Stay with APS-C or go full frame?

W0LFMAN

Good choice of words..

Zascar

So what's the best choice for an upgrade in crop sensor? I have a 600d, thinking of going to either a 7d or maybe 60d bit not sure. 7d is a bit old these days but has some nice advantages over the 60d

dirtyghettokid

a replacement of the 7d is due soon, and there is the 70d also.

MarkN

Zascar if you want to try out the 18-35 I don't have a problem meeting up and letting you shoot with mine. Great lens for outdoor stuff, also works indoors but needs a flash in many indoor situations when the light starts to turn to evening - a Speedlite is on my list.

FoxT - try out keaphotos.com or hdew.co.uk both sites sell the 24-105 for approx 600 (in fact HDEW had it for 587 or so last week). HDEW will do a 3 year warranty although it's not a Canon warranty.

FoxT

Well, a few weeks into 5D ownership, and I was at a social occasion today.


5D, ISO 400 50mm f/1.6




I like this shot. There is nothing special about it, of course, it is a simple photo of a person I know in a relaxed social situation.

Taken in artificial light, no flash. Shot in RAW, color correction & bit of local contrast applied. In a crap location with no background visual interest. So, blurring the background is nice.

Can you do this with a crop sensor?

Well, even with a 35mm f/1.4 you wont get the b/g blurred as much on an APS-C. It would be acceptable & nothing wrong with it... but you'd need a eu1000+ prime to do it with.

An old 5D with a 50mm f/1.4 does it grand.

There are definitely situations where the FF pays off.

FoxT

5D 50mm, f/2.0, artificial light no flash




Ladies are in focus, boy is not. On an APS-C this would not have been an issue. (a 35mm f/1.4 would have been required though, for similar results) So there is definitely a learning curve.

I find myself doing a lot of 'DOF bracketing' with the 5D. In indoor situations, shoot at multiple wide aperture settings in the hope that you will nail it.

BTW, I find 5D AF in these indoor/poor light/wide aperture / shallow DOF situations to be excellent. Marginally better than the 40D, which is,itself, very good.

And one final caveat.
What I aspire to is to take 'good quality snapshots' in generally poorly lit indoor situations, avoid flash as much as possible, and deliver results that are as natural-looking as I can. I shoot RAW & correct afterwards in lightroom.

So, this series of posts is not about 'FF vs APS-C' . It is about 'FF vs APSC - FOR ME.
My posts are about 'FF vs APS-C in badly lit social environments, no flash if possible, high ISO, shallow DOF, and while shooting be as unobtrusive as possible. Results need to be good enough to deliver a high quality medium sized print (8" by 10" or 10" by 10")

So far, for the stuff I do, I find roughly

Take 100 shots with 40D
- Discard 50
- 30 OK
-20 good

Take 100 shots with 5D
- Discard 70
- 25 OK
- 5 Excellent

Now, by ' Excellent' I mean the shot of the man in the previous post.

It defo takes practice to nail shots like that. I'm not there yet!

Anyway, hope this has been of interest.

-FoxT

dirtyghettokid

its interesting you find the AF good on the 5d. i find the af on my 5d2 to be atrocious! couple that with the 50mm f/1.4 that has front focus issues & i get really poor results

FoxT

dirtyghettokid wrote: »

its interesting you find the AF good on the 5d. i find the af on my 5d2 to be atrocious! couple that with the 50mm f/1.4 that has front focus issues & i get really poor results

Does the AF microadjust not help?

I had an interesting issue with my 40D a couple years back when I bought a 70-200 f/2.8. All my lenses focused well on the 40D, including the 50 f/1.4, but the 70-200 did not. Sent lens for a check & was told it was perfect. Sent the body off & they were able to recalibrate the AF so it worked perfectly on all lenses, & has done since. Cost about eu180 or so, was well worth it.
I used these guys: http://www.fixationuk.com/Fixation/Fixation%20-%20Home/Fixation%20-%20Home.html

-FoxT

dirtyghettokid

haven't touched micro-adjust tbh. i wouldn't have the money to calibrate my equipment either, but it's something i do hope to do one day!

Zascar

How do you find the wider full frame sensor with your lenses that you were used to on your crop? The one thing that interests me is the fact that my 24-104mm on my crop is just not wide enough - - but on a ff its plenty wide so its the perfect range really. I assume you'd have less of a need to swap lenses. What about using a zoom and having less reach?

If only that new Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 worked on full frame!

FoxT

I have 2 FF-capable lenses, a 50mm f/1.4 & 70-200 f/2.8 .

For indoor social situations the 50 is way better on the FF - on the crop it is a short telephoto, not at all wide enough.

I use the 70-200 for shooting soccer on the crop. I wouldn't consider using it on the FF, way too short. 200mm on the crop is just barely long enough!

for general walking around, the 70-200 is more useful on the FF I find, and delivers sharper results too.


-FoxT