Upgrading Canon.

[darkchild]

What's going on everyone? So I bought a Canon 550D as my first DSLR camera, but quickly wanted something better. I got to know my Camera, i learned a lot from this site, and now i am looking into upgrading. I have 2 choices as of now, Canon 7D, or Canon 5D Mark II, I don't want money to be a factor in choosing, i just want to get a good camera that i will want to keep for a while. Which one of these 2 camera's would you purchase, and why? The 7D is about a grand cheaper, but it has panoramic mode which would be pretty cool to have. The reason i am wanting to stay with Canon, is so i can still use my lenses. The 550D will be something i use on a regular basis, and the newer camera for making money so, with that said, lets see some input!

 

[Hardrock]

How are you making the money? Both are great cameras but used very differently.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

What do you shoot, primarily?

 

[darkchild]

I work 2 jobs and i've been saving up for a nicer cam.
I mainly shoot Cars, Models, and Sports, but mostly at low light. So i would need to have good performance at a higher iso. Sports i'm not to worried about, what i'm worried about is Cars and Models. So not too much motion since the cars will be parked, and so will the models haha. thanks.

 

[darkchild]

Forgot to mention portraits. Kinda like senior pics at normal light.

 

[KmH]

IMO, if you have to ask which camera to choose, you haven't yet come close to maxing out the 550D's capabilities, and don't yet know enough about photography to utilize the capabilities of a 7D or a 5D MKII.

But, it's your money to do with as you please.

 

[darkchild]

IMO, if you have to ask which camera to choose, you haven't yet come close to maxing out the 550D's capabilities, and don't yet know enough about photography to utilize the capabilities of a 7D or a 5D MKII.

But, it's your money to do with as you please.

You just crushed my dreams :'(

 

[Overread35]

You'll want to try out the 5DM2 in a shop (unless you have access at a club or some such) because it has a fullframe sensor not a 1.6 crop like your 550D so that will make a big change to the viewing angle that you have to work with.

For cars is it stationary or motorsport type shooting?

Stationary cars, models and portraits "the" tool is the 5DM2 for its fantastic image quality, wider (fullframe) angle of view, greater background separation, and very high usable ISO range.

For moving cars and sports "the" tool is the 7D for its vastly superior AF over the 5DM2 - it also has good image quality and a high usable range of ISOs; however the 5DM2 beats it in these regards. However the 5DM2 also has a far more basic AF setup.

PS what lenses - specifically - do you currently have?

 

[table1349]

IMO, if you have to ask which camera to choose, you haven't yet come close to maxing out the 550D's capabilities, and don't yet know enough about photography to utilize the capabilities of a 7D or a 5D MKII.

But, it's your money to do with as you please.

You just crushed my dreams :'(

Hate to say it, but if you can't express exactly why you need an upgrade in body over what you have then KmH has hit it squarely on the head. Once you have maxed out the capabilities of the camera, and to do that you are going to have to increase you knowledge base of photography, then you will be ready to upgrade and won't have to ask anyone what body to choose.

On the other hand if you are just looking for a new cool body then this is the ticket to go with: http://www.hasselbladusa.com/products/h-system/h4d-60.aspx

 

[darkchild]

The main reason i want to upgrade, is because my camera kinda sucks at higher iso. it starts getting noisy at 800iso.

The cars are stationary, they wont be moving. i recently sold most of my lenses, so as of now, i only have a 50mm 1.8AF, and my 70-300mm. I am also looking into getting other lenses but i'm doing research to see which ones will be my best choice.

 

[lordfly]

The main reason i want to upgrade, is because my camera kinda sucks at higher iso. it starts getting noisy at 800iso.

The cars are stationary, they wont be moving. i recently sold most of my lenses, so as of now, i only have a 50mm 1.8AF, and my 70-300mm. I am also looking into getting other lenses but i'm doing research to see which ones will be my best choice.

I have a 400D, which has a MUCH worse sensor than your 550D. It's a ten megapixel Digic3 processor compared to your, what, 18megapixel digic4?

I'm also using the stock 55mm/5.6 lens which lacks any sort of image stabilization.

I would punt a baby across an alligator pit for a 550D and a 1.8 lens.

I went to the local tree lighting festival a few weeks back, mostly as an excuse to take pictures. It being dark, my choices were either to blast the scene with a flash, or use natural light and 800/1600 ISO. I mostly chose the latter.

While I'm not claiming these pictures as sell-worthy art, given my unsteady hand and mediocre equipment, I think they turned out alright. Even with my garbage lens, I was able to get the camera to meter the occasional 1/10 sec lit only by street lights.

My point is, if my amateur eye can take decent shots with a wonkalicious camera with terrible lighting conditions, certainly you can do better with a lens that can shine 4x the light on a sensor twice as awesome as mine?

Or put more bluntly, perhaps the problem isn't the camera?

 

[dylanstraub]

:thumbup: ^ Yeah...what he said.:mrgreen: buying gear for gear's sake doesn't make much sense.

 

[Overread35]

The main reason i want to upgrade, is because my camera kinda sucks at higher iso. it starts getting noisy at 800iso.

The cars are stationary, they wont be moving. i recently sold most of my lenses, so as of now, i only have a 50mm 1.8AF, and my 70-300mm. I am also looking into getting other lenses but i'm doing research to see which ones will be my best choice.

Have you considered a lighting setup instead? A proper lighting setup would void your need (mostly) for high ISO usage and would set you well for car, portraiture and model work. Of course you'd have different demands and setups of lighting for each situation so you'd have to make choices as to what you focus on first with your budget.

Also I'd work on building your lens setup up considerably - unless you intend to go fullframe with the 5DM2 (which is why I say try in a store). I say that because the change in the angle of view is quite major and there is no point building a good working crop sensor setup and then having to "relearn" and rebuild a setup for fullframe if its the direction youre going in longer term.

You could balance things by going for a used/reconditioned 5D for the fullframe aspect and thus leaving you budget for lens and lighting advances as well.

 

[Derrel]

A Nikon D700 could be in your future...the Canon 5D series has such a weak AF module...

and the Canon 550D...ugh...it sucks to be limited by one's camera body for use in sports/action work...

What Canon lenses do you have with your 550D that are worth staying locked into Canon for??? Do you have a 35mm 1.4-L or an 85/1.8 EF, or a 70-200 f/2.8-L Canon, or a 135mm f/2 L-seres Canon??? Do you have a Canon 300mm f/2.8? I mean, seriously..if you want to be a sports shooter, those are the kinds of lenses that are worth STAYING with Canon for... otherwise, realize that the 7D and the 5D-II are both inferior to other options on the market.

 

[sovietdoc]

the only upgrade worth the money from 550D is either a D700 or 5d mk2