rmorrison1116 wrote:
The wife and I are going to the big flower show in Philadelphia and I can't decide which camera to take. The wife will be using my Canon SL2 with an EF-S 18-200 lens. I was thinking about taking my 5D IV with the 28-300L or my D7200 with Nikkor 28-300 attached or my M50 with the 28-300L attached. I used the 5D IV / 28-300L last year but, even though I got excellent photos, that camera lens combo is quite heavy. I'm leaning towards the D7200 because it's really good in lower light conditions and it's smaller and lighter and has higher resolution than the D500. I like the 28-300 because even on a crop body it's plenty wide for the flower show and the 300 end comes in quite handy. The Nikkor lens isn't as good as the Canon lens but it is good enough.
The wife and I are going to the big flower show in... (
show quote)
I'd buy a Canon EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM and use it on the 5DIV. That lens is 1/2 the length and 1/3 the weight of the 28-300mm. The 24-70mm is almost 2.5 lb. lighter than the 28-300mm.
The 24-70mm should be plenty long focal length to photograph flowers. And it's able to do a pretty amazing .70X magnification, all on its own.... almost 3/4 life size and probably higher magnification than you will need for flowers. It's also more than double the best magnification the 28-300mm can do (.30X).
In comparison, to use the 28-300mm on the M50 instead of the 5DIV would save only about 1 lb. weight, a little bit of which would be given back because you'd need to add an adapter to be able to fit the lens to the camera. Also, using the 28-300mm on an APS-C camera gives you a "normal to super telephoto", instead of the "moderately wide, normal, telephoto" that focal length range serves as on full frame. This problem is the same using 28-300m on either M50 or D7200... there's not a lot of difference between 1.5X and 1.6X crop. However, using the Nikkor 28-300mm saves some weight. It's also considerably lighter than the Canon 28-300L. But there is NO WAY the D7200 is "better at high ISO, low light" than the 5DIV.
5D Mark IV with EF 28-300mm L lens: 890 grams + 1670 grams = 90.3 ounces (5.5 lb. )
M50 with adapter & EF 28-300mm L lens: 385 grams + 85 grams + 1670 grams = 75.48 ounces (4.7 lb.)
D7200 with Nikkor 28-300mm: 765 grams + 800 grams = 55.34 ounces (3.25 lb.)
....versus...
5D Mark IV with EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM lens: 890 grams + 600 grams = 52.56 ounces (3.28 lb.)
An alternative choice for use with the 5DIV would be the Canon EF 24-105L IS USM "II", however that lens is not as close focusing, costs $200 more than the 24-70 and weighs about 6 or 7 ounces more, too.
The lightest option of all... Didn't the M50 come with a lens? It's usually sold with one or two kit lenses. The EF-M 15-45mm is very light at 145 grams. The EF-M 55-200mm often sold as the second lens in the kit weighs 260 grams. In other words, BOTH those lenses weigh less than any one of the above lenses. At the same time, the M50 weighs about half or less what the DSLRs do.
One of the problems with "do everything" zooms like the 28-300mm is their size and weight. Basically when one of those is your only lens, you are stuck carrying the beast around all the time.
One of the problems with owning multiple camera systems is that you end up with two (or more) half-arse kits rather than one relatively complete one.