Upgrade recommendations from an EOS 7D Mark II

[DiogoPinto]

Hi there,

I'm writing this because i want to ask your opinion on what camera should i get to upgrade from my 7d mark II.

I started with wildlife photography but i recently started to do sports photography (football) and at the moment i only have a Sigma 150-600.

My 7d started to show the ERR20 so i think is time to replace it. I never had a mirrorless camera but maybe its time to go that way. Im really confused and i would appreciate some reccomendations.

Thank you,

Diogo Pinto

[justadude]

The first question anyone here will want to know before advising you is "What is your budget?"  That will really give us a better idea on what we would suggest.

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Coming from a 10 yr old body, I think you are wise to consider mirrorless.  There is nothing wrong with DSLRs but given what you own now and where you plan to go (future) I think mirrorless makes the most sense.  

What kind of budget are you working with? 

I believe the R6mkII, R3 and R5 mkII are good candidates.  The latter two would be my first choices for sports.  I think you'll want some new lenses as well.  Knowing your budget would help us with suggestions.  

[ebiggs1]

"I'm writing this because i want to ask your opinion on what camera should i get to upgrade from my 7d mark II."

I suspect your 7D2 can be repaired if  need be. It is still a fine camera and while the way to go is mirrorless you are not likely to see monumental improvements in your photos. The first choices are probably the R10 and R8 models. The R10 being the crop version and the R8 the FF model. I think they are right around a grand. The R3 mentioned above is going to be well over $4000 bucks and not comparable to a 7D2. The R5 is a good choice at around $3000.

You Siggy C lens will work well with any of these with the Canon converter but get the plain one.

[shadowsports]

I think this ultimately a question of budget.  

[Tronhard]

Hi and welcome to the forum:

As my colleagues have already stressed, to find solutions that you can actually afford, we need a budget $value please!

I had the 7DII and it has been a fine camera, but the cost of repair (if it is still supported) might well exceed its value and make it more practical to replace it - and the technology has moved on significantly since then, with the new Mirrorless R-series cameras.  That is particularly true for the improved sensors, In-body Image stabilization of many of the FF and one of the crop-sensor bodies, fantastic face and eye tracking for people and animals that really let  you improve your focus hit rates, and the ability to see actual exposure in real time.

The closest body to the 7DII was supposed to be the R7, which is another APS-C camera, with a 32MP sensor.  However, Canon seemed to change the marketing message to suggesting it was more akin to the EOS 90D, which was not in the same category.  My own experience, and that of some others indicate it has some frame rate and focusing issues. As an ex 7D series user myself, I tried it and passed.
See this video from an Oz wildlife photographer that was akin to my own experience:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsmY4f1J0t8&t=2s 

What I would recommend, is going full-frame.  So far, it is in that area that Canon seemed to have put their main development, with some fantastic bodies offering excellent performance.   As Rick commented there is a multitude of offerings, depending on your wallet.

The Sigma 150-600c should work fine with one of those bodies, via a Canon EF-RF adapter - I have done exactly that for shooting wildlife and it worked seamlessly.   For both wildlife and football it would be a good starting optic. 

See these examples from our Share Your Photos section:
Testing the Sigma 150-600 Contemporary with the Ca... - Page 2 - Canon Community
Sigma 150-600c on a trip to the zoo - Canon Community

For further specialist advice on shooting football, I would recommend watching the series of videos from Brigham Young University: BYU - Guide to Photographing Football, Part 1 

Apart from the budget, it would be helpful to know that kinds of wildlife you shoot, and the conditions you are likely to encounter for both wildlife and sport - shooting in bright daylight vs dim or evening light can be quite different.

[DiogoPinto]

Hi again, 

First of all thanks to everyone for your answers. 

The ERR20 I think it's caused by the malfunction of the shutter, must certainly due to the high shutter count that the camera has. I will check with someone specialized in the area to see if it's worth the repair. 

My budget it's more or less 1000€, I know that is very low but if there's a camera that you think it's really worth it maybe I can extend the budget a little bit.

The conditions are very variable, rain, extreme sunlight and night shootings. 

[jrhoffman75]

Since you listed your budget in Euros it may not be feasible to buy from Keh but at least it gives you a benchmark for a used body. 

 

[Tronhard · Accepted solution]

Further to @Normandel's suggestion about getting the 7DII fixed.  I had a look on Canon's recently released (2024-11-01) list of gear no longer serviced, and the 7DII is not on that list.  This is confirmed by an article on Petapixel suggesting that your 7DII will be serviced until Jan 2027: This is How Long Canon Will Continue to Repair Your Camera | PetaPixel. In principle, Canon should repair it, although in my location they have declined to accept for repair gear that was shown as still supported, so it pays to check, but the question comes to down as much to the economy of cost to replace a shutter mechanism.

You could decide to stick with the 7DII and pay to repair it, accepting a risk that other components may well fail in the foreseeable future and repair may not be possible, given this camera has been well used and was released 10 years ago.  The question is whether the cost of repair is going to be approaching that of a replacement.  My colleague Normandel has a great respect and attachment to legacy gear, and I am by no means disdainful of DSLRs - I still own, and shoot with 6 DSLRs myself, so I hope that demonstrates that I am not biased here. 

However, you come to a decision that is not just about the cost or viability of repair...

This situation is not new: we saw it with the switch from film to digital and one can find similar significant changes throughout the history of photography as the technology changed - with the resultant dichotomy of reactions between those who like things the way they were and those who want to leverage the new tech.  I will happily admit that there are SLR and DSLR cameras that I would never sell because I have a deep attachment to them outside of pure functionality, but for most of my legacy gear I realized the significant advantages that a mirrorless camera can offer in getting the images I want.  I had the 7DII and loved it, but mirrorless offered me a better tool with significant benefits.

For me, having a fully articulating LCD screen was a great boon for going high or low, and the ability to see exposure in real time through the viewfinder or LCD is excellent for low light or high contrast scenarios. The focus and eye tracking are (to coin a vastly overused cliché) 'game changers' for wildlife and for sports shooters, where our subjects may be on the move or even obstructed by other animals or vegetation, and Canon makes the best tracking system out there at this time.   

However, this is not just a question of moving from the a DSLR to MILC, but also moving from crop-sensor to full-frame.  Like anything else, there are pro's and con's here.  An APS-C sensor pre-crops the image, offering what seems like a magnifying effect to the Field of View, but like everything else that comes at a cost: in terms of dynamic range and noise because of the smaller photosites.  There are inherent benefits to using a full-frame sensor in terms of noise control and dynamic range, and tolerance to low light conditions, but you do lose that magnifying effect.  So, much depends on the optics you use - and I can say from experience that the Sigma 150-600c is an excellent lens, so you use it with a FF MILC camera and crop from there.

The degree of cropping you need and the resultant loss of pixels then begs the question of what you are going to produce.  Any files for on-line or social media display is going to be massively downsized anyway, so I would not say that is an issue, and I have produced cropped images up to A2 size with no issue.  Furthermore, post production software applied to RAW images in particular can work miracles in terms of uprating file sizes, so there are options you can consider: the image is about far more than the camera body.

My point here is that there is much to consider...

I will leave you with a couple of images taken with the R series cameras and the Sigma 150-600c lens, so you can get an idea of what it offers.

This is the Sigma 150-600c used with the demanding R5, which is a 45MP camera that tends to show issues with gear or technique, and has the same focusing system as the R6 and a slightly older one compared to the R8.
Testing the Sigma 150-600 Contemporary with the Ca... - Page 2 - Canon Community

[Tronhard]

FWIW, having just seen John's post, I just had a look at MPB, which does offer cameras and lenses in Europe, and they offer the following listings for R8 bodies in Euros.  Given you indicated you could stretch the 1000€ budget somewhat, you might be able to afford one of these.  They too come with a warranty: Used Canon EOS R8 | MPB 
The EF-RF adapter is also available from MPB: Used Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R | MPB.