upgrade from 550d

Hi all,

Not a regular poster but some of you have been very good in replying back & advising me in the past. I'm a keen amateur who's had a rebel 550d for two years or so having previously used point & shoots.

In the two years, I've learnt lots of techniques, brought a number of new lenses but feel I'm at that stage where I'm ready for a move onto something better. My main reason behind this decision is ISO performance in that anything above 400 is awful.

There are two questions I'd like to put out there, simply because I don't have much experience in upgrading & kit. 1) what Canon alternatives would people suggest for an upgrade where I would see significant improvement in ISO performance & AF. 2) I've got a 50mm & 85mm primes together with a tamron 70-300mm & sigma 17-70mm which I am looking to keep & use with a new model. Will they all fit on any canon body?

Budget-wise I'm quite open. I know I'm not good enough to turn pro anytime soon & as such, the 5d Mk2 at £2.4k is not something I can justify but 2nd hand bodies are something I would consider. I can comfortably go up to £1.2k & beyond.

Thanks for any pointers.

It's all in the eye of the beholder, of course, but I hardly consider ISO 800 and up on the 550D/T2i to be "awful."

But whatever, unfortunately, your camera has the most advanced APS-C sensor in terms of ISO performance in the Canon lineup, which means you are talking about FF for any significant improvement. Budget-wise, you've already ruled them all out. Even if you could stretch for a used 5DII, you would be taking a step backward in AF.

The 5D may be something to consider, but it is a pretty old design. Great camera (by reputation; I've never owned one), but old design at this point.

In terms of AF, the 7D, 60D, 650D, 700D all have superior AF to your 550D, but they share the same ISO performance.

If you could stretch for a 6D, that might be your upgrade path.

If you want significant improvements in ISO performance and in AF there are basically only 2 options: the 5D3 and the 1Dx (that is when you only consider cameras which are still available new too). All other options will be tradeoffs. But if you don't want to spend so much money and you want a new camera the 6D would be the best option I guess.

thanks for the early replies, 6d & 7d are the early contenders but surprised that the sensor is the same across all this series - is that because canon/it's customers were satisfied with it?

is there much between the 6d & 7d? and will the existing lenses ive got go onto say the 6d/7d? i guess the answer is a clear yes given they're all eos' & it's the same sensor, meaning i'll still have the crop factor which does have it's advantages

The T2i should be able to shoot ISO 800 without unacceptable noise as long as you aren't underexposing and pulling up in post. ETTR is a technique that can help shoot much cleaner higher ISO with that sensor.

FF is the only way you're going to get significantly better ISO performance. And for great AF, you are at 5d3/1Dx territory. 6d is an option as well.

wellsie82 wrote in post #15953840
thanks for the early replies, 6d & 7d are the early contenders but surprised that the sensor is the same across all this series - ...

The 7D, 550D, 60D & 600D all share the same sensor.

The 650D has "basically" the same sensor, with some on-sensor contrast AF cells added to allow some AF function during video, and the 700D further improved the performance of those contrast AF cells. But neither has any significant improvement in ISO performance.

My first DSLR was the 550D, and then migrated to the 5d2. I'd say ISO performance is maybe a stop better than the T2i. I always thought the T2i had really good ISO performance, as there were no issue running 1600 - 3200ISO unless under-exposed.

Auto-focus is better on the 5d2 than the T2i. For some reason the center focal point on the 5d2 is better, but the outside marks are about the same.

I thought the 5d2 was expensive, for what you get, but over-all I'm pleased with the camera. Had I to do it over again, I would have waited until the prices dropped further, as they are 500 bucks cheaper now. If you want 35mm digital sensor, with good ISO performance, and really good reliability, I would recommend the 5d2.

While the 5D3's AF is good, the 6D's doesn't blow and is better than the T2i's. ISO performance wise the 6D has the edge over all of them.

But also look at your lenses as a possible contributor to your AF dissatisfaction.

wellsie82 wrote in post #15953840
thanks for the early replies, 6d & 7d are the early contenders but surprised that the sensor is the same across all this series - is that because canon/it's customers were satisfied with it?

is there much between the 6d & 7d? and will the existing lenses ive got go onto say the 6d/7d? i guess the answer is a clear yes given they're all eos' & it's the same sensor, meaning i'll still have the crop factor which does have it's advantages

for clarification the 6d does not have the same sensor as the 7d and it is a full frame camera (newest one canon has), you would see significant iso/iq between it and your t2i

and no your sigma won't fit on the 6d as it is a ef mount not an ef-s

wellsie82 wrote in post #15953840
thanks for the early replies, 6d & 7d are the early contenders but surprised that the sensor is the same across all this series - is that because canon/it's customers were satisfied with it?

It's more likely because Canon has hit a wall in their sensor fabrication capability.

The 6D is about 2 stops better in terms of high ISO noise performance than the 7D. It's amazingly good at high ISOs.

Its autofocus is decent. The center point is apparently quite excellent. The outer points are apparently reasonable (better than the 5D2's outer points, which most regard as pathetic), but are only sensitive to unidirectional detail. Its autofocus is certainly better in terms of sensitivity than your 550D's.

If you want performance approaching what the 6D can do at high ISOs and want autofocus that is a major improvement over what you currently have, your only real non-stratospheric option is the 5D3.

All your lenses except your 17-70 will work perfectly on both bodies. Your 17-70 will, I believe, mount and "work" on the 6D, but the image circle it produces will not cover the entire frame for at least some focal lengths (and possibly all). It will work perfectly on the 7D.

The posters who said the 17-70 will not mount on the 6D are incorrect. Canon EF-S lenses extend further towards the sensor than do standard Canon EF lenses, but I'm pretty sure the Sigma was not built in that way, since Sigma targets their lenses at multiple camera manufacturers. There is a slight difference in the mounting flange between EF and EF-S, but Sigma uses the standard EF mounting flange on their lenses, so it will at least mount on the 6D. The real question is whether or not the mirror will impact the rear of the lens, and I expect that the answer to that is "no".

wellsie82 wrote in post #15953667
Hi all,

Not a regular poster but some of you have been very good in replying back & advising me in the past. I'm a keen amateur who's had a rebel 550d for two years or so having previously used point & shoots.

In the two years, I've learnt lots of techniques, brought a number of new lenses but feel I'm at that stage where I'm ready for a move onto something better. My main reason behind this decision is ISO performance in that anything above 400 is awful.

There are two questions I'd like to put out there, simply because I don't have much experience in upgrading & kit. 1) what Canon alternatives would people suggest for an upgrade where I would see significant improvement in ISO performance & AF. 2) I've got a 50mm & 85mm primes together with a tamron 70-300mm & sigma 17-70mm which I am looking to keep & use with a new model. Will they all fit on any canon body?

Budget-wise I'm quite open. I know I'm not good enough to turn pro anytime soon & as such, the 5d Mk2 at £2.4k is not something I can justify but 2nd hand bodies are something I would consider. I can comfortably go up to £1.2k & beyond.

Thanks for any pointers.

I'm sorry if this is too blunt, but if ISO 800 is "awful" on your T2i you're doing something wrong. I had no problems going all the way up to 1600ISO on my T2i and got decent results, many people say it's useable all the way up to 6400, but that was pushing it for me.

thanks for the recent replies guys - this is all very helpful

when some of you have said ISO 1600 is ok on your images, are you saying it is free from noise or that there's noise but it's "acceptable". perhaps its my expectations here as opposed to the overall performance? that said, ive got a week off work next week so i'll be aiming to recheck the performance on higher ISO's in different scenarios

although the 7d has the same sensor, ive seen no end of reviews describing the ISO performance to be much better - how could this be?

thanks for confirming on the optics, should i decide to upgrade it's reassuring to know that i could continue to use them without having further expense

wellsie82 wrote in post #15955672
thanks for the recent replies guys - this is all very helpful

when some of you have said ISO 1600 is ok on your images, are you saying it is free from noise or that there's noise but it's "acceptable". perhaps its my expectations here as opposed to the overall performance? that said, ive got a week off work next week so i'll be aiming to recheck the performance on higher ISO's in different scenarios

Before you upgrade to anything, take a look at this thread: https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1079217

It's highly informative about how to get the most out of your high ISO images, and will be just as applicable to your camera as to the 7D. The general techniques are applicable to all cameras, actually.


Noise "acceptability" is a highly subjective thing. Some people are very intolerant of noise, others are not.

The first thing you should realize is that not all noise is created equal. Some noise, like banding, is objectionable to almost everyone, while other noise, like luminance noise, is actually acceptable to a lot of people, especially if they like the "film" look (good luminance noise adds a film-like "character" to the shot).


Postprocessing makes an enormous difference, as does the use to which the shot is to be put.


This is an ISO 12800 shot from my 7D. I would happily print it to as large as 8x10 without hesitation:

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/n2185x/70792564​29/