• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Upgrade to dslr (1 Viewer)

Jungle

Jungle

Active member
Hi,

So i want to move up from having bridge cameras (firstly a panasonic dmc-fz7, now a canon sx40hs) to a dslr.

Initial research has thrown up that probably the best lens in my budget is the 400mm f5.6, so it takes me down the canon route.

Camera seems more tricky to pin down, one point is i have a good selection of sd cards, so makes sense to carry on using them.

Of the newer models the 70d is a possibility, but also i've found an old model the 'eos 1d mk2 N' which was 4 grand when new, and has 45 af points and seems really pro.

I know the newest should be better but i would like any suggestions and info espacially if anyone has used either setup.

Thanks, George
 
I have the 1dmk2n and whilst it's a good camera would not recommend it.having only 8mp you are limited to how much can be cropped from an image.being an older camera the majority will be coming up to needing the shutter replaced soon.

Cheers.

Steve.
 
The 1DmkIII is probably the oldest I'd want to go, but I'm not sure I'd recommend any 1D series as a starting point. It's either going to be expensive or a compromise of age, then you might end up with something that is too complex and heavy camera for you to enjoy. Fall in love with using a 'normal person's' DSLR before considering a 1D!

The 70D is the starting point. You could perhaps wait a month or so for the new 7Dii but I'd recommended going with the 70D and putting the £750 difference to more or better glass. The outgoing 7Di can now be had for the same price as the 70Dbut quite frankly I'm unsure what to suggest there (I own a 7D, never used a 70D)

As for lenses: Your SX40HS has a field of view range eqivalent to 15-525mm on a Canon APS-C DSLR. Those are the numbers to need to calibrate your expectation to.

What's your usual subject matter? The Tamron 150-600 is getting a lot of love at a similar price to the 400mm. Sigma have a couple of similar 150-600 due to hit the stores soon.
 
Ok thanks both steve and paul,

So what i tend to photograph is either places, family and insect which i could do with a 'pocket' digital camera (also canon (powershot d20) which has been used underwater too, very useful camera), and then i like birds and wildlife.
So the sx40hs was used at either end of the zoom but rarely in the middle.

Thus really its telephoto lens thats needed, not zoom.

With the sx40hs perched birds are acceptable but anything flying is no hope for me.

I would love to be able to have something i have taken that is good enough to hang on my wall.

George.
 
But having read about the 7d being perhaps the one, then it might be wiser to change to CF cards instead. Is the 7d the best aps-c frame camera?
 
George, I would definitely recommend you get a 70D.

I used to own a 7D (Mk1) and recently sold it to get a 70D which I will use until next Summer, when I plan to upgrade to a 7d mK2 (when the prices have dropped a bit!).

The 70D has many features in common with the 7D Mk1 (or very similar):

- same number of autofocus points
- same exposure metering system
- 7fps in burst mode (cf. 8fps on the 7D)

However, the 70D has a more modern sensor that gives slightly less noisy images at higher ISO settings. The 70D is far better than the 7D for video work (if that is of interest).

The 70D is also lighter in weight than the 7D.

In your case, the fact you have a lot of SD cards also supports the 70D route.

I have been very pleased with my 70D and have not regretted the switch from the 7D Mk1.

As regards lenses - either the Canon 400mm f5.6 or the Tamron 150-600 zoom. I myself have both - tending to favour the Canon 400 for birds in flight and the Tammy for stationary or slow moving birds. You may not feel you need the zoom function, but the extra focal length of the Tamron is useful.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

cheers,
Nick
 
The 7Dmk2 is the best Canon aps-c, but it's not out yet ;)

The 7D is now five years old now. It's still as well built as it was then, it's fast and has autofocus modes not found on the 70D. But its sensor is showing it's age, and the 70D has different pluses (eg better liveview autofocus tech, autofocus algorithms that have had another four years refinement, flip screen, etc).
 
Nick Leech said:
As regards lenses - either the Canon 400mm f5.6 or the Tamron 150-600 zoom. I myself have both - tending to favour the Canon 400 for birds in flight and the Tammy for stationary or slow moving birds. You may not feel you need the zoom function, but the extra focal length of the Tamron is useful.
Click to expand...
The two Sigma 150-600s are meant sooner rather than later and it'll be interesting to see how they compare.
 
I wouldn't rule out the 1D Mk II. You can get them for peanuts and for that you get a machine with excellent autofocus that's built like a tank and has lovely big pixels that sharpen up nicely and don't cr*p themselves as soon as you start pulling them around in post-processing.

I haven't looked recently but you could probably get a decent mark III for a similar price to a new 7D (first version), and as long as you research the early autofocus problems properly and avoid bodies which either haven't had the fix or were outside of the range of serial numbers affected, again you will get a lot of camera for the money.
 
I use the 1D mk3 with the canon 400mm 5.6l and i'm very pleased with the results,later when the prices of the 1Dmk4 come down i'll buy one.

Cheers.

Steve.
 
Just my thoughts.
Whilst the 7D (Mk1) is a very good camera the 1D Mk3 is considerably better for action/wildlife shooting. I found it to be a very simple camera to use (probably because I rarely look at manuals!) with VERY long battery life as well as really good build quality. A friends 1D3 fell over 6 feet onto flagstones, result it bounced - that's it! He just put a lens on it and carried on using it for the next couple of years without an issue, it's current owner is delighted with it and no longer uses his 7D.
The high ISO performance is better on the 1D3 (than the 7D) and the auto focus is in a different league, the 1D3 is also faster responding and tracks moving subjects better.
 
70D if you can find them at $800-900 for the body on sale, not a hard thing to do. Old 7D while having alarger buffer and one more fps along with a spot focus you may never use is really an old player today, if you're on a budget then pick one up at $500 used, anything more then go with the sale priced 70d. I love the kit 18-55 and 55-250 stm lens that can be had pretty cheap in a kit with the 70D, if you need other lens.

The 400 5.6 is a perfect prime lens for this also.
 
Paul Jarvis said:
Just to clarify, do people regard the 1d3 an upgrade to the 7D even though the 1d3 has older technology and less mp?
Click to expand...

I know several people with both cameras who do.
It is far more important to get a properly focussed image with sufficient ISO performance than worry about the number of pixels,
 
That makes sense John, the 1d3 can still be had for more money than the 7d so is says a lot for the quality of the camera, or the 7d2 has pushed the mk1 price down further than expected.
 
If using a 1d mk3 with the 400 f5.6, would it still autofocus if the new 2x III extender was used? (probably have to use a tripod too).

George
 
Jungle said:
If using a 1d mk3 with the 400 f5.6, would it still autofocus if the new 2x III extender was used? (probably have to use a tripod too).

George
Click to expand...

Sorry - no, it would be manual focus only. However if you decide on a camera with live view the you will get AF when using that mode. Unfortunately image quality will not be great. My only F5.6 lens is the Canon 800 F5.6 L IS and whilst it is a stunning lens it's performance with extenders is not the best - you really need something faster (lower F number) if you want to use extenders.
The Canon 1 series DSLR cameras will Auto Focus at F8 (as will the new 7D2). In other words a 400 F5.6 will AF, slowly, with a 1.4 extender and an F4 lens (eg 500 F4 L IS) will AF with a 2 x extender.
I wouldn't worry too much about extenders (unless you have something like a 300 F2.8) as you will always get better shots by getting a little closer with the bare lens. Extenders can be very handy but they are a compromise.
 
A couple of quick average shots from the 1D3 400 + 1.4 kenko, i'm still getting used to this camera its a different beast to the 7d.
 

Attachments

  • Whooper Swan 0X6R6653.jpg
    Whooper Swan 0X6R6653.jpg
    90.4 KB · Views: 123
  • Whooper Swan 0X6R6662.jpg
    Whooper Swan 0X6R6662.jpg
    168.8 KB · Views: 88
Warning! This thread is more than 9 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

Arbu
EOS RP with EF 100-400mm lens
Replies
3
Views
757
pdwinter
pdwinter
T
Upgrading cameras
Replies
4
Views
481
TareqPhoto
T
M
Used Bridge Camera Options
Replies
8
Views
3K
PaulCountyDurham
P
S
Using iPad as monitor for DSLR Digiscoping
Replies
0
Views
543
SwannyVancouver
S
K
Digiscoping with android phone vs with mirrorless DLSR- advice please?
Replies
6
Views
434
Mike Crawley
Mike Crawley

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top