Hmmm, I forgot I even had a blog! :-O
Last April I snagged a used Siggy 500 4.5 EX (pre-DG). That was the single most mind blowing purchase I have made to date for birding. This lens really doesn't fail unless you miss the focus. What I mean is it is stupidly sharp and free of CA and scatter. Such a great lens. Even with a cheap 2x Kenko MC7 TC attached it can really pull in the details...WOW!
So, in the past year I have become increasingly less satisfied with my trusted 20D. Seriously, not a surprise given the 12 year old tech in this body. I have never worried much about it. My Sigma 150-500 OS (yup, I'm keeping it for those times when the 500 EX doesn't need to risk travel)...it's not the sharpest piece of kit around. I wouldn't trade the years I've spent with it, mind you. It has blessed me with shots I would have otherwise never had the fortune of pulling in, given it's impressive reach. But what I have come to realize is that I was always relying on scaling down to give my images a sense of sharpness. Now that I have this 500 prime I am getting levels of sharpness that far exceed the capability of an 8mp sensor. Furthermore, I am now seeing how noisy the 20D really is. Scaling down eliminates noise significantly, especially when downsizing to internet friendly dimensions. Now that I can actually crop to retain 100% pixel scale it seems 800 is still usable, but 1600, and much worse 3200...ugh...truly horrid.
Thus it is time for an upgrade. Welcome to the second decade of the 2000's! I have been recently debating on the 7D vs 7D2 vs 1D3 vs 70D argument. My head has been spinning, as all options have their merit. The upside is that all seem to offer similar sensor IQ. So then it comes down to performance where, again, there are more similarities than differences. Negatives? 1D3 is getting old, so finding a good condition used variant is becoming a struggle. 7D is now also older, plus it seems plagued with slight banding issues in shadows at higher ISO, a real issue if nighttime astro landscapes are on the agenda (and they are). The other two are currently more than I want to spend, $1100 USD for the 70D, and $1500 for the 7D2.
Yesterday I stumbled on a refurbed 70D on the Canon website. $700! Add to cart! Happy birthday (two months away...LOL!)!
Now we twiddle thumbs......
Last April I snagged a used Siggy 500 4.5 EX (pre-DG). That was the single most mind blowing purchase I have made to date for birding. This lens really doesn't fail unless you miss the focus. What I mean is it is stupidly sharp and free of CA and scatter. Such a great lens. Even with a cheap 2x Kenko MC7 TC attached it can really pull in the details...WOW!
So, in the past year I have become increasingly less satisfied with my trusted 20D. Seriously, not a surprise given the 12 year old tech in this body. I have never worried much about it. My Sigma 150-500 OS (yup, I'm keeping it for those times when the 500 EX doesn't need to risk travel)...it's not the sharpest piece of kit around. I wouldn't trade the years I've spent with it, mind you. It has blessed me with shots I would have otherwise never had the fortune of pulling in, given it's impressive reach. But what I have come to realize is that I was always relying on scaling down to give my images a sense of sharpness. Now that I have this 500 prime I am getting levels of sharpness that far exceed the capability of an 8mp sensor. Furthermore, I am now seeing how noisy the 20D really is. Scaling down eliminates noise significantly, especially when downsizing to internet friendly dimensions. Now that I can actually crop to retain 100% pixel scale it seems 800 is still usable, but 1600, and much worse 3200...ugh...truly horrid.
Thus it is time for an upgrade. Welcome to the second decade of the 2000's! I have been recently debating on the 7D vs 7D2 vs 1D3 vs 70D argument. My head has been spinning, as all options have their merit. The upside is that all seem to offer similar sensor IQ. So then it comes down to performance where, again, there are more similarities than differences. Negatives? 1D3 is getting old, so finding a good condition used variant is becoming a struggle. 7D is now also older, plus it seems plagued with slight banding issues in shadows at higher ISO, a real issue if nighttime astro landscapes are on the agenda (and they are). The other two are currently more than I want to spend, $1100 USD for the 70D, and $1500 for the 7D2.
Yesterday I stumbled on a refurbed 70D on the Canon website. $700! Add to cart! Happy birthday (two months away...LOL!)!
Now we twiddle thumbs......
