Canon upgrade - advice needed

[ALBERT WARD]

I started of with a Kodak point and shoot, upgraded to a Canon 350d and is currently in the process of upgrading again. I feel that the money I have available, I want to buy the best I can and I also see it as an upgrade that must last me a very long time. I am looking at the following options: The Canon 600D, or the Canon 60D, or the Canon 7D. I like to photograph the following genres: Landscape - about 90% of the time, Portraits - about 60% of the time and then the occasional action/sport scenes - about 5-10% of the time.
I would appreciate it if you guys give me your honest and straight forward opinions. I will keep my 350D as a backup camera - I just love this old faithful!

Albert

[RichardTaylor]

Because of the sports requirements - the 7D
If not the 7D the 60D mainly because of the better ergonomics compared to the the 600D.

I own a 350D, 40D & 5D.

[graciousness]

[QUOTE=ALBERT WARD;1378847 Landscape - about 90% of the time, Portraits - about 60% of the time and then the occasional action/sport scenes - about 5-10% of the time.

[/QUOTE]

Wait....

90% + 60% plus 7.5% (average between 5 and 10) = 157.50%

You must be on photography steroids to go beyond yourself with that statistic

Go for the 7D as Richard suggested. My dad pretty much does 50:40 on portrait/landscape and the rest action/sports and he really likes his 7D for the job.

[ALBERT WARD]

Sorry when brain cells was issued for maths, I didn't even get the left overs! lol!! But I know you understand what I am trying to say. Thanks for the advice so far. This is quite serious for me as I won't have this type of money any time soon again and that is why I would like to make the best of it. I would have love to buy the Canon 1D, but that is way out of my financial "league"

Albert

[ceremus]

If you have the funds for it, and assuming you don't want to go full frame with a 5D or 1D, the 7D is Canon's flagship APS-C camera body. With its FPS and focus system it's probably best suited to wildlife / sports photography, of course it should be able to handle most other tasks well enough. The 60D / 600D have the articulated screen which is useful for low level and macro work, there's a possible consideration there. Otherwise I'd call it a safe buy, though my only concern would be if you might be spending more than you need on the body and not investing enough in lenses. Lenses are just as important if not more so to image quality than the camera, and they hold their value better than camera bodies. Of course you may know this already and may have all the lenses you need, I don't know for certain.

[ALBERT WARD]

I will be the first one to admit that I am most definitely not in the professional category yet although I am aiming towards it. I've got 3 lenses in my bag: a Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 mark 3 USM, a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 mark 2 and one that I bought with my camera, a Canon EF 28-90mm 1:4-5.6. The last one is the one I use the most because it is such a versatile lens. Then just the normal UV, CPL and FPL screw on lenses. The other stuff I've got is what one will find in any camera bag - cleaners, chargers, batteries, flash etc. So yes I am getting there and open for recommendations! I would love to get some new technology in my bag as well - one of the reasons I am upgrading.

Albert

[Doug Pardee]

Start with the important question: what isn't the 350D doing for you?

If the 350D is doing everything you need, then upgrading won't accomplish anything except waste money. If there are limitations, look for a camera that removes those specific limitations.

[ceremus]

The 50mm f/1.8 is a fine lens. Plastic body is cheap, but the image quality is nothing to complain about. I don't know a lot about the 28-90mm, but reports seem to indicate it's a fairly soft lens. I know the 75-300mm is very soft across the whole focal range, so if you're looking for better image quality you might think about replacements for those. The 70-300mm IS USM lens is a decent improvement from the 75-300 if you're working more with telephoto. Maybe not a spectacular upgrade, but significant. In terms of a standard zoom I would seriously consider the EF-S 15-85mm. It's somewhat similar to the standard zoom you have now, a little shorter on the telephoto end but you're not really going to notice a 5mm shortage. You will definitely notice the difference between a 28mm wide angle and a 15mm wide angle, however. 28mm is not really wide enough on the FOV of a crop body to be considered true wide angle, but 15mm will put you solidly in that category. Not to mention, the IQ of the 15-85 is really quite good.

So you have a few things you could consider updating, and I agree with Doug, to really decide where your money would be best spent you need to know what's driving your desire to upgrade. What is your current set up not doing for you that want or need? More sharpness? Better performance in low light? Better ISO? Higher FPS? Or just a justification for a new toy?

[ALBERT WARD]

Thank you for all your advice so far. What I am reading between the lines is, "Albert look at upgrading your lenses first before you upgrade your camera" I must say I love my Canon 350D and I know when they was launched, they were the flagships of Canon.
To answer your questions:
1. I would love more sharpness,
2. Performance in low light is an absolute must,
3. ISO - I am "allergic" to use high ISO settings and the highest I have ever used was ISO 800.
4. As I like to photograph landscapes and portraits more, FPS is not really an issue and my 350D has performed very well during the occasions I did want to take more than one frame,
5. I think the another reason, maybe the driving factor, is higher megapixels. The Canon 350D is a 8mp camera and I would like to go to something like 18mp for better picture quality.
6. IT WILL MOST DEFINITELY NOT BE A TOY. I treat my camera like King Solomon's jewels and my family members know if they want trouble in Canaan, they must just look skew at my camera bag!

One of the things I do love to do is to take my camera with me every where I go, even to weddings and with the permission of the official photographer, I like to take photos. When there is something going on in the community, old age homes, orphanages, schools name it, I am there taking photo's and nothing give me greater pleasure to give a CD full of photo's to these guys they can use in which ever manner they like.

But when it come to my landscapes and portraits - that is a different story all together with copyright restrictions on it.

To summarize, I just love photography!

Albert

[RichardTaylor]

From personal experience.

A big improvement in sharpness, beside better technique, was better lenses.
I really didn't know what sharp was until I purchased some good lenses.

You will find that with latter cameras (even the 40D and 5D, let alone the latest cameras compared to the 350D) that high ISO's become a lot more usable.

I can't comment on the 18MP cameras however there was a a noticeable difference in IQ, and not just sharpness, when I started using a 5D full frame camera, although I have been using it with better lenses (it came with the Canon 24-105 F4 IS L).

I shoot little bit of everything that is around me (I have never shot in a studio). That includes landscapes, urban wildlife, classical music concerts and a lot of motor sport.