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Is the 7D Mk 2 a significant upgrade? (1 Viewer)

Retrodaz

Well-known member
Do you own a 7D Mk 2? Did you own the original?
How do they compare, is there a big noticeable difference?
I was torn between a 5D Mk3 and a 7D but after talking with Tim Hunt (an award winning wildlife photographer who's recently started working at our company) he thinks that the 7D MK2 would be the one to plump for, calling it a miniature version of his 1DX.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the upgrades and maybe show original shots with ISO at 1600 (I shoot this high from a hide typically).

Is it easy to use. Does it take the same batteries and so on.

Many thanks.
 
I used a 7D for over 5 years and upgraded to a 7D mkII 9 months ago. It IS a significant upgrade.
I have seen various statements suggesting that the ISO performance has improved by about 2/3 of a stop, but it isn't really that simple. I regard that as a minimum value. In general it feels like more than 1 stop. Also somehow the noise is easier to deal with in Lightroom.
Autofocus is much improved, though I also upgraded from a 100-400 to 100-400 mkII so it isn't always easy to separate the two effects! Setup is a bit different from the 7D, but not difficult to get the hang of. I suspect I don't get the best out of it in that respect.
It will take the same batteries as a 7D, though the dedicated battery has somewhat higher capacity.

Unfortunately don't have examples to hand.

HTH

Rob
 
I upgraded from the 7d to the mkII in late 2014 and the difference was noticeable straight away.

I've just had that opinion reinforced when I spent a few weeks before Christmas selecting and editing a selection of about 400 photos from the whole of 2014 from January to December. The step up in image quality between the photos taken before the end of October and those from November and December was chalk and cheese when I was zoomed in doing edits.

All photos were taken using the same lens, the Canon 400/5.6, so it was a true comparison.

The noise was less and what noise there was looked to be 'cleaner'.
 
I also think the difference is significant, I found the 7D in my brief time with it to be quite displeasing in terms of noise even at low iso values. The 7dii is excellent, rivalling my 1D4 in many ways and bettering it for AF speed with tc attached on the new 600mm.
 
That's all encouraging so far. If I shot my things I'd be tempted to go for the 5d3 but as I'm obsessed with birds only it makes more sense. I was concerned as I do a lot of shooting from woodland here but the noise news sounds interesting. If only I could find a grey importer stocking one :(
 
That's all encouraging so far. If I shot my things I'd be tempted to go for the 5d3 but as I'm obsessed with birds only it makes more sense. I was concerned as I do a lot of shooting from woodland here but the noise news sounds interesting. If only I could find a grey importer stocking one :(


did you check out dxomark,
easy to compare camera performance there
esp. value for sport/low light shooting, and also dynamic range at higher iso.

full frame is hard to beat in low light:

http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Comp...I-versus-Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-III___1020_977_795


Nikon D500, will be very interesting to see,
might be up there with full frame performance
according to some testers
;)
 
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As much as I like the look of the 5D Mk 3 and would love the low light benefits I'd hate the loss of framerate and reach. I've gotten quite used to the insane reach I get of my Canon 600mm and 1.4 TC so I don't think that camera is the answer for me. As for Nikon, I've invested too much into my big telephoto lens to consider jumping ship. I'm just looking for Canon 7D Mk 2 upgrade information at the moment thanks :)
 
As much as I like the look of the 5D Mk 3 and would love the low light benefits I'd hate the loss of framerate and reach. I've gotten quite used to the insane reach I get of my Canon 600mm and 1.4 TC so I don't think that camera is the answer for me. As for Nikon, I've invested too much into my big telephoto lens to consider jumping ship. I'm just looking for Canon 7D Mk 2 upgrade information at the moment thanks :)


http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-eos-7d-mark-ii/18

"So, should you take the plunge? Most likely, yes. If you're thinking about moving up from the 7D, the Mark II is a great upgrade and can run circles around the 7D while remaining comfortable and familiar. If you're a 5D III shooter and need extra telephoto reach or crazy fast shooting with reliable autofocus it would be tough to go wrong. Image quality is extremely high, and the two bodies are virtually indistinguishable. For that matter, anyone who's ever considered buying a 1D X should probably take a look at the 7D Mark II as well; it might actually meet your needs at a much lower price point. "

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-eos-7d-mark-ii/11

MKII looks visible better, especially at higher ISO and in the low light scene,
even comparing in print size mode (8MP) the MKII looks better,
+ better AF, FPS etc.

You won't get a better APS-C PRO-camera body than the MKII for the money today IMO.
 
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7d2

I haven't owned the 7D Mk1 but I recently purchased a 7D2 as a travel camera and backup to my 1DX. I find it pretty good, exceptionally good for the price! Note that mine was a grey import.
I have yet to find the best AF settings for it but case 5 is looking promising. The AF is not as good as the 1DX but it is pretty close and a fast CF card will give a buffer depth of well over 40 RAW files at 9 fps.
At 1600 ISO, the attached image is from it's first outing on birds.
The second image is at ISO 4000 from the same outing.

Due to my error these are JPEGs (new camera syndrome!) but other than that they are straight from the camera, just scaled for the web - no editing.
 

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Thanks for posting the shots again John. I do like the look of it and it seems exceptionally solid for the price point. Did you buy yours from hdew? They don't have them In Stock at the mo :(
 
For the last 3 years I've been using the 5dMK3 its areally nice camera but i did miss the crop for wildlife so in late ~November i purchase a 7dMK2 and am well pleased with the results so far I've only been shooting jpeg (never shot jpeg on the 5dmk3 ) as my editing software photoshop will not except raw files and I've been to lazy to bother converting to DNG.ive used it with a 500f4 100-400 and a macro and have found the focus speed to be as good if not slightly quicker.But the iso is noisier so i try not to go above 1250. i have used HDEW a few times and would have this time but Canon were giving away a free battery pack at the time so this worked out slightly.cheaper than HDEW.will keep the mk3 for non wildlife.
 
Well if 10fps is not critical on your work then 5D3 might be a better buy, however if the former is important then you will not be disappointed with 7D2! I nearly bought one but I went 1D4 instead, I just need the Pro body return to my hands ;)
 
Do you own a 7D Mk 2? Did you own the original?
How do they compare, is there a big noticeable difference?...

I have a 7D (bought new 02/2014), a 7D Mk II (bought s/h 09/2015) and a 1D Mk IV (bought s/h 03/2012). I also have several long Canon L lenses, bought for bird photography.

Of these purchases, I think I regard that of the 7D as a mistake. OK, it was new and at a discount when John Lewis had obviously had a tip-off, but it has missed some pretty simple shots. (And I can't imagine any of my other lower level Eos bodies failing like the new 7D did.) The 7D Mk II is much better - and when I'm satisfied with the performance of its batteries when driving long lenses in cold weather, I might just retire the 1D Mk IV. The 1D Mk IV simply works and delivers; apart from it not having a built-in flash to wirelessly fire my Canon 550EX(s). It's a pity that the otherwise useful GPS feature of the 7D Mk II is a battery eater, and consequently gets very little use by me.
 
Thanks for posting the shots again John. I do like the look of it and it seems exceptionally solid for the price point. Did you buy yours from hdew? They don't have them In Stock at the mo :(

Mine was from Portus Digital - I don't think that they have stock either!
 
To Retrodaz.
Here is one from today. This time it is an un-edited RAW file (just scaled for web).
ISO was 5000. Some noise but far from bad in my opinion
 

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No comparison between 5D3 and 7D2 files the quality of the 5D3 is amazing and you have plenty of pixels to crop from: it also has excellent high ISO performance whereas the 7D2 is pointless above 800 ISO if it's actually dull and needed. image quality on the 5D3 is equal to the 1DX in good conditions the 7D2 is way behind. Personal view: I have all 3 bodies and only use the 7D2 as a lightweight walkabout body as I found I was keeping about 5% of images taken with it as the light in Britain is seldom great in winter.
 
I have a 7D (bought new 02/2014), a 7D Mk II (bought s/h 09/2015) and a 1D Mk IV (bought s/h 03/2012). I also have several long Canon L lenses, bought for bird photography. ...

Silly me!
I've just discovered that my s/h 7D Mk II (bought from a well known and reputable shop) has a non-working CF card socket. There's two bent pins stopping my CF card seating correctly. If I'd checked that last September, on delivery, I should have been able to have had it repaired. It works fine with the SD card socket, but there are times when a 2nd. card is a bonus. At least the pins are still there, so an experienced repair guy might be able to do something...

Strange - I've been using CF cards since the 10D was introduced, 13 years ago and I've never had a problem with them, but obviously the design is fragile and needs careful handling. but then I'm an engineer
 
Silly me!
I've just discovered that my s/h 7D Mk II ... ... has a non-working CF card socket. There's two bent pins stopping my CF card seating correctly. ...

I've now had my 7D Mk II repaired, and I've got the damaged CF card pin assembly.

The repair guy was quite complimentary about the internals of the 7D Mk II - he said it was much better built than most DSLRs he repairs.
 
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