From Nikon D5100 to Canon 5D MII

DolbyDan

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I went to my local camera shop yesterday to have a look at getting a 24-120F4 as I definitely want to go FF from my D5100 and was just going to wait for a D600 or for the D700 to come down a tad.

My only other lens I have is a Tamron SP 70-300mm which is ok until 200mm, not really good enough tbh.

I looked at what Canon offers... a 5D MarkII with a 24-105mmF4 for £2257!
and they also sell two lenses that appeal to me that Nikon do not do... 70-200mmF4 at a very reasonable £500 and the one that really catches my eye is the 100-400mmF4.5-5.6

A couple of questions

Is the 5D MarkII with a 24-105F4 a good idea?

I prefer moderately light walkabout, but quality lenses the 70-200mmF4 looks like good, but really cuts into the 24-105mmF4 range, the 100-400mm looks like a perfect lens but is heavy, does anyone own both?

Thanks Dan
 
First of all I would just like to say I just got the 60D with a 15-85mm F3.5/5.6 lens. REALLY happy with it!!!!

My first thought would be, if you can sell your Nikon stuff for a good price, then that makes things easier. 2nd thing is, IMO Sony has better tech over Canon/ Nikon with their SLT tech, although getting parts here in Sweden is not super dooper easy, hence me going with Canon instead.

I think the 5D2 is a really good camera, and everyone loves the 24-105F4 lens, it would of been the one I would of got for my 60D, and in heinsight it might of been a better buy if I had the money to get the EFS 10-22 or Sigma 10-20 for example.

If you don't need anything wider than 24 then it will be an amazing lens.

The 70-200 F4 is a good lens, only bettered by the old 2.8 and the new 2.8mkII afaik, if the budget doesn't stretch this far, then I think at £500 you will have a very very good lens.

Apparently the 100-400 is getting replaced later this year, so maybe wait before you drop £1500 on one, and the other thing is that if you had up to 200, maybe the 400mm F4 DO or the 5.6 prime would be better? How much will you need between 200 and 400?

If you really don't need full frame, have you even considered the Sony A77? I really wish parts were easier to find here, without having to import them. I was discouraged by an employee over here from purchasing any sony photo equipment because everything was so hard for them to get hold of here, but I really do think it is better than anything in the ballpark from Canon at least :)
 
I want to go full frame for a magnitude of reasons but a big one the larger viewfinder and 24mm on FF is as wide as I ever want tbh

I appreciate the hint regarding the 200-400mm I will hold off that then. I like going on Safari holidays and also like general wildlife photography.

My main question now is there too much crossover between the 24-105mm 70-200mm focal lengths is there much point in owning both?

Does Canon do the 'DX mode' like Nikon?
 
AFAIK the DX is the smaller sensor cameras right? If so Canon is called EF-S (what my lens is).

And fair enough regarding the FF argument, you know better what you need than I do, so :p

I think at that price (£200 less than amazon) you should probably go for it, if you are sure that is what you want. I really like my 60D and for now it is more than I need (and I will keep it even if/ when I go FF for the extra crop factor (more zoom))
 
My main question now is there too much crossover between the 24-105mm 70-200mm focal lengths is there much point in owning both?

I guess that is going to depend on your use as to how far you want to go on the long end, I don't find the crossover too much but at the same time I tend not to need to shoot very long focal lengths.

Does Canon do the 'DX mode' like Nikon?

If you mean being able to mount EF-S lenses with auto-cropping then no, you cannot mount EF-S (the equivalent of DX) lenses on the 5D as they're not compatible with the mount.

John
 
(and I will keep it even if/ when I go FF for the extra crop factor (more zoom))

There is no extra crop factor going full frame mate, if you crop by 1.6 on full frame then its exactly the same.

The benefits outside of improved image quality is that FF is wider ie 24mm is 24mm not 38.4mm, you would need a 15mm to get the equivalent, which comes with many lens design drawbacks.

Sorry if you new this, not trying to tel anyone how to suck eggs :blush:
 
I think what they meant is they'd keep the 60D for the extra crop factor when moving to an EF setup.

Have you thought about primes at all? I find the likes of the 50mm to be a very handy little lens on full frame as the image quality is good, the wide aperture means you can really push the low light capability of the camera and it makes for a reasonably compact setup to carry around.

John
 
Yes, what John said.

The 400mm on a 5D is 400mm, on my 60D it is like 640mm. So even if I had a full frame camera, I would keep the 60D based on the the fact I gain an extra 60% zoom effectively, although of course, if you have 60% more pixel density you can just crop in post, but that is another thing :p

And thank you, I didn't realise about the different mount abilities Nikon had :)
 
I will 100% get a 50mm for walkies and an 85mm for studio work, I love a prime! I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the 24-120mm with the 5D, but hold out on a telephoto and keep my D5100 35mmF1.8 and 70-300mm
 
Just finished chatting to a pro studio and wedding tog who shoots a 5D MarkII as a backup to his 1D MarkIV and he has put me off the idea, dated af and recommended waiting for a D600.. oh well lol
 
Just finished chatting to a pro studio and wedding tog who shoots a 5D MarkII as a backup to his 1D MarkIV and he has put me off the idea, dated af and recommended waiting for a D600.. oh well lol
why not the 5d3? can get one for 2k/2.2k now
 
It's alway a hard one swapping makes.

The autofocus is a bit slower on the 5DmkII,but it's not that bad,but I think I would wait for the D600 or go for the D700.

As for lens Nikon does,do an nice 24-120mm F4,not to sure if they will get around to doing an 70-200mm F4.

:)
 
Thing about the D700 is I like copping when I do birds or do a safari, I'll wait out to see what Nikon and Canon bring out for their 'budget' full frames.
 
5d2's Achilles heel is the autofocus. The centre point is fine and it has 6 hidden 'helpers' for tracking but the others especially in low light are poor.

Also the viewfinder blackout and shutter lag are not top performers.

Apart from that its a decent beast and the 24-105L is quality beyond the nikor equivelant.
 
Just finished chatting to a pro studio and wedding tog who shoots a 5D MarkII as a backup to his 1D MarkIV and he has put me off the idea, dated af and recommended waiting for a D600.. oh well lol

It's certainly sensible not to rush into anything although I would bear in mind the reason you said you wanted to go with Canon is for the 70-200mm F4 and the 100-400mm which is certainly good reason to go with Canon (I say that as a D700 owner)

John
 
The 70-200f4L and 100-400l are great lenses.

My first thought would be not to couple them with a 5d2 instead of on a crop camera though unless there is a specific low light slow moving target you shoot often.

A crop will get you 100-300mm 'reach' with a 70-200f2.8 and be a cheaper investment than moving to a 5d2 and 70-200f4L wouldnt it?
 
cant u just crop to 1.6 on a 5d2? if i do so i will get around 10mp+ when cropped and thats the same res as my 400d.
 
RobDickinson said:
You get 8mp on an aps-c crop.

Still very close to my 400d innit. Not bad mate.

Today is a beautiful day anyway so lets go out and take pics!
 
I'm going to save and see how I go and get either a 5DMark3 or a possible D600
 
Today is a beautiful day anyway so lets go out and take pics!

Its been ****ing down heavily all day non-stop. Got soaked 3 times today.


To the OP: Never used 5100, but 5dmk2 is a great camera and 70-200f4L is a beauty for the price. Both of them work beautifully together as well :smashin:
 
Its not my sole interest, but I don't mind the odd bird lol I know the 70-300mm isn't ideal but 450mm aint too bad, I am possibly looking at the 300mmF4 with a 1.4TC, which will be better!
 

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