A new rebel is coming. How will it be better than the last?

I got into this hobby with the purchase of a 450 back in 2008. Now, many of thousands of dollars later, I own and regularly use both a 7D and a 5D3. I gave my 450, along with the kit lens and the 55-250mm to my son. I don‘t regret making either upgrade.

First off - image quality: In good light there is very little difference in image quality between the 450 and the 7D. That is not true however, for the 5D3 along with the 24-70 F2.8 lens. Pictures are far sharper than with either the 450 or the 7D with a comparable lens –the 17-55mm F2.8.

But image quality is not all there is to the equation. I do a lot of bird shooting and the 450 is really not very suited for that task. The AF was painfully slow and the buffer filled after only a few shots in RAW (I never shoot JPGs) Out of 20 BIF shots, I was lucky to get one keeper. Using the 7D is like night and day. The AF is blindingly fast and I can shoot as many shots as I like on high speed continuous. Now I am deleting keepers because I have too many. That is not to say you can’t get good BIF shots with an xxD. Many people do. But the 7D makes it much easier.

The 7D is my preferred body for long range wildlife photography in good light. The 5D3 is for everything else. The low light performance of the 450 sucked. Maximum ISO was 1600. The 7D is not much better. You can shoot at higher ISO’s but the shots are very noisy. This is not only an issue with indoor photography but also with BIF photography on cloudy overcast days, where a high shutter speed is still necessary. I routinely shoot at ISO’s over 3200 with the 5D3 and even the shots at ISO 6400 look pretty good. Add in the better overall image a quality and having a full size sensor make a huge difference. Low light performance has improved with recent Rebels but it is nowhere near the performance of the 5D3

Weight for me is a non-issue. When I head out to take photos in the bush I always carry at the very least, a tripod, my 100-400mm and one of my wide angle lenses. I commonly bring my flash as well for HSS shots. If I am bird shooting, I also take my 500mm, which by itself weighs 8.5 pounds. Add in the usual filters, and any difference in weight between the bodies is noise level. I almost always use all of the lenses in my bag. After shooting birds all day. I like to put the wide angle on and shoot the sunset. I also get s lots of opportunities to use my walk-around lens during the day. You don’t play golf with only one club and I would rather hump a couple of extra pounds than miss a lifetime shot because the lens I need is sitting at home.

Not everyone shares my philosophy and not everyone has the same financial constraints. But for someone who spends his workdays moving a mouse for a living, I actually like carrying a backpack. Most importantly, when I am out in the bush, I want to get the best shots that I can. The Rebel is a damn good camera, but the differences between the Rebel and cameras higher up the food chain are significant. If you can afford them, they are well worth the money. I don’t know anyone, who after upgrading to a higher-end heavier camera, has gone back to shooting with their Rebel.

I think that if you look at Canon’s advertising, you will see the Rebel is aimed at first time DSLR buyers. I know that many owners, such as yourself, are NOT beginners, but Canon really wants to sell you a 70D or better. All cameras are seeing declining sales. The cell-phone is replacing them. But I believe that the DSLR will remain as an important niche product for the reasons that you suggest. That product will become increasingly for enthusiasts. That makes it even more important that Canon sell you an upgrade. You ALREADY own a DSLR. As an enthusiast, it is more likely that you will upgrade than simply buy another Rebel. And you will get MFA in the upgrade.