New Camera Body......Help Needed Please

[Irby28]

I currently own a 50D, 70mm-200mm f/2.8L IS lens and the 100mm-400mm f/4.5L IS lens. I am lookinginto getting a new camera body, and the more I look into them the more confused I seem to get. 90% of the pictures I take are of action sports; Football, Baseball, Auto Racing and Basketball. Can anyone please recommend the best camera body for action sports? Image quality is my main concern as I will be selling the pictures online. The images I am getting from the 50D, in my opinion tend to be a little soft.


I have between $2500 - $3500 to spend on a new camera body.


Any help would be appreciated.





Thank you,


Keith

[Jon Ruyle]

For sports in this price range I think it comes down to 1DIII vs 7D. I would go with the 1DIII unless I did a lot of cropping (the 7D gives you more reach because of higher pixel density and better per area sensor sensitivity) and maybe if I did a lot of low light (in which case I'm not sure which is better... sensitivity is probably a wash if you are using the whole 1DIII sensor, and probably I would prefer the 1DIII autofocus in low light).


But I also think it would help your choice if you knew exactly why the 50D images are soft. The 50D is capable of producing sharp images, but different people have different ideas of how sharp is sharp. You have to know what the limiting factor in the sharpness of your images is before you know how to fix it (or if you even need to replace the 50D at all- it is quite possible that the source of the softness is something you can fix without changing the body).


Just my opinion. Take with salt, as I don't shoot sports.

[Ehcalum]

1D Mk II or ID MKIIn. I use the 1D2 for sports and have no qualms with it.

[Daniel Browning]

I think Jon nailed it.

The images I am getting from the 50D, in my opinion tend to be a little soft.

It would be a good idea to figure out why that is before you upgrade. The 50D is capable of tack-sharp shots. If it's because of motion blur, then an upgrade wont help (except to reduce noise at a higher ISO). If it's because of missed focus, then maybe all you need is to use the microadjustment feature. If not, then an upgrade will probably give you better autofocus performance. If the softness is from heavy noise reduction because you feel the noise is too high, then upgrading to a camera with less noise will help. If the softness is due to the the lens, then upgrading to a larger sensor will help as long as you can get close enough (as soon as you crop to the same angle of view, the benefit is gone). Another option is to upgrade the lens, such as a used 300mm f/2.8.

90% of the pictures I take are of action sports; Football, Baseball, Auto Racing and Basketball.

Personally, I'd go with the 7D. It is a big step up from the 50D in autofocus, frame rate, and low light performance. On top of that, it has tremendous resolution.