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Time to go mirrorless - but what?

H

hc25036

pfm Member
I have a dilemma (probably several, but I’m only looking for help with this one!). Before we moved a couple of years ago, my Canon DSLR kit was used frequently for sports at my rugby club and for school rugby, football and various other events. The other main use was wildlife, mainly birds in the garden and out and about plus family stuff.

I built up some decent kit - Canon 7d and 7dii, Canon 70-200ii, Canon 100-400ii, Canon 24-105...... It all now lives in a kit bag and with reduced travelling and getting older is unlikely to get the use it needs. BUT, when we do go on our travels, it would be good to have a decent long lens for wildlife and a camera kit for the odd landscape and recording memories that involves a bit less strength to lug around. I looked at mirrorless a few years ago and couldn’t cope with the electronic viewfinder as I could see the screen flicker.

So can anyone help with what’s around - I’ll probably do an exchange at MPB. Smaller than the 7d and mirrorless seems to make sense, but with a decent FPS rate (I’m used to 12fps) and a decent 400mm lens for catching bird life. Does it even exist?
 
here's the predictable response

chop the 7ds in for an R6

that way you get a huge upgrade (the AF and full frame goodness) and don't lose out on your significant investment in Canon glass (especially the excellent 100-400)

and please bear in mind that getting a few steps closer with good technique trumps any upgrade in kit

Either that or keeping the 7dii and snagging an M43 kit (or indeed a better phone) to take care of the carrying around bit

I suspect that you won't replace the 7dii with anything smaller and get satisfaction

Dave
 
Dave Cattlin said:
here's the predictable response
...

I suspect that you won't replace the 7dii with anything smaller and get satisfaction

Dave
Click to expand...

Indeed - I got fed up with lugging my D600 around and bought myself a Lumix compact - well reviewed by the press.
Hardly ever used it - apart from a massive tele capability I can't find anything special about it. It's also very quirky and a pain to navigate the menus.

I've now given it to my wife and gone back to lugging the D600
 
I've had a Fuji xPro2 for a while (the 3 is the most recent model) having sold all of my Canon gear. It's designed like a range finder with an optical view finder that can switch to electronic. I've not looked back since.
 
If I was looking at changing to mirrorless, already had Canon gear, and wanted to use it for bird photography, I’d look seriously at the Canon RF 600mm F11 IS STM. It has its limitations, such as fixed aperture, but for £620 from HDEW, I don’t think you can go wrong.

https://www.hdewcameras.co.uk/canon-rf-600mm-f11-is-stm-13093-p.asp

Not convinced? At least give this a read
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4524857

There’s also an 800mm for £879, and you can stack extenders under them. Mirrorless Canons appear to be opening possibilities that ‘some’ other manufacturers hadn’t even imagined.
 
Thanks all for the advice and apologies I’ve been away from the thread for a bit. Looks like the sensible option is to hang on for a bit. I knew the lenses were as good as I could get and given the low usage it’s not worth changing the bodies as they have low resale value.
 
canonman said:
And soon there will be this......

https://www.canon.co.uk/cameras/eos-r3/
Click to expand...

The timing of that Nikon-style press release (one or two details, no price) is interesting. Nikon did something similar recently to pique the interest of Nikon owners who might leave the brand, but now Canon have turned their heads the other way again.
My guess is that sports and press photographers will be buying/pre-ordering the Canon.
 
I am delighted with my R5 and the adapter works perfectly with EF lenses.

What is interesting about the R3 is that people were expecting an R1 development announcement before the Olympics but it seems that they aren't ready for that.
 
If the aim is to reduce the overall weight, you have to find a lens which is comparable and weighs less, since it's the majority of the weight and bulk of the camera system. Unfortunately I don't believe there is a suitable alternative, with the Fuji equivalent (for example) being considered inferior, and not actually being any smaller or lighter.

So, I think your current setup might be the way to achieve what you want. To actually get smaller and lighter you need to ditch the need for that lens, and the question is then whether it will be a useful camera for you.

I personally use Canon DSLRs and Fuji X series mirrorless and the results are great from both cameras. I stick to wide and 'normal' zooms with the Fuji though.
 
Tony Lockhart said:
If I was looking at changing to mirrorless, already had Canon gear, and wanted to use it for bird photography, I’d look seriously at the Canon RF 600mm F11 IS STM. It has its limitations, such as fixed aperture, but for £620 from HDEW, I don’t think you can go wrong.

https://www.hdewcameras.co.uk/canon-rf-600mm-f11-is-stm-13093-p.asp

Not convinced? At least give this a read
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4524857

There’s also an 800mm for £879, and you can stack extenders under them. Mirrorless Canons appear to be opening possibilities that ‘some’ other manufacturers hadn’t even imagined.
Click to expand...

Wow, a lens that only goes down to F11 :confused: I can imagine this being an absolute nightmare to use on any day where the weather isn't either beautfully bright or sunny
 
Gingerbeard said:
Wow, a lens that only goes down to F11 :confused: I can imagine this being an absolute nightmare to use on any day where the weather isn't either beautfully bright or sunny
Click to expand...

Obvs. But, read the review. And for the price, for photographing birds, it’s worthy of consideration.
 
Tony Lockhart said:
Obvs. But, read the review. And for the price, for photographing birds, it’s worthy of consideration.
Click to expand...

Personally, I’d rather put the money towards a proper prime lens that can be used and get good results in all weather and most light conditions. I’m sure some will find it useful though...
 
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