# Looking to upgrade from a t2i.



## PandaMan (Feb 1, 2013)

HI im looking to upgrade from my 550d(t2i), any suggestions on what would be good? Which ones would be classified as professional/semi professional level? Any and all productive advice would help and be much appreciated. Thank you.


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## Justman1020 (Feb 1, 2013)

Budget? What lens do you currently have?


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## goodguy (Feb 1, 2013)

The T3i, T4i, 60D and even the 7D from what I understand have the same sensor and there isnt a huge picture quality between them according to few reviews that I saw so if you really want to see a big jump in quality I would say wait a bit and wait for the replacement of the 60D or 7D.
If you are ready to upgrade now I would say go for the 7D, great camera that you can grown into.


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## PandaMan (Feb 1, 2013)

The lenses ihave are the 18-55, a 50mm, 75-300, and a 35-80.


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## PandaMan (Feb 1, 2013)

goodguy said:
			
		

> The T3i, T4i, 60D and even the 7D from what I understand have the same sensor and there isnt a huge picture quality between them according to few reviews that I saw so if you really want to see a big jump in quality I would say wait a bit and wait for the replacement of the 60D or 7D.
> If you are ready to upgrade now I would say go for the 7D, great camera that you can grown into.



What would be the price range for the 7D?  And what would be better between a t4i and a 60d.


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## Justman1020 (Feb 2, 2013)

60d compared to t4i::

t4i-
touch screen 
Continual autofocus during video
digic 5 processor 

60d
more rugged body

some people say the 60d feels better in their hands. The t4i is going to feel a lot like your t2i. 
Yhe reason I asked about your lens collection was because I was not sure if you wanted to go to a full frame camera. I would suggest not to as you would basically eliminate almost all of your lens collection from being useable.


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## Justman1020 (Feb 2, 2013)

Side note:: invest the $ in glass for now. Upgrade your camera body later.


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## PandaMan (Feb 2, 2013)

Justman1020 said:
			
		

> Side note:: invest the $ in glass for now. Upgrade your camera body later.



What kind of lens would be considered worth the while? And would buying an expensive lens improve the quality of my photos even with the t2i...?


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## PandaMan (Feb 2, 2013)

Justman1020 said:
			
		

> 60d compared to t4i::
> 
> t4i-
> touch screen
> ...



So then a better question would be, what bodies would be good to upgrade to that will enable me to keep my current lenses and have them still be usable? which ones would be compatible with my current lenses.


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## gw2424 (Feb 2, 2013)

A great video that should help--


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## Justman1020 (Feb 2, 2013)

Either the t4i or 60d would allow you to use all your lens collection. The general consensus though is that $ is better spent in better glass. The 75-300 is often regarded as the cheapest lens quality wise. For a fairly affordable cost (when comparing to looking at bodies) you could get a 17-40 f/4 L for around 750 brand new. L lens is the highest class that is made by canon. The 70-300 is lens (instead of the 75-300) would run you about 700 I believe.


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## pgriz (Feb 2, 2013)

How you upgrade truly depends on what you are trying to do, and the kinds of limitations you are currently running into. 

Image contrast and sharpness are determined by the lens, aided by your skill/knowledge of focusing technique and use of IS/shutter speed/tripod to minimize blurring due to camera shake.

If youre shooting primarily under low-light conditions, then a sensor with good high-ISO performance, AND fast (better than f/2) lenses would be a natural upgrade path. 

If youre shooting primarily indoors, with family snapshots and the like being the predominant images you shoot, then a good flash unit, with appropriate modifiers, would give you better images.

In almost every case, a good understanding of light (direction, size, colour, balance) will dramatically improve the quality of your images.  

So the real question is, what do you feel is holding you back?  What kind of images are you trying to get that youre not happy with?  And what kind of improvement are you looking for?


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## raaskohx10 (Feb 2, 2013)

Your t2i (550D) is not lagging behind the 7D in terms of capabilities and that too is available at half the price. In another thread started by you about lenses I suggested you to invest in EF lenses instead of EF-S ones so that you may use them with full frame sensors e.g. Mark-II, Mark-III. As pointed above the t3i, t4i, 7D all have the same sensors so there is no big difference in terms of picture quality. The only thing you will get is certain additional control which I think doesn't matter a lot. So, if you really want to upgrade and you have the budget, then go for full frame otherwise your t2i is also second to none.


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## PandaMan (Feb 2, 2013)

pgriz said:
			
		

> How you upgrade truly depends on what you are trying to do, and the kinds of limitations you are currently running into.
> 
> Image contrast and sharpness are determined by the lens, aided by your skill/knowledge of focusing technique and use of IS/shutter speed/tripod to minimize blurring due to camera shake.
> 
> ...



The contrast and sharpness of my images is what im trying to get improved, so i guess it would be the lens that is holding back the quality of images. Even on a tripod i feel that my images could look sharper so its not my settings, i mostly notice it when im zoomed in during editing where as when i was in class i noticed that others images were just significantly sharper and i assumed it was my lack of a better body since most others had 7d's, 5d's etc...


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## PandaMan (Feb 2, 2013)

I appreciate all the advice, and i think i will change my mind and go with a better lens! That 17-40 sounds great!


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## sekhar (Feb 2, 2013)

PandaMan said:


> I appreciate all the advice, and i think i will change my mind and go with a better lens! That 17-40 sounds great!



Good choice. Also, depending on your needs, check out the 70-200/4L (no IS) that's on sale now for $560 at B&H, it will produce some great images on the t2i. BTW, here's a video comparison by the always-entertaining Kai:


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## pgriz (Feb 2, 2013)

I have a T1i, and after doing several lens upgrades, I ended up with a 24-105 f/4 L.  It has enought sharpness for almost all applications, and if there is a lack of sharpness it is usually due either to my misfocusing, or having some camera shake blur.  For my purposes, it's a really good all-around lens, but then, I use a tripod for almost all my nature/landscape shots, and use the 10x live-view focusing to ensure I have the focus where I need it.  

Due to the anti-aliasing filter in the camera, you do need to sharpen the images during post-processing.  The amount of sharpening, and where you apply it, is part of the post-processing skill acquisition.  You will be surprised at how much a skillful operator can make the images "sing".  Also, I shoot my images in RAW to give myself the editing ability - that way, there is minimal loss of information that is recorded by the camera/lens.


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## KrisztinaK (Feb 2, 2013)

There has been some great advice given in this thread.  I would upgrade the lens too.  I own the 24-105 L and  cannot recomment it enough.


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## PandaMan (Feb 2, 2013)

pgriz said:
			
		

> I have a T1i, and after doing several lens upgrades, I ended up with a 24-105 f/4 L.  It has enought sharpness for almost all applications, and if there is a lack of sharpness it is usually due either to my misfocusing, or having some camera shake blur.  For my purposes, it's a really good all-around lens, but then, I use a tripod for almost all my nature/landscape shots, and use the 10x live-view focusing to ensure I have the focus where I need it.
> 
> Due to the anti-aliasing filter in the camera, you do need to sharpen the images during post-processing.  The amount of sharpening, and where you apply it, is part of the post-processing skill acquisition.  You will be surprised at how much a skillful operator can make the images "sing".  Also, I shoot my images in RAW to give myself the editing ability - that way, there is minimal loss of information that is recorded by the camera/lens.



Yeah i thought it was my settings and shutterspeed at first but i had one of my teachers shoot a couple shots and the sharpness was the same when i opened it up to edit. I was also told that i have the ability to pass my equipments ability(which i feel was a compliment as well as a nice way of saying to buy better equipment). Ive tried a lot of different things to counteract the image dullness beaides upgrading my equipment and tax return time has come so it now or never(or at least until next year). Lol


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## Justman1020 (Feb 2, 2013)

raaskohx10 said:


> Your t2i (550D) is not lagging behind the 7D in terms of capabilities and that too is available at half the price. In another thread started by you about lenses I suggested you to invest in EF lenses instead of EF-S ones so that you may use them with full frame sensors e.g. Mark-II, Mark-III. As pointed above the t3i, t4i, 7D all have the same sensors so there is no big difference in terms of picture quality. The only thing you will get is certain additional control which I think doesn't matter a lot. So, if you really want to upgrade and you have the budget, then go for full frame otherwise your t2i is also second to none.



For the love of god stop telling people to upgrade to full frame cameras! That wasn't even the question being asked. Do you just hate crop sensor cameras? Seriously dude. Stop. Not everyone wants a full frame camera because of the cost! They are more expensive. Let panda learn to use the gear that is available and work on buying a few more lenses that make sense.


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## bigal1000 (Feb 6, 2013)

.


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## bigal1000 (Feb 6, 2013)

PandaMan said:


> The lenses ihave are the 18-55, a 50mm, 75-300, and a 35-80.



The proplem is the lenses you have they are not very good,the 50 is ok though,spend your $ on good lenses,Canon 70-200L,Canon EFS 10-22,Canon EFS17-55 2.8,etc,etc.Don't waste your money now on a body get "good lenses" first the upgrade later to a new body,7D,etc.


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## goodguy (Feb 7, 2013)

If you are looking ahead and see this as a long term thing then I would say get lenses designed for Full Frame body this way in the future when you are ready to upgrade the camera you will be able to get the Canon 6D or maybe even the 5D. These are beasts with amazing picture quality and wonderful low light ISO performance.


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