Megapixel gap running 2 bodies

[KennyRay]

Hey folks! Of you that are running 2 bodies on a project, are you shooting 2 different megapixel boxes? If so, what are the advantages/pitfalls?  For example, using the higher res exclusively for longer lenses for possible cropping but less MP for shorter and wide angle....

[wq9nsc · Accepted solution]

I don't think there is a single answer to this because it is so dependent upon what you are trying to accomplish.

Most of my photography is sports related and normally I shoot with both a 1DX and 1DX 2 with different lens setups for close and distant action but these two cameras have very similar sensor size/resolution.  But tonight I am going to throw a third camera in the mix briefly for basketball just to try something different and will shoot a few using a 5DS R with a 24-70 F2.8 lens for some different shot angles to see if I like the results. 

Possible benefits will be either the ability to crop more aggressively or to have more detail in a wide angle view with multiple players and if the results are at all compelling I will try it again to give the 5DS R a fair chance after I get used to it.  Right now it feels like a toy with a 24-70 2.8 lens mounted since I usually have a 200 F2 or 300 F2.8 on the 1DX 2 and a 70-200 F2.8 on the 1DX 🙂

If you aren't doing fast action photography, then I would use your "normal" size sensor camera and fill the sensor area to the extent that the layout of the scene allows.  If you need detailed large prints, then the higher MP camera comes into its own but it also creates big file sizes.  My 1DX 2 RAW files average 24-26 Mb in size while the test shots I did this morning with the 5DS R range from 62 to 75 Mb and even with a fast workstation the change in processing speed is noticeable when working with those big files.

Rodger

[cicopo]

If I can fill the frame any of the bodies I have will be fine, however if I'm going to need to crop the more megapixels I have the better my end result will be. My 1D2n still gets used because of this concept. (1Ds2, 1D4, 7D2).

[wq9nsc · Accepted solution]

I don't think there is a single answer to this because it is so dependent upon what you are trying to accomplish.

Most of my photography is sports related and normally I shoot with both a 1DX and 1DX 2 with different lens setups for close and distant action but these two cameras have very similar sensor size/resolution.  But tonight I am going to throw a third camera in the mix briefly for basketball just to try something different and will shoot a few using a 5DS R with a 24-70 F2.8 lens for some different shot angles to see if I like the results. 

Possible benefits will be either the ability to crop more aggressively or to have more detail in a wide angle view with multiple players and if the results are at all compelling I will try it again to give the 5DS R a fair chance after I get used to it.  Right now it feels like a toy with a 24-70 2.8 lens mounted since I usually have a 200 F2 or 300 F2.8 on the 1DX 2 and a 70-200 F2.8 on the 1DX 🙂

If you aren't doing fast action photography, then I would use your "normal" size sensor camera and fill the sensor area to the extent that the layout of the scene allows.  If you need detailed large prints, then the higher MP camera comes into its own but it also creates big file sizes.  My 1DX 2 RAW files average 24-26 Mb in size while the test shots I did this morning with the 5DS R range from 62 to 75 Mb and even with a fast workstation the change in processing speed is noticeable when working with those big files.

Rodger

[Waddizzle]

I think there is far more to it than sheer MP count. The camera body must judged as whole, as well as the task that you set before it.

For example, I would rather use my 16MP 1D4 for shooting sports and wildlife than my 24MP M3.

[KennyRay]

Thanks, Waddizzle. Care to elaborate a bit...?

[Waddizzle]

@KennyRay
What is there to elaborate on? There is a world of difference between the two camera bodies beginning with their frame rates of continuous shooting.

[ebiggs1 · Accepted solution]

"... are you shooting 2 different megapixel boxes?"

Yes almost every single time. I do have a preference of which lens I use on certain bodies. It is because of sensor size thgouh and not MP count.  Megapixels are another greatly misunderstood camera spec. If I compared my 1Ds Mk III to my 1DX the MP would hardly be noticeable.  

How you intend on using your work is far more important than MP count.  If it is a FB u/l any darn camera will do just fine.  Even a smartphone!  If it is a nice 11x14" art photo of a bride, yeah, I am going to want my best camera.

Another point is newer tech, meaning newer sensors, is going to trump more MP from older cameras.  Every time! The bottom line is not just how many MP do I have.

[wq9nsc]

One difference I quickly noticed when working with a "high megapixel" camera is that when doing a fast review of the images after shooting, some of the images I would have quickly rejected from the other cameras are OK images once you account for the size and potential resolution difference from a camera with 2.5X the number of pixels as the other camera.  So I have to take a much closer look at the images from the 5DS R before rejecting them.

I am still learning whether the 5DS R has any place for me in sports shooting.  In comparison to the 1DX and 1DX 2 bodies, it is at a clear disadvantage in terms of low light sensor noise performance and AF speed.  I have now casually shot two basketball games with it as a third camera in the mix, the first was with a 24-70 F2.8 which produced a few OK images and last night I tried my inexpensive 85 F1.8 on it (set at F2) and was a bit happier with the results.  But to be fair to it, I am going to try part of a game with the 200MM F2 on it and see what that adds or detracts from the mix.

For a bit of data, I casually shot a freshman B-ball game last night while talking soccer with some of the players about the upcoming season so I wasn't focused on the game as much as I should have been.  I took 36 exposures with the 5DS R and kept 7 as being usable.  I took another 181 between the 1DX and 1DX 2 bodies and uploaded 74 of those for the players and their families to share.  All three camera were set to manual exposure (F2 @ 1/640 for the 1DX 2, F2.8 @ 1/500 for the 1DX, and F1.8 - F2 mostly at 1/500 for the 5DS R) all set for auto ISO to let sensor speed float based upon lighting across the court.  All three cameras were all in single shot drive mode to cut down on the number of images I had to review set to servo AF mode Case 4 with a single point selected.

I got home from the game around 8:30, did a quick and dirty post using only DPP (custom recipe along with cropping and sometimes slight exposure adjustment for individual images) and had them processed and uploaded in under an hour after I got home.  This will probably be the only freshman game I shoot this season so I kept some images I would normally discard in order for each player to be featured in a few and many imgaes would definitely benefit from additional post but lots of time is one thing I don't have for the next few days.  I also had a "hot" pixel pop up in a few of my 1DX photos so I will activate its sensor cleaning process so that it will append this data before its next use.  The 1DX has been a great body and continues to work very well. 

Not sure if the forum removes links but here is the freshman boys smugmug link, I will probably do additional post work on some of these later for some of my former soccer players who unfortunately gave up soccer for basketball 😞 

https://rodgersingley.smugmug.com/Freshman-Baskeball-January-22/n-Khgb82

Rodger

[ebiggs1]

Rodger you got some nice shots there and I bet the parents will be thrilled. A lot of this is a once in a life time thing.  But the shallow DOF from the fast aperture teles sure is apparent in some.  BTW, I think you might want to try using the high speed shooting mode.  It might help eliminate that odd hand in front of the face, ball in the wrong spot, etc. type things.

[wq9nsc]

Thanks Ernie and I will be using high speed drive for the varsity game next Tuesday but I knew that I will be spending a lot of time with a paid consulting project over the next few days so I wasn't going to have hours to spend going through a lot of images.  With any luck this project will be finished over the weekend and I can go back to retirement 🙂

I am pretty good at triggering single shots from the 1 series bodies in high speed drive mode when I am fully focused on the game but I knew that wouldn't be the case last night with lots of people distracting me.  The varsity game is a bit more serious.

Rodger