Anybody shot sports with a 5D?

I've read that the 5D isn't too good for sports - I think it's the autofocus system?

I'm shooting mostly motorsport with a 7D and, to be absolutely honest, while I'm happy overall with results so far, I'm disappointed with the noise results, especially in the ISO200-800 range, when I expected better. Above 800 I really don't mind a bit of noise as I expect it to be there and consider it a fair trade for the low-light shooting capability, but when I crank it up just a bit to accommodate for shade or clouds, well like I said, it's disappointing.

Add to this my instinctive craving for a full-size sensor and it leaves me wondering......

I can't afford a 1Ds, so that leaves the 5D. I love the autofocus abilities of the 7d, which has knocked me out (in fact I find myself with more keepers after a day's shooting than I have time to process) but I used to shoot motorsports with an A1 and AE1-P, so I'm familiar with pre-focus techniques.

So, has anybody tried shooting sports with a 5D? Was the IQ improvement worth the lack of lightning-fast focus?

If you've any shots to share, that would be great.

Steve, this doesn't specifically answer your question about using a 5D, but...
For me, any dslr can be used to shoot pretty much anything as long as the user has the ability and also understands the limitations of that particular body and uses it accordingly.
I shot motorsport, and plenty of different types from circuit to rally, with a 10D for about 3 years with no problems.
The af on the 10D isn't as good as a 5D but I think a comparison between the two is probably a fair one given its age and technology.
Even now, I sometimes use a 400d as third body when I need it.
Would I be happy to use a 5D to shoot motorsport?
I wouldn't hesitate.

Further to that, here are the first two pics from a sequence of three (only because I cant attach the third pic) taken with a 300d and kit lens.
They were taken by a someone who was providing me with extra images for an event I was shooting in 2010.

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philwillmedia wrote in post #12608327
...For me, any dslr can be used to shoot pretty much anything as long as the user has the ability and also understands the limitations of that particular body and uses it accordingly.....

Absolutely. I 'came back' to photography after giving it away back in the days of film and have only a few months ago felt that affordable digital SLRs are now good enough to perform acceptably - though the 7D should take a lot of the credit for that. My old A1 and AE-1P were manual focus but I still managed to get plenty of good shots.

Crop sensor and lightning-fast focus or full-frame sensor and not-so-fast focus. Is it that simple? And if so, does the 5D offer sufficiently-improved image quality (especially in the ISO 100-800 range) to justify me changing over?

The outer points are not the most reliable but they work well enough if you have an idea of how to get the best out of them. With that said, I shoot very little sports (only 3 events) but have these using a 5DII (pretty much the same AF as the 5D).

I haven't shot motorsports but understanding the dynamics, a 5D should have no problems with track sports.

btw. I sold a 7D to get a second 5DII for the reasons you are mentioning.

http://www.bwkphotogra​phy.com …ro-Cycling/13751330_QNTaj

The 7D pixel pitch is too small for good photo and FFDSLR w/ larger pixels are the way to IQ.
Your most reliable AF is to use the center point ... so outer points are somewhat a mute issue.
Action and Good IQ is 1Ds and 1D specific but 5D and 5DII do it nicely at better cost.

A friend of mine shoots snowboarding - on a professional level - on a mark II, if that means anything.

The only thing I can think of that the 5D that cant do is a fast rate of frames per sec
Other than that, the 5D is super capable
If you rely in machine gun shooting to get the shot,the 5D is at a disadvantage against other models like the 7D or 1Ds, but even with the disadvantage, if you are good following the action the 5D will give you amazing results

It works! Heck before AF people shot sports with MF and I still do sometimes when I only bring my FX.

The 5d sure can shoot sports, but there is definately cameras that are better suited for it.

Depends what you're shooting.

Aircraft are often at infinity focus anyway, so you can shoot them easily.

Field sports can be difficult due to unpredictable, fast movement.

You can shoot tortoise racing with just about anything.

philwillmedia wrote in post #12608327
any dslr can be used to shoot pretty much anything...

To emphasize this point, first, a couple of sports images from a T2i.

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Was this center point focus and crop for comp or did you use an outer point?

bohdank wrote in post #12608794

Slightly cropped. The original has about 1.5 feet of sky above his head. leftmost point. AI Servo.

135L
F2
ISO 800
1/3200 s

5Dc with Tamron 28-75 2.8

at f2.8 ISO 100

DC Fan wrote in post #12609556
With 21st-century Canon DSLR's, the main limits are imposed by the operators, not the equipment.

While I agree, the bodies with better AF are there to make sure you end up with more keepers, and if that is your bread and butter, then that means more revenue. Just like the 5D2 is more forgiving with exposure errors than the 7D, for example, the 7D AF is more forgiving than the 5D for tough situations or user inability to keep a single AF point on the action.

There are fast events that the 5D cannot keep up, as well as those times that your subject material disappears just for a split second, then reappears, etc. The 7D and 1D series have the leg up on more predictive AF for those situations, and will give you substantially more keepers than the 5D series.

No examples here, IMO, really pose much of an AF issue, no matter the camera. It shows more the skill of the photographer being able to pan well with a given AF point and snap off a few shots during the action.

The 7D has certainly better AF, if you find you need it.