Upgrade to the 7D and sell my 50D??

[HDNitehawk]

Right or wrong, I have shied away from the big primes because I prefer the versatility of the telephotos. When my passion turns into an obsession - I'll likely add a prime or two

You posed your question to many people with an obsession. Take out a loan, and get as many primes as you can possibly buy, and a couple of 1D series cameras body's. You always should have a backup.

[neuroanatomist]

With this in mind, what are you looking to upgrade by moving from a 50D to 7D, is it 'body' features (e.g. 19-pt autofocus, HD video, weather sealing etc) or is it image quality?

Body features, I would say. For me, I moved from a T1i to the 7D because the Rebel's AF couldn't keep up with my toddler, and I was starting to shoot birds in flight. But, the 50D is a significant step up from a Rebel. With the T1i, when the focus was spot-on the resulting images were excellent.


Similarly, once I had the 7D, I added the 24-105mm f/4<span style="color: red;"]L IS lens. Not for better IQ - the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens I have is excellent, and I still use it a lot. But, with the weather-sealing of the 7D, I also wanted a general purpose zoom I could take out in the rain. So it was build quality, not optical quality, that drove that decision.

[Richard Lane]

You posed your question to many people with an obsession. Take out a loan, and get as many primes as you can possibly buy, and a couple of 1D series cameras body's. You always should have a backup.

"Quilty"


Rich

[cfnz]

Body features, I would say.

I concur. I guess I phased my post poorly though as the question was more directed at Cytoman. I do appreciate the reply though [].

[Richard Lane]

<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"]Honestly, I am surprised.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"] [img]/emoticons/emotion-3.gif[/img] I expected the 7D to win hands down. I knew glass was important, but I didn't expect it potentially trump an upgrade to the 7D.


<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"]

Well, it sounds like you have a solid plan now, or at least a lot to think about.


Lets take a look at the Image Chain for a moment. Since you can't gain quality, the best you could hope for, is to retain quality, and even that is a stretch. That means that you have to start out with the best possible image and then transfer that image to the sensor unharmed.


In that regards, light is the most important part of the chain in obtaining the image. Lets face it, without any light (either natural or artificial) there's no photo.


The next most important thing in the chain, is probably the filter. If you have a low quality filter transmitting distortion to an expensive lens, the result will be poor image quality.


If I smear mayonaise on the front of the filter and I have a $5000 body, the picture will be terrible. If you have inferior optics inside the Lens, the picture quality transmitted to the sensor will also be poor.


A good quality sensor is next in line, in order to capture the image.


So, basically, you need to start off with the best image possible in order to have a chance of recording that image properly. That's why a lot of people say, "glass before body." You know the saying, Garbage In Garbage Out.


I'm not even going to attempt to get into other factors like; Auto Focusing, Diffraction, Camera Shake, and IS, but certainly it all matters.


Neuro's right regarding indoor sports for kids, since most Jr. High School and High School Gym's are poorly lit. You will really need an aperture of at least f/2 which will let in twice as much light as f/2.8, in order to achieve a fast enough shutter speed of at least 1/500sec, so that you may limit motion blur and image noise. Again.., depending on the lighting in the Gym, with an aperture of f/2.8 you could take still shots, bench shots, candids, and blurry action photos.


See, it always comes back to light!


"Basically.., the acquisition of light is expensive."


Rich
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[Cytoman]

Lens quality has far more impact on the final image than the body.

Cytoman, with this piece of advice in mind, what are you looking to upgrade by moving from a 50D to 7D? Is it 'body' features (e.g. 19-pt autofocus, HD video, weather sealing etc) or is it image quality?
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Primarily image quality and weather sealing. I haven't been disappointed with my 50D when it comes to focus and I don't plan on using the video.

[Cytoman]

You posed your question to many people with an obsession. Take out a loan, and get as many primes as you can possibly buy, and a couple of 1D series cameras body's. You always should have a backup.
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Thanks. I still have a lot to learn about equipment, and a lot of money to spend.

[JJphoto]

Take out a loan, and get as many primes as you can possibly buy, and a couple of 1D series cameras body's.

with current interest rate as low as 3.75% for 15Y fixed,and weaker dollar, maybe it's not a bad idea to cash out some money to "invest" in "L" glasses[:P]