Eventually I would like to be shooting full frame, and the results I’m getting with my T3 make me skeptical to try anything else crop sensor lol.
My post was to try to correct that idea. 🙂 I think you’ll be very pleasantly surprised with a high-end crop sensor camera like the ones I mentioned above.
If you want nicer blurred backgrounds, then buying a new lens can be a good way to accomplish that. A 50mm f/1.8 is wonderful for pretty bokeh, and if you’re wanting to go with even higher-end stuff, Sigma’s ART line of fast lenses are expensive, but they’ll get you a look that very few lenses can give wide open. 🙂
If you’re wanting to capture action, you’ll definitely want a wider lens than a 50mm. The longer your focal length is, the more easily the photo will be blurred. (Camera shake and subject motion are both affected by longer focal lengths.) So… go wide! Get a lens that goes down to 18mm or even less, and learn to take advantage of the “Shutter Speed Priority” mode on your Mode Dial. You should be choosing a fast enough shutter speed, not the camera. With a newer crop sensor camera, you can easily push the ISO to 1600 (or even higher) if you need to, to freeze the motion. It might be a tad grainy, but I much prefer a little grain that can be post-processed, than blur, which is un-fixable.
I shot a whole wedding one time at ISO 1,000 with my Pentax K-5 IIs (and a couple of speedlights). I would never have tried that with my Canon T3. Here’s a 100% crop so you can see what ISO 1,000 looks like on a Sony sensor. (Pentax and Nikon both use Sony’s excellent sensors.)
There is some grain visible, especially in the dark black of the suit, but remember we’re pixel-peeping here. No one who sees this photo resized to about 1 MP (a common resolution for web-sized photos) will even know that it’s grainy. I could print that photo up to 8.5×11 inches, and you probably still wouldn’t notice at a normal viewing distance.
Come to think of it, I did a noise comparison test between the two before I sold my T3, which you can view here:
https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/canon-vs-pentax-comparison/
Also, check out more details and specs here:
https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/my-new-camera/
Do you shoot for pay? Would you say that your photography is just a hobby, or would you call it a job? If you’re making a tidy little income from your camera, then I could see why jumping to full-frame might be useful, but honestly, I don’t think it’s worth the money just for a hobby. I would way sooner spend $1,000 on a good lens than upgrade the body, and be stuck with a sub-quality lens to use on it.
The reason to love a speedlight instead of the horrid on-camera flash is that you can aim the speedlight wherever you want to. You’re not stuck with one solitary angle, (straight-on), but you can bounce, and wrap, and soften and modify the light any way you want to. Plus, a speedlight puts out a whole lot more power than the on-board flash, so you can use lower aperture and ISO values, and get better results.
I have not personally used the D7200, but in many ways my Pentax K-5 IIs is similar, and they actually compare quite well. The D7200 is also newer, so as far as specs go, it’s an even better camera than my Pentax in almost every way! So if I was impressed with the difference between my Pentax, and the Canon T3, then the difference between the T3 and the D7200 should be even greater!
It definitely pays to do your research before plunking down a thousand or two for some new equipment. Keep asking questions, if we know the answers, I’m sure you’ll hear them. 🙂
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