Time to go FF?

I live in Shanghai and a couple of major online shopping centers are starting to discount the 5D mkII (both body only and body+24-105 kit). Kind of wondering if it's time to go full FF. Or wait until the 5D mkIII is announced, see what it will affect the mkII price, and make a choice between the two. Any thoughts?

You could be waiting a week or a year for an upgrade to the 5DII, if you have the money and want the 5DII then go for it.

Go for it now. I did and am not looking back. We'll see what happens when the 5DIII comes out for me.

FF is soooo kewl.

What does the 5DII do that your 7D will not? Will it help you make better images, or is it just gear lust?

Yes, this is a serious question. Will your results REALLY get noticeably better by changing to the FF body? If "Yes," in what specific way?

nathancarter wrote in post #13040952
What does the 5DII do that your 7D will not? Will it help you make better images, or is it just gear lust?

Yes, this is a serious question. Will your results REALLY get noticeably better by changing to the FF body? If "Yes," in what specific way?

The 5DII had noticeably better IQ SOOC which means less PP time for me & playing @ high, usable, ISO at night is fun! Inb4 5DII vs 7D debate.

Personally, I NEVER buy anything at the first release for couple reasons. First, you pay more money at the initial release than you will if you wait. Second, the initial release usually has the most bugs (see 1D Mark III for example).

I prefer to wait until something comes out, read the reviews, talk to users, let the price come down some, and then I buy. If I was you, I would just get the 5DII and call it a day. It is a good camera.

nathancarter wrote in post #13040952
What does the 5DII do that your 7D will not? Will it help you make better images, or is it just gear lust?

Yes, this is a serious question. Will your results REALLY get noticeably better by changing to the FF body? If "Yes," in what specific way?

not this again. OP didn't even ask whether the 5d2 will be better than his 7d.

yes, the 5d will give cleaner high iso pictures and less dof that the 7d can't do. yes, it will give you better images and it has nothing to do with gear lust. for me the results were INSTANTLY noticeable the first day i shot with my 5d2. like i said, better noise, thinner dof, and the FF "look" that my t2i couldn't deliver. also the lens choices were much better for me on FF since i didn't have to account for the 1.6x anymore.

i don't wanna turn this into a debate but i don't get why someone always comes in and tries to say FF is not worth upgrading to. anyway OP, yes i think you should go for it now. the 5d2 came out in 08 but it still is the industry standard. even if the 5d3 comes out, the 5d2 will still be a great camera because it still has movie, high iso capabilities, oh and of course, the FF sensor. i'm never selling mine.

Yes, get the 5DII now, price isn't likely to drop dramatically when the III comes out.

Doooo it!!!

nikesupremedunk wrote in post #13041064
not this again. OP didn't even ask whether the 5d2 will be better than his 7d.

yes, the 5d will give cleaner high iso pictures and less dof that the 7d can't do. yes, it will give you better images and it has nothing to do with gear lust. for me the results were INSTANTLY noticeable the first day i shot with my 5d2. like i said, better noise, thinner dof, and the FF "look" that my t2i couldn't deliver. also the lens choices were much better for me on FF since i didn't have to account for the 1.6x anymore.

i don't wanna turn this into a debate but i don't get why someone always comes in and tries to say FF is not worth upgrading to. anyway OP, yes i think you should go for it now. the 5d2 came out in 08 but it still is the industry standard. even if the 5d3 comes out, the 5d2 will still be a great camera because it still has movie, high iso capabilities, oh and of course, the FF sensor. i'm never selling mine.

People always bring up the point because unless you really need full frame it isn't an upgrade at all, and in many ways is actually a downgrade. OP is asking for advice on whether to get the 5DII now or wait for the 5DIII to be released, however there is a third option of not getting it at all. Sure he may be one of those people that really needs it (although he should have it already if that is the case) but a lot of people just get it because it's full frame with no significant reasoning as to why it's better.

Thank you guys for your prompt input. I'd say it's 80% gear lust - always want something more expensive, aren't we all?! the other 20% would be cleaner picture at high ISO. I saw amazing pictures Teamspeed presented in his 7D high ISO mini-review. but whatever I tried, I couldn't get that clean look in my shots. I don't know if it's just copy variation or my poor technique.

I do believe full frame sensor is better than a smaller one - it doesn't take an expert to understand that. I mean, simply look at the price difference between 7D and 5D mkII, whereas general consensus is 7D is a better camera than 5DmkII in every respect except the sensor.

Another thought is I'm an average hobbyist who seldom shoots sports etc. which the 7D is good at. When I went from 450D to 7D, I did find AF became easier and more reliable. It's always good to have more AF points to choose from, makes me more comfortable when composing. But looking back, I can't recall I had any problem with the AF system of 450D. so I think it's good enough at least for me.

I have trips scheduled for the coming holidays. I will try borrow a 5D mkII body from a friend to get some first-hand experience. don't know if it's available. Anyway, I'll think about it.

Finally, I have no intention whatsoever to argue the merits of the two bodies. It's just some lonely guy thinking out loud Thanks again for your input - I might as well say "helpful", but again it will mean a hole in my pocket

Sounds good - I've made the decision to goo FF now too.

The Ran wrote in post #13041476
People always bring up the point because unless you really need full frame it isn't an upgrade at all, and in many ways is actually a downgrade. OP is asking for advice on whether to get the 5DII now or wait for the 5DIII to be released, however there is a third option of not getting it at all. Sure he may be one of those people that really needs it (although he should have it already if that is the case) but a lot of people just get it because it's full frame with no significant reasoning as to why it's better.

Nobody "needs" any sort of fancy camera. It's not valuable to even have this discussion against what somebody "needs".

And I'd like to ask you to explain, specifically, in what ways going FF might be a downgrade from crop? I'd also like to know whether you've ever actually seen FF images directly out of the camera.

ktownhero wrote in post #13041732
Nobody "needs" any sort of fancy camera. It's not valuable to even have this discussion against what somebody "needs".

And I'd like to ask you to explain, specifically, in what ways going FF might be a downgrade from crop? I'd also like to know whether you've ever actually seen FF images directly out of the camera.

Of course I've seen images from a full frame camera, most of them without realising. Generally full frame cameras have lower resolutions (currently the highest resolution crop body is ahead of the top full frame body, but that will likely change with the release of the 5DII and whatever the other manufacturers bring to the table), lower pixel densities that as a consequence gives crops their telephoto advantage (this is currently true and won't change until a 54mp full frame body comes out, by which time crops would have also gone up), they're generally slower when it comes to burst speeds (I assume this is partly due to the larger mirrors and shutters as the aforementioned lower resolutions means the files are no larger so it's not a memory issue), and of course there is the huge price difference.

Now I'm not saying full frame is bad or that there isn't a need for it, but if you don't have that need then why get it? Now two needs come to mind, better noise performance due to the lower pixel densities (you could get the same performance from a crop body but of course you'd lose resolution) and if you really need the wider field of view (for example if you have a lens for which there is no wider alternative such as the 17mm TS-E or 50mm f/1/1.2).

^^^
And shallow DOF, and different perspective.