Best 2nd hand Canon dSLR for sports approx £500

Quick question, I use my Canon 5D Mk ii with a 400mm L and Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 for sports, but I'd like a second hand camera better suited to sports (my 7 year old playing rugby/football) - faster tracking/more fps. My own look at what is out there, sort of indicated looking at a 70d but any advice is most appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,

Kev

You should be able to find a good used Canon 7D which is a pretty good camera in general and quick enough to do a good job on sports. 8 frames per second and quicker focusing than your 5D II. You should be able to buy it below your budget. The 7D Mark II may be a little over your budget but it is an even better camera for sports. Good luck!

A 7D or 70D would be good and be in that price range. I believe the 70D has WiFi works with a cell phone or tablet, and an articulating touch screen and a bit higher resolution 20 MP vs 18 MP on 7D, The 7D slightly faster by 1 frame per sec, 8 fps on 7D vs 7 fps on 70D. The 7D has a magnesium alloy body and may seem more PRO and has a flash sync port. Dynamic range between the two are pretty close, The 7D has 100% viewfinder vs 70D's 98%. I think they both have 19 focal points. The 70D while not built as tough, has a few cool features that may be nice to have like the articulating screen and WiFi. They are pretty evenly matched, but each has pros and cons. It all depends on what is important to you.

Even a used 70D is likely going to be considerably above that budget - I see only a few in that price range - though they are out there if lucky. The 7D, OTOH is going to cost you considerably less. While there are newer better options out there, the 7D is probably the best anywhere near that price range.

 

Another thing to consider is that the buffer on the 7D is more capacious (slightly - possibly only because of slightly smaller image file sizes), but can write images to a fast CF card (and clear it's buffer) much much faster than a 70D writes to it's SD card - 7D write speeds are documented at up to ~ 56MB/s, whereas 70D write speeds cap out in ~ 35 MB/s range...

 

IM(limited)E, that alone can make a huge difference shooting sports.

depends on how many MP you need, and how modern...the old 1D and 1Ds´ series can be had for cheap and are made for this...look up the 1Ds2-3 and the 1D2-3 aps-h x1.3 drop...

even a "grandfather" like the !D has relatively fast AF and does 8 fps.....and can be had for less than $200, i have seen 1Diii go for $400-500

look up Comparison of Canon EOS digital cameras - Wikipedia

to help you decide,

though the 7D is also a good option, a favorite amongst birders, and videographers, and general photographers...and would give you a X1.6 on your telephotos

Edited December 23, 2017 by thefrogtog