Just Got a 70D (1 Viewer)

Bill Weckel · Nov 16, 2013

Everyone's talking about the 70D. I just bought one (moving up from a T4i) and thought I'd make a quick report on my initial impressions.

I'm thrilled with it. I agonized over the decision between the 7D and 70D. In the end, it came down to price, product lifecycle age, and all of the non-bird-centric features that make this a very well-rounded camera. I worried a lot about the FPS in high speed burst mode, but can say that this camera rips off a very nice RAW run. Not as fast as the 7D with the newest firmware, but VERY close. It sounds like a machine-gun.

The camera feels great. Much larger than the Rebels (which isn't necessarily a good thing). It's hefty and solid.

IQ and performance are fantastic and beat my T4i in every department.

And the price... It's a lot of camera for $1,099.

I have absolutely no buyer's remorse and can't imagine anyone being unhappy with this body, especially at this price point.

If and when the 7D Mk II materializes, I'm sure I'll be tempted and take a good hard look at it, but I don't feel like I jumped the gun and should have waited.

Take a look at my Flickr page over the next month or so. Everything there now is from my T4i, but watch my photo stream for new stuff with the 70D.

Bill
http://www.flickr.com/photos/billweckel/

punta · Nov 16, 2013

You made a very good decision in my opinion. I bought a 70d a few months back and found it head and shoulders better than my 7D

Cracking camera

stevo · Nov 16, 2013

punta said:
You made a very good decision in my opinion. I bought a 70d a few months back and found it head and shoulders better than my 7D

Cracking camera

In what way better than your 7D,as i`m considering buying a 7D?

Thanks.

Steve.B

:t:

punta · Nov 16, 2013

stevo said:
In what way better than your 7D,as i`m considering buying a 7D?

Thanks.

Steve.B :t:

The AF system is as good as the 7D a much, much improved high ISO performance together with for me a better IQ. It just seems to crop photos with more detail and so much less noise. Also greatly improved video, more modern features, as the 7d is now a oldish camera, wifi, + touchscreen as well. If I compare the 70D to the 7D I'd say the 70D has much more going for it. BUT spot focus is missing on the 70D which I do kinda miss.

The 7d is a good camera but for me the 70d is better. i have had both - 7D is now sold :t:

Its the bestest crop out there from what i have been reading - UNTIL the 7D MK11 comes out - if it ever does.

Do a Google 70dv7d search and then make your mind up.

Roy C · Nov 16, 2013

punta said:
The AF system is as good as the 7D

Not sure how you come this this conclusion Paul, it has a similar AF system to the 7D but is lacking both spot AF and single point expansion from everything I have read (spot AF is superb/essential for nailing a birds eye/pinpointing the focus point. Single point expansion is a must have for flyers when you have a busy background IMHO). The 70D also lacks a joystick to move the focus point(s). Not saying that the 70D is not a good camera but the AF system (through the viewfinder) is not up to the 7D.
Also it should be mentioned that The 7D has a much better build quality, it also has less shutter lag and a slightly bigger buffer. Also, of course CF cards are faster than SD cards, all things that are relevant to the bird shooter.

There is no doubting that the 70D is good value for money entry level Camera and being a newer Camera it has has updated/newer processors. If you are into video and live view shooting it certainly has the edge over the ageing 7D that's for sure. For what it is worth there is no way I would move from a 7D to a 70D if I was still using a APS-C sensor.

stevo · Nov 16, 2013

Thanks Roy,along with an articulating screen & wifi on the 70D these are both features i`d never use.Which is why i`m leaning towards the 7D the only thing i`m concerned about is noisy images.

Cheers.

Steve.

Bill Weckel · Nov 16, 2013

Just updated my Flickr stream with my first 70D bird attempts - the Osprey in flight shows what this camera can do in my untalented hands.

Someone like Roy could really make it sing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/billweckel

Bill Weckel · Nov 16, 2013

stevo said:
Thanks Roy,along with an articulating screen & wifi on the 70D these are both features i`d never use.Which is why i`m leaning towards the 7D the only thing i`m concerned about is noisy images.

Cheers.

Steve.

Steve,

Trust me, you'll use the articulating screen if you have it. In fact, you'll wonder why every camera doesn't have one. My last three have had it and I've grown to "needing" it. It allows one to be more creative with shooting angles. Not so much with wildlife photography, but in just about everything else. And my lower back appreciates it.

I can see the wifi coming in handy - setup the camera near my hummingbird feeders and shoot from inside the house via iPad for some of the more shy birds.

Bill

nige53 · Nov 25, 2013

stevo said:
Thanks Roy,along with an articulating screen & wifi on the 70D these are both features i`d never use.Which is why i`m leaning towards the 7D the only thing i`m concerned about is noisy images.

Cheers.

Steve.

If your worried about noise then go for the 70d over the 7d,it handles it much better and the new sensor produces superb images.

Roy C · Nov 26, 2013

stevo said:
Thanks Roy,along with an articulating screen & wifi on the 70D these are both features i`d never use.Which is why i`m leaning towards the 7D the only thing i`m concerned about is noisy images.

Cheers.

Steve.

Everything in my Photostream shown in my sig below was taken with a 7D. I will let you decide if the images are noisy or not!
The 7D is clean up to ISO 1600 provided you get the exposure right, my take for bird photography is that you need good(ish) light for decent shots regardless of the Camera you are using. If I require more than ISO 1600 then the light must be poor so I would sooner not even bother.

Roy C · Nov 26, 2013

stevo said:
Thanks Roy,along with an articulating screen & wifi on the 70D these are both features i`d never use.Which is why i`m leaning towards the 7D the only thing i`m concerned about is noisy images.

Cheers.

Steve.

Steve, here are a few samples taken with the 7D between ISO 800 and ISO 1600 to give you an idea of the noise you can expect.

Bill Weckel · Nov 26, 2013

Roy C said:
my take for bird photography is that you need good(ish) light for decent shots regardless of the Camera you are using. If I require more than ISO 1600 then the light must be poor so I would sooner not even bother.

As a bird photographer beginner, this is what I'm discovering. My 400mm 5.6 (the best super-telephoto I can afford) gets pretty useless at dusk. Wouldn't matter what camera you hang it on.

Bill

MiguelM · Nov 26, 2013

That's why I got a Full Frame. It's another world and the loss of reach is not a problem.

Huntso · Nov 26, 2013

I had a 7D and it was an excellent camera esepcially AF and custom functions, but I found you need to take a lot of care to get the exposure right. When you do the photos are very good, but if you don't noise becomes apparent even at low ISO's. Cannot agree its clean to 1600, reckoned 800 to be the safe limit and even that was pushing it at times

Sure the 70D is excellent, but useless to me because my fingers will not operate touchscreens, I know you can get gloves that help or a stylus, but just too much hassle

Have to say I concur with Miguel, full frame is really superb and would very much like to get my hands on a 5D MKIII

Roy C · Nov 26, 2013

I picked up a 5D3 about a month ago and there is no doubting that the pure IQ is in a different league to any crop Camera and also the high ISO noise levels are much better of course. But for bird photography if you are reach limited then my 7D would still be my camera of choice. At the end of the day to crop a 5D3 to the same FOV of the 7D you are left with just 8mp - and when you compare this to the 18mp of the 7D then the 7D will always yield more detail.
I took some 5D3 bird images (snow buntings) from a distance at the weekend and then tried cropping them heavily as an experiment, there was very little fine detail left - I could have got more detailed images with the 7D from the same spot that's for sure. For birds the 5D3 would be superb if you can get near enough but there is a heck of a difference in reach between a 1.6 cropper and a full frame
With regards to noise levels on the 7D, you have to make sure that you expose to the right to get clean images in the ISO 800 to 1600 range - when I was bird snapping I used to shoot RAW and make sure I was getting the most out of the sensor by just clipping the highlights. All the shots I posted in post #11 were taken with the 7D at ISO 800 to ISO 1600 and they are not that noisey IMHO. My point with the light is that if you require more than ISO 1600 you may be able to get noise free images with a full frame (my 5D3 is virtually noise free up to ISO 6400) but that still will not necessarily make a good image - decent light is everything IMO regardless of noise.

Roy C · Nov 26, 2013

By the way anyone with a 7D, have you tried shooting at ISO levels to power of 160 (eg. ISO 160, ISO 320, ISO 640, ISO 1250...) they give the cleanest images from the Camera in my experience - something to do with the way the Camera calculates intermediate ISO's (pulling exposure from full ISO's is better than pushing it). By the same token you should avoid ISO's like 125, 250, 500 - 160 is cleaner than 125, 320 is cleaner than 250 .... Not sure if this works with other crop Cameras but it should.

frinky · Nov 26, 2013

Roy, yes I've tried 160/320 etc but AFAICT this only really affects JPEG and video, which does the push/pull when converting the RAW down to the compressed formats.

If you shoot RAW you're better off just shooting ETTR at the whole number ISOs and then adjusting exposure in software (exact same effect but with full control). I suppose the most useful rule is avoid the 1/3 pushed ISOs (125 multiples).

Roy C · Nov 27, 2013

frinky said:
If you shoot RAW you're better off just shooting ETTR at the whole number ISOs and then adjusting exposure in software (exact same effect but with full control). I suppose the most useful rule is avoid the 1/3 pushed ISOs (125 multiples).

Hi 'Frinkly', As far as I am concerned for the bird photographer who is often shooting in ever changing light Auto ISO is the best thing ever invented and when you use auto ISO the Camera will always use 1/3 stop's (even if you set the Camera to use whole stops).
Take the 400/5.6 as an example - it is fine wide open and hand holding this lens is all about shutter speed, the best way I found was to use Tv mode and auto ISO. That way you had the precise shutter speed you need, a wide open aperture and all without the need to keep changing the ISO.

Agree about trying not to use pushed ISO's but if you use auto ISO this cannot be avoided at times.

Adjusting the exposure in post is not the same as using the correct ISO IMHO - on the assumption that you get the exposure correct in Camera, if you pull or push in processing you will be under or over exposing.

Before I got my 5D3 I did a bit of landscape work with the 7D and even though I always shoot ETTR and RAW I found that setting the ISO to 160 or 320 gave the cleanest images of the lot.

BTW I never use auto ISO for anything other than bird/action stuff where time is of an essence and you often have not got time to manually change ISO.

P.S. Of my shots in post #11 the first four shots were all taken with an intermediate ISO!

stevo · Nov 27, 2013

Roy C said:
Steve, here are a few samples taken with the 7D between ISO 800 and ISO 1600 to give you an idea of the noise you can expect.

Thanks for posting these Roy & sorry for the late reply(dodgy internet connection)

Cheers.

Steve.:t:

Just Got a 70D (1 Viewer)

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