Upgrading from a 5d Classic

Hi Everyone,

A newbie here but have been taking photos for a while now. I have been using my trusty 5d classic with a couple of L zoom lenses (24-70, 17-40). I shoot different things from food to landscape, architecture and street, purely hobbyist level. I have been trying to make the most of what I can do with my camera however, some of the limitations gets in the way, mostly the ISO. Looking to upgrade to a 5dII or III but wanted to get your thoughts before pulling the trigger.

Thanks!

Jaran wrote in post #18543897
Hi Everyone,

A newbie here but have been taking photos for a while now. I have been using my trusty 5d classic with a couple of L zoom lenses (24-70, 17-40). I shoot different things from food to landscape, architecture and street, purely hobbyist level. I have been trying to make the most of what I can do with my camera however, some of the limitations gets in the way, mostly the ISO. Looking to upgrade to a 5dII or III but wanted to get your thoughts before pulling the trigger.

Thanks!

Budget? What are you looking to spend? It cam make quite a difference. 5DII is a bit old but still a good camera however, you can get a 6Dc for a pretty decent price and it had outstanding ISO performance, way better than the 5Dc or the 5DII or III.

If you're focusing on portraits and food and landscapes etc., it sounds like you don't shoot a lot of fast action stuff. In that case, instead of a 5DII, I would DEFINITELY go with a 6D. The image quality is amazing and for the price, the low light performance cannot be beat (even by the current, "updated" model). Keep the 5D classic. I went to the 6D from the 5Dc and it was amazing. I have the 5DIV now and still have my 6D and 5Dc, and I still use them both.

If you want to expand into action-ish genres that would require faster autofocus, pony up some extra $$ for the 5DIII.

Handling wise, the 5DII is pretty much exactly the same camera as the 5D,. it has more MP, and adds Canon's earliest iteration of including video features in a DSLR, but they are otherwise so similar, i would hardly consider the II a worthwhile upgrade. If your budget is locked in that price range, then I agree that a 6D would be a better choice, despite it's small step "down" in controls. It adds a lot of features the 5DII does not have, including better image quality and noise handling.

The 5D3 on the other hand will be a very large change and upgrade. You get a 1D in a small package, fast accurate AF and decent bust frame rate.

Keep the 5D, no matter what you buy.

gjl711 wrote in post #18543900
Budget? What are you looking to spend? It cam make quite a difference. 5DII is a bit old but still a good camera however, you can get a 6Dc for a pretty decent price and it had outstanding ISO performance, way better than the 5Dc or the 5DII or III.

Thank you for your input! I am looking to spend less than $1k, so 6d is definitely in range. Also, in addition to the pros of 6d you mentioned, the wifi sounds very convenient

paintedlotus wrote in post #18543906
If you're focusing on portraits and food and landscapes etc., it sounds like you don't shoot a lot of fast action stuff. In that case, instead of a 5DII, I would DEFINITELY go with a 6D. The image quality is amazing and for the price, the low light performance cannot be beat (even by the current, "updated" model). Keep the 5D classic. I went to the 6D from the 5Dc and it was amazing. I have the 5DIV now and still have my 6D and 5Dc, and I still use them both.

If you want to expand into action-ish genres that would require faster autofocus, pony up some extra $$ for the 5DIII.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18543942
Handling wise, the 5DII is pretty much exactly the same camera as the 5D,. it has more MP, and adds Canon's earliest iteration of including video features in a DSLR, but they are otherwise so similar, i would hardly consider the II a worthwhile upgrade. If your budget is locked in that price range, then I agree that a 6D would be a better choice, despite it's small step "down" in controls. It adds a lot of features the 5DII does not have, including better image quality and noise handling.

The 5D3 on the other hand will be a very large change and upgrade. You get a 1D in a small package, fast accurate AF and decent bust frame rate.

Bassat wrote in post #18543973
Keep the 5D, no matter what you buy.

1st off, thank you all for all your very helpful responses! I will definitely keep the 5dc, it's my first full frame coming from a 1000d and have always dreamt about having the original 5d when I was just starting this hobby.

Based on reviews of the 6d I have seen online, controls and build quality are the downsides on the 6d.. but does it really matter if I am just a weekend shooter and occassional traveler, Nothing too extreme? I never thought I would consider the 6d more now than the newer 5d's until now. Thanks again you guys!

Build quality of the 6D?. Mine is almost 5 years old, has 15k+ shots on it, and my 7 year old grandson uses it, too. Still in A-1 shape.
.

I used my 6D as my main body as a professional fashion and portrait photographer for over 4 years. Probably 90% of my website (link in signature) is shot with it. I used it indoors, outdoors, in the rain (carefully), have dropped it, banged it against stuff, traveled to various countries, put almost 100k clicks on the shutter and it's still going strong. The build quality is *totally fine*. Anyone saying that there are "problems" with the build quality is either 1. comparing it to a weather sealed body like the 1D or 5D line (and almost definitely just in the abstract, not in actual use) or 2. has bashed their body up even worse than I have. And the controls are fine too. It was a little weird for me to go from a 5D with the buttons on the side of the LCD to using the menu, but I got used to it quick. It's really not a big deal.

Bassat wrote in post #18544213
Build quality of the 6D?. Mine is almost 5 years old, has 15k+ shots on it, and my 7 year old grandson uses it, too. Still in A-1 shape.
.

paintedlotus wrote in post #18544559
I used my 6D as my main body as a professional fashion and portrait photographer for over 4 years. Probably 90% of my website (link in signature) is shot with it. I used it indoors, outdoors, in the rain (carefully), have dropped it, banged it against stuff, traveled to various countries, put almost 100k clicks on the shutter and it's still going strong. The build quality is *totally fine*. Anyone saying that there are "problems" with the build quality is either 1. comparing it to a weather sealed body like the 1D or 5D line (and almost definitely just in the abstract, not in actual use) or 2. has bashed their body up even worse than I have. And the controls are fine too. It was a little weird for me to go from a 5D with the buttons on the side of the LCD to using the menu, but I got used to it quick. It's really not a big deal.

Thank you guys! My plan now is get a loaner 6d or borrow a friend's to test it and play with it. This has been really helpful and it's great to get such feedbacks from people who have put the camera to the test.