Upgrade?

[streestandtheatres]

Hello All,
I need some advice. I've been using my 600d for a while now, and I don't know whether it's time for me to upgrade, or whether I ought to be practising my skills and stop thinking about gear.
You can see my photographs here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelhooper/
What do you think? Would a 7d ii be a good idea? Or should I think about improving some other area of my photography?

Things that bug me about the 600d:
• I can't select the iso as exactly as I'd like. With the 400 5.6 I often want to shoot between 400 and 800 and I can't.
• I can keep the centre-dot on the birds ok, but they still often come out a bit out of focus. I'd say I'd get 1 in 20 in focus with a bird in flight. Maybe 1 in 5 are pretty good, but not good enough. 1 in 100 is tack sharp. I have no idea why it's such a lottery, and I've come to the conclusion that it's not me!
• At 800 iso I have very little dynamic range to play with, so if the bird is black and white I'm in trouble if the exposure isn't perfect.
• I only shoot in manual, and having a bit more customizability might be good. Certainly having a couple of definable presets would be very useful.

I'm also worried that having taken a lot of photos with it over the past three years (easily 100000+), that it's going to die on me anyway. It already works better with some gaffer tape. (It's surprisingly think plastic, and even sliding down a rock with it didn't get through the body, though it scraped quite a few millimetres from the corner. And the screen has little bits of white stuff in it, and has done for 2 1/2 years now. And the hot-shoe is a bit bent from said slide down a rock.)

I have the sigma 35 1.4 and the canon 400 5.6, and the 18-55 it came with, of course, though I almost never use it. I sometimes wonder if something in the middle would be useful! 100 2.8L? But I can't have everything and I'd rather stick to one or two lenses and get better at what they can do.

Thoughts? & Thanks!
Michael

 

[stefsan]

Hi Michael,
looking at your photo stream on Flickr tells me two things: a) you're already good at what you're doing with your current equipment (your bird shots are impressing). And b) I guess at this level you'd certainly profit from an upgrade. Better AF and ISO performance as well as much better ergonomics/customizability will probably get you some shots you could not get with the 600D – or at least it will boost your keeper rate and lessen the need to post-process the pictures.

 

[Omni Images]

Hi Micheal,

Just spent 15 - 20 mins or so looking through all your images.
You have such a variety of birds there, some I have yet to get... and so many other great shots.
I read you have a 400 5.6 ... all I see then is your body holding you back ...
First up I'd say buy the best body you can afford ... the new 7Dii is looking good .... especially for your wildlife shots with the crop factor, though a bigger FF sensor is also a bonus .. but what's on offer just now is up in the air .. the 1D4 is discontinued and the 1Dx is fully pro and maybe more than what you want to spend ... the 5D111 is getting old and maybe something new is not far on the horizon .. I also have use of my sons 5DII and waiting for something new ... I read there maybe a high MP body in the works .. I do a lot of landscape so that would be up my ally ...
I have a 1D4, but only a 70-200 2.8 .. and am tossing up either a 300F4 or 400F5.6 .. but leaning towards the 300 for it's 1.5m close focus.
So yeah .. the new 7DII is looking good for what you are doing, so I'd look at that very seriously, perhaps even a 1.4III converter.

 

[Jim Saunders]

I'd suggest renting a body for a few days and comparing. You're obviously getting good mileage from your lenses and you have a solid case for upgrading bodies.

Jim

 

[rfdesigner]

I take it you've found this:

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/08/autofocus-reality-part-3b-canon-cameras

As far as usability is concerned, my ancient 30D allows me pretty good control over everything. What I know I'm lacking is user-programmed setups as per the 5DII and later (on my shopping list). Any XXD will give you more of this control, but I think you need to get a 70D/7D to get a good AF upgrade... and even then it may not be any more accurate than a more basic camera, just that it has more chance of being able to find something to focus on, so less wildly out, but if you want 100% focus, and 99% won't do then your keeper rate MAY not be that much better.

If you want really accurate AF, it looks like you need a 5DIII + fairly new lenses.

If the 7DII has the new improved AF system accuracy of the 5DIII and 1Dx then that would be favourite.

 

[streestandtheatres]

Thanks to you all for your thought.
The lensrental link was new to me. It's always more complicated than one thinks!
Michael

I take it you've found this:

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/08/autofocus-reality-part-3b-canon-cameras

As far as usability is concerned, my ancient 30D allows me pretty good control over everything. What I know I'm lacking is user-programmed setups as per the 5DII and later (on my shopping list). Any XXD will give you more of this control, but I think you need to get a 70D/7D to get a good AF upgrade... and even then it may not be any more accurate than a more basic camera, just that it has more chance of being able to find something to focus on, so less wildly out, but if you want 100% focus, and 99% won't do then your keeper rate MAY not be that much better.

If you want really accurate AF, it looks like you need a 5DIII + fairly new lenses.

If the 7DII has the new improved AF system accuracy of the 5DIII and 1Dx then that would be favourite.

 

[Steve]

I take it you've found this:

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/08/autofocus-reality-part-3b-canon-cameras

Woah, I hadn't seen this. It totally confirms that the 7D does, in fact, have the relatively abysmal AF performance I experienced in practice. Pretty nice to see that the 1DIV still holds its own against the 1DX and 5DIII. I wonder if they will update this when the 7DII becomes available.

OP - you would probably see improvement from an upgrade. You already have some really good bird shots - better AF and IQ would get you more keepers. It might be time to start saving up for some better glass, too. The 300 2.8 + TC's is pretty badass....

You aussies have the coolest birds. Fairy wrens. So fancy.

 

[Tabor Warren Photography]

I would definitely recommend an upgrade.

Upgrades for me happen when I feel like the gear I am shooting with is actually holding me back.

My upgrade path:
Rebel (t1i) => 60D => 7D => 5Dii => 5Diii

With each upgrade I was thrilled to learn about the new features and overall better quality. I sold the Rebel without blinking, held on to the others, but might as well sell the 60D, it sits in the closet and doesn't get any love.

The 7Dii looks like it is going to be a beast of a camera. I can only image how great your images are going to be when you are happy with the gear you are shooting.

My 2 cents, I think you're ready to jump.

I hope this helps!
-Tabor

 

[Marsu42]

You can see my photographs here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelhooper/

Seeing that you're doing a lot of "animal in motion" shots, the 7d2 would certainly be a huge improvement. But I applaud you for even trying with the 600d's system, with my 60d (same af system) I know how limiting it is.

I can't select the iso as exactly as I'd like. With the 400 5.6 I often want to shoot between 400 and 800 and I can't.

Just don't - intermediate iso stops are just digitally over- or underexposed versions of the base iso. It can be argued that due to Canon's specific low iso read noise problem, some 160x iso stops are a very tiny bit better, but really nothing to write home about or upgrade for. My advice: simply shoot raw with full stops and worry about the image content.

At 800 iso I have very little dynamic range to play with, so if the bird is black and white I'm in trouble if the exposure isn't perfect.

A 7d2 won't fix your b/w problem at this iso range, nor will any other crop camera of any other brand. The only available option with current tech really is to get a full frame, then you can try to squeeze the last bits out of the shadows w/o running into shadow noise or banding. It's a worst case scenario just like wedding dresses, but with animals you cannot use controlled lighting like with people.

I only shoot in manual, and having a bit more customizability might be good. Certainly having a couple of definable presets would be very useful.

Use Magic Lantern - available for your 600d, but not for the 7d2 (and no, it'll be not ready shortly after release, if ever).

I sometimes wonder if something in the middle would be useful! 100 2.8L?

I don't really know about your specific requirements, but the 100L is always a safe bet - great iq and the most fun lens since there's no minimal focal distance. The af is a bit slower though, it's a macro lens after all.

 

[Khnnielsen]

Use Magic Lantern - available for your 600d, but not for the 7d2 (and no, it'll be not ready shortly after release, if ever).

I can second this. If you intend to squash a little more life out of your 600d, then Magic Lantern is a very good idea.

ML make me happy and frustrated at the same time. Happy because of all the added features - and frustrated because Canon have withhold all these lovely features.

 

[NancyP]

Well, I am planning an upgrade from 60D to 7D2 to get maximum mileage out of my 400 f/5.6L no-IS. Biggest advantage will be a sophisticated AF system and higher burst rate/ adequate buffer (3 seconds worth, about the same as my 60D). I am willing to accept that the image quality will be less than the 1DX and 600mm (equivalent number of pixels on the bird - but bigger and better pixels). The advantage, and disadvantage, of the APS-C cameras is in the small pixels, which give greater pixel density (more pixels on the bird with any given focal length) but worse low-light performance than FF cameras. I want more focal length and wider aperture, but that's expensive. Probably the best low cost upgrade for me is the 7D2.