Looking for advice...

lukey1965

lukey1965

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Paul
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Good evening all. I am after some advice about equipment and where I go with mine. This may seem a bit long winded but please bear with me and many thanks in advance for any advice offered...

I currently have 1 x body which is a Canon 1Dmkiv. I have a range of lenses to compliment this. My main focus is MotoGP/Motorbikes in general but do have some interest in landscape/street/family photography as well.

I have been pondering adding a full frame body, such as a 5Dmkii for example, to cover these other areas of interest but, obviously, there is a cost factor involved.

Now, I believe, and please correct me if I am wrong, that a Nikon body such as a D610 or D800 would allow the FF coverage I would like, but would also give me the reach for the motorbike photography whilst operating in DX mode (with good FX glass).

This to me seems to be the 'holy grail', a camera that can operate in 2 forms (1 x body, not 2 to carry around), would save me spending more money (that none of us have !!), and may even allow me to recoup some outlay as I think the I could replace my Canon gear with Nikon equivalent for slightly less money.

Does this seem to be a logical route or am I missing something about the way the Nikon's operate please ??

I would like to add that I am very happy with Canon/the equipment I have, this just seems to be a way forward to where I would like to be without any extra expense.

Regards, Paul
 
My question is how likely would you be to take landscapes/family/street when you are also photographing motorcycling?

Second point is apart from the 1.3 crop factor maybe consider a 5D MkIII as a do it all body, your lenses would fit, AF is still excellent and bit lighter into the bargain
 
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The interests are at different times !! I will be in Le Mans in May for MotoGP, but Cornwall later that month with 'er indoors. Chance for coastal landscape, scenic architecture, and the odd shot of the dragon... er, sorry, wife !!

Had thought of the mk3. Is it good enough to crop with the loss of the reach of the 1D ??
 
Had thought of the mk3. Is it good enough to crop with the loss of the reach of the 1D ??
Click to expand...

Can't say for sure as I only have the MkII, but that is fine for cropping and would think the MkIII would do a good job with slightly more mp's, AF would definitely be better than the MkII and comparable to your MkIV
 
It is impossible to check your maths on the pricing / costs involved without a full kit list and proposed substitution list but as someone who has happily and successfully switched from Canon to Nikon, and as someone who shoots with a D800e now as well as D3s/D4 here is my feedback to you:

- Stick with your Canon system. If you are happy with it then really I can't recommend a wholesale switch out. I only switched because of the well documented issues with the 1D MkIII and no confirmed roadmap for the pro level bodies at the time - otherwise I would have stayed as I was. It takes a very short time to get over the reversed mount direction and zoom/focus and the different button controls - that isn't a problem. You would be at the mercy of buyers though when you sell up your Canon kit - and if you sold at the low end of your expectations across the system then it could be as much as staying Canon and just buying a second body. Once you start selling Canon kit you will pass the point of no return and have to sell it all - no matter what prices you are getting. My Canon -> Nikon switch was financially cost neutral but I ended up with less glass and accessories in my bag.

- You are far better off with two bodies. It might seem like an expense but in terms of having a backup body, and more importantly the ability to have two different lenses attached to bodies available to you to interchange quickly is of real benefit.

- The D800 is not a motorsport camera body. You CAN take motorsport images with it - I used mine (professionally) as a second body shooting both indoor and outdoor sport, but it doesn't have the frame rate or IMVHO the consistency of AF whilst rapid shooting that a pro-level (1D/D3/D4) type body does - in the end I picked up a D3s to complement my D4 so I'm shooting sport with two dedicated action bodies and it makes a big difference. The D800 will be awesome for landscapes and scenics, but not for your other main use. My keeper rate on the D800 for fast action sports is lower than with the D3s/D4 body (and my fallibility is constant) - others may disagree - I'm clearly only making this point based on my personal experience.

- If you can't stretch to a second Canon body then nothing is stopping you using your 1D MKIV for landscapes/scenics/street photography. It is a perfectly usable body for those purposes. Short of upgrading to a 1Dx there isn't a better Canon body for you for motorsport.

- If you can go to a second body then pick up a used 5D MkII or MkIII - they'll give you the FF you desire, high MP and acceptable AF for your non-motorsport work and be a reasonable second body when you do shoot at the track.

HTH
 
I can't add much to the excellent advice you've already been given, but this bit caught my eye.
lukey1965 said:
Now, I believe, and please correct me if I am wrong, that a Nikon body such as a D610 or D800 would allow the FF coverage I would like, but would also give me the reach for the motorbike photography whilst operating in DX mode (with good FX glass).

This to me seems to be the 'holy grail', a camera that can operate in 2 forms (1 x body, not 2 to carry around), would save me spending more money (that none of us have !!), and may even allow me to recoup some outlay as I think the I could replace my Canon gear with Nikon equivalent for slightly less money.

Does this seem to be a logical route or am I missing something about the way the Nikon's operate please ??
Click to expand...
Are you missing something? Yes and no. Maybe.

Nikon DSLRs do have a DX crop mode. What this does is crop the images in camera. The D610 will crop down from 24.3 MP to 10.8 MP and the D800 will crop down from 36.3 MP to 16.1 MP.

But there's no magic involved. All they're doing is cropping the images. If you use a Canon camera without the crop-in-camera functionality, it would be the work of literally a few seconds to crop them automatically in Lightroom, Photoshop, or whatever.

The real purpose of DX crop mode is to allow photographers to use DX lenses on FX bodies without vignetting. That's not relevant for Canon cameras because EF-S lenses can't be attached to full-frame bodies.
 
I think I have got it out of my system now !!

Sticking where I am, many thanks for input.

Paul
 
tijuana taxi said:
My question is how likely would you be to take landscapes/family/street when you are also photographing motorcycling?
Click to expand...

I do.
I mainly do landscapes but also enjoy a small amount of bikes because there isn't much bike racing in this area (road bikes anyway). Also due to kids bike photography went out the window a bit but I can get back into it now.
 
I've got a 1MkIV and a 5D MkIII. If you crop the 5 to MkIV size you still get 13 MP. More than enough.

The AF on the 5 is better than the MkIV.

As has been pointed out I don't see any advantage to changing brands.
 
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