Mark3, 5dM2, 7d

lakewebd

Hi, I'm in the prebuying stage of comparing these 3 cameras, probably my last buy for a long time.
I current have the 50d & 20D as backup. I once had the 5d which I loved but thought too slow for the equestrian sport work I mainly do. Also had a 30d, 40d which I sold to buy the 50D new.
I rented a Mark 3 for a difficult lighting situation recently and loved the IQ and speed, it allowed me to capture many action photos that I could not get in the same location last year with the 50D.
Now, I'm thinking of doing more senior, pet, family portraits and few horse shows.
Getting clean ISO in low light is still important to me. I'm thinking the 5dm2 would be a better last camera as I'll still have the 50D for backup. I'm interested in the video aspect of this camera too.

Any thoughts about choices on these camera's would be helpful. How do you check for good AF on the Mark 3. I rented one from Borrowlenses.com and it was excellent condition but I had to download the manuel and to figure out the AF system

Thanks

ziggy53

The Canon 7D AF is pretty fast and accurate in good light, but a Canon 1D body, like the 1D MKIII, has a much superior AF section for both speed and accuracy, especially in low light. The Canon 1D MKIV is probably a little better to AF than the 1D MKIII, but the high-ISO capabilities of the 1D MKIV are quite a bit better and it has enough additional resolution to be helpful in cropping too.

The 1D MKIV would be my choice, in your situation, but a 1D MKIII that is beyond the AF problems or has been successfully repaired is also a good choice.

The Canon 5D MKII is slightly improved in the AF section, compared to the original 5D, but probably not enough for your needs and it is still not what I call a "sports" camera by any means. It is a wonderful camera for portraiture and landscape photography.

borrowlenses.com

Glad to hear the rental worked out Ziggy has some good advice here; not much to really add to it except that as far as the 1D MKIII AF goes you would most likely be aware of its AF malfunctioning if you were in the field with it. Not all camera bodies were affected however, and a lot of people still use that body to this day.

lakewebd

Thanks for the info, the Mark 1V is out of my budget unfortunately so I am looking at the three choices I menitoned. I used my 5D for several years for sports, it always felt slow but the number of keepers I got was high. The image quality of the 5D always impressed me but I really liked the speed of the 50D. I shoot a lot of video on a little Panasonic 3ccc camcorder for shows so I'm interested in having the video feature even if it's not stellar in AF.

ziggy53 wrote: »

The Canon 7D AF is pretty fast and accurate in good light, but a Canon 1D body, like the 1D MKIII, has a much superior AF section for both speed and accuracy, especially in low light. The Canon 1D MKIV is probably a little better to AF than the 1D MKIII, but the high-ISO capabilities of the 1D MKIV are quite a bit better and it has enough additional resolution to be helpful in cropping too.

The 1D MKIV would be my choice, in your situation, but a 1D MKIII that is beyond the AF problems or has been successfully repaired is also a good choice.

The Canon 5D MKII is slightly improved in the AF section, compared to the original 5D, but probably not enough for your needs and it is still not what I call a "sports" camera by any means. It is a wonderful camera for portraiture and landscape photography.

lakewebd

Your welcome, I've used your service for several years. Always happy with the delivery, service, and equipment. Wish I could use it more, there are several cameras I'd love to try. Your 70-200 F.4 IS was one sweet lens by the way. My second shooter used it and the sharpnes is awesome.

borrowlenses.com wrote: »

Glad to hear the rental worked out Ziggy has some good advice here; not much to really add to it except that as far as the 1D MKIII AF goes you would most likely be aware of its AF malfunctioning if you were in the field with it. Not all camera bodies were affected however, and a lot of people still use that body to this day.

angevin1

lakewebd wrote: »

Hi, I'm in the prebuying stage of comparing these 3 cameras, probably my last buy for a long time.
I current have the 50d & 20D as backup. I once had the 5d which I loved but thought too slow for the equestrian sport work I mainly do. Also had a 30d, 40d which I sold to buy the 50D new.
I rented a Mark 3 for a difficult lighting situation recently and loved the IQ and speed, it allowed me to capture many action photos that I could not get in the same location last year with the 50D.
Now, I'm thinking of doing more senior, pet, family portraits and few horse shows.
Getting clean ISO in low light is still important to me. I'm thinking the 5dm2 would be a better last camera as I'll still have the 50D for backup. I'm interested in the video aspect of this camera too.

Any thoughts about choices on these camera's would be helpful. How do you check for good AF on the Mark 3. I rented one from Borrowlenses.com and it was excellent condition but I had to download the manuel and to figure out the AF system

Thanks

I can speak to the video aspect of the 5DMk2. It is a clean as heck image and it is easy to use. Of course you will not have a AF function during actual recording. If you use a Canon lens then you can pre-focus and start shooting thereafter. I say 'if' you use Canon because I mostly use my Nikon lenses with an adapter to shoot which means I always have to manually focus and set it up for a given scene. I manually set aperture and Choose my speed and ISO...and it is a breeze once you figure out how easy those few things are to accomplish.

Other than that I consider the 5Dmk2 my landscape and video camera. But, I also know it is very capable for portrait, and low ISO work too!

If you use the 5DMk2 for video of your events, be prepared for stellar imagery!

divamum

I can only speak about the 7d, but I have to say the AF is amazing - much faster than the xsi or 50d I had used previously. While the ISO isn't in the same league as the 5dMkII, as long as you nail the exposure (ie don't underexpose) it is remarkably good at higher iso's - I have used it happily at iso 2000 and been pleased with the results. I haven't shot any equestrian with it (I occasionally will head to a show and shoot hunter/jumpers just for fun, since I used to be a competitor back when dinosaurs roamed the earth!), but I can imagine it would be wonderful simply because the AF is so fast and accurate.

FWIW (or not, as the case may be!)

lakewebd

angevin1 wrote: »

I can speak to the video aspect of the 5DMk2. It is a clean as heck image and it is easy to use. Of course you will not have a AF function during actual recording. If you use a Canon lens then you can pre-focus and start shooting thereafter. I say 'if' you use Canon because I mostly use my Nikon lenses with an adapter to shoot which means I always have to manually focus and set it up for a given scene. I manually set aperture and Choose my speed and ISO...and it is a breeze once you figure out how easy those few things are to accomplish.

Other than that I consider the 5Dmk2 my landscape and video camera. But, I also know it is very capable for portrait, and low ISO work too!

If you use the 5DMk2 for video of your events, be prepared for stellar imagery!

Hi Tom, Thanks for the tip on video with 5DMk2. It would be interesting to see how it lends itself to fast moving constantly changing focal lengths require to follow a horse in competition. I'm thinking it will take some creativity. I have 70-200 f2.8 Is canon, 50 f1.4 canon, tamron 17-50f2.8, tamron 28-75 f2.8. I think the 17-50 won't work but full frame will give me that focal distance with the 28-75 I just don't think it is as sharp but maybe the 5dmk2 would compensate.

lakewebd

divamum wrote: »

I can only speak about the 7d, but I have to say the AF is amazing - much faster than the xsi or 50d I had used previously. While the ISO isn't in the same league as the 5dMkII, as long as you nail the exposure (ie don't underexpose) it is remarkably good at higher iso's - I have used it happily at iso 2000 and been pleased with the results. I haven't shot any equestrian with it (I occasionally will head to a show and shoot hunter/jumpers just for fun, since I used to be a competitor back when dinosaurs roamed the earth!), but I can imagine it would be wonderful simply because the AF is so fast and accurate.

FWIW (or not, as the case may be!)

I guess I'm still torn between thinking about a camera that can shoot clean 3200 ISO and delivers awesome IQ which is fast enough to get those heartbeat moments in the show ring. Since I'm thinking about doing more portrait work maybe the speed is not as important.
It's good for the soul to photograph the things that still live on as cherished moments,glad to hear you get ringside sometimes.