550D vs. 5-7D

kobistar · June 16, 2013

Hi Everybody,

My name is Liorit and I am studio photographer based in Israel.

I have a studio and I specialize in pregnancy, family and children photographs.

I use 550D camera with Tamron 18-200 optics.

All my colleagues use more advanced equipment 5-7D and better optics.

You can check my gallery (example) : http://www.studio-liorit.co.il/index.php/galleries/pregnancy

I would like to get your feedback if you think I better upgrade my equipment and what are pro's and con's.

Thanks,
Liorit

kdog · June 16, 2013

Hello Liorit and welcome to Dgrin. Based solely on the pictures on your website, I'd say you ave no reason to upgrade equipment. Your shots look great. The larger question is do you feel constrained by your equipment at all? If so, how?

Whether or not keeping up with your friends that have better equipment than you is important is completely your call.

Regards,
-joel

kobistar · June 18, 2013

Hi Kdog.

Thanks!

I can't feel a need to switch to different gear because "I don"t know what I don't know"

Many thanks for your feedback. Highly appreciated

Studio Liorit,
http://www.studio-liorit.co.il

Brett1000 · June 22, 2013

kobistar wrote: »

Hi Kdog.

Thanks!

I can't feel a need to switch to different gear because "I don"t know what I don't know"

Many thanks for your feedback. Highly appreciated

Studio Liorit,
http://www.studio-liorit.co.il

if you don't feel the "need" then don't upgrade!
But join a local photography club so you can see the benefits of using different lens and lighting set-ups

nak · June 22, 2013

Rent first with the idea that you will use the rented gear to explore "outside the box" of your existing gear as well as making sure it does what you do now.

Does a different usable ISO range let you go places you want to go?

Does a different lens [such as large aperture primes like the 135mm f/2.0L] give you more depth of field control or better bokeh? Does it give sharper images or better image quality?

Does a different camera give a visible improvement in image quality?

Does it have much improved auto focus? [such as the 5D Mark 3]

Look at the reviews of the cameras and lenses you are thinking about to see what their strong suits are. Places where people say "I can do this better." Look also at what lenses other pros shoot with.

This data will guide you as to what to rent and what to look for.
If you don't see a difference with rented gear, send it back happy to know that you do not need to spend any more money. If you do see a difference, only you can then decide if that difference is worth paying for.

kobistar · June 24, 2013

Thanks Nak
Thanks for the tip.

I may rent to try to see a difference.

Based on your questions, I would guess that it doesn;t matter much for studio photography.

Don't need good ISO or aperture and can't see real value here.

Correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks a lot,
Studio Liorit
http://www.studio-liorit.co.il

nak · June 24, 2013

Since you asked...

Let's do an example of one lens.

I mentioned the 135mm f/2.0L as an example because of sharpness, depth of field control, and bokeh.

Sharpness:
Sharpness can be measured and this lens delivers. The graphic made by the reviewers at slrgear is the easiest to understand representation of sharpness that I've seen so far.

The Canon 135:
http://slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/158/cat/10
The Tamron 18-200
http://slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/170/cat/23

If you are shooting the Tamron at f/8 or f/11 at 100mm you are getting the most out of the lens in terms of sharpness at a portrait focal length. If your subjects are always in the sweet spot in the center of the frame, you are avoiding the weaker zones and you don't need sharpness all the way to the edges and corners.

The Canon 135 offers incredible sharpness at just about any aperture out to the corners, even full frame.

So the pretty graphic lets you understand differences between the two lenses, and gives you an idea of what to compare if you ever rented one. Can you see the sharpness in your images? Does that sharpness open up a new style of shooting, say when the frame is filled with faces from edge to edge and all of it needs to be sharp, not just the center?

It's harder to add sharpness than to remove it.

Sharpness isn't t everything. I don't need a 200 MPH super car because I never drive on 200 MPH super roads. (I own a 135mm f/2.0L)

Wide aperture:
You don't need it for light (OK, it really helps your auto focus system), you might need it for creative control. At around f/2.8 and wider, the world changes in terms of depth of field. Want one eye in focus and the other eye soft? Open that 135 mm lens all the way up and step close. The sharpness means you can count eyebrow hairs to determine your depth of field. I've seen art done this way, but only you can tell if you want to work in that space. It looks like the Tamron has a max of f/5.6 or so at 100mm so it can't get the depth of field that shallow. Worse yet, full open at that length the sharpness suffers unless you go to f/8.

If you always need substantial depth of field in your work, this stuff is an amusing way that other people spend money that you get to keep for other things.

Bokeh:
This goes with depth of field and wide apertures. Once you start playing the game of "open the lens and make the background go away" you get the issue of what the background does when it goes away. This one is really hard to quantify. Some people say "so what" and other people ask what Photoshop settings you need to get that effect. Some lenses deliver and others don't and some viewers never notice either way in the images (at least consciously).

Studio shooters may wonder what all of the fuss is about. "My backdrops do that at f/11 when perfectly focused. That's how I picked them."

Summary:
I'm not trying to sell you my favorite lens, but point out the strengths of that lens and give you ways to decide if you want or need any of that. All of these points are made in lens reviews - the same applies to camera reviews. They give you an idea of what the potential improvements are. These could be technical; "There are times that I could really use more sharpness out at the edges of the frame." They could be creative; "I want the viewer to look her in the eye. It's in sharp focus, the rest of her face is soft and the background is but a dream." The flip side is "I don't need that" and "I don't want that."

Best for last:
Read to find out what the differences are.
Rent to find out if they matter.

Brett1000 · June 29, 2013

kobistar wrote: »

Thanks for the tip.

I may rent to try to see a difference.

Based on your questions, I would guess that it doesn;t matter much for studio photography.

Don't need good ISO or aperture and can't see real value here.

Correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks a lot,
Studio Liorit
http://www.studio-liorit.co.il

yes, better "glass" and lighting equipment would help you more

550D vs. 5-7D

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