Upgrade suggestions?

[IShootPeople]

Before a big trip next year (two weeks in Alaska) I want to upgrade my current equipment and I'm looking for some suggestions. Right now, I use a Canon T3i with 3 different lenses: 50mm, 18-55mm and 75-300mm. I'm going to get a Canon 18-200mm to replace the second two lenses, but I'm stuck on what camera to get.

I had originally settled on the 7D, for it's buffer speed, but I'm now rethinking a little bit. I'd like this camera to be my last upgrade for quite some time, and I want to make sure I get something I'm very happy with. The 6D is also in my short list, but I'll be honest when I admit to feeling slightly overwhelmed every time I look at the options!

Before anyone asks, I have not considered Nikon. Not for any real snobbish reason, just that I've invested a lot into my Canons so far, and don't have the funds to completely replace everything, so I'm going to stick with the Canon brand - at least for the time being.

So, any suggestions or just ideas on what details to look at to aid my decision are greatly appreciated!!

[chauncey]

Kim, that 7D is very soon to be replaced with a new model, I would wait if you want a crop sensor.
That said...I would go for the newest bestest FF body that you can afford...the 6D or the 5DMkIII.
Check out these two sites...http://www.canonrumors.com/ ...
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/index.php

[AB26]

I would go for the newest bestest FF body that you can afford...the 6D or the 5DMkIII.

Oh! No! Here we go again!
You naughty boy!

[IShootPeople]

I do wish I could afford either of those! I will be keeping them on my list just on the off chance I can save up enough money for them.

[IShootPeople]

I can't believe I forgot this!

My former boss told me about a service called Aperture Rent. You can rent cameras and lenses and he said his wife rented one to go on a trip and they were very good! I think I may rent the cameras I am trying to choose between and decide which one works best for what I need.

The site - if anyone is interested - is http://aperturent.com/ for anyone interested.

[PhotomanJohn]

Renting makes very good sense when one is making these sorts of decisions. Consider lensrentals.com or borrowlenses.com as well. I personally use LensRentals who are located fairly close to you in Tennessee.

John

[NorthernFocus]

Hi, Kim. I live and shoot up here. I have two simple bits of advice. Given the choice get a high ISO body. And for lenses you'll hate yourself if you have less than 300mm on a cropped body available. If you are considering renting equipment, you may want to rent a sigma 50-500 or similar. They are fairly innexpensive to rent. If you want to minimize the length of the rental you may be able to figure out a way to have the rental gear sent to a FedEx or UPS store at one of your ports of call along the way and similarly ship it back before you even leave AK.

Most definately stick with Canon since that is what you are used to. You don't want to be learning a whole new system when you should be concentrating on taking photos.

[Polar01]

Yes I would suggest checking out borrowlenes and do a Dan states simply return it before you leave AK. If this is a one time trip and you are looking for critter than the cost on those big Canon lens 400mm and up are not really that bad.

Cheers: Allan

[inkista]

Since this trip isn't until next year, I'd recommend waiting until the fall before making a decision--particularly since one of your candidates is the 7D. The 7D is currently the oldest model in the Canon body line-up. It still uses Digic 4, when all the other bodies (except for the 1200D) are on Digic 5. It's well over four years old. This is much longer than the average refresh, even on the full-frame bodies (which tend to be around the three year mark). It's long overdue for a refresh. New camera announcements tend to cluster around the spring (Feb/Mar) and fall (Sep/Oct) timeframes. Of course, this supposes that US$1500-$1700 is something you can afford on a newly announced body (camera prices depreciate over time even when the model is new. The 7D initially MSRPed at US$1700 body only).

The 70D, currently, is a newer, similar-cost choice that, while it isn't quite up to the 7D specs, does at least have most of the AF system hardware of the 7D, as well as the nifty phase-detection trick on the sensor if you're interested in video and all the newer Digic 5 features (touchscreen, wi-fi, flash control panel, etc). You also won't have to be repurchasing any cable-release port accessories or memory cards (still uses SD, and the dRebel 2.5mm headphone port, rather than CF and the proprietary 3-pin connector), or giving up a flip-out LCD.

I would also suggest NOT ditching your kit and 75-300 III for a superzoom. Consider renting a superzoom for travel if you want to go light; or keep the 18-55 for now (stopping down to f/8-f/16 range makes it nice for landscape shooting), and replace the 75-300 with a 100-400L if you can afford it. If you can't, consider the 70-300 IS USM or 70-200 f/4L USM, and renting the 100-400L for the trip. Just me and my birding photography experience, but a 400mm L lens is probably going to make you a lot happier shooting Alaskan wildlife than a 200-300mm lens. A 500mm would be better if you were going exclusively to shoot wildlife, but will be a lot harder to lug about and handhold.

My personal take would be forget about upgrading the body--the T3i is a perfectly competent camera. I shot birds in flight with an XT/350D. The 75-300 III held me back far more than my XT did for that subject. If wildlife is a large part of what you shoot regularly, I'd say throw your budget towards getting an EF 100-400L IS USM. But I'm a hobbyist--I shoot with a camera until it dies or everything else I want in the system is more expensive than a new body. There are always newer shinier camera bodies getting churned out every six months. The 100-400L, otoh, has stayed in the lineup, unrefreshed, for 16 years.

[TareqPhoto]

So, did you decide on anything?

Wish if you can afford it then i will definitely tell you go with Canon 1DX, it has almost everything you may need for long long run, i use it for sports mostly and for landscape and anything else, it is like a whole camera, it is expensive yes, but it saved me to buy many more cameras.

But i lied, because i bought another camera that beat 1DX for landscapes and cityscape at low ISO, that was my Sony A7R, even Sony A7 will be better choice for me, but i will never give up 1DX, it is my first choice camera for sports/wildlife/birds/any action photography.

[chauncey]

My selfishness is glad that you bought that camera as I've toyed with the idea...
what about your Canon Glass.
Are you using it with some sort of adapter or what?

[TareqPhoto]

My selfishness is glad that you bought that camera as I've toyed with the idea...
what about your Canon Glass.
Are you using it with some sort of adapter or what?

Are you replying me? if so then which camera did you mean i bought?

I think you mentioned adapter then you sure talk asked about Sony, then yes, for Canon glasses i use Metabones MarkIII, maybe one day when my budget getting better i can buy Metabones MK4 as it is designed to serve better with TS lenses which i have [17 & 24].

What do you mean by my Canon glasses? you mean with my Canon bodies or with Sony?

[IShootPeople]

I haven't made a decision just yet. I do want to wait and see if there is an announcement for the replacement to the 7D. I would LOVE to be able to upgrade so far that I could get a 1D and not have to upgrade again, just use it until it died. Unfortunately, I doubt I will be able to justify that. I don't make money off my photos, so there isn't a return to justify such a large investment.

[Donald]

The 7D is currently the oldest model in the Canon body line-up. It still uses Digic 4, when all the other bodies (except for the 1200D) are on Digic 5. It's well over four years old. This is much longer than the average refresh, even on the full-frame bodies (which tend to be around the three year mark). It's long overdue for a refresh.

All of the above is absolutely true, but ...............!

If the 7D currently on the market is a good camera (and everyone seems to think it is), then it is still going to be a good camera tomorrow ... and the day after any upgrade is announced. If you want to wait to get the latest thing, then fine. But a good camera remains a good camera even if it's been replaced by something else.

[TareqPhoto]

I thought the replacement of 7D is 70D, why not getting 6D?

[chauncey]

Heed two things, Donald's opinions and...need/want in photography is purely in the mind of the user.
The "old" 7D will serve you well...most all the time and therein lies the rub.

[inkista]

All of the above is absolutely true, but ...............!

If the 7D currently on the market is a good camera (and everyone seems to think it is), then it is still going to be a good camera tomorrow ... and the day after any upgrade is announced. ...

Oh, no doubt. But as I've posted many times before, to me, the money and trouble it takes to upgrade bodies is, in my personal metric, only worth it if the generation+tier count is >2. And the T3i->7d is merely a two tier jump with a same generation processor/sensor. 18MP Digic IV to 18MP Digic IV. Granted, there's a lot of hardware UI upgrades going on, too. But it'd be nicer as an upgrade / more worth the money to have those hardware UI upgrades along with a sensor/processor upgrade, too.

Which is why, you will note, I basically concluded my post with sticking with the T3i as the option I'd personally go for.

I thought the replacement of 7D is 70D, why not getting 6D?

Nope. 70D replaces the 60D. As for why not get a 6D? Few thougts on that. Someone who shoots crop with an 18-55, 50/1.8 II and 75-300 III probably doesn't want to blow $5000+ on a new 6D body and full-frame L-quality lenses to go with it. It's not a fast-action shooting demon (both the 7D and 70D have higher burst rates and more AF points), and it makes reaching supertele focal lengths for wildlife/birds that much more expensive, because 300mm lenses are a lot cheaper than 400mm lenses.