My test involves going out and shooting the subjects I use the camera for and then processing the raw files. If the results meet my client's and my approval then that is all that matters.
I really don't understand the obsession with all the technical data and test as well as the eagerness to believe any of it. I can understand if your an engineer and you like to disect and test it under controlled conditions but this is a camera to take pictures not an atom smasher.
Try to take a shot, in the conditions you shoot in, process the file and see if you like it. If you print all of your shots in 100% crops then by all means endeavor to find a camera that meets that need. I'm more concern about the final product and that is a print of a photograph not a flow chart or 100% crop.
I was 2nd shooter on a wedding yesterday and used my usual 1ds2 but substituted my other 2nd body for my new 7D. I am just getting around to checking out images now, preliminary look is pretty good, but from last night the 7d did REALLY well in the horrible light tracking focus. Body feels great in hand, does not feel like a 5d toy anymore. I just wish it was full sensor!
I did some macro shooting with the 7D and the new 100 IS and I love the FPS, the general feel and last but not least, the image quality for doing this was excellent. I also had my 5DII down at the same time and preferred the reach of the 7D for this work. Yes, I prefer FF but if done right I think the 7D can be accepted on "its" own ground. The quieter shutter is also very nice.
skibum5 wrote:
so you found the AF to do as well as the 1dsii for soccer?
It looks like I will relegate the 1Ds II to third body - wide angle use for night field sports and probably day as well. I will shoot a daytime DII game on Tuesday likely in bright sunlight to confirm the latter decision. Focus acquisition was faster then the 1Ds Mk II in the low light and shot quality looks good enough. I am liking the 300 2.8 (1.6) FOV which would put the Mk III in the 2nd body slot for field sports.
thw2 wrote:
I do not know why you have been going from one forum to another talking about YOUR banding problems. The reality is that it's hardly universal and is mostly a QC (so what else is new) issue. Some copies have it bad and others are OK. Mine happens to be quite good (also verified by Gabor).
Regarding dynamic range, I think the difference is minuscule and hardly worth discussing. It's not like 0.5 eV (poorer on the XSi/450D) or 1 eV (that MUCH better on the D90/D5000) difference. Of course, what's more saddening is the relatively poor DR of the 5D2 (despite all that hype) as compared to the D90/D5000.
Edit: One thing I've noticed from your charts is the poor DR on the 20D across all ISO. Ya, so much for the benefits of low MP count. ...Show more →
My copy seems to have only moderate banding, visible after lifting the shadows 3-4 stops. It is very regular, but a component of it is not consistent between frames.
Decided to try Dfine 2, and the debanding tool really eliminates it.
Although it would be appreciated if Canon addressed it in a firmware update, I really can live with some postprocessing for the very few images the banding will appear in. The extra cost is a bit annoying, but once I have a solution that works, I am happy
After debanding, the results are so good that I would rank the 7D above the 40D for shadow noise performance.
The Dfine debanding tool is also worth trying on the 5DII criss-cross pattern noise. Do it in two passes, one vertical and one horizontal.
More importantly - first impressions: AF and camera behavior was responsive but I NEED to get a battery grip on it ASAP (should be here early next week). Setting knob might be a touch stiffer than 50D as it only moved off of the M setting once. Live view button was triggered twice but that might have been due to handling through/in the waterproof baggies. Bottom line - for high ISO night soccer at least I will not hesitate to shoot with the 7D for my market and will need to seriously consider which body is going to be my primary body as it was nice to have the added reach with the 7D with the 300 2.8. I have youth soccer in daylight tomorrow and then DII volleyball in the evening so after that plus finding some time to really look at some images will hopefully have a much better idea of its long-term role by Sunday evening, but for now I am impressed....Show more →
VBall impressions: Mk III will remain my primary VBall camera w/ 135 2 as most often mounted lens. 7D was just enough slower to acquire focus and the FOV with 135 + 1.6 crop was too narrow and I just do not like the 50 1.4 or 85 1.8 primes enough for primary use. So last night I liked the combination of Mk III 135 2, 7D w/ 200 2, and 1Ds Mk II with 16-35. I will need to try the 30 1.4 or 35 1.4 on the 7D next home match, but then am not sure what I would mount on the 1Ds Mk II - fisheye maybe or heaven forbid leave a body in the bag.
I will try and select some best of's from the 7D to drop in to a separate thread this morning but to be honest - like blind squirrels and nuts I shoot often enough that my stumbling in to decent images does not tell you as much as looking through full galleries.
so I picked up a 7d kit today and have been playing around with it for a few hours so far...some first impressions
my main cameras are a 5dmkii and 5d classic, but Ive used a 40d and 30d extensively
I am a wedding shooter but also shoot high school sports and events at the school where I teach digital photography full time
so...
great build feel
much better ergonomics than other canon cameras, I like what theyve done with the buttons and switches
+/- 3 stop exposure compensation...finally
responsiveness is very nice, much zippier feel than the 5dmkii, feels better than a 40d too, but not by much
autofocus seems much much better than 5dmkii and better than 40d...all focus points are totally usable and lock on in low light(I'm a single point shooter) accuracy seems very good for just 'around the house' stuff so far...used a variety of lenses...but very impressed with the autofocus. I took a few photos in my basement with side focus points that I wouldn't have dreamed of even trying with my mkii
image quality seems good, but have only shot jpg so far, don't want to mess with raw until lightroom gets an update...I hate dpp
high iso seems quite good, I took a few around the house shots at 3200 iso that would be similar conditions to a reception or getting ready room and the jpgs looked quite good..MUCH better than the 40d I use on occasion...I didn't like to shoot that over 1000-1200
menu and functions seem very customizable which is nice
viewfinder is large and bright
18-135 kit lens doesn't seem that bad( I wouldn't pull it out at a gig, but seems ok)
havent messed around with live view or video much, but seems good
so first overall impression
I'm really impressed
this is what I had hoped the 5dmkii would be and if it had a full frame sensor, I think it would be my ideal camera mainly because of the autofocus which kills me on the mkii...I would be totally fine with slower fps just give me full frame and this autofocus system in a non 1 series
I have some good efs lenses including the 17-55 & 10-22 so I think this might be a keeper for weddings paired with my 5dmkii.
these are only initial impressions, but I am very hopeful
ISO 100-800 on the 7D are the same as on the 50D.
Higher ISOs are better. The 5DII beats the 7D even at ISO 200.
Canon engineers have not invented yet the magic that improves ISO when cramming more megapixels onto a sensor.
Oh, well. Starting to save for the 5DIII
Interesting - it looks like the T1i outperforms the 50D as well at high ISO settings. As I've gathered from other tests, the 7D sits around 1/2 - 2/3 stops better than the 50 and about 1 stop behind the 5D2. Not bad considering the gain in pixel density.
I note that the 7D seems to require +1/3 stop exposure compensation for this test. Maybe a slight calibration difference that showed up in this test.
Questions: What lens was used at what aperture, how about ISO ?
Did you use center point AF (with/without expansion) in Servo ?
What's your feedback/setting on the tracking sensitivity ?
Questions: What lens was used at what aperture, how about ISO ?
Did you use center point AF (with/without expansion) in Servo ?
What's your feedback/setting on the tracking sensitivity ?
Thx !
All of the shots in the gallery were taken using a Sigma 120-300 f2.8 EX DG HSM with or without a 1.4XTC. ISO varied from 200 to 640 across the two days. I always aim to keep the aperature around f8 to f11. I didn't use the centre point at all for any of these. Instead I used the bottom centre AF point with expansion.
The 7D at least matched the performance I would expect from my 1D mk II.
sanblas wrote:
so I picked up a 7d kit today and have been playing around with it for a few hours so far...some first impressions
my main cameras are a 5dmkii and 5d classic, but Ive used a 40d and 30d extensively
I am a wedding shooter but also shoot high school sports and events at the school where I teach digital photography full time
so...
great build feel
much better ergonomics than other canon cameras, I like what theyve done with the buttons and switches
+/- 3 stop exposure compensation...finally
responsiveness is very nice, much zippier feel than the 5dmkii, feels better than a 40d too, but not by much
autofocus seems much much better than 5dmkii and better than 40d...all focus points are totally usable and lock on in low light(I'm a single point shooter) accuracy seems very good for just 'around the house' stuff so far...used a variety of lenses...but very impressed with the autofocus. I took a few photos in my basement with side focus points that I wouldn't have dreamed of even trying with my mkii
image quality seems good, but have only shot jpg so far, don't want to mess with raw until lightroom gets an update...I hate dpp
high iso seems quite good, I took a few around the house shots at 3200 iso that would be similar conditions to a reception or getting ready room and the jpgs looked quite good..MUCH better than the 40d I use on occasion...I didn't like to shoot that over 1000-1200
menu and functions seem very customizable which is nice
viewfinder is large and bright
18-135 kit lens doesn't seem that bad( I wouldn't pull it out at a gig, but seems ok)
havent messed around with live view or video much, but seems good
so first overall impression
I'm really impressed
this is what I had hoped the 5dmkii would be and if it had a full frame sensor, I think it would be my ideal camera mainly because of the autofocus which kills me on the mkii...I would be totally fine with slower fps just give me full frame and this autofocus system in a non 1 series
I have some good efs lenses including the 17-55 & 10-22 so I think this might be a keeper for weddings paired with my 5dmkii.
these are only initial impressions, but I am very hopeful ...Show more →
is it just outer points or center point too that gave you issues with the 5D2?
so far the 7D center point for one shot stuff doesn't seem any better than the 5D2s to me, at all.
skibum5 wrote:
is it just outer points or center point too that gave you issues with the 5D2?
so far the 7D center point for one shot stuff doesn't seem any better than the 5D2s to me, at all.
I have to point out that the center AF point on the 5-series is quite good. Very good, both in accuracy and sensitivity. It's the outer points, particularly in darker situations that seem to give people fits.
If the peripheral points on the 7D perform as well as the center point on the 5D/5D2, I will be happy. And, if the tracking performs as well as my 1D2 did, I will be very happy.
regarding the 5dmkii focus
I would imagine for most shooters the center focus point is fine, however shooting weddings in crappy light with wide open primes it sometimes hunts too long...it also has problems on things IMO it shouldnt like text & dresses. I realize I'm stressing an AF system with low light, wide open shooting where I need accurate focus or the shot is blown.
overall I've been a little underwhelmed with the 5dmkii center point(the only point I use as the rest are worthless) and have actually been relying more on my 5d classic recently for low light work.
it stinks they gave us such a great sensor that can shoot in the dark, but such painfully mediocre at best autofocus
I need to send the mkii to CPS for a clean and check though, it could be sample variation and I have put about 40k shots on the mkii this summer
