New (used) camera advice

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Discussion

BlueMR2

Original Poster:

8,643 posts

201 months

Saturday 25th June 2022
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Years ago I used to head to the local hillclimb and get some photos which I enjoyed doing.

Recently I was thinking about going again as it’s been quite some time just as someone posted a photo which increased my enthusiasm.

I decided to return an ipad pro I purchased as I wasn’t really using it, this will fund most of my upgrade budget.

I have a 50mm 1.8 and a 70-200mm f4l with my 40d in a cupboard.

I’d like to update the body so I have been having a look at whats available and a 7D mkII seems like it would be well suited.

From a used store a good/excellent 9 by their description is around £570-585.

I was thinking of then adding a 24-105 f4L IS as a good general lens eg for people and in the pits etc, these in 9 condition seem to be around 400 from a shop, so in the £1k ish budget, £50 on top for a couple of fast sandisk 128gb sd cards is fine. Maybe an extra battery and grip later is ok too.

However i’ve also been looking at the 5D mkIV as well, these are generally slightly over budget, however it appears that just while i’ve been looking over the last few weeks more and more of these 2 are being advertised. I think slrhut has the mkIV under £1.5k new, and even if it is a grey import its better value than some unrealistic sellers used prices.

I feel like with the R7 and R10 ? Cameras due next month both these cameras are going to be flooding onto the market from people upgrading and thus they are going to drop in value over the next 2 months? What do others think?

Any thoughts welcome, it will mainly be used for hillclimb and wildlife photography, but possibly people and stationary vehicles too.

Possible new lenses(used) etc could be purchased over time as funds allow so i could get by without the 24-105mm for now, sometimes the 17-40mm f4L pop up cheaply at times.

So any info from people with experience with those lenses is welcome.

Also i used to use Apple Aperture which is no longer an option, what software is good these days, it will need to run on an M1 pro MacBook pro.

Thanks everyone.

Craikeybaby

10,369 posts

224 months

Saturday 25th June 2022
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If you want to mainly shoot motorsport and wildlife I would suggest a cropped sensor camera, the 7DII is a good shout. I found the 24-105 to be a good lens on full frame, but too long on a cropped sensor camera, the 17-40 would likely be more useful.

Tony1963

4,699 posts

161 months

Saturday 25th June 2022
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5D4 and a 1.4x in the bag. Everything covered that a 7D2 will cover.

But: whichever you buy, learn as much as you can about it for your needs.

BlueMR2

Original Poster:

8,643 posts

201 months

Saturday 25th June 2022
quotequote all
Craikeybaby said:
If you want to mainly shoot motorsport and wildlife I would suggest a cropped sensor camera, the 7DII is a good shout. I found the 24-105 to be a good lens on full frame, but too long on a cropped sensor camera, the 17-40 would likely be more useful.
Interesting, would you choose the 17-40 over the 24-70 as a general lens as well?

BlueMR2

Original Poster:

8,643 posts

201 months

Saturday 25th June 2022
quotequote all
Tony1963 said:
5D4 and a 1.4x in the bag. Everything covered that a 7D2 will cover.

But: whichever you buy, learn as much as you can about it for your needs.
Cheers, yeah I quite like looking through menus etc so I will have quite a few new features to learn about on either camera from my old 40D.

Craikeybaby

10,369 posts

224 months

Sunday 26th June 2022
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BlueMR2 said:
Interesting, would you choose the 17-40 over the 24-70 as a general lens as well?
It depends on what body - when I shot with cropped sensor cameras I found the 17-40 to be great, but it was too wide when I switched to full frame, so swapped it for the 24-105mm.

Tony1963

4,699 posts

161 months

Sunday 26th June 2022
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BlueMR2 said:
Cheers, yeah I quite like looking through menus etc so I will have quite a few new features to learn about on either camera from my old 40D.
I went 40D > 5D3 in 2014 after a burglary. The improvement in my photos wasn't negligible. There really is ‘something’ about a larger sensor.

BlueMR2

Original Poster:

8,643 posts

201 months

Sunday 26th June 2022
quotequote all
Craikeybaby said:
BlueMR2 said:
Interesting, would you choose the 17-40 over the 24-70 as a general lens as well?
It depends on what body - when I shot with cropped sensor cameras I found the 17-40 to be great, but it was too wide when I switched to full frame, so swapped it for the 24-105mm.
It's been so long since I have used a proper camera, I think I need to look through the lenses on whichever body I choose so I can visualise what I can use them for.

I guess in the long run I could end up with both, especially if I end up with a full frame and a crop camera.

BlueMR2

Original Poster:

8,643 posts

201 months

Sunday 26th June 2022
quotequote all
Tony1963 said:
BlueMR2 said:
Cheers, yeah I quite like looking through menus etc so I will have quite a few new features to learn about on either camera from my old 40D.
I went 40D > 5D3 in 2014 after a burglary. The improvement in my photos wasn't negligible. There really is ‘something’ about a larger sensor.
Sorry to hear about your 40D.

I remember years ago when I was taking pictures, a number of people used to post that their photos had "something else" when they moved to FF, they couldn't quantify it but they just had something extra. I think that is what's drawing me to the MKIV, to see if I feel the same, however the 7d2 seems to be a suitable camera for my moving target needs at around half the price.

I think I will keep a watch on ebay etc to see if there are any bargains around. 10% off alot of used items still ongoing today, upto £50. Not to be sniffed at on a £500 camera or lens.

Tony1963

4,699 posts

161 months

Sunday 26th June 2022
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BlueMR2 said:
Sorry to hear about your 40D.

I remember years ago when I was taking pictures, a number of people used to post that their photos had "something else" when they moved to FF, they couldn't quantify it but they just had something extra. I think that is what's drawing me to the MKIV, to see if I feel the same, however the 7d2 seems to be a suitable camera for my moving target needs at around half the price.

I think I will keep a watch on ebay etc to see if there are any bargains around. 10% off alot of used items still ongoing today, upto £50. Not to be sniffed at on a £500 camera or lens.
Neither will be a wrong choice!

Maybe if a local shop has a used 5D in stock you could take a memory card along, take some photos from just outside the shop, and then go home and see what you think with the images on your ‘poota.

BlueMR2

Original Poster:

8,643 posts

201 months

Sunday 26th June 2022
quotequote all
Thanks for that, unfortunately the local shop doesn't have one.

However as you say, either one should do a good job, the advantage with the 7D2 being that it's half the price, leaving room for a lens as well.

sgrimshaw

7,311 posts

249 months

Monday 27th June 2022
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BlueMR2 said:
Thanks for that, unfortunately the local shop doesn't have one.

However as you say, either one should do a good job, the advantage with the 7D2 being that it's half the price, leaving room for a lens as well.
Do you have a London Camera Exchange near you, they used to be happy to move used stock between stores so you could check stuff out .. not sure if they still do.

BlueMR2

Original Poster:

8,643 posts

201 months

Monday 27th June 2022
quotequote all
sgrimshaw said:
BlueMR2 said:
Thanks for that, unfortunately the local shop doesn't have one.

However as you say, either one should do a good job, the advantage with the 7D2 being that it's half the price, leaving room for a lens as well.
Do you have a London Camera Exchange near you, they used to be happy to move used stock between stores so you could check stuff out .. not sure if they still do.
Cheers, I had a look but the nearest one is over an hour away.

Craikeybaby

10,369 posts

224 months

Monday 27th June 2022
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You can borrow a Canon camera (and lenses) for a free 48 hour trial: https://www.4fill-testdrive.com

Tony1963

4,699 posts

161 months

Monday 27th June 2022
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Craikeybaby said:
You can borrow a Canon camera (and lenses) for a free 48 hour trial: https://www.4fill-testdrive.com
New equipment only, I think.

BlueMR2

Original Poster:

8,643 posts

201 months

Monday 27th June 2022
quotequote all
Craikeybaby said:
You can borrow a Canon camera (and lenses) for a free 48 hour trial: https://www.4fill-testdrive.com
Cheers, i'd had a look there, not sure I can actually afford the deposit on a camera and lens at the same time, lol.

Tony1963 said:
New equipment only, I think.
Yeah, you can only get newer stuff, so it wouldn't be exactly the design of lens I'd be getting and you can't try the 7Dmk2 either.

BlueMR2

Original Poster:

8,643 posts

201 months

Monday 27th June 2022
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To those who do have them is 128gb the max sd card size you can use?

Tony1963

4,699 posts

161 months

Monday 27th June 2022
quotequote all
BlueMR2 said:
To those who do have them is 128gb the max sd card size you can use?
I think so, but I'm not sure. I recently bought a decent Sandisk 128Gb SD card for less than £20, just to match the 128Gb CF card I bought off a mate, used.
For these cameras that is a huge amount of storage unless you just machine-gun the shutter at locations.

BlueMR2

Original Poster:

8,643 posts

201 months

Monday 27th June 2022
quotequote all
Tony1963 said:
BlueMR2 said:
To those who do have them is 128gb the max sd card size you can use?
I think so. I recently bought a decent Sandisk 128Gb SD card for less than £20, just to match the 128Gb CF card I bought off a mate, used.
For these cameras that is a huge amount of storage unless you just machine-gun the shutter at locations.
Yeah, I have between 1 gb and 4 gb compact flash for the 40D, all of them were probably more than a faster 128GB sd card from Amazon nowadays.

I still prefer the Compact Flash design and it seems to get corrupted less IIRC, but it's just so much more expensive.

Tony1963

4,699 posts

161 months

Monday 27th June 2022
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I just buy a new card every two or three years. Keep the old ones as spares just in case. I like SD because it plugs straight into the side of my MacBook.

The 5D3 max shutter rate is limited by modern standards, but limited even more if an SD card is used. Bear that in mind.