1d Mk II vs 50D vs (40D+85mm f1.8)

[FidelCastrovich]

Thanks for your, now belated, suggestions and thoughts.

I've considered selling my 17-55 and the 10-22 and moving on to FF. Something like a 1d MKII and 5d MKII with 16-35, 24-70 and my 70-200.
But i feel that my investment in the gear hasn't yet returned itself to the degree that i wish, and i'm gonna stick with EFs for now.

It's true, i'm a working photojournalist, and for no small town paper either, but i only started a year ago, and i'm still learning something new everyday. I've got a long way to go before i can in good conscience justify such an expense, even if i can technically afford it.

Cutting to the chase - yesterday i shot a basketball game, of some European league(Israeli club Vs some Dutch club) and i gotta say, that the performance of the 50D is very close to my boss's 1D MKIII. The focus is slower, but not by much, and much better than my 30D. My keeper rate went up by a very large margin - if only i were a better sports photographer...

I shot at 3200 and the noise resembles what i got from the MKIII at 2500.
It's weird, but that's what my, preliminary and limited, findings show.
Note, however, that i'm not talking pixel level (%100 crops) but at a fixed size. The pics just look very good when zoomed out. Of course, you can't resist the temptation to zoom in, and that's when you discover that it's not any better than the 40D. But for a newspaper its more than enough.
Also, the colors and sharpness are very good.

All in all, i think i'm glad i picked the 50D over the 40D.

 

[pete_bobb]

***I have yet to do side by side comparisons with my 40D and my brand-new 50D camera bodies.***

I own a perfectly good 40D.
It has served me well for the last year as my primary camera body for Wedding and Portrait photography.

I just got a new 50D for $1099 at Amazon.
Why? The extra 5 megapixels. 10 vs 15 megapixels. That simple.
I want at least 6 megapixels for an 8x10” print, the most common print for my customers, and having 15 megapixels for my starting point leaves me lots more headroom for severe crops, leaving 6 megapixels after cropping.
Up to ISO 1600, neither camera shows much noise, certainly less than film has grain.

I rarely crank the ISO above 800 for Weddings or above ISO 200 for portraits.
In dimly lit churches and outdoor night wedding dances, I’m using my f/1.4 primes or f/2.8 zoom lenses, and where permitted, a Speedlight attached to the camera frame.

Do I care about noise levels at ISO 3200 or ISO 6400? Not at all!
ISO 12,800? I have it now in the 50D, but I don’t know when I will ever use it!
I have yet to shoot a Wedding with my brand new 50D, but I expect it work every bit as well as my 40D, but giving me larger files to work with.