Upgrade from 450D to 77D or m4/3

damcify wrote:

Thanks! Interesting to hear that the G80/85 is not quiet as good in AF terms for sports. Had missed that.

It's not that it is bad. Don't get me wrong. It's just that it tends to lose focus every now in then in continuous AF. This has something to do with panasonic having no OSPDAF. Once they have that, this should go away. But if you are concerned with photos only, the G80/85 is fine. But once you start tracking the subject, it can miss the subject now and then.

Looking at my images of sports they are in the range of 70 to 130 and occasionally upto 200mm. Don't dare using the full 250mm due to softness at the ends apparently. I do already own a nifty fifty.

Regardless if you choose a MFT or aps-c or 35FF camera, low light will need fast lenses. And only primes can give you f2 or faster lenses. f2.8 is typical for most zooms. Trouble is, that is going to be expensive. The next best thing is getting a 70-200 f4L or something like it. That will give you some reach at f4. Anything more than that, is going to be f5.6 (eg. 70-300 or 100-400).  So, you have to draw the line somewhere. If you are shooting soccer or some outdoor sports, since it will likely be daytime, no problem. But as the sun sets or if it is cloudy or the stadium is using its own light, f5.6 may not be enough. F4 might you through it. Or you can crank up the ISO to 6400 or 12,800 and deal with the noise later. The other option is to use  a prime (50mm, 85mm or 135mm or 200mm) and shoot wide open then just crop later. You lose some pixels but you don't get that much noise and you stop the action. Sport photography is the most demanding type of photography IMO. It needs a fast and better camera, lenses, and other things.

Clear there is no doubt in your mind that the 77D/800D is the one to go for. It is stretching my budget, so I was going to opt out of the kit lens, and hope to reuse the existing lenses. To be honest I barely ever use the kit lens and prefer the EF 50 f1.8 II or the EF 55-250 IS.

The 55-250 IS is ok. It's good. Not fast, but you can use it as a bench mark of what you might need later. If it works now, good for you. Saves you money from buying a 70-200 f4L. But I think that will be a keeper.

As I wrote before, the 750/760d also have good AF. In fact, you can save money (in our country around U$200) if I don't go for the 800d. I even saw a used 760d with 50 f1.8 stm for less than U$600! But that 19 PDAF-hybrid vs the 45-OSPDAF is a bit far off in performance if you are tracking a moving subject! If you were talking of only doing portraits or general photography, landscape, macro, etc, I'd steer you to the 750d/760d and save yourself money. But when you talk about sports and subject tracking, the difference between the 2 matters. That is why, even if it costs you more, go for the 800d/77d.

Will these lenses be ok to use with the 77D ?

Yes, they will. But for sports, test them out. they are there already so use them. If they don't work out, that's the time to save up for a faster lens.

The only reason I have looked at the Panasonic model is for a slightly more compact package and for the 4K mode (images) 30fps. Must be great for picking the perfect shot for sports. However, if it is out of focus it is no good ;-). I do prefer the Canon ergonomics with my large hands.

Rightly so. If they don't have problems with AF tracking, I'd have a hard time choosing between that and the Canon. It's about equal. But if you did not mention sports, then the panasonic has equal merits and would probably be better all around.

Really appreciate the feedback!

Sure, anytime!