I have been through a similar investigative process as you for the past few months. I shoot family stuff as well as drag racing and college volleyball.
I am working on getting into more creative images rather than documenting type images too. I don't care about shooting video with my camera, I would likely just get a video camera to do that if that became important. Plus my daughter has a Canon T3i that shoots video.

So, after doing weeks of study and reading reviews I decided to go with a Canon 1D Mark III body. It is only 13 megapixel shooting raw but has a great autofocus system and can snap off multiple frames like a machine gun, up to 10 frames per second. I paid a bit more than average but got a body in like new condition with about 15,000 shutter activations which is nothing on a body rated for 300,000. I found the controls pretty familiar coming from a Digital Rebel which I used for over 12 years.

Lens wise, it takes only EF lenses. My daughter has a 40mm pancake which comes out to a 52mm on this 1.3 crop frame body. I like that the body crop factor is in between the FF and the more common 1.6 body crops. I looked hard at the 50mm 1.4 lens but felt it was too close to the 40mm and ended up going with the 85mm 1.8 for about $20 more than the 50mm. It works out to about 110mm and will be good for portraits and indoor volleyball and usable at the drag races. I might add a teleconvertor later too. I have an EF 75-300 Cheapo zoom that I can use in the short term too.

Longer term I plan to add the 16-35 L and some variant of the 70-200 L as well as possibly the $1300 400mm. That should make for a pretty powerful kit.

So, you might want to look at the 1D Mark III as they can be had in very good condition for the cost of the cameras you are considering. These were over $6000 bodies when new and are built like tanks. But the body weighs almost 3 lbs too so that factor needs to be considered. Me, I'm a big ole boy and I'll take the workout for the great shots this body can produce.

Best of luck with your decision.

Great shots! I've shot my share of motocross too. Lots of great shot opportunities and lots of action and colors.

Go 85mm. Better image quality, better bokeh and better build quality. If you want to play with a 50mm maybe spend a $100 on a f1.8 50mm. Or get the 40mm pancake for $150 to $200. It is a great lens on crop camera too.

Well thanks to everyone for the passionate and valuable input. I have been out of the camera buying scene for over a decade so you input is helpful and I have done a good amount of study online, at local shops and looking at my ability today and where I might like to go in the years ahead.

Having used Canon I find I am just more familiar and comfortable with their operation, controls and product structure. On other factor is that I have a daughter that is studying Photography in school and wants to be a professional some day. So, the possibility of sharing equipment in the future may exist.

I wanted to let you know where I ended up. I purchased a used Canon 1D Mark III with about 15,000 shutter actuations. It seems to be in excellent condition and should have a lot of life remaining. It may not have the megapixels of today's latest cameras but I know it can take great pictures that can be printed fairly large. It is a great leap forward for what I want to do....
It is a beast and if for some reason it doesn't work out it has a 30 day return policy too.

Lens wise I would love to have a Canon 2.8 70-200mm to start out with the kind of shooting I want to do. That just is not in the budget at this moment, so I was looking hard at the 1.4 50mm which seems to be a pretty good lens for the money and would be about a 65mm equivalent on the Mark III. But my daughter has the 40mm pancake which is a great lens for the money and that is about a 62mm equivalent. So, I ended up getting a new 1.8 85mm lens which should be great for sports shooting in the short term plus a great portrait lens too. I hope to be able to get the 70-200mm in a few months, but will probably keep the 85mm prime.

Again thanks for all your help. I'm anxious to get back to shooting!

I was reading advise about ones lens kit on kenrockwell.com last night. He recommended to buy good high quality lenses and not to overlap in mm coverage. For example, he said have a fast 35mm or 50mm for low light and normal lighting and a 70-200 for longer shots.

If you need to cover the resulting gap he recommends you just take a few steps forward or back. He also mentioned that most people rarely shoot over 135mm IIRC. I found that interesting, but might be some truth to it. Good food for thought though.

Hey everyone,

Well I have decided since my Digital Rebel died after a long and productive life it is time for a new camera. A little background. I have had Olympus film cameras since the 1970s. Got the Digital Rebel in about 2001 or 2002 and used it to photograph family events, trains and my sons motocross racing and more recently my daughters volleyball matches.

So, I want something to shoot family stuff, trains, indoor volleyball and outdoor dragracing. I can probably spend about $2,000-$2,500 initially. And add some lenses in the future. I don't have a significant investment in glass so even though I was leaning Canon at the local camera shop they introduced me to the Nikon D7100 which they said they feel is the best camera for the money.

I have been considering the Canon 7D, 70D and a used 1D Mark III. The 7D and 1D might be older but still solid cameras in my mind. The 70D seems close to the 7D in many respects but more oriented to shooting video. Not sure that I desire to shoot much video. I feel I need fast shutter speed, a option for using high quality lenses, high frame rate and ideally good number of shots in a burst, fast autofocus and object tracking for quickly moving objects.

So what are your thoughts and even experiences on camera and initial lens.
Sorry for stirring the Canon vs Nikon issue again!

Best,
Todd Ferguson
Harrisburg, NC

OK, I'll bite. Why would the 7D be considered the king of Crop cameras? To me it is surpassed in several areas by the 1D Mark lll which I believe is a crop camera too. Or is there some knowledge I am lacking?

One 1D Mark III that I was looking at was used in a graphics department and had been serviced by Canon each year. It was just serviced and had just over 68,000 shutter actuations. The price was $1,100. Given the 300,000 actuation benchmark I felt this would leave me plenty of shots yet to shoot.

I agree you have to shop carefully for this camera, but many are owned by professionals that have them serviced by canon yearly. I also like that the 1D lll has the battery grip built in...

To me the 70D is more oriented to shooting video with features added to the autofocus to enhance video shooting.

I have been thinking about a 7D myself as it is a very nice camera, especially for shooting sports which I do often. IIRC the 7D has a superior autofocus capability to the 70D unless you are doing video. I am now also considering a used 1D Mark III as it is a Pro level camera and can be had for roughly the same money as the 7D.

Best,
Notorious T.O.D.