Upgrade body or lens?

Hello everyone, I currently have an ancient 30D with the kit 18-55mm lens and also an el-cheapo Quantaray 70-300mm. I want to upgrade both but only have money for one right now. Should I go with a better body or lens? (looking at the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8) Would that Sigma perform well on my 30D? I just do general photography of the family, kids sports (soccer, baseball, football). Also I don’t make big prints, almost all will be staying on the PC or social media. Thanks

Generally I advocate lens over body but in your case, you might see the biggest improvement upgrading your body first. You can pick up a used 6D for 1/2 of the cost of the 70-200 and the difference between the 6D and 30D is huge. Heck, you even have some left over to pick up a 24-105L.

For general family photography, a f/2.8 zoom would be a pretty big investment in general. Any particular reason you were looking at that specifically? But to answer your questions, yes, that zoom would work with your 30D, but....


Assuming that your budget would likely be ~$700 if you're looking at the older Sigma:

I would suggest looking at getting a used but good condition 60D (~400) then get a 55-250mm (~150 used) to replace that Quantaray for use in your kids sports. You can also think about upgrading the 18-55mm to the latest version if you want but I don't think the performance gain will be significant enough for that purchase to play out well. If you want a lens for portraits (assumed since you're asking about the 2.8 zoom), I would just grab the 85mm 1.8 (~300) if your budget can stretch.

The 60D would give you 18MP of resolution plus a newer generation of autofocus capability and video capability with a flip out screen (great for taking pictures above the crowd of parents at the games). You'll have better high ISO capability and can still use your 18-55 if you choose to keep that lens. Now, you would need to invest in a new storage card (SD cards) and a new backup battery but those should be small potatoes.

The 55-250mm is one of the better bang for the buck EF-S lenses and arguably the best in class for telephoto (EF-S). It'll get you the photos that you want in good light. For nighttime games, you might have to push the ISO capability on the camera to get non-blurry photos, but it should be able to do something decent.

I only picked the 70-200 because of the sports. As you can tell I’m not very familiar on the lenses. The 55-250 does sound like a much better choice. Is the imagine quality pretty sharp on this lens?

Here's the forum's sample photos for the lens: https://photography-on-the.net …read.php?t=1353​439&page=1

There are a number of examples of kid's sports in there for you to get a feel for what you could achieve. Obviously, they'll represent the better/best photos that people get since everyone puts their best to show off...

muddcat wrote in post #18612040
I only picked the 70-200 because of the sports. As you can tell I’m not very familiar on the lenses. The 55-250 does sound like a much better choice. Is the imagine quality pretty sharp on this lens?

Your equipment list shows that you have the 100-400, so why would you want the 55-250? I can see the 70-200mm f2.8 as it has a much larger aperture, but the 55-250 has nothing over the 100-400 except for 55~99mm coverage.

gjl711 wrote in post #18612188
Your equipment list shows that you have the 100-400, so why would you want the 55-250?

I noticed that, too.

The OP's post does not seem to be consistent with his/her gear list.

muddcat wrote in post #18611975
Hello everyone,

I currently have an ancient 30D with the kit 18-55mm lens and also an el-cheapo Quantaray 70-300mm. I want to upgrade both but only have money for one right now. Should I go with a better body or lens? (looking at the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8) Would that Sigma perform well on my 30D? I just do general photography of the family, kids sports (soccer, baseball, football). Also I don’t make big prints, almost all will be staying on the PC or social media.

Thanks

muddcat wrote in post #18611975
EOS 30D | EFS 18-55 Kit Lens | 50mm F/1.8 |EF 100-400mm F/4.5-5.6L IS USM | Speedlite 430EX

And so I ask you, muddcat, why you are asking about upgrading the 70-300mm when you already have a 100-400mm L series lens?

I think that for the outdoor sports that you mention, the 100-400mm that you already own is a great lens, and that there is no need to upgrade (replace) it.


.

Sorry for the confusion, I haven’t posted on this forum in like 8-10 years until today and didn’t realize I still had my old gear list on here (I updated my gear list). I unfortunately had to sell that 100-400 after only a few months due to needing the money at the time.

In that case, the 55-250 would be a great addition.

Are most/all of the sports that you shoot outdoors and/or daylight?

The Canon EF 70-300 IS II is a good lens for outdoor sports and about $500, much less than the f2,8 lenses

80% will be daylight outdoors. On occasion I may shoot race cars at night under a lit track with no flash. Would the f/4-5.6 work for this?

I vote upgrade the body ... at 8MP, almost anything is going to be a huge upgrade

How far are you from the track? In the stands? Right on the wall? I would say that you need to keep your shutter speed up to freeze motion or have good panning technique to give a motion blur with a slow shutter. Either way, you would likely keep a decent depth of field (~F/4-F/5.6) anyways so a faster lens wouldn't necessarily help - you may find a more modern camera with better high ISO capabilities to help with maintaining a fast shutter.

wunhang wrote in post #18612662
How far are you from the track? In the stands? Right on the wall? I would say that you need to keep your shutter speed up to freeze motion or have good panning technique to give a motion blur with a slow shutter. Either way, you would likely keep a decent depth of field (~F/4-F/5.6) anyways so a faster lens wouldn't necessarily help - you may find a more modern camera with better high ISO capabilities to help with maintaining a fast shutter.

Approx. 30 feet along the inside guardrail. I failed to mention that my budget is approx $800 so maybe a newer body and decent lens are both doable.

Upgrade the body.
Another option on a lens would be a used 70-200 4L - I found it was amazing for outdoor sports / fast moving animals and kids and focused pretty fast (I'm comparing the speed to the 2.8L which is extremely fast) and most importantly was an incredibly sharp lens.

How is the 55-250 focusing speed in comparison - if same or better, I'd second the 55-250.