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Looking for advice

Mistynightacres
Apprentice

I currently have a T5i and looking to upgrade to the T7i and was wondering if this is the right way to go. I like to take potraits and action shots (Mostly of horses inside and outside) My current t5i seems to be blurring lately or takes a long time to focus.  Would a t7i work for me?

7 REPLIES 7

ScottyP
Authority

The T7i has a lot better autofocus than the T5i does.  9 points vs 45 points, all cross or double cross type, so better for moving targets.

 

It also focuses in much darker conditions (-3 EV vs. -0.5EV) so the irksome lag you get while the camera tries to focus is a lot less of a problem.

 

Normally I suggest better faster lenses over new cameras but the improvement after the T5i was like night and day, and the T7i is much better than the T6i too.

Scott

Canon 5d mk 4, Canon 6D, EF 70-200mm L f/2.8 IS mk2; EF 16-35 f/2.8 L mk. III; Sigma 35mm f/1.4 "Art" EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro; EF 85mm f/1.8; EF 1.4x extender mk. 3; EF 24-105 f/4 L; EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS; 3x Phottix Mitros+ speedlites

Why do so many people say "FER-tographer"? Do they take "fertographs"?

Waddizzle
Legend
Legend

@Mistynightacres wrote:

I currently have a T5i and looking to upgrade to the T7i and was wondering if this is the right way to go. I like to take potraits and action shots (Mostly of horses inside and outside) My current t5i seems to be blurring lately or takes a long time to focus.  Would a t7i work for me?


That camera is a definite improvement. 

But, what lenses are you using?  If you're suddenly getting different results, then some factor in the shooting conditions and/or settings has probably changed.

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

ebiggs1
Legend
Legend

"My current t5i seems to be blurring lately or takes a long time to focus."

 

 

This causes me concern.  Cameras don't do things 'lately'.  They work or they don't.  I would look at what else has changed. If you get a new T7i, I am all in for you to do so BTW, and the issue wasn't the camera, it might still remain.  Make sense? So, what might be different as I assume the T5i was doing its job.

 

"Would a t7i work for me?"

 

Yes!  It is a much better camera and comes with the improved EF-S 18-55mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Lens.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

ScottyP
Authority

Taking a long time to focus can definitely be the camera, and "blurring the shots" could be the camera too, depending on what is meant by blurring. 

 

Taking time to focus is almost surely the camera.  T5i can only autofocus in light conditions down to -0.5 ev. My old T3i was even a little worse than that, and it is the main reason I sold it. You'd go to take a shot inside in light that didn't seem dim but yet the camera would not take the shot because it wasn't focused. It would try and try, and it would fire off micro flashes and red af assist lights and the lens motor would make an embarrassing racket for long seconds that felt like minutes while your subject is getting bombarded with all that flashing and wondering if you know how to take a picture.  My current camera focuses down to -3 ev like the T7i and that problem just doesn't exist now. 

 

Blurry pictures can can also be the camera if "blurry" means "out of focus". The simple 9 point AF is not ideal for very complicated moving shots. 

 

If, however, by "blurry" you mean there is motion blur or camera shake blur, then you are using too slow a shutter speed to freeze fast horses. That can be 1.) user error in not selecting a fast enough shutter, and/ or 2.) lens inadequacy, namely not a big enough max aperture size to let in sufficient light to allow a quick enough shutter speed to capture running horses indoors in less than great light. 

 

What lenses do you use for these horses?  Do you have a good bright  f2.8 or f/1.8 or f/1.4 aperture lens?

Scott

Canon 5d mk 4, Canon 6D, EF 70-200mm L f/2.8 IS mk2; EF 16-35 f/2.8 L mk. III; Sigma 35mm f/1.4 "Art" EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro; EF 85mm f/1.8; EF 1.4x extender mk. 3; EF 24-105 f/4 L; EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS; 3x Phottix Mitros+ speedlites

Why do so many people say "FER-tographer"? Do they take "fertographs"?

Mr_Fusion
Enthusiast

To add to what others are pointing out;

 

This sounds like you are shooting in low light situations. It does take most cameras longer to focus in low light.

 

Also, if you are getting "blurry" shots, that would go along with the shooting in low light, especially if you shoot in Av (Aperture Priority). In Av your shutter stays open longer to allow enough light in. A second problem with many lenses is they have a hard time finding the subject with longer distance. The smaller the subject is in the frame, the harder it is to pick it up. If the subject is moving it becomes that much harder.

 

The only way to compensate here is to open the aperture or increase the ISO. The problem with increasing ISO is you get more noise the more sensitive you make it.  On my old T5 I try to stay below 1600  I can shoot 3200 with a little noise problem, 6400 leaves noticeable noise, and Hyper (12800) is very noisy. Opening the aperture when shooting a long distance in low light narrows the depth of field which compounds the other problems, assuming you use a zoom lens.

 

I'm not sure a new T7(i) would solve your problem or give you the results you want. Low light shots at a distance will still be a problem. If this is important, I recommend a fast prime lens such as a a Canon  EF 100mm f/2.8L IS ($800) which would be a 160mm equivelent or an EF 200 f/2.8L IS ($750) which would be about a 320mm equivelent. either is very good glass and much better than what came with your camera. The IS will also add three or four stops to the shutter speed which would go a long way to eliminating shake blur.

TCampbell
Elite
Elite

You may want to look at lens choices.

 

The kit zoom lenses are variable focal ratio lenses and they collect less light than the higher end zoom lenses which can provide constant aperture at any focal length.  

 

For example... the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II provides "f/2.8" while the lens is focusing and it can provdie that low focal ratio regardless of whether you are using the 70mm or the 200mm end.  

 

In contrast, a 55-250mm f/4-5.6 or 70-300mm f/4-5.6 which is going to use f/5.6 if you're near the long end (or even more than half-way through the range) and f/4 if you're at the short end.    An f/2.8 is literally collectly FOUR times more light than an f/5.6 lens.  This makes a big difference in focus performance.

 

Another advantage of the higher end lenses is that they tend to have faster focus motors -- so they snap to focus rather quickly compared to the consumer priced lenses.

 

The T7i got a huge boost in AF performance in low light.  The T5i required a minimum of EV -0.5 in order to have working auto-focus.  The T7i can have working auto-focus all the way down to EV -3.0 (about 2.5 less light or roughly 1/6th the amount of light that the T5i would require).  So it's much better at auto-focus in poor lighting (but using a low focal ratio lens will help tremendously.)  The Canon 6D II would be another good option (but this is a "full frame" body and cannot use the "EF-S" lenses because those lenses are designed to only work with APS-C crop-sensor bodies such as the Rebel series cameras.)

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da

People;

The OP said, "My current t5i seems to be blurring lately or takes a long time to focus."  This indicates the T5i did do a good job at one time but does not do so now.  Buying new gear will not fix something if it is not the camera/lens causing the problem.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!
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