What would you choose 7d or 5d Mk2 ? (2 Viewers)

Now the 7D has been about for a short while and the bugs seem to have been sorted what body would you pick between the 7d and 5d mk2.
I have been looking at various write-ups and reviews but was wondering if anyone who has used both 7d and 5d mk2 or done their research has any opinions on what they would choose if money was not an issue ( value for money aside ).
I would also like to know your reasons why?
As I said there are reviews out there but people using them in the field on more than the odd tryout can give a better opinion. So please let me know what you would choose forall round birding..

with thanks

I'm not sure Ive seen any bird photographer using a 5dmk2.

There is no choice there. There are no reasons to pay extra for the 5dmk2 if you shooting wildlife.

I think you'll find a lot more 7D users than 5DmkII users on here, so as a recent 5DmkII owner I feel I should speak up. Put simply the 5DmkII delivers (arguably) the best image quality of any current DSLR, it's high ISO performance is stunning (ISO6400 is very useable) it's a couple of stops better than the 40D (I don't have a 7D to compare it too). For many uses I reckon it's the best Canon available, however not for birding... the AF system is fairly basic and relatively slow, this coupled with a slowish frame rate make it less than ideal for action shots (it can do them, just not as well as a faster camera will). Also the 7D has the 1.6x crop which means you'll end up with more pixels on the birds and require less cropping than with of the full frame 5D (sometimes birds come close enough for uncropped full frame shots, but not often).

Put simply the 5DmkII is a superb camera, but for birding the 7D has a lot of advanatges.

postcardcv really has summed things up very well between the 7D and the 5DM2 - one thing I would add to the mix is that the 7D also sports a few additional features over the 5DM2. Firstly I belive ( but am not certain) that whist neither is fully weathersealed, that the 7D has the better overall sealings. Secondly if you have any interest in macro work the 7D has a new macro focusing mode that works with macro lenses in their macro range (automaticaly kicks in when you use AF mode) that helps to counter the soft back/forward motions of the shooter. Far as I know it works with all canon macro USM lenses - I don't know if it works with 3rdparty macro lenses with the similar HSM focusing setups.

postcardcv said:

I think you'll find a lot more 7D users than 5DmkII users on here, so as a recent 5DmkII owner I feel I should speak up. Put simply the 5DmkII delivers (arguably) the best image quality of any current DSLR, it's high ISO performance is stunning (ISO6400 is very useable) it's a couple of stops better than the 40D (I don't have a 7D to compare it too). For many uses I reckon it's the best Canon available, however not for birding... the AF system is fairly basic and relatively slow, this coupled with a slowish frame rate make it less than ideal for action shots (it can do them, just not as well as a faster camera will). Also the 7D has the 1.6x crop which means you'll end up with more pixels on the birds and require less cropping than with of the full frame 5D (sometimes birds come close enough for uncropped full frame shots, but not often).

Put simply the 5DmkII is a superb camera, but for birding the 7D has a lot of advanatges.

Click to expand...

From what I saw of it that Vulture flight shot would knock spots off plenty of images taken with more 'suitable' cameras :t:

paul goode said:

From what I saw of it that Vulture flight shot would knock spots off plenty of images taken with more 'suitable' cameras :t:

Click to expand...

So you mean one of those huge birds that fly really slowly.

Jaff said:

So you mean one of those huge birds that fly really slowly.

Click to expand...

With a tiny head on the end of a long neck. Its no use getting the focus point on the body you've got to nail the eye and thats not easy regardless of the birds size

Thanks guys, I thought the 7D was the better option but wanted to check I wasn't missing anything as the old rule " YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR " just doesn't apply here.
The technology is bringing the prices down and quality up at a fair rate. My mother just bought the 550D and it can perform close and sometimes better than my 50D.
Who knows what the next 5D will be like?

Thanks for the help


P.S. what is the vulture shot you are on about.. LINK ???????

doozer said:

Thanks guys, I thought the 7D was the better option but wanted to check I wasn't missing anything as the old rule " YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR " just doesn't apply here.
The technology is bringing the prices down and quality up at a fair rate. My mother just bought the 550D and it can perform close and sometimes better than my 50D.
Who knows what the next 5D will be like?

Thanks for the help


P.S. what is the vulture shot you are on about.. LINK ???????

Click to expand...

Well you do kind of get what you pay for, the sensor is an expensive part to make so a full frame camera like the 5D will have a higher cost to reflect this. For many uses the 5DmkII will the better camera due to it's amazing high ISO noise levels and the stunning image quality (the files out of it are very easy to work with and need noticably less PP than other cameras I have used).

As for the vulture shot... it's one I took last week when at the zoo with my daughter (in fact I was shooting one handed as she was climbing on me at the time). It's only on my PC so I can't post a link, at somepoint I'll sort it out and post it up.

Joking aside I thought the 5dMk2 had the same AF system as the 40/50D. Is it the same one Pete or is it actually poorer?

postcardcv said:

For many uses the 5DmkII will the better camera due to it's amazing high ISO noise levels and the stunning image quality (the files out of it are very easy to work with and need noticably less PP than other cameras I have used).

Click to expand...

I tend to say 5D for portrait/landscape and 7D for wildlife/macro but like all generalisations, not always true. I know a wedding 'tog who bought 2 x 5DmkIIs when they came out, for their "low noise and high dynamic range" and chucked 'em out for D3s as they just didn't perform well

Oh, and I've a 7D....... for wildlife and macro (and a Sigma for landscapes!)

Jaff said:

Joking aside I thought the 5dMk2 had the same AF system as the 40/50D. Is it the same one Pete or is it actually poorer?

Click to expand...

I reckon it's much the same AF in the 5DmkII as the 50D, so it does perform well enough but from what I've read on here the 7D has a better AF system.

I have a 7D, 5D2 and 1D3. The 7D outperforms and outfeatures the 5D2 in every respect other than IQ. The 5D2 leaps ahead on that score due to having more megapixels, each of which is higher in quality than the individual megapixels of the 7D. However, that superior IQ will only be realised if you can make use of the whole image sensor, or at least an area of the sensor larger than the 7D's own sensor. If all you will do with the 5D2 is to crop the image down to the size of a 7D or less then you may as well get the 7D. If you can routinely make full use of the whole 5D2 sensor area (i.e. you are not focal length limited), and don't need fancy AF and high FPS then the 5D2 is a fine camera for wildlife and pretty much anything else that doesn't move about too rapidly.

By the way, other than having nine main AF points there is very little similarity between the AF systems of the 50D and the 5D2. The 5D2 has six invisible assist points clustered around the centre point, which can be very advantageous if you struggle to keep a single AF point on your subject. Those assist points are absent on all the xxD bodies, leaving a big no-man's land between the centre point and the outer points, between which a small subject can easily slip. However, the 50D outer points are superior in performance to those of the 5D, being all cross type rather than linear. The 5D2 can actually be completely blind to areas of high contrast on the outer points if the line of contrast does not run in the right orientation for the selected AF point. The exact specs can be found in the white paper covering both cameras.....

http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=1787