Canon 7D + 70-200 f2.8 MK II IS OR 5DMKiii + 70-200 f4 IS ?

What is the better combo? Any insights please?
Thank you.....

For weddings and portraits? probably the 5D

for wildlife? probably the 7D although 200mm is pretty short for wildlife.

I would usually say focus on the lens first, but I am happy with my 70-200 f/4L IS. I think that it is the sharpest lens in the bag, as good if not better as any of my primes. I know people love their 2.8 IS II, but I compared my f4 with that lens and I still think that it is sharper.

70-200 f/4L IS on 5D Mark III

2880 x 1920

EMBED PREVENTED, IMAGE TOO LARGE: http://farm9.staticfli​ckr.com …77706692_9b2de0​d18f_o.jpg Click here to see our image rules.

Might want to resize that photo loft....

It would be better if you could tell us what your purpose of shooting and what your current gear is.

To me, lenses are the better investments.

-MC

The FOV range on the 7D and the 5DMKiii will be very different with both on 70-200 lenses.

I would get the 5D combo, as it will be easier to get your money back on the 70-200 f4 later vs if you upgrade the 7D later.

I have the 7D + 70-200IS II combo, and would consider the 5Diii but for the sports I shoot the lenses that gives me the reach of the 7D is out of my price range (300 2.8).

Get the 5d combo.

normally i would say go for the better lens first but honestly, i am so freaking happy with my 5DmkIII that i am almost leaning toward the 5D option

I too am still in my honeymoon phase with the 5DIII, but I'm also still firmly entranced by the 70-200 II. Hrm...

I think that the characteristics of the f/4 and f/2.8 are similar enough (the stop of aperture notwithstanding) that the advantages of the 5DIII make that combo the better option.

silly question, here is the correct answer, go the 5d mk3 and the 70-200mm f/2.8, need you even ask us?

Thats like buying a ferrari with option of 15" wheels. Great camera and uber super great lens. Trust me!

What are you shooting? Action, wildlife, portraits, still life, macro....... We all have an opinion on what we'd buy but to help you we need to know what you'll use the combo for.

Personally, after going FF I really don't want to go back to crop, but I sometimes consider it for if/when I shoot wildlife. Using my 17-40L, 24mm f/1.4L, and 24mm f/3.5L to their fullest (widest) potential is invaluable to me, so given the choice, I'd buy a full frame first.

That lens can be "extended" with 2X or 1.4X teleconverters and still be really sharp. Not quite as sharp as a prime, but still really sharp except for the most critical needs of pixel peepers and bird photographers. That was my first L glass and I love it. It is the reason that I now have several more L lenses.

That lens and the 7D is a real winning combination. Depending on what you want to shoot, that lens and the 5D Mk3 would also be a great portrait and wedding combination although I might prefer a prime for the utmost in portrait image sharpness. Something like the very expensive 85 mm f/1.2L.

Albert Nam wrote in post #14737130
I too am still in my honeymoon phase with the 5DIII, but I'm also still firmly entranced by the 70-200 II. Hrm...

I think that the characteristics of the f/4 and f/2.8 are similar enough (the stop of aperture notwithstanding) that the advantages of the 5DIII make that combo the better option.

Me to and I agree with your comment. If your not concerned about shallow depth that the F/2.8 gives, i would opt for 5D3 and 70-200 F/4 is.....5d3 is very clean and useful at 8000 iso, especially with fill from a flash.

I don't have any real experience with the 5D3 yet, so take this with a grain of salt. That said...

Everything depends on how much "reach" you really need. The 7D + 70-200 f/2.8 gets you the same thing in terms of angle of view and depth of field as a 112-320 f/4.5 lens would get you on the 5D3. Note that on the 5D3 with your f/4 lens, you'll have to crank the ISO up another stop in order to achieve the same shutter speeds as the 7D.

However, the 5D3 has at least 1.5 stops or so on the 7D in terms of high ISO performance, based on the comments I've seen elsewhere on this site, and the larger photosites should yield a sharper rendering of the image projected by the 70-200 f/4L, so the 5D3 should get you sharper and cleaner images than the 7D even with the ISO increased by one stop over the 7D in order to compensate for the one stop difference in the lens. Normally the 7D would have a sharpness advantage in the corners and edges, since it's recording only the center part of the lens' image projection, but the 70-200 f/4L is so amazingly good that it yields excellent results from corner to corner on full frame. Also keep in mind that the 5D3 does have a higher resolution than the 7D, at 22 megapixels versus 18, so you'll be able to record more detail in the frame with the 5D3.


Bottom line: unless you really need the additional "reach" of the 7D and are willing to sacrifice a bit of high ISO performance to get it, the 5D3 + 70-200 f/4L is, I think, the way to go. And I'm saying that as a big fan of the 7D...