CANON EOS RP

[Rhwalk1]

I am thinking about getting a canon eos rp. I take a lot of high school sports pictures.  any thoughts

[Tronhard]

Well... to give you the best advice, perhaps a bit more detail would help.

1.  What is it about your current setup that you need to update or replace?
2.  What kinds of images at high schools do you take: e.g. class photos as portraits are quite different form school sport for example
3.  What do you produce?  Assumedly small images for year books etc., but do you take images for other media: such as on-line fora, or for large prints?
4.  Do you need IBIS?

[Rhwalk1]

Thanks for responding. Answer to the first question. I currently have a canon 6d and a canon 7d mark ii. My lenses are a 24 to 105 f4, a 70 to 200 f2.8.  my problem is shooting some of the low light gyms i am shooting at 6,000 iso and some what grainy.  I am told that the mirror less lenses are better at lower light.

Answer to the second question is that i take only sports for one high school.  I am partially retired and do this as a hobby. I post pictures on my smugmug account and give free access for the athletes to view and download free.  My site is randywalker.smugmug.com

I am not sure what IBIS is 

[wq9nsc]

Your 70-200 f2.8 is about as good as it gets as an all around sports lens.  My typical football setup is the EF 70-200 f2.8 on one body, an EF 400 f2.8 on the other, and in a lot of cases I shoot with a third body with a 24-70 f2.8.

I take these as a volunteer for my daughter's high school and I shot this away football game at the worst illuminated stadium in the conference.  In the past at this field, I have switched two of the bodies to fast primes (either a 50 f1.4 or 85 f1.8 on one and a 200 f2 on the other) but this last year I used my usual setup.  https://rodgersingley.smugmug.com/Central-Catholic/Central-football-10152021/

Fields like that make you really appreciate the well illuminated fields!  https://rodgersingley.smugmug.com/Central-Catholic/CCHS-vs-PBL/

I have tried mirrorless bodies from Sony and Canon but I much prefer having an optical viewfinder for sports because so much of it is based upon timing, volleyball in particular.  Maybe in the future the mirrorless will offer the responsiveness I want but it isn't there yet.  Also realize that battery life is pretty low on most mirrorless bodies because of the additional power demand so keep spare batteries at the game.  With the 1DX bodies I can shoot several events before switching battery packs.

Rodger

[wq9nsc]

For high school sports, good performance at higher ISO is important so compare the RP on that to what you currently use and other cameras in the same price range.

I shoot a lot of HS sports and dealing with the electronic viewfinder is not for me.  There is a slight time delay between the action and what you see and if you shoot with both eyes open like a lot of us do for sports, the time differential between the viewfinder eye and your other eye is disconcerting at best.

Rodger

[Tronhard]

I am not sports shooter, but given the advice from Rodger, whose opinion I respect, it sounds like a DSLR might still be the best.  The R3 appears to be able to handle sports well, and has amazing performance for sports and wildlife, but at the price it's really for the pro's or very well-heeled! That said, you might get a bargain with a 1DX-series body as a bunch of people move to mirrorless and dispose of their gear.

[jaewoosong]

If you can swing the R5/6, the eye/facial detection and tracking is amazing and definitely worth it over the R/RP.  IBIS (In Body Image Stabilization) will help in low light but you need fast shutter speeds for fast action sports.  For that, you really just need a better sensor.  Another thing about RP is only does 5 FPS shooting whereas the R5/6 can do 12/20 FPS.  You can sell your 6D and keep the 7D Mark II (still good for sports) as your 2nd body.

[Rhwalk1]

I am limited on my budget that is why I was looking at the RP.  Maybe in a year or i can save some $$$.  Thanks for your input.

I like my 6D full frame for portrait and family type shots.

Randy Walker

[jaewoosong]

One thing I'd suggest is to borrow or rent an RP.  You will need an EF to RF adapter as well but this will allow you to see if this is the right body for you.  It's cheap insurance vs buying the RP and realizing after purchase it doesn't work out for you.

$67 at borrowlenses.com for 1 week.  [Commercial link removed per forum guidelines. Screenshot of destination added to facilitate discussion.]

[Rhwalk1 · Accepted solution]

Am renting the RP for one week..