Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda
Username  

  New fredmiranda.com Mobile Site
  New Feature: SMS Notification alert
  New Feature: Buy & Sell Watchlist
  

FM Forums | Canon Forum | Join Upload & Sell

1      
2
       end
  

Archive 2013 · 70D as an Upgrade to 7D?

  
 
Scott Stoness
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · 70D as an Upgrade to 7D?


ChipinSD wrote:
Scott and Cody -

You bring up some interesting points. First, I use CS5.1 and would prefer not having to upgrade. Do you lose anything by converting from RAW to DNG?

I use Photo Mechanic for quick review and cropping of game shoots. I wonder if it can handle the 70D RAW files or DNG files?

My experience with 7D ISO more closely matches Cody's. I have tried using high ISO shooting dance recitals indoors and the results were very noisy. I try to go no higher than 800 on my 7D. If the 70D is really noise free at 1600 and
...Show more

If you look at dxomark iso sensor ratings you would find that the 70d is marginally (not visible with the human eye) different in iso capability. I doubt it will be a stop better. I get very useable pictures with my 7d to 3200 too but the light has to be behind me and the exposure has to be perfect. I suspect the 70d is the same. Don't upgrade for iso capability. If you want iso capability buy the 5diii.

if you compare pophoto - they rate 7d as okay to 6400 vs 70d okay to 3200 which would surprise most. In other words - they are basically the same for iso.
http://www.popphoto.com/gear/2009/12/camera-test-canon-eos-7d
http://www.popphoto.com/gear/2013/11/camera-test-canon-eos-70d

don't upgrade for the iso or the iq







Heavily backlit 7d at high iso and -37 degrees from last weekend - it does okay



Edited on Dec 11, 2013 at 12:16 AM · View previous versions



Dec 11, 2013 at 12:05 AM
Pixel Perfect
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · 70D as an Upgrade to 7D?


Scott Stoness wrote:
I get very useable pictures with my 7d to 3200 too but the light has to be behind me and the exposure has to be perfect. I suspect the 70d is the same. Don't upgrade for iso capability. If you want iso capability buy the 5diii.


Oh indeed, 7D doesn't cope with backlighting at all IMO. IQ can swing from super to crap in a no time at all.



Dec 11, 2013 at 12:07 AM
ChrisRD
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · 70D as an Upgrade to 7D?


I own/owned both the 7D and 70D.

For stills I don't know if I'd bother going 7D -> 70D. I do think there may be a slight IQ improvement (files seem a bit cleaner at high ISO and seem to need less sharpening in general) but I have to look at images side-by-side very closely to see differences. Not much of a factor in actual photos IMO. OTOH going from a 7D to a modern FF like the 6D/5D3 is a large upgrade in IQ...another league IMO.

One thing I think may be better with stills going from 7D -> 70D is the AF consistency. It's a bit early to tell (I have not done much servo AF shooting with the 70D yet)...but so far in single-shot AF mode I seem to be getting less of those "inexplicable" very slightly OOF shots that I would get with both of my 7D bodies from time to time. Maybe they tweaked the AF algorithms...or maybe I'm just imagining things...

A couple of things I dislike about the 70D for stills is the lack of joystick for AF point selection...and adjusting FEC is a bit of pain compared to the 7D (IMO).

If you do a lot of video and/or use the liveview AF then 7D -> 70D makes sense. The video AF is very good and the quality is outstanding compared to consumer level camcorders. The 70D liveview AF is so good I actually use it a lot for low light/low contrast shooting with wide aperture lenses where I can as I find it to be more accurate/reliable than the phase detect AF of the 7D/70D for that purpose. While the 5D3 could regularly nail those types of shots, I find the phase detect AF system of the 7D/70D to be a bit hit/miss in those scenarios.

For me...the 70D is basically a high-end camcorder that does nice stills (the flip/touch screen & wifi are useful too).

HTH

Edited on Dec 11, 2013 at 05:04 PM · View previous versions



Dec 11, 2013 at 10:35 AM
maholyoak
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #4 · p.2 #4 · 70D as an Upgrade to 7D?


I've owned three 7d's in my time and currently have a 70d also. The autofocus on this camera is more mixed in my experience than the other responders. For still subjects it is generally good providing the object is reasonably large in the frame. I shoot birds a lot and find that trying to get the eye in focus is far more haphazard with the 70d than with a 7d or 1d mark iv. Making the object slightly bigger (a 500mm f/4 as opposed to 300mm f/2.8) helps with this problem but consistency of autofocus is still more reliable with 7d than 70d. Shooting portraits of fast moving toddlers the 70d does fine.

In shooting series of consecutive shots of birds the 70d fails to autofocus fairly consistently with either telephoto lens. I've seen some posts elsewhere that this is a problem with dual pixel AF. Hence it is not a good BIF camera unless you get lucky first shot or your subject is flying in circles around you (which sounds dizzying).

The high iso performance and the 11% more pixels are nice on the 70d.



Dec 11, 2013 at 03:20 PM
ChrisRD
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #5 · p.2 #5 · 70D as an Upgrade to 7D?


maholyoak wrote:
In shooting series of consecutive shots of birds the 70d fails to autofocus fairly consistently with either telephoto lens. I've seen some posts elsewhere that this is a problem with dual pixel AF.


Are you saying that the camera doesn't focus/track consistently in servo AF mode (phase detect) or when using liveview (contrast detect) AF?

By the context of your post I'm assuming the former but your reference to dual pixel AF sorta confused me...how would that impact phase detect AF?



Dec 11, 2013 at 05:08 PM
maholyoak
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #6 · p.2 #6 · 70D as an Upgrade to 7D?


I meant that it does not track focus at all well in servo AF mode. The dual pixel AF mode reference reflects my own confusion.



Dec 11, 2013 at 07:32 PM
goldencode
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #7 · p.2 #7 · 70D as an Upgrade to 7D?


The 70D really offers no improvement in high ISO, so keep the 8FPS 7D for your sports shooting.


Dec 11, 2013 at 08:17 PM
bipock
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #8 · p.2 #8 · 70D as an Upgrade to 7D?


Have you guys actually shot this camera or are you reading results from other websites?

Higher ISOs are cleaner and far easier to clean up than the files of the 7d. Outside of my shortcomings in consistent tracking, the AF system on my 70d has been nothing short of extremely accurate and extremely consistent. I have yet to have a series of shots where the subject was randomly out of focus as I did with each of the 3 7ds that I have owned.

Yes, you give up a FPS (does one really make a difference?), you lose some buffer, some build quality and some AF options. You get a lighter camera with consistent AF, better and easier-to-clean high ISO files, excellent video options and a newer sensor.

Your call. I sold my 7d, moved to the 70d and haven't looked back.



Dec 12, 2013 at 10:21 AM
Gochugogi
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #9 · p.2 #9 · 70D as an Upgrade to 7D?


I noticed some people writing about 7D AF inconsistency. Perhaps the AF varies due to manufacturing control or batches? I have an out the gate 7D from early Fall 2009 and, if anything, AF has been amazingly consistent. It rarely misses for me. I have spot AF programmed to the DOF button so I can quickly invoke it when I know I need a pinpoint AF lock. The only mode I found befuddling and thus don't use is 19-point auto-selection.


Dec 12, 2013 at 12:11 PM
Stpix
Offline

Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #10 · p.2 #10 · 70D as an Upgrade to 7D?


Don't see the 70d as an upgrade to 7d unless you are really into video and live view.

I just bought a 7d to add to my T3i. I am happy with the T3i IQ and don't see much to gain on that from the 70d. I wanted the better viewfinder and AF of the 7d.

I rarely use live view or video and if I occasionally need a flip out screen I will just use the T3i. WIFI is not important to me.

Plan to use the the 7d primarily for BIF/wildlife with my 400 5.6 L. For this I prefer the viewfinder, build quality and ergonomics of the 7d to that of the 70d.






Dec 12, 2013 at 12:11 PM
ChrisRD
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.2 #11 · p.2 #11 · 70D as an Upgrade to 7D?


I agree that the 70D files need less 'work' than the 7D. The few times I have had it out to do some bird shots I found the heavily cropped shots easier to work with.

I also did not find the 7D great in burst/sequence BIF shooting. Haven't tested the 70D in that scenario yet but definitely experienced randomly OOF frames with the 7D despite not losing the bird with the AF point (verified in DPP). The problem seemed to get worse with a TC attached on either the 300/2.8 IS or the 500/4 IS. I found the 1D3 to be much better at that...and the 5D3 even better than the 1D3.

I never thought of the 7D as a bad camera..I actually got lots of great shots with both of mine...but I did find the AF on both of them to be less reliable than the 1D3 or 5D3 (which I guess is to be expected).







Dec 12, 2013 at 12:32 PM
1      
2
       end




FM Forums | Canon Forum | Join Upload & Sell

1      
2
       end
    
 

You are not logged in. Login or Register

Username       Or Reset password



This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.