Canon 7D?
I am thinking of upgrading from the Canon 50D to the 7D through Canon's Loyalty Program. I shoot a lot of sports and find that the Canon 50D AF is just bit slow. Is the AF on the 7D a little or a lot better than 50D to justify the upgrade?
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I like using Servo AI with the AF set to use three AF points simulateously - the three points are on the right, the left, the center, or upper or lower part of the frame. In decent light it will grab focus very quickly this way. The 50D was a significant improvement over the 20D and 30D, but the 7D is better still. Not a 1DMK4, but getting closer.
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... and...???...
Neil
http://www.behance.net/brosepix
I think that the 7D would be a noticeable improvement for the soccer and air-shows. Indoor sports are probably going to be similar AF performance to the 50D.
A Canon 1D series body is still the recommendation for indoor sports. Even the aging 1D MKII/1D MKIIN have better AF performance than a 7D or xxD body.
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Why not a 1D3 or 4?
If there's a budget to support the purchase, absolutely, they should be considered.
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Sure, but a 1DIIn is about the same price, and a 1DII is even less. You've just gotta decide whether you want the new features and hi resolution of the 7D, or the better build quality and AF of the 1D. Oh, and dual card slots
Now you got me thinking about the 1D. The Mark iii for about $2,200 or the Mark ii for about $1,000. Is it worth the extra $1,200 to go to Mark iii?
There is a tremendous amount of fear associated with the 1D MKIII autofocus that I think is unjustified, but you should be aware of the issues. Under some situations, and with some copies of the body, people had difficulty finding focus. Generally it had to so with some defective parts and some versions of the firmware.
If you can find a body outside the affected serial numbers* then you should be good to go. If you find a "blue dot" body, it should have had the necessary repairs but you may still have to load a current firmware in order to gain the most from the camera.
I still have 2 copies of the 1D MKII and I truly love the AF characteristics for indoor applications. I use my 1D MKII cameras for sports, although not so much anymore, and for weddings and events, where the AF characteristics are just as important.
The 1D MKII dates back to 2004 so if you consider that body it will be used and old. The primary parts prone to failure on those cameras are the mirror box and the shutter box assemblies. I would definitely repair mine if they go bad, as long as Canon supports the cameras themselves. At some point Canon will no longer support the cameras, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
The 1D MKII is decent up to ISO 1600, but sports will allow less detail and less dynamic range so nighttime and indoor sports may require ISO 3200. The 1D MKIII is better at ISO 3200 and will tolerate more post-processing. If you get Neat Image there is an additional, privately made, software to allow very clean ISO 3200 images:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=141192
(I purchased FlexNR even though I don't own a 1D MKIII. The software also works on 1D MKII images although it is not as optimal as on the 1D MKIII. Hopefully it won't be too long until I get a 1D MKIII for myself.)
I can recommend the 1D MKIII and if you should decide it's not for you, you can probably recoup all of your investment. They are already pretty well depreciated. It has enough advantage over the 1D MKII/1D MKIIN that, if you have the budget, it's a very good choice any way you cut it.
What lenses are you planning on using? For a sports application the lenses are just as important a consideration.
*Canon quote: "If the serial number on the bottom of the camera is between 501001 and 546561, it could be affected by the AF mirror adjustment problem ..."
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How complicated is the Mark iii to use? I use a Canon 70-200mm L2.8 non-iS with a Canon 1.4 extender when shooting soccer.
It is a handfull until you establish some shooting habits. After that, you can record your settings to a memory card and load the custom settings back whenever you wish. You can dedicate a few small memory cards to settings and then load the right settings for the task.
Here are the settings Sports Illustrated recommends for their shooters using the 1D MKIIN, to get you started:
http://www.siphoto.com/?canon1DM2N.inc
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Thank you very much!
I would not trade my 7D for a 1DIIN now. The 7D's 18mp is great for cropping. Add the 1.6x crop factor and the 7D gets a lot more reach than the 1DIIN. It's way more useful for field sports like soccer where you can get away with using a 70-200 and cover a good portion of the field.
7D, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/1250:
One feature of the 7D that I LOVE that doesn't seem to get talked about much is the fact that you can set it to automatically change AF point when you hold it vertically or horizontally. This is huge for sports. With the 1DIIN if I was shooting vertically with the AF point at the top and saw a horizontal scene unfolding in front of me, I just couldn't get it.
High ISO performance is also much better on the 7D. I felt that the 1DIIN's limit for high IQ was ISO 800, and that 1600 was just ok (about the same as my 40D was), and 3200 was unusable. This meant basketball without flash was just not possible, IMO.
7D, ISO 3200, f/2.8, 1/400:
It is also nice to have the vertical grip be optional. This makes taking the camera along on family outings a lot easier. The 1D did not fit into a sling bag very well and it was heavier.
And the built-in flash is great for impromptu fill:
Now, if I could afford a 1DIV, I'd get one because hey, that's the ultimate in AF and IQ. I could sell my 7D and get a 1DIII today, but I'm not going to. I don't think I want to go back to 10mp and fewer features. I also don't want to risk getting a lemon.
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
Great photos and feedback! Thanks so much for sharing.
The D7000 is a fine camera but hardly worth switching systems for. It's the successor to the D90. It sits somewhere between the 60D and 7D. The 7D competes with the D300s. I guess if you wanted one camera to do everything - sports, action, wildlife, studio, portraits, landscape, street, then yeah, you'd want to consider the D700 (right, d-seven-hundred). But I think the 7D is a better camera than the D7000. D7000 is 6fps and 7D is 8fps. That's a big difference, especially for sports. Here's a sequence I shot at 8fps:
plus, some people switch from Nikon to Canon for the color and skin tones. Personally, whenever I pick up a Nikon I am utterly confounded by the UI.
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
nice pics !
Look at these resources for configuring the 7D AF section and custom functions for sports/ action shots -
http://www.deepgreenphotography.com/2009/12/setting-up-your-new-canon-7d/
and the 7D and sports section -
http://photography-on-the.net/forum
You'll want to look at these videos from Canon.
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.