Upgrade time - 50D to 7Dmk 2 / 80D

Coming up on upgrade time for me, currently looking at upgrading from my venerable 50d to a 7dmk2 or 80D, the majority of my shooting is for aviation / airshow work, im swinging more to the 7dmk2 as its got dual card slots and apparently better AF on fast motion / sports photography but would like to hear both sides of the argument, gear list below.

I just upgraded from a 7D to 7D mark II. (moved from the 50D to 7D previously)
Just got the camera this afternoon and can already see the difference!
The 10fps should do great for you at the airshows and the AF is excellent.

I think perhaps the questions you have to ask are:

Do you like a touch screen with tilting LCD? Do you find that you are shoot under ISO 800 and want to pull up shadows often? If yes, then the 80D.

Do you need dual slots, 10fps, and every so slightly better high ISO, with better build and an AF system akin to the 1DX? Do you want to spend the extra funds on these? If so, then the 7D2.

I get great results when using my 80D for aircraft in flight. Very good AF performance when used with my Canon 300 f2.8 IS II.

I bought the 80D instead of the 7DII for these reasons...

80D was $400 less expensive, has a vari-angle LCD, has 4 more mp that allows for a bit more cropping (for those little aerobatic planes high in the sky). These are the features important to me.

I intend to use the 80D as an all-around crop camera as well as for aviation.

Of course I get only 7 fps with the 80D. But I can live with that.

At what point is 10fps not a valid point (regarding longer shutter speeds for prop blur and such)?

Being I have yet to do this kind of shooting but I can't believe the breaking point would actually be 1/10 simply due to the mechanical actuations of the shutter.

How much latency is there on the front end of each shutter actuation?

How much time does it take to reset the shutter in preparation for the next?

So is 1/30 still 10fps?

My rule of thumb is to double the burst rate, so 10 fps means shutter speeds of 1/20th or faster. This should provide enough latitude for storing the image and any lag. That being said, anything I feel I need to shoot bursts, I am at shutter speeds well above that.

I went through all 130+ pages on the Canon 100-400 V2 sample thread. I believe there was more than 1 person talking about shooting prop planes at something like 1/30 and 10fps, commenting how nice the IS is in said lens.

I could see use for 10fps at slow shutter speeds 1/20 to 1/50 for panning shots, specifically planes or cars on a race track. Obviously IS and a steady flow with the subject would be needed.

The motion it could provide would be cool provided there were keepers.


But I agree most burst shooting is likely way above the 10fps threshold.

I could definitely see a burst of a prop plane either landing or taking off so you have background blur plus prop blur being very desireable.

Most likely one frame in that burst would have the best blurred background of the bunch.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #18567918
I could definitely see a burst of a prop plane either landing or taking off so you have background blur plus prop blur being very desireable.

Most likely one frame in that burst would have the best blurred background of the bunch.

And if you are a) really good or b) really lucky you will also have one frame from that burst with a sharp aircraft too!

PS ask me ( and a few colleagues) how we know.....

TeamSpeed wrote in post #18567918
I could definitely see a burst of a prop plane either landing or taking off so you have background blur plus prop blur being very desireable.

Most likely one frame in that burst would have the best blurred background of the bunch.

Take off full power is way better than landing at idle! F4U-5 Corsair @ 1/60 sec:
https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1223761

If I had the money to upgrade my 50D this would be a real dilemma for me. I would really like to use a 1.4× converter with my 150-600 C, and that really says 80D for the better ƒ/8 AF with off center AF points. I have never really found the need for really high speed bursts when shooting airshows. I usually have the 50D on the slower of the two burst rate options. About the only time I switch to high speed is for the crossing passes of the Red Arrows Synchro pair. The extra four megapixels would also be nice too.

My problem is that I use several of the hardware options that the 7DII retains from the 50D, but are missing on the 80D. I really like the joystick for selecting the AF points directly, and I use the PC socket a lot, thanks to needing studio flash units in an area with a lot of RF interference. I also have problems with killing SD cards while handling them, which is another thing that worries me about the newer xxD bodies. I think for me the ergonomics of the user interface, and other hardware differences would outweigh the ƒ/8 AF and resolution, and I would pick the 7DII.

I have noticed several comments that have suggested that a 7DIII may be on the horizon, and right now I might be inclined to wait and see if April brings any announcement. I know it would be better to buy now, well in advance of the new show season, but maybe waiting a month just in case the new camera drops. I don't see Canon leaving the 7DII quite as long as the original before updating it.

When it comes to slow shutter speeds for prop aircraft It's not just to get a blurred background at takeoff and/or landing. A full disk even against a pain sky always looks good. With a three bladed pro you are going to want to be at or slower than 1/60 for a full disk. A two blader will need even longer, I would be looking at slower than 1/30 for that. Those speeds would be for aircraft at more than half throttle on take off, or a fast pass.

These were shot at 1/80s and have also had a 1.5× crop applied. Which I find I have to use quite a bit, and hence why I would like to be able to use a 1.4× converter.

Photo from BigAl007's gallery.

Photo from BigAl007's gallery.