canon camera recommendation

[adamb342]

What's the difference. It's my brother's wedding coming up and I like to dabble with photography. Didn't want to hire photographer, and frankly can't afford to buy a camera. Was looking at renting one off Fat Lama. But I didn't know which one to get. I was settled on the canon ones. But theres a few 5D and 7D. What is going to be the best one for a wedding. Photos are going to be medium range, natural lighting (as its outside) - its in Spain so hopefully bright light. Lens aside, what are the main differences - which one would I feel most comfortable with?

No expert, just a man in need. Feedback would be much appreciated.

Cheers, Adam.

 

[Alabalcho]

... and get this camera at least a week before the wedding, so you can familiar with basic settings.
- go to your local library, rent a book about photography.
- practice group and portrait photography - in your backyard. Try to understand how aperture and exposure affect the end product.
- Check couple of websites about wedding photography, so you can direct the newlywed to get decent photos.
- Buy (don't rent) fast CF cards, and arrange to have a laptop with card reader to make backups on the spot. Try to shoot in RAW - that way, you could correct some issues later on during "developing".

 

[USAFRet]

What's the difference. It's my brother's wedding coming up and I like to dabble with photography. Didn't want to hire photographer, and frankly can't afford to buy a camera.

Not to be contrary...but is the wife OK with this? It is her party, after all.

 

[kanewolf]

A 5D will be better. It uses a full 35mm sensor. The 7D (I have one) is an APC sized sensor (smaller) and is optimized for fast action photography (7 FPS).
Get a 50mm F1.8 or F1.4 lens plus an F2.8 35-135 zoom ...

 

[bjornl]

Between the two, I'd suggest the 7d.

The 5d was a very good camera a very long time ago (2005). The 7d is also well aged having been released in 2009.

You can compare the sensor performance between these two at dxomark.com (the defacto standard for such info).
Normally a full frame camera has a huge edge over an aps-c camera, but given that the 5d is 4 years older, the difference is closer.
https/www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Canon-EOS-7D-versus-Canon-EOS-5D___619_176
As you can see it is very close except for ISO noise where the 5d has around a 2/3 stop advantage.

The final issue is the the cost of lenses. Full frame lenses are larger and more costly. Given your budget sensitivity, the one with the lowest total cost of ownership would seem to be the smarter buy.

Get the camera early. Don't buy to many lenses. But you can rent some very nice ones from http/lensrentals.com/ Use the camera for as often and as frequently as you can before the wedding. It takes time to learn how to take good photos and even if you had months it would still not be enough to master it, but give yourself as good a chance to succeed as possible. Also give yourself a few days with the rented lenses.
a 35mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.4 or a 70-200mm f/2.8 would be a nice start.

 

[USAFRet]

My viewpoint in deciding between those two cameras...

Both will take acceptable shots. Any difference in final results would only come after a long period of familiarization with one or the other, and what you do in post processing.