D1x II body or more lens

TonyUSA · Oct 13, 2018

Hello,

I am thinking to purchase a new 1DX II body and I am using 5D III right now. Mostly will be for my 9 and 12 years old sons swim meet. Mostly using 100-400f/4.5-5.6 II is and some 70-200 f/2.8 II. I am still going forth and back between new body or new lens. What do you guy advise?

Regards,
Tony

ac12 · Oct 13, 2018

For 9 and 12 year old and swim, I see no need to go to the 1DX-II, your 5D-III is plenty good enough. It would be for me.
Even your lenses 70-200/2.8 and 100-400/4.5-5.6 are just fine for swimming.
What new lens were you considering? The lens that I see missing from your signature is the 24-70/2.8.

Where have you run into issues where you wish you had a different piece of gear, camera or lens?

If you were talking night field sports (football, soccer or lacrosse), or indoor gym sports (volleyball and basketball), then the better low light specs of the 1DX-II might be better. But it is only ONE stop better than the 5D-III, so not significantly better.

The 1DX-II goes to 14fps vs 6fps on the 5D-III. But do you really need to go that fast? Depending on the sport, going from 6fps to 14fps could make a difference; volleyball spike and a tennis serve. But that is a LOT more frames to edit through.

Now the RAW buffer for burst shooting, on the 1DX-II is significantly larger than on the 5D-III. But the significantly faster frame rate of the 1DX-II needs it.

ronlane · Oct 14, 2018

For kids of that age swimming, I would think that the 5D III would be good enough. For the 1/2 the price of a new 1Dx II, you can get a used 300mm f/2.8 and a 1.4x TC and use it on the 5D III. Should be good.

Derrel · Oct 14, 2018

I kind of agree with Ron...a 300/2.8 and a 1.4x TC would be VERY handy for swim meet shots. I used to have a 200/2 and a 300/2.8 and a 300/4, 70-200/2.8,100-300 f/4, an some other lenses, all at the same time, and was shooting one to four weekly sports assignments for two local-area newspapers. I found that on my then 1.5x crop Nikon D2x at 5 frames per second in full-field and 8.2 fps in 2.0x High Speed Crop mode, that firing rate was not as important as timing, and waiting to see the right shot, then shooting the shot at the precise time; however now that camera firing rates have gone way,way faster, perhaps 14 fps would allow you to get that one,single,good shot split into 3 or 4 frames on either side of the "ideal" shot. I found the 200/2 to be the fastest-focusing lens I have ever seen, and useful with the Nikon 1.4x TC 1.4e-II. 200mm x1.5x FOV made that basically a 300mm e-View.

For example, when a breast stroke swimmer comes up out of the water, and the water is draining off of the eye area and the nose, there's that little "curtain" of water...I think if you could have a camera that shot at 14 fps, you'd be able to trigger off 3- to 5-frame bursts of the best action, and have more to choose from. At five frames per second, there's typically only _ONE_ single frame that's clearly the best.

But...does 14 fps have autofocusing, or is the focus locked at the start of the burst? If so, it might not always be useful.

I dunno...you live in California, where the light is beautiful and bright...but still...I think the 100-400 at f/4.5 to f/5.6 is a bit slow, aperture-wise, BUT it's really a fantastic range for a full-frame camera! 100 to 400 millimeters is really a nice focal length range for outdoor sports like swimming.

I don't want this to sound condescending, but I think maybe some professional training, some lessons from an actual, qualified professional sports shooter, might be worth more than any new camera or lens. I bet that you could find somebody who could give you some high-level instruction,and that that might help your shots more than new gear. I looked at your Facebook pages a week ago,and saw some swim meet stuff: I think better shooting positioning and "working smarter" is mostly what you need to do. Just some basic tips, some strategies, and you're there.

TonyUSA · Oct 15, 2018

Thank you so much everyone for your value advice.

TonyUSA · Oct 28, 2018

ac12 said:
What new lens were you considering? The lens that I see missing from your signature is the 24-70/2.8.

300mm f/2.8 or 400mm f/2.8

ac12 said:
Where have you run into issues where you wish you had a different piece of gear, camera or lens?

Want better pictures, 70-200 is too short, sometime the buffer couldn't keep up.

Thank you,

TonyUSA · Oct 28, 2018

Derrel said:
I don't want this to sound condescending, but I think maybe some professional training, some lessons from an actual, qualified professional sports shooter, might be worth more than any new camera or lens. I bet that you could find somebody who could give you some high-level instruction,and that that might help your shots more than new gear. I looked at your Facebook pages a week ago,and saw some swim meet stuff: I think better shooting positioning and "working smarter" is mostly what you need to do. Just some basic tips, some strategies, and you're there.

I contacted Sports Shooter Academy last week but no reply yet. If you have any suggestion on any other professional training in Southern CA please advise.
Sports Shooter Academy