7D vs 5D Mark II / III for Shooting with Strobes

Hi there,
I guess this is an odd question,
But I'm about to purchase a 5D Mark III and currently have the Mark II and a 7D, I'm going to sell one of the bodies but having a bit of a hard time deciding which.

The extra 1000 bucks I would get from selling the 5D Mark II would help, and I do like having the crop sensor to have my 35mm lens into a 50mm lens etc etc but I just pondered, and never realized that the 7D may be a better camera for my Strobe set up.

1) 1/250th sync speed. Corresponds to my Cybercommander's sync speed and better than 1/200th.

2) AF Assist beam may work if Cyber Commander is in the hot shoe (not sure, yet have to go home and try it out!) (useful for not having the Modelling lamp on during location shoots @ night)

3) 70-200mm has longer range

I'm really interested to see if #2 works, the 5D Mark II has no AF assist beam and without modelling lamp which kills my VML's battery, it's sometimes hard to get focus in the dark.

I don't know why I never thought about using the 7D for the sync speed, since I never use above iso 200 when I use strobes it seems like a no brainer.

Anyone else do the same or think the same ?

1) In the studio shutter speed is irrelevant. Outside the studio an extra 1/50th is handy, but you can use ND filters if you really need a lower shutter.
2) Not really sure what you mean. Put a flash in the hotshoe and you get AF assist, put your transmitter on via the PC socket. Do you use the built in flash for AF assist? That's not awsome.
3) Does that really matter with strobes?
4) I use up to ISO6400 when I use strobes, it depends what I'm trying to achieve, and the level of ambient light.

What and where are you shooting?

I have a 7D, and use it with my Einsteins...

When you say AF assist, do you mean the pop-up flash on the 7D? If you have something in the hotshoe, the pop-up flash will not pop up. The pop-up flash also interferes with the hotshoe.

cybercommander on hot shoe and focus assist. I need to get that 7d.

I have yet to try my 5dmk3 on a night shoot. 5dmk2 failed real bad as it won't focus as I had no flash on camera for af asssist. You can use flash,ste or these triggers with passthrough.

Yeah I was on complete crack on #2.

The flash doesn't open up if the hotshoe is filled up. I thought the 7D had IR in the body.

I am on location and the extra /50th of a second helps. more over it corresponds to my Cyber Commander which does not allow for 1/3 stops in the menu so I can't get to 1/200th of a second.

tim wrote in post #14775674
1)
2) Not really sure what you mean. Put a flash in the hotshoe and you get AF assist, put your transmitter on via the PC socket. Do you use the built in flash for AF assist? That's not awsome.


What and where are you shooting?

The Cybercommander was meant to be in the hotshoe, I suppose your right though I could just put a 580EX II in the hot shoe and get AF Assist that way but then my CC would be hanging somewhere dawdling.

btdvox wrote in post #14789078
The Cybercommander was meant to be in the hotshoe, I suppose your right though I could just put a 580EX II in the hot shoe and get AF Assist that way but then my CC would be hanging somewhere dawdling.

Velcro. See the photo of my setup about seven photos down in this thread.