Upgrading to Mirrorless for Sports, Concerts and Theater

[mteat93]

Hi everyone,

I have been using a Canon 7D Mark II for close to 10 years. I shoot concerts, live theater and other on stage performances and sports (mostly soccer). I work for a ballet company where I shoot in their studios during class and rehearsals as well as any performances they hold. I have a small set of lenses I use regularly including a 70-200mm f/2.8 and 24-70mm f/2.8. I've been really unhappy with the 24-70 lens since I bought it a year ago but am also noticing that my camera body just isn't holding up like it used to. 

I'm hoping to make the switch to mirrorless but am a little overwhelmed with the amount of information out there. I'm not sure if full frame or crop sensor is the way to go - I'd like to focus more on concert and theater photography over sports at the moment, but know that shooting sports is always a fun hobby for me. I'm trying to stay under $1800 and invest in the lens mount adapter until I'm able to upgrade my lenses. At the moment, I'm leaning towards the R7 for cost purposes but I certainly need something that's good for low light and has great focus/tracking. 

Any suggestions or additional information are welcome and appreciated! 

[deebatman316]

Have you looked into the EOS R7's specs to see about it. Do you want to stay with APS-C or move to Full Frame. For Full Frame look into the EOS R8. This is an entry level Full Frame mirrorless camera. Is low light always a problem for you. Full Frame may be a better choice for you than APS-C. 

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Your primary lenses are full frame so I suggest you stick with full frame mirrorless.  Slightly above your budget, the R6 Mark II is what I would recommend.  Refurb is $1799 right now. 

https://www.usa.canon.com/shop/p/refurbished-eos-r6-mark-ii-body?srsltid=AfmBOoruy0k3FfKTj5iggSMNZYw...

 Demetrius has made an excellent recommendation too.  Being very mindful of your budget.  You'll need a body and an EF to RF adapter.  That's about $125.  

Tell us more about your EF24-70 f2.8?  Why aren't you happy with it?  The two biggest concerns with that lens is no IS and the potential for premature ribbon cable failure.  Performance wise, it's one of Canon's best.  On a crop body or FF sensor.

Here's a great side-by-side comparison of the R8 versus the R6 Mark II.

https://cameradecision.com/compare/Canon-EOS-R8-vs-Canon-EOS-R6-Mark-II

I played with an R8 at Best Buy last week.  It's a nice little camera, smaller than I care for, but excellent performance and build quality.  It doesn't have IBIS.  Is that a deal-breaker, no.  However, if you can afford it, the R6mkII gives you IBIS, two memory slots and a slight improvement in low light performance over the R8.  So you can take pictures indoors with the 70-200 with shutter speeds that will freeze motion without making your pictures too dark or grainy due to increased ISO.  

Will you get the same with the R8, absolutely you can, but you're going to need to worry about camera shake and not having the same level of performance forgiveness when shooting dimly lit venues or fast-moving sports.

Last major consideration.  The battery in the R6 Mark II is larger and more powerful.  I'm sure I don't need to explain that benefit 🙂.

If you can, visit Costco or Best Buy, check out both cameras.  Hold them. The  24-70 is a super light lens because it doesn't have IS but the 70-200 adapted on the front of an R8 might not feel as well balanced than It would on the R6 Mark II.  Whatever you decide on,  I'm certain Canon mirrorless will put a smile on your face.  

[deebatman316]

Spot on again Rick. Similar minds think alike. I'm still wondering why the OP doesn't like the EF 24-70mm F/2.8L USM lens lineup. I have that lens mounted on my camera 90% of the time. It probably has to do with the EOS 7D Mark II's 1.6x crop. That makes the lens have not an ideal focal range. I use my EF 16-35mm F/2.8L III USM lens on my old EOS 40D as a standard zoom. It provides a much better focal range but its no longer as wide as it would be on a Full Frame camera. I also agree with you on the EOS R6 Mark II suggestion I was going to suggest that but it was out of the OP's price range. The EOS R8 is basically a Rebel series camera with a Full Frame sensor. It is a light camera compared to the EOS R6 Mark II or EOS R5 Mark II. Now for IBIS in the EOS R6 Mark II that is a great upgrade especially for the EF 24-70mm F/2.8L USM lens lineup with no IS. Also if the OP has the EF 70-200mm F/2.8L USM (non-IS) version of the lens. They'll get the benefit of stabilization for non-IS lenses and additional stabilization for lenses with IS. Such as if the OP has one of the EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS USM lens lineup. I very much think the OP will benefit much more from a Full Frame camera over an APS-C camera.

[mteat93]

Hi there,

Thanks for the recs! I had kind of pushed anything outside of that $1800 mark out of my mind for financial reasons but knowing refurbished is an option I’ll have to revisit and look into the R6. Thank you for putting the R8 into perspective as a “Rebel”. That gives me a better understanding. I also recently went to Best Buy to get a feel for them and all of the ones I used were so light and different than what I’m used to. 

Re: the 24-70 lens, I’ve just had a really, REALLY hard time getting a sharp image with it. I was so excited to add it to the lineup and I dread any time I have to toss it on now. Could be user error but I’ve been shooting action sports and theater since college (10 years-ish) and have a pretty good hold on my settings so I’m not sure what will fix it. 

Im thinking since sports isn’t as big of a concern for me at the moment that a full frame would be the way to go which is also helpful in narrowing down my options. 

Thanks for your help!

[mteat93]

Super helpful, thank you! 
I mentioned below about the 24-70 lens, but the cliff notes version is that I’ve just had a really difficult time getting a sharp image on it. 

Thank you for some additional options to think through! Helps me narrow down my choices.