T2i Upgrade Help Needed

[bglanzbe]

I am a current owner of a Canon T2i. I have enjoyed learning about DSLRs using this camera but I am ready for an upgrade to the camera body. My budget is not unlimited (as much as I want the 5DM3, I can't afford it right now). I currently have the following lenses:

Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
Canon EF 24-105 f/4
Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC

Even though half my lenses are crop lenses, I would consider moving to a full frame as I can still use the EF-S lenses on the side.

I am usually taking portrait shots of friends and family at various events (bbq, indoor parties, etc.) and landscape shots.

I have looked at the 6D, the 7D and the 60D quite a bit, but really not sure what to do. I want something that is solid compared to the T2i for moving objects (people dancing, kids running around, etc.) and performs well in low light environments. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[tatsu]

My vote would be for the 6D. Just get used to using center point AF.

 

[distant.star]

.
If you're doing this right now, the 6D is the only thing that really makes sense. There's no APS-C camera right now (Canon, that is) that will give you any improvement worth making a move for. (Yes, the 7D will get you vastly improved AF, but the sensor is the same, perhaps not as good as the later T2i.) If you go for a 7D, you get better AF performance, and before long a 7D2 appears and you feel like a chump.

The 6D takes you into a good full-frame experience. The AF will be about the same as the T2i so not much change there, but you get extraordinarily improved ISO capabilities. And, you keep the T2i as a fine backup. That's what I did when I went to the 5D3, and I use both bodies all the time. Your 24-105 on the 6D will probably do 90% of what you need -- and better than the T2i.

Good luck whatever you do!!

 

[brad-man]

Yup. It's either the mklll or the 6D. There is a price war on ebay right now and the price for a 6D is down to $1541 and (presumably) still dropping. Whether you feel that is a good deal is for you to decide. It is by far the cheapest price I have seen. Get It Digital appears to be selling USA warranty units whereas Big Value is a crap shoot. I intended to wait for either the mklll to drop considerately more or to see what the 7Dmkll has to offer before upgrading my mkll, but this price drop is making me reconsider...

 

[timmy_650]

I am in the same boat. I wont buy another T?i bc they areant different enough for me. Then 60D and 7D wont make my pictures look better, if shot correctly. So i don't really want to spend the money for better build or AF with out better picture too. So it is full frame. 5D mark 3 is that I would like but the cost is more than I want to spend bc it is just a hobby. So 5D mark 2 is a great choice and the cost is a lot less but when I compare it to the 6D. It seems like you get a lot more camera for the few $100 or same price.
So you can wait to see canon next line of camera and see how they fit you but I don't like that bc then you are always waiting and never shooting. Bc the 70D will come out and that might look good but you will wonder about the 7D2.
So I am saving and waiting for a good sale on the 6D or I am going to buy a 5Dc bc most of my lens work full frame.

 

[bholliman]

I agree with the others here in recommending the 6D. Its an excellent camera that will handle what you like to shoot very well. I've owned a 6D for 6 months (upgraded from a 7D and earlier a T2i) and it is fantastic! Personally, I have no problems using the AF points outside the center one. I primarily use the center point, but the other points work well for shallow DOF shots where I don't want to attempt focus and recomposing.

You can sell your EF-S lenses for probably 70-80% of what you paid for them. The 24-105 and 50 1.8 give you a great couple of lenses to get started with on a full frame camera. Your next lens purchase depends on if you have more need for additional reach or ultra wide angle. For more reach I would recommend a 135mm f/2.0 L prime which is fantastic for portraits and as a general purpose tele lens. If you want the flexibility of a zoom, Canon has some great 70-200 options depending on if you need IS or not and if you want 2.8 or 4.0 maximum aperture. On the UWA end, the 17-40mm f/4.0 is very good stepped down (f/5.6 and narrower), so perfect for landscapes. If you need a faster UWA the 16-35 f/2.8 is very good.

 

[jdramirez]

with those options, you will only sees a vast improvement if you get a 6d. I like to tell people, make sure your upgrade is just that, an upgrade.

I'd sell your entire crop arsenal and buy the 6d and some new lenses. it is hard to give up something you once loved, but a clean break is the best break.

 

[chasinglight]

I recently went through the same thing. I had a T2i and decided that I wanted more out of my camera. I ended up upgrading to the 7D because I started shooting wildlife and needed better AF and FPS. I can say that the build quality and ergonomics of the 7D are much better than the T2i (even gripped). However, based on your needs of just shooting portraits and events you probably won't benefit too much from the extra speed and AF so the 6D would be you best choice. A 5D2 could also be a possibility, but I have not seen them selling much lower than the 6D (even used 5D2 are selling for about $1500 on average).

All that said the only thing I can say about the 7D is that if you have the extra FPS and better AF you will likely find a place to use it; I didn't think I would use it outside of wildlife shooting, but I recently shot my sisters graduation from grad school and while I certainly didn't need the 100 frames of her walking to receive her diploma, this was a situation that is not repeatable so grabbing as many frames as I could and picking the best later really worked out well!

But again based on your needs it sounds like the 6D is the best fit for you.

 

[jdramirez]

I recently went through the same thing. I had a T2i and decided that I wanted more out of my camera. I ended up upgrading to the 7D because I started shooting wildlife and needed better AF and FPS. I can say that the build quality and ergonomics of the 7D are much better than the T2i (even gripped). However, based on your needs of just shooting portraits and events you probably won't benefit too much from the extra speed and AF so the 6D would be you best choice. A 5D2 could also be a possibility, but I have not seen them selling much lower than the 6D (even used 5D2 are selling for about $1500 on average).

All that said the only thing I can say about the 7D is that if you have the extra FPS and better AF you will likely find a place to use it; I didn't think I would use it outside of wildlife shooting, but I recently shot my sisters graduation from grad school and while I certainly didn't need the 100 frames of her walking to receive her diploma, this was a situation that is not repeatable so grabbing as many frames as I could and picking the best later really worked out well!

But again based on your needs it sounds like the 6D is the best fit for you.

I spray and pray too... and it is nice to have that functionality when needed. I'm guessing you shoot in jpg... and not raw...

 

[bglanzbe]

Thanks everyone. Great feedback. I have been leaning towards the 6D but one issue I noticed is the lack of built-in flash. Is the low light capability of the body itself good enough that it would cover me for most situations?


Also, on the FPS, the 6D for me is still an upgrade from the T2i. Albeit not the 7D, but still better than what I have currently.

 

[Dylan777]

Another vote for 6D over 7D and 60D. From T2i to 6D, you will see huge improvement in IQ and low light.

Canon 50mm f1.4 will take care most of your needs. With current rebates, you can get 50mm f1.4 for $350.

Add 17-40 f4 when ever you ready for landscape.

 

[verysimplejason]

I just noticed that you still don't have a speedlight. I think it will be better for you to buy that first for portraits. Portraits do greatly benefit from external flash even taken at high ISO. Try setting your ISO at 1600 and use a flash and everything will be a lot less noisier. I too would want to upgrade to 6D but there are things you should try out first. Later on, flash is still useable on 6D so nothing is wasted. Heck, even ISO 3200 would look ok if taken with flash and exposed correctly. You can use LR later to take out some of that noise. For landscape, i believe you almost always use tripod for long exposures so ISO 100-200 might be sufficient already for most of the time. Don't be so hasty in buying camera bodies. Wait a little bit for the 7d2 and the new high mp bodies and you might get good discount on 6d.

 

[jdramirez]

Thanks everyone. Great feedback. I have been leaning towards the 6D but one issue I noticed is the lack of built-in flash. Is the low light capability of the body itself good enough that it would cover me for most situations?


Also, on the FPS, the 6D for me is still an upgrade from the T2i. Albeit not the 7D, but still better than what I have currently.

I never used my flash on my 60d unless it was too trigger off camera flash. and with the 60d, I'm tolerant of the grain at around 2500, but I think the 6d is tolerable at around 6400, so you get 2.5x the amount of light just from the iso performance. these are estimates based on personal preference obviously and what I have heard, but you should be fine. I have a 430ex ii but it can be cumbersome to have a 70-200, 5d mkiii and a speedlite...

 

[dcm]

I upgraded from a T2i to 6D earlier this year and am quite happy.

First think about what you want to shoot and the gear you want to end up with down the road (and the budget to support your habit). Then evolve in that direction, particularly when your equipment becomes the limiting factor. Most of the time I'm the limiting factor.

Bodies are evolving pretty quickly, lenses not so much. I decided a long time ago to end up full frame and L glass, but I couldn't start there. I'm an amateur (but by no means a beginner) and still learning. I shoot family, portraits, landscapes, events, astrophotography, macrophotography, movies, etc. mostly for fun, but sometimes I'm an invited/unofficial/unpaid photographer.

Started a long time ago on film (A1/...) and shot 500+ rolls over the years. Moved to digital with the G1, later a G6. Learned to shoot flash with film, never really been a fan of P&S flash so I used a 420 EX with my G series and it made a big difference (power, bounce, and less red-eye).

First digital SLR was a T2i, but I never really used the kit lens or the pop up flash. The little flash really annoyed me when it would pop-up - I'd prefer a full flash or nothing. Picked up a 24-105F4L IS and 17-40F4L as my starting lens kit. They covered my needs for a while. Added 70-200F4L IS, extenders, and 8-15F4L to expand my focal range. Added a 100F2.8L IS Macro for closeup and copy stand work (digitizing old family photos/albums).

Picked up the 6D earlier this year and soon decided I would probably never use the T2i again so I gave it and the 420EX to my son-in-law to take pictures of the grandkid. Added a 430EX II for better ETTL integration and 35F1.4 L for low light. Picked up a 90EX as a master flash and pocket flash (although I haven't found the need yet).

It's taking a while to make the transition to FF (choosing the right lens and camera configs for a given situation) - maybe I have too many choices . The 6D is a great tool. I'm happy with the autofocus for my purposes and admit I still prefer to manually focus in some cases rather than figure out how to fool the autofocus to do what I want. The low light capabilities are tremendous, it autofocuses well when I can barely see the subject and would not be able to focus manually anyway. The wireless has proven invaluable for a 1000+ frames on the copy stand and a remote.

I liked the flexibility of zooms when I started out and began to explore a variety of shooting situations. I'm still evolving and adding to my DSLR collection, moving in the direction of adding a few fast primes for specific purposes rather than upgrading my zooms.

 

[skfla]

I just noticed that you still don't have a speedlight. I think it will be better for you to buy that first for portraits. Portraits do greatly benefit from external flash even taken at high ISO. Try setting your ISO at 1600 and use a flash and everything will be a lot less noisier. I too would want to upgrade to 6D but there are things you should try out first. Later on, flash is still useable on 6D so nothing is wasted. Heck, even ISO 3200 would look ok if taken with flash and exposed correctly. You can use LR later to take out some of that noise. For landscape, i believe you almost always use tripod for long exposures so ISO 100-200 might be sufficient already for most of the time. Don't be so hasty in buying camera bodies. Wait a little bit for the 7d2 and the new high mp bodies and you might get good discount on 6d.

+1

 

[bardamu]

I agree with a lot of the advice provided here, 6D is definitely your main candidate. One comment is that you may wish to wait and see if the 70D is released in the next month or so. It still won't offer low light capabilities in the class of the 6D. Depends what your budget is. I'm shocked at the high prices still being fetched for the 5d mk ii, they should be $1000 & under not $1500. I also second the person who suggested getting a flash.

550D is in my kit as well. Currently upgrading my computer monitor, laptop and adding 3 new lenses, but eventually I'll be looking at a 6D / 7D mk ii combo as body upgrades. I was once asked to shoot some photos at a birthday party with my 550D, in a room with dreadful light and a dark ceiling. Without flash the 550D was just nowhere near cutting it, ISO 6400 with a fast lens looked pretty bad.

 

[jdramirez]

I agree with a lot of the advice provided here, 6D is definitely your main candidate. One comment is that you may wish to wait and see if the 70D is released in the next month or so. It still won't offer low light capabilities in the class of the 6D. Depends what your budget is. I'm shocked at the high prices still being fetched for the 5d mk ii, they should be $1000 & under not $1500. I also second the person who suggested getting a flash.

550D is in my kit as well. Currently upgrading my computer monitor, laptop and adding 3 new lenses, but eventually I'll be looking at a 6D / 7D mk ii combo as body upgrades. I was once asked to shoot some photos at a birthday party with my 550D, in a room with dreadful light and a dark ceiling. Without flash the 550D was just nowhere near cutting it, ISO 6400 with a fast lens looked pretty bad.

are you getting a monitor designed to see images the way they will print out. I need to get one of those... my last set of prints were a touch underexposed, but they looked good... just not amazing.

 

[paul13walnut5]

Without flash the 550D was just nowhere near cutting it, ISO 6400 with a fast lens looked pretty bad.

The better cameras will look slightly better. We capture light. Without light, it's slight.

 

[bardamu]

I agree with a lot of the advice provided here, 6D is definitely your main candidate. One comment is that you may wish to wait and see if the 70D is released in the next month or so. It still won't offer low light capabilities in the class of the 6D. Depends what your budget is. I'm shocked at the high prices still being fetched for the 5d mk ii, they should be $1000 & under not $1500. I also second the person who suggested getting a flash.

550D is in my kit as well. Currently upgrading my computer monitor, laptop and adding 3 new lenses, but eventually I'll be looking at a 6D / 7D mk ii combo as body upgrades. I was once asked to shoot some photos at a birthday party with my 550D, in a room with dreadful light and a dark ceiling. Without flash the 550D was just nowhere near cutting it, ISO 6400 with a fast lens looked pretty bad.

are you getting a monitor designed to see images the way they will print out. I need to get one of those... my last set of prints were a touch underexposed, but they looked good... just not amazing.

My current monitor is calibrated with Spyder4 Pro and I noticed a definite improvement after I did that. Apparently some of the mid-range and higher IPS monitors are factory calibrated and claim to be fine straight out of the box. Raises the question of whether I should recalibrate with the Spyder or not... In any case the Spyder claims to adjust for variances in ambient light so it would still be plugged in I guess. I'm just in the early stages of investigating currently. I used to get distinctly underexposed prints as well, calibrating is definitely the way to go. But hey, we've gone off topic : ) Not for the first or last time I guess...

 

[hamada]

if you want better IQ there is no other choice then to go FF.

all current canon xxxD rebel (or lets say APS-C) images look the same because they have nearly identical sensors.