Upgrade Canon Rebel T3i Recommendations

[Tleray]

I currently have a Canon Rebel T3i with the included 2 lenses and 2 additional lenses i purchased.   I use my camera for all things "kids" (indoor cheer competitions, outdoor cheer for school, indoor school dance team performances in gym, dance team performances on field, etc).   My rebel has died and i'm looking for a new camera as the kids seasons has just started;)   The last year i have started using manual and AV modes playing with manual adjustments.

I have looked at the Rebel 8i which had ok reviews but read everything is moving to mirrorless, so i looked at the Eos RP.

I would like suggestions for an amateur to take pictures for school events and sports indoors and outdoors. Sometimes lighting is poor so i need a camera that can adjust to lighting.   This is not a camera for professional purposes but for family memories and scrapbooking.

[Tronhard]

Hi:

As always lot depends on your budget.

What lenses do you currently have for the old camera?

[Tleray]

I have a 50mm F/1.8 and 85mm F/1.8 

Since this is more a recreational camera budget is $1,000-$1,500.

[deebatman316]

Since OP mentioned that they had a Rebel series camera. Do you also own the "kit" lens any version of the 18-55mm lens. Also which version of the EF 50mm do you have.

• EF 50mm F/1.8 (1987-1990)
• EF 50mm F/1.8 II (1990-2015)
• EF 50mm F/1.8 STM (2015- Present)

-Demetrius

40D, 5D IV, EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II, EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM, EF 50 F/1.8 STM

430EX III-RT, 600EX II-RT

[Tleray]

[deebatman316]

OP has the original EF 50mm F/1.8 what other lenses do you own. Aside from the kit lens. 50mm, 85mm lens.

-Demetrius

40D, 5D IV, EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II, EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM, EF 50 F/1.8 STM

430EX III-RT, 600EX II-RT

[Tleray]

I do have the kit lenses so a total of 4

[Tronhard]

I would suggest that the R-series bodies are the way to go. As Demetrius noted, you will need to use your existing lenses on the R-series bodies with an adapter.  Given your budget and that you can use the existing lenses there are several possibilities.

1. going for a refurbished RP body:
a) It is going to give you better performance in low light than a higher MP crop sensor.  While one of the older R-series bodies it still holds up well and had great features for the kinds of photography you are considering.  I would check out reviews on YouTube.
You can use your existing EF lenses and get 26MP from the RP, but you were to consider the kit lenses designed for a crop-sensor body then there will be a reduction in MP recorded by a factor of about 2.5.  This will reduce your output on those lenses from 26MP to about 10MP.  At this point much depends on what you are going to produce, but given you say you it is about memories and scrap-booking, I believe that should be quite adequate.  If you use a FF lens you will get the full 26MP from the unit.   There is one available from the Canon Refurbished camera store: essentially working like new with a 1 year warranty, for $899 - HERE  is the link to that offering.
You could couple that with a Canon RF 24-240 lens - that is an excellent lens that covers a massive range and may be the only lens you need to use on the camera.  There is one available from the Refurb store for about $715 HERE - it just got sold, but you can keep an eye on the site for another. That would come to about $1600 (+adapter for your older glass), but you could sell your EF-S lenses to cover the difference if that was an issue. If they are not STM or Nano USM lenses they will focus quite slowly compared to the more modern units.

2. Go for the new Canon EOS R7.  This is a crop-sensor 32MP camera, and apart from requiring the same EF-RF adapter, your EF and EF-S lenses would render the full 32MP output.  It will not be as good in low light however - being both a smaller sensor and having more MP crammed in there.  It does has a brilliant tracking system however for moving subjects.

3. Similarly the Canon EOS R10 is a cheaper version, also APS-C but without some of the higher-end features of the R7.

To make it a bit easier, I have this link that compares the specs of the three cameras: HERE 
There is a comparison review from Northrop photography here 

[deebatman316]

Also OP your lenses will appear much shorter. Due to their being a 1x crop instead of a 1.6x crop your used to. Since you mentioned cheer team you may need longer lenses to compensate. Your results may vary when using older lenses. Older lenses tend to show their imperfections more on high megapixel bodies.

-Demetrius

40D, 5D IV, EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II, EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM, EF 50 F/1.8 STM

430EX III-RT, 600EX II-RT

[Tronhard]

"Also OP your lenses will appear much shorter."  For the FF sensor, I agree. However, the EF 85mm 1.8 on the RP will have the same FoV as the EF 50mm on an APS-C crop sensor body.  The 50mm f/1.8 will offer a new possibility at the wide angle end, and both lenses will benefit from the ability to have a shallower DoF on the FF body.  These are relatively fast lenses and will benefit from being on a FF body.  Neither of these is designed for distance or sports work in any case, and they are of a fixed focal length. They are both great for portrait work, but not so much when flexibility of focal length is beneficial to zoom in on the action.

Unless one of the kit lenses is the EF-S 55-250 STM, I would not retain them, and recycle the funds from selling them into a new lens. For family events and sports a zoom is much more flexible, hence my suggestion of the really excellent RF24-240 lens, that is designed to work with the R-series bodies.  Focus is fast, silent and reliable.  BTW, one can still set the RF to crop mode and thus reduce the FoV to that of an APS-C camera - it's in the menu system.

Here are a couple of links to reviews on this lens: From Cameralabs and Justin Abbott - both respected reviewers.