Upgrading, any recommendations?

[photocat93]

So, I've been using my little entry-level 450d now for the last 9 years. I prefered to just invest in lenses rather than new bodies and thus far it has served me well.

However, I'm really starting to notice it struggle recently; had some auto focus issues and the quality is really starting to show. I'm also using it for some part-time photography jobs at the moment which has really made the decision to upgrade important.

Any recommendations?

5d mark IV would be a dream but it's a little out of my price range. I've looked at two full frames: the 6d and the 5d mark iii and even looked over the 80d but I can't make a decision.

Before you ask, yes I shoot in manual and yes I have invested in EF lenses.

Thanks! 🙂 

[photocat93]

I've heard great things about the 5d mark iii. I guess for me as I do photography mostly part time it's whether I could justify the price for the return I'd get.

...though I haven't completely taken the 5d mark iii off my radar yet! XD

Sound advice though, Robertthefat, thank you!

[Suraj-Sun]

Check out the 5D Mark iii

[photocat93]

Straight to the point! 😄 Thank you ebiggs1!

[ScottyP]

Picking a camera body is hard if it will be your only camera. It forces you to really decide what matters most to your particular uses, and there will be a tradeoff required. 

The 7d2 is a great rugged tank with a super complex autofocus. If my use was hiking and rock climbing, in the rain, and I had a tendency to drop my camera or bang it on rocks I might need that durability and weather sealing. Or if my use was a lot of fast sports outdoors in daylight I might gravitate towards 7d for that.  If that was my general shooting style, but I was a couple notches less hard core, I'd probably go for the 80d to save some money for lenses. 

If, on the other hand, I was shooting indoor events I would seriously consider going full frame. The 6d on a budget or the 5d3 if I had a bigger budget and also wanted to keep my sports/rock-banging/rain shooting options open. 

Low light performance was most key key to me personally, so I went for the 6d and had money left over for good glass. Look at the DXO ratings for the maximum ISO at which each camera gives good image quality:

450d.    ISO 692

7d2.      ISO 1082

5d3.      ISO 2293

6d.        ISO 2340

Although DXO can be faulted for its seemingly arbitrary overall rankings, this low light score is pretty straight-forward. You can argue what image quality level equals "good" but at least their number seems to measure the cameras against each other apples to apples on this particular metric. 

I got out of crop sensors because cause I felt my shots were unacceptable by ISO 800, and this seems to bear my judgment out. Yes, you can use noise reduction but NR comes at the expense of resolution. As you apply NR you lose resolution, and you already have reduced resolution at higher ISO settings.  And yes, you could print a 5x7 or even 8x10 and not see a lot of that loss of quality but the reality is most of us nowadays don't print more than a small small fraction of what we shoot, and when we look at our photos it is not on a small print but on a 30" monitor. 

I will say I occasionally find the 6d AF a bit limiting on moving targets. I may look at the 6d2 when it comes out, or possibly a 5d3 or 5d4.  Another strategy would be to keep the 6d for most shooting but to pick up an 80d as a second camera for daytime sports, wildlife, etc.  

[Waddizzle]

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@ScottyP wrote:

Picking a camera body is hard if it will be your only camera. It forces you to really decide what matters most to your particular uses, and there will be a tradeoff required. 

The 7d2 is a great rugged tank with a super complex autofocus. If my use was hiking and rock climbing, in the rain, and I had a tendency to drop my camera or bang it on rocks I might need that durability and weather sealing. Or if my use was a lot of fast sports outdoors in daylight I might gravitate towards 7d for that.  If that was my general shooting style, but I was a couple notches less hard core, I'd probably go for the 80d to save some money for lenses. 

If, on the other hand, I was shooting indoor events I would seriously consider going full frame. The 6d on a budget or the 5d3 if I had a bigger budget and also wanted to keep my sports/rock-banging/rain shooting options open. 

Low light performance was most key key to me personally, so I went for the 6d and had money left over for good glass. Look at the DXO ratings for the maximum ISO at which each camera gives good image quality:

450d.    ISO 692

7d2.      ISO 1082

5d3.      ISO 2293

6d.        ISO 2340

Although DXO can be faulted for its seemingly arbitrary overall rankings, this low light score is pretty straight-forward. You can argue what image quality level equals "good" but at least their number seems to measure the cameras against each other apples to apples on this particular metric. 

I got out of crop sensors because cause I felt my shots were unacceptable by ISO 800, and this seems to bear my judgment out. Yes, you can use noise reduction but NR comes at the expense of resolution. As you apply NR you lose resolution, and you already have reduced resolution at higher ISO settings.  And yes, you could print a 5x7 or even 8x10 and not see a lot of that loss of quality but the reality is most of us nowadays don't print more than a small small fraction of what we shoot, and when we look at our photos it is not on a small print but on a 30" monitor. 

I will say I occasionally find the 6d AF a bit limiting on moving targets. I may look at the 6d2 when it comes out, or possibly a 5d3 or 5d4.  Another strategy would be to keep the 6d for most shooting but to pick up an 80d as a second camera for daytime sports, wildlife, etc.  

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Interesting.  Those DXO numbers seem to agree with my observations of the 80D having less noisy images compared to the 7D2.  The 80D is rated by DXO at 1153.  BTW, I went for the 6D for similar reasons as ScottyP.  The full frame images are on an entirely different level when it comes to noise and details.