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Have first 5D and Love it! Want to get 5D mkII or 7D, advice?

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gregg_stevens

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Hi everyone,

The 7D really is looking good to me. I have the first 5D and love it. I would think the 7D will out perform my 5D. Right or wrong? I am looking at the 7D or 5DmkII as an upgrade. Would I get the same great results with the 7D as I get with my old 5D? I don't care if I need to switch lenses because of the different size sensor. I care about image quality. My next camera must be better than my 5D. Is the 7D better? I know this is probably a crazy question however I understand that more megapixels does not mean better picture.

My 5D large file size is 4368 x 2912
The 7D is 5184 x 3456
The 5DmkII is 5616 x 3744

The price is also a concern to me. I have a good supply of Canon lenses.

I take more nature photography then portraits. My 5D has served me well however I do get tired of specs on the sensor and would love the sensor cleaning.

Any advice would be helpful and appreciated!

Thank you!
Gregg Blasingame
--
http://www.greggblasingame.com
 
After looking at your website, seems you enjoy both birding and landscapes. If I was you I would consider keeping the 5D for landscapes and adding the 7D for birding, as the crop sensor will give you extra reach with your existing lenses. If you need to sell the 5D in order to upgrade, I would go for the 5DMkII because you seem to be doing fine at birding with the FF sensor as it is, and with the extra resolution you'll have some latitude in cropping your images. The 5DMkII is truly fantastic for landscapes.

I upgraded to the 5DMkII from the 40D, and it really was a huge upgrade image quality-wise. I kept the 40D so that I'd have a crop sensor camera for wildlife, but guess what? It has not seen the light of day since I got the 5DMkII.
 
Hope not, I just ordered a 5d for a stellar price. I have a 500d for reach, live view and video.

Then I have the option of light/vs heavy as well. And true videangel on my primes.
 
7D have a new AF system, not neccessary better, but most likely will. Just need to be proven one way or another, but why would a company spend lots of money on R&D then make a crappier AF system.

In term of technological stand point 7D and 5D2 isn't that much difference. MP count isn't that much apart. The basic question that it come down to would be what is important to you FF or speed?

For me, since I already got a 1D3, 5D2 is the obvious choice even if it's $1000 more expensive.

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If picture worth a thousand words, how many megapixel is it?
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http://www.jotographer.com/blog
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I bought the 5D II after the 5D, personally it wasn't that big of an upgrade, if i were in that situation now it would be 7D/5D combo for sure.
 
Righ now the 5D2 is the IQ king but the 7D should be a much better camera, so I would wait to see the test results but I think both cameras will be better than the 5D.... the 5D is still just a touch better than the 50D.....
 
I don't see from whichever angle that the 7D would be an upgrade for your 5D...except the sucky body perhaps.

If you are used to FF and not into sports/actions, go get a 5D2 or 1Ds3,,,for me, its a no brainer. MP is not everything!
 
I have a 5D & love the IQ. Great for landscapes & close-ups of people, however I am adding the 7D. Not for more mps. I want better & faster af for wildlife, sports & very small fast grandchildren. Bab
 
the 7d is not yet proven - nor is it in the hands of many.

the 5D2 is a very significant step up from the 5D - I have both! but to get the best of the 5D2 (or 7D!) your technique needs to be better than it is with your 5D..

your original 5D is still a contender for 'best IQ'... why change?

cheers,
S.
--
beam me up captain, there's no intelligent life down here!
 
I will second that you keep your 5D. The next step up is not the 5DII or 7D if you do mostly landscapes, it is the 1DS MarkIII, also the 1DS MarkIV will be here in the not to distant future. You did not state which PP program you use but you will find that the investment in CS4, DXO, and C1 will give you a much better improvement in IQ at a much lower cost. Try shooting the 5D in raw and run it through DXO to see what it really can do. The 5D is a magnificent camera so don't buy into the BS frenzy that the forums lead to. In reality for landscapes the next step beyound the 1DS series is MF and the prices are way too high.
--
Paul
http://www.pbase.com/sjprg
http://www.sjprg.us
 
If you are 'adding' a 7D to your 5D, then it would be a very workable solution for wildlife and actions.
grammieb14 said:
I have a 5D & love the IQ. Great for landscapes & close-ups of people, however I am adding the 7D. Not for more mps. I want better & faster af for wildlife, sports & very small fast grandchildren. Bab
Click to expand...
 
IMHO, unless you need the extra resolution just get the sensor cleaned and keep the 5D until something better pops up (1Ds4, 5D3, 3D). The 5D2 is not really an upgrade - it's all old tech. The 7D - apart from the AF - is just a 50D upgrade (good for sports and birds, but not the best IQ at all; 18mp on a crop sensor!). sz
 
I ended up selling my 5D for the MKII this past week, and well worth it. I needed the MKII for the larger prints I make on average. (18x24). The live view is a major welcome, the extra MP is very noticeable. And the video is beyond amazing. (I never thought I would be into the Video, but im excited to start filming with it). As I see its not a huge improvement of the 5D, but there really wasnt anything wrong per say with the first one. As I see it the only thing the 7D has that would sway me at all is the new AF setup. (but if I was to worried about that I would just save up for a 1d series body). But be warned, the RAW file sizes are huge with the MKII, so be prepared to wasted a few bucks on Hard Drives.

(got my 5D MkII the first day of the Mr. Olympia show, and didnt have time to read the manual, but was close enough that I could figure out all the menus/CF. This was shot ISO 800, with a Sigma 120-300 2.8 lens handheld, straight JPEG out of camera with +1 to sharpness in styles)



----------------------------------------------------

Take any advice given on a forum with a grain a salt. (that includes mine). Nobody is
perfect, though many claim to be.
 
Having just returned a 7D I would be surprised if it would make nicer pictures than a 5D (either of them). The body is very good though (fast and well built) and I guess better than the 5D. I was comparing the 7D images to my 1D Mark II.
 
2pin said:
Having just returned a 7D I would be surprised if it would make nicer pictures than a 5D (either of them). The body is very good though (fast and well built) and I guess better than the 5D. I was comparing the 7D images to my 1D Mark II.
Click to expand...
What prompted you to return your 7D? Poor IQ compared to um, what other camera (as you didn't indicate what dslr that you currently have)? I'm curious.

B
 
I see from your posting history that you just came out of a 4-year posting slumber.

Sounds more like you might be trolling about the 7D then anything else.

Thanks anyway.

B
CanonPhotog said:
2pin said:
Having just returned a 7D I would be surprised if it would make nicer pictures than a 5D (either of them). The body is very good though (fast and well built) and I guess better than the 5D. I was comparing the 7D images to my 1D Mark II.
Click to expand...
What prompted you to return your 7D? Poor IQ compared to um, what other camera (as you didn't indicate what dslr that you currently have)? I'm curious.

B
Click to expand...
 
gregg_stevens said:
Would I get the same great results with the 7D as I get with my old 5D?
Click to expand...
No. 7D is APS-C. 5D is FF.
gregg_stevens said:
I care about image quality. My next camera must be better than my 5D
Click to expand...
The 5DMkII is the next generation of the 5D, so by definition, it should be better. The 7D, however, is a different camera for a different purpose. It won't have the same kind of IQ as the 5D, especially in terms of dynamic range and contrast. In many cases, there simply is no substitute for sensor size.
gregg_stevens said:
Is the 7D better?
Click to expand...
In some ways, yes. In terms of IQ, not by a long shot. Your 5D has better IQ than the 7D. The 5DMkII has far better IQ.

With that said, I would get the 7D over the 5DMkII if either/all of the following are true:

1. You want a much higher frame rate
2. Video is critical

3. Better AF performance is important, especially AI Servo (jury still out on this one, but 7D looks to have better AF then 5DMkII)

4. You want more "reach" (i.e. - higher pixel density in the center of the frame) for telephoto

But, for IQ, it's hard to beat the 5D or 5DMkII for the price. They are designed by Canon to be exactly the "best IQ for the price" bodies. The 7D is not - it has a different purpose in life.
 
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