Canon 5D SR is too heavy for me

lynnmalynnma Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 5,207 Major grins
edited April 11, 2023 in Cameras

Hey guys. Ds (bless his heart) gave me a gift of a Canon 5D SR not long after they came out.. I love it but.... now I'm so old and decrepit I'm finding it very heavy, specially when I put my 300 lens on it. I'm thinking of trading it in for something lighter and smaller but want all my lenses to fit. I'm somewhere clueless as I haven't been paying attention to what's out there. I'd appreciate any input you have. I also don't really need such a huge sensor. DS has a mirrorless which looks odd to me looking at it but his images are beautiful so what do I know..
Help please oh wise ones.
By the way, does anyone ever hear from Rutt?
Thanks in advance.
Lynn

Comments

  • ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 23,764 moderator
    edited April 12, 2023

    Wonderful to see you here, Lynn!
    Sorry you're feeling poorly but hoping it's not too bad. I mean, I never see you at the meetings, where I was voted "Most Pathetic" for the third year in a row.
    I am 162 years old, so I shouldn't complain. (You're only as old as you feel, right?)
    One of the church ladys told me, "[ziggy], you might be 162 years old, but you don't look a day over 100!", so at least I've got that going for me.

    A problem with a lighter camera body is it's generally going to be a smaller body too, meaning that now that heavy lens weight will be shifted forward, which can be even more challenging.

    What I wound up doing is investing in expanded neoprene camera straps which absorb some of the shock of a heavy system, and that makes it more manageable overall. A lightweight monopod is another welcome addition, because you can rest your arms and back while waiting for a dynamic scene to unfold.


    If that strategy doesn't work, I do recommend a smaller and lighter system overall. Fortunately, the Canon R7 mirrorless is a bit lighter by itself, and it's APS-C crop factor, so the "kit" lens, Canon RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM, isn't overly heavy and covers a lot of useful viewing angles.

    It is pretty slow apertures, so I bought an EF/EF-S to RF adapter and use my Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM for the wider stuff and Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM in good light. In lower light I may switch to the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM, which is a chunker, but a fraction of the same focal lengths in f2.8.

    If I know vista landscapes are on the agenda, I'll grab the Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM or just use a 50mm prime, like the very inexpensive RF 50mm f/1.8 STM, and create a multi-image panoramic, and stitch it together later.

    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
  • lynnmalynnma Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 5,207 Major grins

    Thank you Ziggy.. that was very helpful. I'm going to look into the neoprene strap to start and think. Thinking helps sometimes and not others.

  • ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 23,764 moderator

    The system I use and greatly prefer starts with, "OP/TECH USA Pro Strap - 3/8", Black (1501012)".
    https://www.amazon.com/OP-TECH-USA-Pro-Strap/dp/B00092KD9C

    The Pro series will handle heavy pro cameras and lenses easily and comfortably. I have a pair of Canon 1D Mark II bodies and I shot high-school American football using one of the bodies with a Canon EF 70-200mm, f2.8L USM tele-zoom and the other body used a Canon EF 28-80mm, f2.8-f4L USM standard-zoom for the team entering the field, halftime and then a few single player shots after the game.

    This was back in the early 2000s and my son was a lineman on the team. I was the unofficial shooter for the team, and I made all of the home games as well as many of the away games. I survived that ordeal with great thanks to the OP/TECH USA Pro Strap system. (I have no affiliation with OP/TECH USA, and pay full price for their very affordable, high-quality products.)

    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
  • lynnmalynnma Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 5,207 Major grins

    Good morning all and good morning Ziggy. My dear son surprised me with the new Canon EOS R8 with a 100-400 zoom lens and adapter for my 50mm prime. I'm thrilled with it, it is soooo light I can wander around with it all day!! My question is, and I can't find the answer as yet, will my Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT work with it. I seems it works with the 7 but the 8 is so new there is not much info out there yet. Have a great day.

  • ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 23,764 moderator
    edited April 24, 2023

    Awe, Lynn, that son of yours is a keeper for sure!

    Here's a link to Canon's page for their mirrorless bodies and compatible flashes:
    https://cam.start.canon/en/H002/accessory_0010.html

    **** ziggy note: the following statement is not completely accurate. Read the next comment below for a more complete explanation.

    In short, it looks like you need an adapter to use that flash on the EOS R8, and it's also needed for the EOS R7:

    Multi-Function Shoe Adapter AD-E1

    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
  • ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 23,764 moderator
    edited April 24, 2023

    Older Canon ETTL II flashes, like the Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT, do indeed fit and connect with the Multi-Function Shoe on Canon mirrorless camera bodies without an adapter.

    However, if you want to maintain weather seal then you need to use the "Multi-Function Shoe Adapter AD-E1".

    Also note that all electronic flashes will work a bit differently on Canon mirrorless bodies than on Canon D-SLR bodies, in that the AF-Assist function of the flash does not work on mirrorless bodies. Typically, the camera body provides an AF subject illuminator instead (i.e. a light emits from the camera body onto the subject). This is a normal function and probably won't change in the future for mirrorless cameras and their flash capabilities.

    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
  • paddler5paddler5 Registered Users Posts: 4 Big grins

    Lynn,

    I went through this some months ago.

    The major issue of weight is lenses, not bodies. That means that to get a large reduction in weight, you need to go to a smaller format sensor so that you can use the smaller lenses they enable.

    Switching to a mirrorless FF body won't save much. I went from a 5D IV with the EF 24-105 L as a walk-around to the R6 II with the RF 24-105 L. That saved 300g (about 2/3 of a pound), which seems like a fair amount. However, to use any of my remaining EF lenses, I have to add an adapter, which takes away 100g from that 300g. So I ended up saving very little in terms of weight, although the much better image stabilization allows me to leave the tripod home a lot, and that saves weight.

    The next step down is APS-C. The Canon R7 appears to be a good camera, although not on the 5D level in some respects. However, Canon has produced only a few RF APS-C lenses and won't license to third parties, which means that you'd be stuck using your old EF lenses with an adapter. So again, not as much of a weight savings as you might want. I also looked at Fuji but was dissuaded by reading and hearing about problems using Adobe software with Fuji raw files.

    The next step down from there is micro-four-thirds. The new OM Systems cameras are very well reviewed, particularly the (expensive) OM-1, and the lenses are small and light. But that means entirely new equipment and the disadvantages of MFT. Despite the drawbacks, I came very close to going with the OM-1 rather than the R6 because of the large weight savings.

    I hope this helps.

    Dan

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