Is the Cannon 5D Mark II a Night time Sports Camera?

[RinaldiPhotos]

Hello there, I came across a decent deal on a 5D Mark II, and really don't know how well they are for shooting at night time baseball. Can anyone give me advice? My next games I will be shooting are in March, so If I get the body now, I have some time to raise the funds to get a lense. If anyone has any examples to show me that would be great.

 

[mjhoward]

Is this a serious question? The 5DII is pretty notorious for having a severely lacking AF system. Trying to use it at night for sports would just be a disaster.

 

[MLeeK]

100% absolutely NOT.
The focus system sucks for sports and low light. I have one... I'd rather shoot with a 7D for sports. Hell, I'd even take one of the rebels over my 5d2 for sports and especially for night time sports.

 

[RinaldiPhotos]

Thank You for the input. I have the Cannon TI and the T2 that I used this year, and they did well with lighting. Got some great shots, just looking to potentially upgrade for next year.

 

[MLeeK]

7D or 5d3. 7D should be upgrading sometime in the very near future.

 

[Overread]

The 7D would be the current top of the range crop sensor camera for sports - it gives you the best AF currently on a 1.6 crop camera from Canon with the best ISOs (although honestly the new rebels use many of the same sensor and processing features so you might not see much of a change there).

The 5DMII is fullframe (35mm) and thus you'd end up with a wider angle of view on your lenses (the net result being as if you were using a shorter focal length). Add to that the mentioned points about its weaker AF system and you've a camera that might not be that ideal. It's ISO performance is ahead of other others, but with the AF weakness its just not a very worthwhile deal for action photography in challenging conditions.

You might consider a second hand 1D series camera body - I've a feeling 1DMII and MIII might be in a semi-similar price bracket and it would be worth to research those options. I can't comment much more on them sadly save to say that they are 1.3 crop sensors, so you loose a little of the "zoom" ability, but you have a very well built, high spec body to consider.


The ideal camera would likely be the 5DMIII or a 1DMIV - both giving you cracking AF and ISO ranges to work with - though the 5D being fullframe and the 1DMIV being crop sensor (both also being much more expensive than the other options).

 

[TCampbell]

The sensor on the 5D II is fantastic. The focusing system... not so much.

It basically has the same focusing system as the Rebel bodies... a 9 point AF system where the center point is "cross type" and 8 additional points arranged in a diamond pattern which are NOT cross-type.

The 7D, on the other hand, is a sports camera. It has 19 AF points and they're ALL cross-type. It also has a very fast burst speed when doing continuous shooting (8 frames per second) and dual DIGIC IV processors.

 

[sovietdoc]

Sorry, I read 5D Mark II and Sports in the same sentence. I lol'd.

 

[Samaritan]

You can do good sports shooting with mkII if you use good lenses like

EF 70-200mm f/2.8​

L​

IS II USM. You guys are just overentusiastic over ​

[FONT=Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]mkIII. I understand the better AF, but it is 1000€ overpriced, as it has only corrected mistakes in mkII.[/FONT]​

 

[MLeeK]

You can do good sports shooting with mkII if you use good lenses like

EF 70-200mm f/2.8​

L​

IS II USM. You guys are just overentusiastic over ​

mkIII. I understand the better AF, but it is 1000€ overpriced, as it has only corrected mistakes in mkII.​

No, there's really no fix for the problems with a 5d2 and sports. A 7D is a much better choice if you can't pay for a sports camera.

 

[Superdaantje]

And how did the do it years a go ? The 5D II still works for sport but there are better options now days like the 1Dx/1DIV/5DIII/7D and some more.
It is not the camera that makes the picture its you the photographer. Good equipment can make the job easier. When you know how to use it ;-)