Upgrading from g1x mark ii

[tnaeht]

I'm a hobby photographer -always used canon. Started with easiest compact zooms but wants more and mire from the camera. Since a few years now my favorite camera is G1x Mark ii with its goog sensor giving me high quality in less good light situations and in ordinary photos. Even aurora shooting is ok. Still complete though with a Powershot SX60 hs in need for better zoom or sports photography (in good light).
BUT now I want more. Want a camera with good shooting in less light, even with zoom and sporty objects.
Think it might be a camerahouse with separate objectives, but know nothing about that.
Don't want to downgrade in quality - and searching around I stumble on very expensive system cameras and objectives - is it worth that?
Please give me some advice!
Shooting sports outdoors and indoors, concerts, nature, views and animals, family, portrait, aurora borealis and night skies...

 

[TCampbell]

Shooting sports outdoors and indoors, concerts, nature, views and animals, family, portrait, aurora borealis and night skies...

There are a lot of options here....

You didn't mention a budget but I'll start by suggesting the Canon EOS 80D and for a few reasons.

I do a lot of astro-photography. This is an area where ideally the camera sensor can deal with high ISO and still keep the digital noise levels relatively low. That's normally the domain of "full frame" sensor cameras (such as the 1D series, 5D series, and 6D bodies) but the 80D is probably the most significant boost to performance to this area in some years for any Canon camera with an APS-C size sensor.

So on your list of needs, you can check the box that says "aurora borealis and night skies". Concerts may also fall into this category.

Next up is the sports. Action photography typically benefits from cameras with better focusing systems (more focus points and faster focusing response... although this does need to be paired with lenses which also have fast working focus motors and not all lenses do have fast motors). Another benefit in action photography is a high continuous burst speed to capture several frames per second. This was pretty much the domain of the Canon EOS 7D Mark II (a camera which is heavily optimized toward shooting "action" photography), although the 80D's performance is extremely good. The 7D II can shoot 10 frames per second vs. the 80D's 7 frames per second.

7 frames per second is extremely good! Few cameras are that fast -- except those specifically designed for action photography.

Most cameras will be good with family, animals, & portraits -- so that's not a tough one.

The 80D is a mid-range DSLR... it's above Canon's "entry" category (the "Rebel" bodies) but below the pro bodies.

The 80D can use any Canon EOS "EF" or "EF-S" series lens in the lineup and can also use the specialty lenses such as the "TS-E" (tilt-shift lenses) or the "MP-E" (special extreme macro-photo lens). It does not use the Canon "EF-M" series lenses (those are designed for use only with Canon "EOS M" series bodies which are Canon's "mirrorless" cameras.

BTW, concerts can be tricky... not for technical reasons, but for rules. Many concert venues do not permit photography for certain cameras. While they can't reasonably prevent people from having a smartphone with a built-in camera, they often do forbid use of what they consider to be "professional" cameras, but they usually define "professional" to be any camera with interchangeable lenses. I've seen some concerts that allow "interchangeable" lenses as long as the lens is not physically longer than 6 inches in length. I actually own a Canon G1X (the original) which I bought specifically to take to events that don't allow cameras with interchangeable lenses.

There are MANY lower cost options ... such has the EOS Rebel T7i or T6i. Those won't quite compete with the 80D, but they'll still be very good.

Lens selection can make a big difference. Night sky images are often improved by selecting very wide angle lenses with very low focal ratios to allow capturing a lot of light without requiring long exposure times.