Seeking fullframe camera body recommendation for sports/action photography

Having started to do more equine photography this year one thing I'm encountering more and more is that a 1.6 crop sensor body with a 70-200mm lens starts to become a bit too tightly cropped in many situations. I could change to a 24-70mm, but that's getting rather too short in focal length overall for most events and whilst you can crop down from a wider shot its not ideal. So I want to stick with the 70-200mm, but I want to also add a fullframe camera to my setup.

Right now my current setup is Canon 7D + Canon 70-200mm f2.8 MKII


A few thoughts:

1) Mirror less VS Mirrored - so honestly I've no problem with new technology and I can see that the big names are embracing mirrorless in a big way. My concerns with this are more if the video viewfinder can keep up with really action in an accurate manner. Ergo if it will keep time with events fast enough for me to be able to do things like equine photography and time shots to the leg movements, or for high magnification macro work and such. Ergo if the video is actually going to keep up.
Of course I accept that my EFS lenses would have to take an adaptor to mount onto mirrorless bodies and making a full jump to mirrorless is not on the cards right now.

2) Build quality. Because I'm out in all weathers I really need something that can at least equal if not beat the 7D build quality in terms of being able to beat the rain and all (and heck the 7DMK1 already has some issues at times with its focus point selector doodad which can get locked out during rain, something I believe was fixed in the 7DMII

3) New VS Old - new puts the cost up but also improves the features (esp for mirrorless); whilst old brings the price down considerably in some cases.


Overall I've really got no fixed budget right now, this is more testing the waters to see what others are using, what your impressions and experiences are and to really get a handle on the market. I've not been in the camera buying market for absolutely ages so I'm really just out of touch with developments and changes; even in some older bodies.

Right now my gut feeling is that one of the latter model second hand 5D line cameras might well be one of the best more affordable options; however I also know that some of the 1D line bodies have come down in price when secondhand. Again my primary focus for this is action/equine photography.

If you don't need to go all the way to FF to get the framing you want, a 1D4 with its 1.3 crop sensor would be a fine budget action camera. However, it is old enough that it is no longer supported by Canon (although that doesn't mean there are no repair options). $500-800. 16 MP.

I'm at a similar decision point about my next/second body. Wait for 5D4 to come down a bit more, wait to see what the R7 costs, see what happens to R5 and R6 prices...

The R5/6 are really where the action is on Canon these days; the R3 is the flagship model now and has a few things designed more specifically for sports, but costs commensurately more. The EVF lag is one of the things that kept me out of the mirrorless realm for a long time, but they've introduced a setting with these for amping up the response time (at the cost of some battery life) that makes it "close enough" to real time that it's no longer a trouble.

The ability to get AF tracking across the frame, not be beholden to specific AF points and the body/eye tracking AF are all things that just free up your shooting so much, it's really crazy. The 5 would give you a lot more room for adjusting your crops due to 45mp resolution, but the 6 is a little more budget friendly and still packs the same AF system along.

If you're just looking to stick with a dSLR, I'd look into the 5D4 since it pairs right up with the 7D as far as controls, AF systems, and control layout.

Thanks both - Anton I feel like because of the size of a horse and rider it would be much easier to go full frame and have a very clear distinction between that and my 7D. That way the choice of which to use becomes an either or rather than ending up in the middle which might not be suitable either way. It also means I could match the pair up at the same time (depending on the situation) and use one for closer and one for further shots.

Snydremark - yeah battery life is one of the big downsides to the EVF. With my 7D with a battery pack I can shoot all day and not worry one big about battery life; with the EVF I suspect I'd need at least 4 batteries to make it through a full day shooting without any worry. A pain, but not one I can't work with at least.

Right now if buying new it does seem like the R6 and 5DMIV might be the ones to fight over as they are roughly in the same price bracket. The R5 is insane at 45MP which would be fantastic for cropping, but its near double the price

Of course both the 5DMIV and R6 are not only near to £3K in price, but are also out of stock everywhere (which is no issue as I'm way off saving that amount up).

Be interesting to hear what people thought of second hand and budget options if just as "tide over" until both money and those cameras come back into stock. Might be the 5DMIII would be a decent choice in that regard which wouldn't eat up too much budget. 6DMII might well be superior, but its starting to get to nearly 50% of the cost of the 5DMIV/R6 which starts to get a bit messy budgeting wise.

A few quick thoughts:

Having shot with an R, and an R5/R6, I think the better EVF on the latter two is significant. I always felt like the R's viewfinder made me feel a bit disconnected from what I was seeing; the R5 and R6 are much closer to an OVF experience. I always suspected a lot of that had to do with the frame rate, but who knows...

Given the cameras you've mentioned, I'd seriously consider a 1Dx... I've seen them go for under $1000 USD, and I'd rather have that frame rate for jumping horses than a 5D3. Of course I'd much rather have either a 5D3 or 1Dx than a 6D2, if only for AF point spread. I do think that ultimately, the R6 would be a great camera for you, but if you can find a 1Dx in-budget in the meantime, that's how I would go...

Horse people are picky! And I don't mean that in a bad way (just in case anyone got offended). Rather, they are very particular about the photos.

I shot a bunch of Hunter/Jumper many years ago with my 5D3 (and the same lens as you). While I thought there were many keepers, the riders dismissed many of the shots. The issue was that the front hoof/leg position of the horse needs to be at an exact relative position. In other words, my frame rate was too low to get the bursts of frames during each jump.

I haven't shot equine sports in many years and certain not with my R6. But I don't imagine that EVF lag would be an issue based on some more recent dance recitals. However, Hunter/Jumper (or Dressage) aren't all that fast. If you're shooting something like harness or barrel racing, then I can't say. (And maybe that is more of a factor for using electronic shutter.) But compared to the flickering of a mirror slapping, I'll take mirrorless any day now.

With the amazing focus tracking, my "lowly" R6 (compared to the R5) is a dream. Having come from a 5-series, I think I'm supposed to be jealous for the R5 but that just hasn't happened yet.

Dasmith - you're right and learning the leg angles and such is a tricky thing. Some horses are super easy and just pose and move with big showy movements that make it near impossible to miss; others are a nightmare. Even jumping if the jumps are on the short side the window to get the show becomes exceptionally small to the point where sometimes the horse isn't even jumping its just stepping over.


The focus tracking on the new cameras is interesting, esp as I've seen they've got "animal eye" not just "human eye" tracking. Which could be really interesting to see in practice. Right now I tend to aim for the shoulder of the horse when tracking focus since that region moves a lot less than either rider or horse head. But it can mean that a slight angle from the horse and the head moves out of the plane of focus.

Overread wrote in post #19381298
Thanks both - Anton I feel like because of the size of a horse and rider it would be much easier to go full frame and have a very clear distinction between that and my 7D. That way the choice of which to use becomes an either or rather than ending up in the middle which might not be suitable either way. It also means I could match the pair up at the same time (depending on the situation) and use one for closer and one for further shots.

Snydremark - yeah battery life is one of the big downsides to the EVF. With my 7D with a battery pack I can shoot all day and not worry one big about battery life; with the EVF I suspect I'd need at least 4 batteries to make it through a full day shooting without any worry. A pain, but not one I can't work with at least.

Right now if buying new it does seem like the R6 and 5DMIV might be the ones to fight over as they are roughly in the same price bracket. The R5 is insane at 45MP which would be fantastic for cropping, but its near double the price

Of course both the 5DMIV and R6 are not only near to £3K in price, but are also out of stock everywhere (which is no issue as I'm way off saving that amount up).

Be interesting to hear what people thought of second hand and budget options if just as "tide over" until both money and those cameras come back into stock. Might be the 5DMIII would be a decent choice in that regard which wouldn't eat up too much budget. 6DMII might well be superior, but its starting to get to nearly 50% of the cost of the 5DMIV/R6 which starts to get a bit messy budgeting wise.

If buying new, the R6 would be the out front leader there, given the price points. If cost is one of your higher weighted criteria, I would look into a used 5DIV. the 6DII is a competent camera in its own right, but it is NOT an action camera. I think you'll quickly run into a wall with your results trying to adopt that slow of an AF system and that slow of burst shooting to action-style shooting.

Re: the battery sitch: Yeah, you'd just wind up compensating by bringing a handful of batteries; there are a couple of things that you can turn off, generally, that help bring the number of shots/time between battery changes maximized, too.

5D4, R6 or R5, those would be the top 3 considerations I would suggest (owning 2 of the 3 now). I use the 5D4 and R6 currently for sports, and have used the 5D4 for the past 5 years for paid sports/personal use sports.

The 5DS on the refurb store if you are in the US is an option too. Its AF is pretty decent for action, but probably not the best for all action.

Do not consider the R or RP for sports/action work IMO. I tried the R for sports and after a few games, I sold it. It was not a mirrorless 5D4 regardless of how many people tried to push it as such.

There is a lot of value to be had with the 1Dx if you are buying used. Excellent focusing system and noise management. It's just a joy to use.

The 5D4 will beat out the 1DX in both DR (almost 2 stops at low ISOs and they even out at about 1600) and noise management though, but loses out on battery life and burst rates, and the cool factor of the 1D series!