What upgrade makes the most sense?

Hello. Strictly a hobby photographer here. I mostly take wildlife/landscape/fam​ily photos. I also take a lot of photos of track & field and cross country, as that is what my daughter does. I was recently given a gift certificate to our local camera shop and I am trying to decide the best upgrade for my gear.

Torn between upgrading to the 7D MkII or a new lens. I do not take very many sports events indoors, just a couple of indoor track meets per year and occasionally some basketball photos for a friend's daughter. As such, I have rented the Canon 70-200L f2.8 in the past and it is a great lens. I have also used the Canon 70-200L f4 and the Canon 100-400L. All of these lenses are wonderful. But I do have the ability to rent them locally so wondered if upgrading the body makes more sense? Thanks for any suggestions.

What's your current body?

Ooops. I thought the gear list published. I have a 7D that I purchased used about 2 years ago, when I started doing more sports. I also have a Rebel T3i that was our first family camera.

Current lenses:
Canon 24mm STM
Canon 50 mm STM
Canon 18-135 STM
Canon 18-135 Nano USM
Canon 70-300 Nano USM

How much was the gift $s? I'd suggest that, even though, "I do not take very many sports events indoors," maybe the 85mm f/1.8 might be an option.

Gift card was for $500 so a decent start towards some of the bigger ticket items. When I have shot a few indoor sporting events, I rented the 70-200 f2.8 because as a fan, you shoot from the stands, not the sidelines, unfortunately

The 7D is a vary capable body and upgrading to a 7DII or 80D isn't going to radically change your capability. A few more features and some upgraded existing ones, but the image quality will be about the same. (80D does buy you some added DR and the 7DII a better AF). Maybe it's time to add a FF body to you mix. A used 6D is a bit over your budget but not by that much and does open up some new photographic capabilities. Much better low light performance, less noise, wider angle and such. Just a thought.

I personally found the upgrade from the 7D to the 7DII was a huge difference, noise wise its much cleaner and what noise there is can be dealt with way easier, its more of a pleasant type of noise where the 7D seemed much harsher noise wise. The 80D is very nice if you dont need speed. However if i was you Id add a full frame, a used 6D can be picked up cheap now

In the spring with T&F, some of the events are pretty fast so good fps and focus is important, my daughter is a hurdler. That was the biggest reason I went to the used 7D from the T3i was for the better focus and frame rate. Like with the 100 meter hurdles coming straight down the track towards you. I have a friend who has a new 80D but I have not had a chance to look it over very much.

For landscape and family the 70-200/f4 is great and totally worth to own. But if you indeed happy to rent all your lenses then get a flash .

I have done very, very little flash photography

Then it is about time .

Seriously, having a flash for family photography is essential and brings your pictures on a new level. Looking at your gear, this is probably your single most important improvement you can do. Fill flash in sunny weather or insight to compensate the window in the background. For any family event, the flash lives on my camera.

I have used the on camera flash for some fill in sunny outdoor photos, but that is basically the extent of it. I have used the fast primes and raised the ISO most of the time for indoor stuff

The 7d2 or 80d are the leading two contenders IMO. Both provide with upgrades over the 9 year old 7d.

Heya,

The 7D will AF and track a running human pretty easily, and handles wildlife and stuff fine. It's no different than anything else for still photography with respect to landscape & portrait, etc.

Using the lenses you have, I don't think you'll notice a significant different in AF performance, with a new body, with those lenses.

This is a case where I would say glass over body for an upgrade path. For $1,000~$1400 depending on where you buy, the 7D Mark II is a great camera, but you already have a pretty great camera for what you're doing. Mean while, you could spend the same amount and outfit yourself with much better lenses for what you're doing. Meaning, the upgrade in lens performance is significantly more, than what a body upgrade would do here, for what you're trying to do. It looks like you have a good lens selection for family, portrait, landscape, general use, etc. What you lack there is a really fast focusing prime or zoom with fast focal-ratio, which would be much more useful for action shooting with your daughter. You've shot a 70-200 in various forms. And you said you will not be shooting indoors very much for this. So it just seems to make sense to look at a 70-200 again, either F4L IS or a F2.8 (with or without IS) and if budget allows, add an EF 85mm F1.8 for indoor and outdoor really fast use when light is low.

The 7D's AF performance is still excellent, it can track a Tern in flight at close range, let alone easily handle a slow moving human being with a long telephoto lens.

Very best,

Thanks for that information. I have sort of been leaning towards the 70-200 zoom side of the question. Could sell my 70-300 as well. Or leave it in the bag with the Rebel.

The friend that I bought the 7D from has recently bought a Sony A7R. His first one had problems but they have sent him a replacement. I would guess that if he ends up liking it, he might put his 7D II on the market but I have not heard for sure.

The higher ISO capability of the 7D II or 80D would be nice as well...

Tough decisions