Canon 50D vs. 7D

[Sam6644]

I'm in the market to upgrade and I'm looking at Canons.

I've wanted to buy the 7D for a long time now, but I'm not sure I can afford to get the 7D with a good enough lens to fulfill my needs immediately. An option I suppose is to buy a 50D instead.

What can you Canon guys tell me about the difference between the 50D and 7D?

Is the 7D worth the extra money?

the video is not very important to me.

 

[Overread]

One important point is that the ISO capabilities of the 50D are about the same as that of the previous 40D. This is an upgrade since the 50D gives you an overall larger image size (more MP) but since the actual ISO usage range has not changed very much it has less effect on how you can shoot when confrunted with lowlight situations. The 7D however has a larger usable ISO range (though I am not certain by how much it has improved over that of the 50D and 40D) whilst again giving a larger image size still.

Other than that the 7D has an overall upgrade to its auto focus setup as well as improved weathersealing (not complete and nothing like the 1D line cameras, but still improved over the 50D).

One thing though is that with the 50D and 7D the increasing MP means that the demands on the glass (lenses) that you use is getting more intense and that means that for the best results, you need to be putting some good glass on them - lowgrade glass will start to show up errors in the glass itself.

Glass is where a lot of things come down to in photography, often before the camera body - so out of interest what glass do you have at present?

 

[icassell]

Frankly, if I weren't going to buy the 7D, I'd lean towards a clean used 40D which can probably be had for considerably less $$ than the 50D and is an excellent camera in its own right. This would leave you more $$ for glass -- considerably more important than the body. I bought my 7D when I became limited by the 8MP -- and it took some time for that to happen -- during some wildlife photography. It was considerably less expensive than the long telephoto that I really want (and, hopefuly, will get some day). It's a wonderful body, but so is the 30D, 40D, and 50D. I would say the big advantages (if you don't need video) of the 7D are the excellent high ISO capability and the much-improved autofocus system.

 

[Sam6644]

I currently dont have any Canon lenses, or gear in general. I'm currently a Nikon guy thats been drawn to the dark side by the new 7D...

I want to get this lens with whatever Canon body I get
Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens Review


I guess a second part of my question would be:
If I can't afford to get a 7D, would I be better off sticking with Nikon and buying a D90 instead of switching anyway and getting a 50D?

 

[Overread]

Why (if I may ask) do you wish to change from canon to nikon? Is it just that lens itself which has swayed your mind?

Changing setups when you have very little is a viable option, but you have to have some set solid ideas (at whatever stage you decide to change) otherwise you can get trapped with always seeing the grass as being greener on the other side (and that means a lot of wasted money as you have to reinvest for each changeover).

The best way to get solid choices is to first clearly define your shooting subjects and the environments your going to work in. This gives a structure to what your gear is to be tailoured towards and that allows you to make comparisons between the different companies and setups on the market.

 

[Sam6644]

I dont have enough money invested in my nikon gear to keep me from switching, and I'll have no problem selling what Nikon gear I have.

I'm a photojournalism student and I currently work for a news paper at school. my subjects are varied, my environments are extremely varied, and the only constant is that nothing is constant. This is why I need a fast camera, with good high ISO performance, and most of all I need fast glass.

I've chosen that lens because it seems to be the best crop body lens I can find to serve my purposes as an all purpose "kit" lens, if you will.

 

[Overread]

Hmmm have you considered a good condition second hand (or a restored) 5D? At least on the canon line that would give you very good high ISO performance and (from what I have read) was a very popular journalists camera (before the 5DM2). Sadly this would put more pressure on your glass side of things and you would be looking at something like a 24-70mm f2.8 idealy (and even second hand the price on that lens is still quite high).

Nikon might have some alternative options open to you as well but I don't know their range well enough.

 

[Sam6644]

Yeah, like you said, a 5D would limit me to only full frame glass.

I'm going to put off making the jump to a full frame body until after school. Until then I'm going to focus on getting good glass and other accessories like flashes and stuff.

I want to make sure I'm getting a good APS-C body now, because it will be my back up body after I upgrade to full frame.

 

[Overread]

If that is the case I would say push for good fullframe compatable glass now and use a cheaper camera body. The 40D (second hand) would give you the same ISO performance as the 50D would and would give you a little more to play with on the lens front. Not having to upgrade your glass as well as camera body will be a longterm saving.