.

Interesting, My 1D mk3 blows the 5D2's AF into the weeds even shooting in a controlled studio low key i sometimes want to throw the 5 right out the window (if there was a window) the only sensor point worth anything on the 5D is the center point. focus recompose shoot is the only way to do it, I think i'm going to get the EG-S focusing screen and use MF more. The AF on the 1D3 clearly stomps the 5D2 as in i can use any of the 19 selectable points in any light with any of my lenses and achieve focus lock even my 300 f4 with a TC attached focuses better than the 5D2. I really want a 7D replacement with the small form factor to replace my 1D3 to be my go to action camera so it can hopefully share batteries with the 5D mark 2. I must have got a good 1D3 because it has not focus issues that people report. it is a very late model though.

[briansquibb]

 The AF on the 1D3 clearly stomps the 5D2 as in i can use any of the 19 selectable points in any light with any of my lenses and achieve focus lock even my 300 f4 with a TC attached focuses better than the 5D2

You are right about off centre focus points on the 5DII. However dont expect a 7D AF to be good in very low light. However the 5DII does lock on very well if there is some contrast change on the subject even in very low light ie dont expect miracles on a uniform object in low light

Old school manual focussing is still the fastest and best way ahead in those circumstances.

[koolman]

The 7d will not give you much more IQ then the rebel you have. Additionally its large and heavy.

Are you suggesting a Rebel XT is as good as a 7D?

I am saying that the difference in IQ might not be worth the extra weight and cost.

By the way, I have a rebel t2i. My brother in-law has a 7d. We just spent a few days together on vacation shooting street shots and nature shots. This was my first hands on experience with a 7d. I "played" with it quite allot as we exchanged cameras now and then. I was quite surprised to discover - that it was quite impossible to see any difference AT ALL between the t2i and the 7d as far as IQ! This is comparing a $700 camera to a $1,700 camera!

Of course the 7d focuses faster, is much more rugged, has a larger viewfinder, and shoots much faster fps.

Ironically - I have a close friend with a 60d. Once again - surprise - the 60d in my opinion - has BETTER IQ then both the 7d and the t2i. (Its a newer camera) even though "on paper" its the same 18mp sensor.

[wellfedCanuck]

that's a nice shot, thanks for sharing. I find it quite more interesting than the regular lift-off shots.

btw, what are you photographing exactly from that platform that requires fast AF? whatever it is, 7D will sure do the job. you'll also be able to crop freely since it offers a lot more pixels than your current body.

Thanks, I've tried to UL a larger version to the galleries but ran into some trouble reducing the size of the image. My post-processing skills are even worse than my photographic ability... 

I do a fair bit of aerial photography- both from Cessnas and from the jets I fly commercially. Even at the relatively low Cessna speeds shooting landscape- the Rebel's AF is taxed. But even worse are all the great shots of jets crossing paths that I've missed over the years because the relative speeds (TAS of 440-460 knots for each plane) just being too great.

Some of my colleagues who shoot air races and warbirds swear by the 7D but due to the lack of crossing-traffic type airliner shots on our pilot forums- I suspect that even it can't handle the latter scenario.

[wellfedCanuck]

Well, it took me almost 18 months of hanging around here, but finally- here's that upgrade:

[wellfedCanuck]

Impressive for the camera's ability to focus and shoot in a very dark room, no flash, 6D 24-105 f4 kit lens, ISO 12,800: