Body or Lens?

[neih59]

Hello everyone. I'd like to take my photography more serious at this point. I currently have a Canon 7D with Canon ef-s 50mm 1.4 and ef 28-135mm. My question is, should I sell my current setup and upgrade to a Canon 5D MII and temporary use the current 28-135mm i have now, or should I keep the 7D and buy a more expensive lens, such as a Canon 24-105mm L lens or 24-70mm L?

Your suggestion is greatly appreciated. It's been killing me.

 

[KmH]

Forum: Photography Beginners' Forum

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[SCraig]

What do you wish to be able to do but are unable to do with your current equipment? If you answer "Nothing" (or "Nothing, but") then I'd suggest saving your money until you can answer with something else.

 

[neih59]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'd like to start taking pictures of events (birthdays/weddings/etc/), but with my current equipment, I feels so...amateur. Everything looks like it's coming from a $100 camera. I'm not sure if it's the way I shoot, or if I needed to do some post editing? Other photographers' wedding pictures come out so colorful and smooth. Is it s a standard to do some sort of color correction for wedding/event pictures?

What is typical process as far as taking wedding pictures?

Thanks.

 

[SCraig]

I'm not familiar with Canon equipment however I have yet to see a Canon DSLR that couldn't take excellent photographs when it's used properly. Perhaps I'm out of order but it sounds to me like you've got a lot to learn. When you get to the point that your camera and lenses are holding you back you'll know it.

Light, and how you use it, is at least as important to a finished photograph than the camera that captured it. Learn to use light and forget about what model camera you have.

Yes, most photographs are post processed. Weddings and portraits frequently have a great deal of experience on the back side of the camera or a great deal of work on the final image.

 

[cayto]

You have a nice body and nice lens, maybe you just need to get full potencial of your equipment

 

[Ernicus]

The 7D is a great body, one I'd like when I decide to make a Canon setup. That camera is capable of stunning photography, well most any is...if used properly.

I won't jump on the bandwagon of saying "learn your tools", I think it's obvious you should.

but as to a 7D vs. a 5d MII. Huge jump there from prosumer to pro gear. IMO, just asking the question means you are not ready for pro gear. Not to mention the differences you'll need in glass.

I would say keep what you have, invest in good glass. Learn...learn...learn...practice....practice...practice. When you feel you are ready to go pro, and make a living out of photography, and your photographs reflect that, then look to a pro gear upgrade.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

New/better toys are always nice

 

[briz50]

Try this book I found it to be very useful along with A LOT of practice when I first upgraded from my T2I for the 7D
[h=3]David Busch's Canon EOS 7D Guide to Digital SLR Photography they are about $18.00 from amazon. Hope this helps[/h]

 

[neih59]

I agree with you all that my post sounds someone ignorance. It's not that I don't know how to use my gears, it's just that the outcome is not as good as I want it. So my question should rather be "Does the camera makes the picture more, or the lens?"

With the right gears, is it all about lighting/composition, or how good you are at photoshop?

Nevertheless, I'm still learning, and I'm new here. Definitely looking forward to learn more from you all. Thank you all for the comments.

 

[Ernicus]

Start with dropping the S off the word gear when referring to your equipment. ;-)

Once you have a good camera body to work with, which you do, you should focus on quality lenses.

I don't mean to sound like a d1ck, but having to ask "does the camera make the picture more, or the lens", really means you still need to learn a lot about photography. That's not a slam, just a thing that points out you have lots to learn still, or you'd already know.

Even without the "right" gear, its all about lighting and comp and other factors, photoshop not being high on the list at all.

A good photog can take a photograph with a point and shoot better than a bad one with pro gear.

 

[JohnTrav]

Seems like you just need to do some research and get more comfortable with your camera the 7D is capable of taking great photos with the lenses that you have. I have those same two. I have seen some awesome pictures come from them. I have taken some pictures that are really good with that same set up too. I have also taken some really lousy ones also.

Read some photography books and see if you can learn some stuff before you go out spending your money on equipment you might not need. Go on amazon and look up the author Scott Kelby. He has 4 volumes of his digital photography book and they have good information in them about different techniques you can use to get photographs like "the pros" he says.

Also just brows around this website at other peoples threads and you can learn a lot about what other people have done and how they did it or things they could have done different.

I also think about upgrading to a 5D MIII but that is a ways down the road for me. There is do much for me to learn with my 7D that there is no point for me to upgrade right now. Just keep going around taking pictures and trying new things. You will learn.

Use YouTube also to learn some things. A lot of times you can find videos of people using the same camera as you and showing you how to do it.

Hope this helps you out.

 

[clo_iam]

Scott kelby is a good reference for learning. He has a website kelbytraining.com which allows you to watch online tutorials on different aspects of photography from tons of different professional photographers for $25/month I believe.

I found it helpful hope you do too.

 

[sovietdoc]

Okay okay, buy this to improve your photography:

24-105 f/4L and 600 EX-RT flash. And stop using that silly pop-up flash, kill it. Kill it with fire.

 

[Tony S]

I also agree with others that you are not getting the best from the 7D most likely due to a lack of knowing the camera and skills to get the best from it. If you upgrade to a new body you will have the same experience.

Now another question for you to ponder... Do you notice a difference in image quality between the two lenses you currently have? Do the images from the 50mm f1.4 appear noticeably sharper and have more contrast than those from the 28-135? There should be.

Post up some examples so we can see what results you are currently getting out of your equipment and skills. Then we can give good honest answers as to what might help you best, the answer might be something all together different than what you expect.