40D to a 1dMKII for sports.

Having a 40D and shooting mostly my kids baseball/softball/socc​er with the 70-200 2.8. Having good success with the combo I never even thought of jumping to a 1d series body. I have an opportunity to get a used 1dMKII from a friend at a good price, $1400 W/ 2nd battery. I was going to sell the 40D to help fund the 1dMKII purchase but decided to keep it as it's lighter and easier to carry with the family.

I shoot 9-11 year old little league baseball and soccer and my daughters 6 year old softball. Baseball is MUCH easier to shoot than soccer. I know that the 1dMKII will be a better camera for the sports stuff but as an all around camera I think the 40D does just fine.

For that price, I would do it. I think the 40D may have a slight noise advantage at higher ISO's, but it appears most of your stuff is outdoors, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Do you have the IS version of the 70-200? Because if you do, that would make your kit weather sealed with the 1D, and that could come in very handy.

drisley wrote in post #4896484
For that price, I would do it. I think the 40D may have a slight noise advantage at higher ISO's, but it appears most of your stuff is outdoors, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Do you have the IS version of the 70-200? Because if you do, that would make your kit weather sealed with the 1D, and that could come in very handy.

I would agree that you can't go wrong for that price---
I am not sure about the slight noise advantage though--- drisley can you explain further. Any tests out there? Thanks.

I'll be able to comment soon...my 1D MkII should arrive Wed.

If you think you'll be OK with less range with your 70-200 and a couple MP's less with the 1D then go for it. The mkII is outstanding, one of the best sports bodies ever made. But, then if you're happy with the 40D....then....Hmmm, I guess if you get the 1D, decide you like the 40D for what you're doing better then you can always sell the 1D and grab another 40D....At least you'll know for sure what works for you.

Thatnkatmat, I already have the 40D, just didn't want to pass up the 1dMKII at that price, considering I knew who owned it and it's in good condition with about 15k on the shutter.

I don't have the IS version of the lens just the 2.8. Weather seal would have been nice, didn't know only the IS had the seal.

Prime80, let me know what you think when you get you 1d MKII on Wed. I have no doubt that the 1dMKII will be better on the sports fields than the 40D is, it's the other stuff I do will I use the 1dMKII or the 40D? Yosemite hike in July, 40D or MKII? Santa Cruz Boardwalk with the kids and family 40D or MKII? Kids school events 40D or MKII?

Gottria wrote in post #4896829
Thatnkatmat, I already have the 40D, just didn't want to pass up the 1dMKII at that price, considering I knew who owned it and it's in good condition with about 15k on the shutter.

Prime80, let me know what you think when you get you 1d MKII on Wed. I have no doubt that the 1dMKII will be better on the sports fields than the 40D is, it's the other stuff I do will I use the 1dMKII or the 40D? Yosemite hike in July, 40D or MKII? Santa Cruz Boardwalk with the kids and family 40D or MKII? Kids school events 40D or MKII?

Yeah, guess what I was saying is that you can always sell the 1D, after you sell the 40D and go back to the 40D if you are so inclined....Do you own any ef-s glass?
As far as the other uses I don't think you'll notice too much difference with the 40D maybe being a little better IQ (if your pixel peeping, things like HTP could make a difference.....take all I say with a grain of salt though, I haven't owned a 40D, just the 30D, 1DmkII, 5D and the 1DmkIII) as far a noise performance, both are pretty good from what I've seen. Having a wider view might make a difference with the other applications you bring up

Gottria wrote in post #4896242
Having a 40D and shooting mostly my kids baseball/softball/socc​er with the 70-200 2.8. Having good success with the combo I never even thought of jumping to a 1d series body. I have an opportunity to get a used 1dMKII from a friend at a good price, $1400 W/ 2nd battery. I was going to sell the 40D to help fund the 1dMKII purchase but decided to keep it as it's lighter and easier to carry with the family.

I shoot 9-11 year old little league baseball and soccer and my daughters 6 year old softball. Baseball is MUCH easier to shoot than soccer. I know that the 1dMKII will be a better camera for the sports stuff but as an all around camera I think the 40D does just fine.

I don't shoot sports, but I am serious about my wildlife shooting, which includes shooting plenty of moving subjects. I had a 1DII, and I thought it was a fantastic camera, and I can't blame it for ever preventing me from getting any shots that I needed to get. Currently, I'm using my 1DIII as my primary body and a 40D as a second body.

While the AF of the 1DII is truly first rate, I've been amazed about how much better the AF is on the 40D than it was on the 20D/30D. Like with the 1DII, I really can't blame the 40D AF for losing any shots. My judgment would be that the in-focus rate on the 40D (using the center focus point) is very close to what I was getting with the 1DII, and both of those are just a little behind what I get with the 1DIII. Of the shots in this eagle gallery, about 2/3 were taken with the 1DIII, and the other 1/3 were taken with the 40D.

http://www.wildlifeima​gesbyles.net/Eagles/Ea​gles_7/eagles_7.html

The bottom line is that, if I'm doing my job in using the camera properly, I can get the shots with any of the 3 cameras, and, with any of the 3, I'm accustomed to seeing bursts of shots with virtually every shot in focus.

So, I would not consider any AF advantage of the 1DII to be the main reason for choosing it over the 40D. On the other hand, the ability to shoot 8 fps, build quality, weather resistance, etc. are nice advantages for the 1DII, and $1400 seems like a fantastic price, unless the shutter has 300,000 actuations. Just a handful of months ago, you would have had trouble finding a 1DII for less than $2000.

However, don't underestimate the effects of going from a 1.6 crop to a 1.25 crop and in going from 10 mp to 8 mp in terms of what it is going to do to the effective reach of your lenses. Going from the 40D to the 1DII is going to dramatically change your 70-200. The combination of fewer pixels and the smaller crop factor is going to reduce your ability to crop (and still keep the same number of pixels on the subject) by about 40%.

Further, my experience in using both the 40D and 1DII is, contrary to a post above, that the 40D does better at higher ISO than does the 1DII. My 40D files, when properly exposed, at ISO 1600 are about as clean as the 1DII files were at ISO 800 (and both of those are about the same quality as the 1DIII at ISO 3200). There is also no question that the 40D has significantly better dynamic range. I find that the 40D files are much easier to work with. They are more forgiving in terms of not blowing out the highlights, and it is much easier to recover shadow detail with them.

The 1DII is a fantastic camera, but it is a generation older than the 40D, and, because of significant technology improvements between those generations, the decision to go from a 40D to a 1DIII is not as clear cut as many might lead you to believe.

Les, hell of a post. Thanks for your insite between the 2 cameras. Thant $1400 could buy ny next L glass.

Id keep the 40D and spend the money on better glass or something else. I shoot with a lot of guys that use 20/30/40D cameras professionally so its not slacking by any means.

Nice comparison LesZ,
I figured if I babled enough, someone with experience with both bodies would chime in

I still don't get this. According to canon AF on 40d is only 30% better than 30d. Now all of sudden you see things where people say AF of 40d is almost same as 1 series. Something does't add up somewhere.

I have seen LesZ's pictures and I know he is a great shooter. So nothing at him. Just asking as I plan to move to 1 series (used 1 dMK2) from 30d as I am fed up with poor AI servo performance of xxD series. I haven't tried 40d myself.

Gottria wrote in post #4896829
Prime80, let me know what you think when you get you 1d MKII on Wed. I have no doubt that the 1dMKII will be better on the sports fields than the 40D is, it's the other stuff I do will I use the 1dMKII or the 40D? Yosemite hike in July, 40D or MKII? Santa Cruz Boardwalk with the kids and family 40D or MKII? Kids school events 40D or MKII?

Will do! I'm in the same boat, as I do a lot of other stuff besides sports. I'm VERY pleased with the 40D IQ overall. IMO, it's significantly better than the 20D I came from. I honestly haven't given it a good shot at sports yet, as I bought it between soccer seasons. I just couldn't pass up a good opportunity to move up to 1-class AF, build, etc. Having to let go of my 17-55IS is going to be tough, though.

bobbyz wrote in post #4897703
I still don't get this. According to canon AF on 40d is only 30% better than 30d. Now all of sudden you see things where people say AF of 40d is almost same as 1 series. Something does't add up somewhere.

I have seen LesZ's pictures and I know he is a great shooter. So nothing at him. Just asking as I plan to move to 1 series (used 1 dMK2) from 30d as I am fed up with poor AI servo performance of xxD series. I haven't tried 40d myself.

Id honestly try the 40D first. I used to own one but got rid of it only because Im trying to get a 5D and the FF capabilities.

A lot of people think that the 1 series cams will just AF perfectly all the time. Its not the case. You can still mess up. Theres a LOT more that you get for the price tag of a 1 series camera aside from AF performance.

get the 1d, incase you ran out of memory in middle of a game and get charged by the whole team, you can use it's weather proofed metal body to defend yourself.