5D or 7D

Hi,

I've been reading this forum for a long time, it's about time I posted!!

Anyway, I've been a second shooter for weddings for about 5 years now. I normally shoot with a 20D while the person I work with shoots with a 5D mark II and a 50D.

I'm considering shooting a few family/close friends weddings this year and I think I'm ready to upgrade my gear.

I'd love the 5D mark II, but there's no way I could afford it/justify buying it. Since it has come out, I have seen a lot of original 5D's with lower actuations on sale at various sources from $1000-1500 (body only). The 7D is obviously somewhere in the $1600-1700 range (body only)


Does anyone have any suggestions on which one to get? I'm leading towards the 5D and using my 20D as a second camera/backup but I'm not sure if the 7D beats out the 5D.

Any/all suggestions are kindly welcomed....

Thanks!

what lens do you have now? the reason I went for a 7D is that all my lens could be used on it otherwise I'd have to buy something else for a 5D.

I got the 7D for the same reason as Svetlana, I could use all my lenses, with a 5DII i'd have to spend heaps on new lenses. Plus I find the 5D slow to respond, hopefully the 5DII's better.

What lenses do you have?

Hi, thanks for the responses.

For now, the lenses I have are:

Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM
Canon EF 50mm f1.8 USM
Tamron AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR


580 and 430 EX flashes
I'm planning on picking up the canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS and renting a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

I know the canon 70-200 is compatible with the original 5D, but are the ones I already have compatible? I thought it was just the mark II that lenses weren't compatible?

The 28-200 is an EF lens, so it'll work on any EOS camera. Same with the 50, but the 17-50 is for crop sensors only - ie 50D/7D, but not 5D.

Re the 28-200, the review I found said "The Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM Lens holds a very wide focal length range in a compact and inexpensive package. But, image quality delivered by this lens is ... well ... poor. "

If you get a 5D you'll need a new standard zoom lens, if you get a 7D you can use your existing lens. The 70-200 will be a nice replacement for the 28-200.

Re "I'm planning on picking up the canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS and renting a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM", they're the same lens, so not sure what you mean.

5D image quality will probably be on par with the 7D, though even the original 5D may be better. The 7D handles way better though, has been AF especially in low light. The 7D's my main camera.

I meant to say I'm going to pick up a 24-70mm f/2.8L USM and rent a 70-200 f/2.8L for the day!

All in all it seems like I can use my lenses with the 7D, the 7D handles better in lower light situations, and image quality is on par. Woudl you agree with that?

I also think I"d rather a brand new 7D than a used 5D mark I!!

also, how do you like the wireless remote flash?

I hate pocket wizards and master/slave situations. If it works as well as it claims this camera might be bought this week!

Bpesca wrote in post #9046399
I meant to say I'm going to pick up a 24-70mm f/2.8L USM and rent a 70-200 f/2.8L for the day!

All in all it seems like I can use my lenses with the 7D, the 7D handles better in lower light situations, and image quality is on par. Woudl you agree with that?

I also think I"d rather a brand new 7D than a used 5D mark I!!

I suspect the image quality will be better from a 5D, but only if you can get the image in the first place. The 7D works well for me, I can print 14x10" album pages that look great, that's all I need.

Given I had the choice I did get the 7D. With the 7D you'll probably like the 17-55 F2.8 IS better than the 24-70 - IS rocks, and the range is more useful.

Bpesca wrote in post #9046466
also, how do you like the wireless remote flash?

I hate pocket wizards and master/slave situations. If it works as well as it claims this camera might be bought this week!

I don't use wireless ETTL, I use skyports. For details see here.

For image quality, I was once again reminded yesterday how much better the 70-200 is on full frame than on crop sensor cameras. It may be subjective but it seems like a huge difference. However, for dark churches I am finding that even f/1.4 and ISO3200 are not always enough, and I am therefore thinking of suggesting that one is better off with a camera that has usable ISO6400 if they get many church ceremonies.

I'm back!

So I was pretty much sold on picking up a 7D with a 17-55 F2.8 IS lens.

Now i'm starting to look at used 1Ds mark II with a 24-70mm F2.8L and I'm starting to rethink everything, possibly going FF.

I've produced perfectly fine images using my 20D at weddings (as a second shooter) so any upgrade will be awesome. For weddings, do most people choose FF rather than cropped? Should I just bite the bullet and go FF with the 1DS mark ii and then in the next year or two grab a 7D when the prices drop a bit more?

Anyone shoot weddings with a 1Ds mark II?

Any input is helpful, thanks!

Also, I should add, I don't care too much about the video or super high FPS.

The AF systems between the 7D and the 1ds II seem to be pretty comparable too?

I used a 1DII once, years ago, and found it confusing. I think the 1D3, 5DII, and 40D up share much the same controls. The 1D2 should be pretty good for focusing.

For weddings more people shoot FF than crop, but i've photographed over 100 weddings with crop and i'm still happy with it. One of my assistants uses a 5D, there's one or two photos of the day I borrow it for.

7D has far faster AF (than 5D), better fps, and quite good low light capabilities (ISO 2000 is totally acceptable). It is also quite weatherproof... but the 5D is full frame :P

I'm also considering upgrading to xD body soon, but I will probably go with 1D mk2/mk3 rather than 7D because of the crop factor that will be better for my 24-70 f/2.8 Lens. I didn't even consider 5D... It's speed is acceptable in studio, but IMHO not on the wedding, when most of the time You can not miss any important moment.

I've been using 5D's for the past 3 years. Before that I used 20D/30D. A couple of weeks ago I had a 7D on loan from CPS. I am currently a 2 body shooter pairing a 5D classic with a 5DII.

The 5D still has the best files (and the 5DII, even better). At ISO 1600 and above, the 7D was struggling to keep up. On top of that, the 7D's magical new autofocus system, was not quicker to acquire focus, and no more sure than my 5D's center focus point. In a low light tungsten lit room, with no flash (and no AF Assist) I got a lot of OOF images with the 7D, even though it was quick to say it had acquired focus. Flash improved things greatly, but my 5D is perfect when using flash.

So the AF system underwhelmed me a bit, but the other new features were really cool. I loved the level in the viewfinder, the on demand grid lines in the viewfinder, the ability to trigger off camera flashes from the pop-up (all features a Nikon D80 I owned 3 years ago already had).

In the end, though, I wasn't sad to send the 7D back. I still fell that Canon had yet to create a better wedding camera than the 5D/5DII. Unlike the poster before me, I have never felt that the 5D's speed was unacceptable, even on the dance floor at the reception when the action gets fast and furious.

So, in your situation, I would pick up a pair of 5D classics every time. The 1D has its appeal, but it's too big for me.