I have a canon 70d and all L lenses. Should I consider upgrading to one of the Mark bodies or wait until a 90d comes out? I have small hands, so the 70d is a nice fit. For birds, flowers, insects.... Is there a Canon camera, that would be better for me. I use my 70-300 and 100-400 with 1.4x all the time. For wider or city shots, I have a 24-105. I like landscape, but macro and flying birds, insects (dragonflies, butterflies, bees), etc are more fun to me. I am small and have small hands, so feel and weight are important, especially when hauling large lenses along a trail.
Also, with my collection of lenses, would you recommend keeping my 100mm macro?
Thanks in advance for your opinion.
Posted by Richard Hahn on March 8, 2017 at 8:23 PM
Lucy,
I have the 70D and the 7DMKII and I feel the 7DMKII is a little larger then the 70D. I would suggest going to a camera shop and physically hold the various cameras yourself so you know how they fit your hands. If there are no camera stores perhaps you might know someone who has one of the potential cameras that you are interested in and you can check it out that way.
I know most of the big box stores sell Canon camera but I do not recall seeing any of the Mark bodies there. Same thing applies to Walmart, KMart and Best Buy. Hope that this is of some assistance. Good luck.
There are really only two reasons to upgrade. First, your present camera is not delivering the quality images you desire. Second, a new camera has some feature that you feel will improve your photography. For example, most of my upgrades have been based on improved focusing which is important to me.
So, why you feel you need to upgrade? The 70D is a fairly recent camera. What is it that you feel an upgrade will do for you? I'm not sure what you mean by a "Mark" body because the word mark in and of itself only means a revision to a body rather than give a new number. There is the 1Dx Mark II, the 5D Mark IV, and the 7D Mark II - all significantly different so "mark" means nothing.
You mention small hands a couple times, so you don't want a 1Dx or 1Dx Mark II - both are huge and heavy. The 5D Mark IV is not super large but larger than the 70D. It is full frame if that matters to you. Again, have to know, why do you want to upgrade! The 7D Mark II is an excellent camera but also a bit larger than the 70D or 80D. Who knows when there will be a 90D and why would you think to wait for it rather than do 80D right now? Again, it amounts to what you hope to gain.
Finally, none of your very nice selection of lenses can do what your 100mm macro can and you say you like macro, so why would you want to give it up? I'd say keep it.
Advise what you hope to gain from an upgrade and a more definitive answer/opinion can be given.
JR
I was just curious, since so many of you have the 5d Mark IV and rave about it. I'd like to have more focus pts like the 80d, but others have told me there are just not enough improvements to justify the cost.
As for macro, I've been pleases with the macro on my zooms...then I don't have to change lenses, since I don't so any studio work?
Macro is simply defined as 1 to 1 reproduction meaning that if you photograph a penny, the image on the sensor is exactly the same size as a penny. There are no zooms that are "true" macro. Those that are labeled as such are usually just "close focusing' meaning they get to roughly 1 to 2 reproduction. Telephotos can come close and simulate that but with trade-offs in image sharpness and overall quality edge to edge, Macro lenses are built for that. Not sure I understand the reference to studio work unless you're talking still lifes. Macros are typically not used in studios except for still life work. All that arcane technical stuff aside, if you're happy with the images you get and for your purposes you can't see the improvement using the macro, then by all means dump it!
If you have the cash, the 5D4 will blow away your 70D, the 80D, and even the 7D2 both in focus and image quality. It is truly an awesome beast and merits the raves. If that's too expensive, the 7D2 broke the ground for the focusing in the 5D4 as well as the 1Dx2 so if focus is paramount for you, that may be an answer. However, if you like all the bell whistle type things on the double digit D series (tilting screen, touch screen, scene modes, etc) then you won't be happy with any pro body or the 7D2.
My pleasure. It IS so confounding and confusing these days. Tough to know which way to go sometimes. I was using a 1D Mark IV for a long time and was totally happy with it except for the focusing options. Don't misunderstand, it worked great but there were no focus zones like on the 7D. You either had a single point or had to allow the camera to choose from among all 45. I liked the zone option on the 7D but I was not happy with the image quality so I upgraded to the 7D2 and that camera put the 1D4 on the shelf! Didn't use it again and recently sold it at the NANPA Summit.
The 7D2 was amazing but I found myself missing the pro body I was used to in the 1D4. So I broke the bank and got the 1Dx2. OMG. It put the 7D2 almost on the shelf. I still use it for the extra reach, but not much any more. I absolutely love the 1Dx2 and while the cost was painful, for the joy it's brought me it's money well spent.
Through it all I had a 5D3 and was happy with it, using mostly for landscapes because no way it's focus system could come close for anything moving. Because of an increase in demand for high quality very large prints, I upgraded to the 5D4 for the megapixels not focusing. But then one day just to see what it would do, I put the 5D4 on a tripod with my 500 and was amazed at how well it did. The frame rate could not keep up with the 1Dx2 and the buffer filled quicker due to file size, but it focused just as well and I got tons of keepers of bald eagles, wood storks, egrets, you name it - all flying all over the place.
So, long story short, 5D4 focus is extraordinary and the extra megapixels allow for more severe crops making the loss of reach due to crop factor totally bearable. If you get one, I'll wager you'll be very happy.
Discussion
6 repliesAlso, with my collection of lenses, would you recommend keeping my 100mm macro?
Thanks in advance for your opinion.
I have the 70D and the 7DMKII and I feel the 7DMKII is a little larger then the 70D. I would suggest going to a camera shop and physically hold the various cameras yourself so you know how they fit your hands. If there are no camera stores perhaps you might know someone who has one of the potential cameras that you are interested in and you can check it out that way.
I know most of the big box stores sell Canon camera but I do not recall seeing any of the Mark bodies there. Same thing applies to Walmart, KMart and Best Buy. Hope that this is of some assistance. Good luck.
Rich Hahn
So, why you feel you need to upgrade? The 70D is a fairly recent camera. What is it that you feel an upgrade will do for you? I'm not sure what you mean by a "Mark" body because the word mark in and of itself only means a revision to a body rather than give a new number. There is the 1Dx Mark II, the 5D Mark IV, and the 7D Mark II - all significantly different so "mark" means nothing.
You mention small hands a couple times, so you don't want a 1Dx or 1Dx Mark II - both are huge and heavy. The 5D Mark IV is not super large but larger than the 70D. It is full frame if that matters to you. Again, have to know, why do you want to upgrade! The 7D Mark II is an excellent camera but also a bit larger than the 70D or 80D. Who knows when there will be a 90D and why would you think to wait for it rather than do 80D right now? Again, it amounts to what you hope to gain.
Finally, none of your very nice selection of lenses can do what your 100mm macro can and you say you like macro, so why would you want to give it up? I'd say keep it.
Advise what you hope to gain from an upgrade and a more definitive answer/opinion can be given.
JR
As for macro, I've been pleases with the macro on my zooms...then I don't have to change lenses, since I don't so any studio work?
If you have the cash, the 5D4 will blow away your 70D, the 80D, and even the 7D2 both in focus and image quality. It is truly an awesome beast and merits the raves. If that's too expensive, the 7D2 broke the ground for the focusing in the 5D4 as well as the 1Dx2 so if focus is paramount for you, that may be an answer. However, if you like all the bell whistle type things on the double digit D series (tilting screen, touch screen, scene modes, etc) then you won't be happy with any pro body or the 7D2.
The 7D2 was amazing but I found myself missing the pro body I was used to in the 1D4. So I broke the bank and got the 1Dx2. OMG. It put the 7D2 almost on the shelf. I still use it for the extra reach, but not much any more. I absolutely love the 1Dx2 and while the cost was painful, for the joy it's brought me it's money well spent.
Through it all I had a 5D3 and was happy with it, using mostly for landscapes because no way it's focus system could come close for anything moving. Because of an increase in demand for high quality very large prints, I upgraded to the 5D4 for the megapixels not focusing. But then one day just to see what it would do, I put the 5D4 on a tripod with my 500 and was amazed at how well it did. The frame rate could not keep up with the 1Dx2 and the buffer filled quicker due to file size, but it focused just as well and I got tons of keepers of bald eagles, wood storks, egrets, you name it - all flying all over the place.
So, long story short, 5D4 focus is extraordinary and the extra megapixels allow for more severe crops making the loss of reach due to crop factor totally bearable. If you get one, I'll wager you'll be very happy.