Bryan Carnathan has completed his review of the 7D Mark II

Well I hope Brian's knowledge of the camera is better than his knowledge of horses !

That nag galloping towards the camera at '40 to 45 mph ' , who does he think it is, Red Rum ? If a horse like that was really going flat out it would be about 500 metres per minute max - 18 mph.
 
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Well written and comprehensive review.

Conclusion: confirmation of what was already known ... IQ improvement vs. 70D minimal and even vs. 7D quite disappointing. Too bad. Really great DSLR otherwise, everything there, except built-in WiFi.
 
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Its good to see a competent review. I try to read reviews from multiple competent reviewers, since some tent to pickup on points that others miss, or even disagree.

I did not see anything that surprised me in his review, its mostly in line with other reviews.
 
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wtlloyd said:
Sporgon said:
Well I hope Brian's knowledge of the camera is better than his knowledge of horses !

You might try reading the review before embarrassing yourself with a gratuitous negative comment.

"Perhaps even more beneficial for understanding what can be done with this frame rate is to look at a visual example. Drag your mouse over the labels under the following image for a visual look at the 10 fps rate. Drag your mouse completely across all of the labels in 1.3 seconds to get an idea of the speed of the approaching horse – approximately 40-45 mph (64-72 kph). I know, the labels are a bit small for that mouse move, but this approach happened very fast."

She would have to be riding a top form Derby winner - on the flat - on good going - with a race saddle - riding weight less than 7 stone. As I said, this target would have been travelling towards the camera at 18 mph max.
 
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AvTvM said:
Well written and comprehensive review.

Conclusion: confirmation of what was already known ... IQ improvement vs. 70D minimal and even vs. 7D quite disappointing. Too bad. Really great DSLR otherwise, everything there, except built-in WiFi.

It is a comprehensive review, but I'm not sure where you're getting the negativity about IQ. The IQ is substantially better than the 7D and has considerable improvement over the 70D as well and he's clearly impressed with the IQ. I certainly didn't expect it to match the FF 5D III, but it has excellent IQ for a crop frame.

And of course, as you allude, the rest of the camera is great. The AF system, buffer and speed are amazing. I was very impressed that the actually got far more than advertised from the buffer with the Lexar 1066x CF card. Looks like a HUGE winner to me.
 
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AvTvM said:
Conclusion: confirmation of what was already known ... IQ improvement vs. 70D minimal and even vs. 7D quite disappointing. Too bad. Really great DSLR otherwise, everything there, except built-in WiFi.

Wow. Did you even read the review or you just assumed Bryan will share your opinion? From http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EOS-7D-Mark-II.aspx

"... More surprising is the 7D Mark II's high ISO noise performance....

... I predicted that the 7D II's image quality would be at least as good as the 70D but not significantly better...

Truth is, I expected to see practically no difference between the 7D II and 70D results until at least ISO 1600 or 3200...

Overall, I see more image quality improvement from the 7D II than I expected. I love when my expectations are exceeded...

I continue to be impressed with the 7D II's improvements over prior Canon APS-C bodies. The 7D II shows off its noticeably higher resolution against the 7D and shows some high ISO noise level improvements. Though very similar to the 70D at ISO 100, the 7D II shows progressively cleaner results as ISO settings are increased...

After seeing 7D II image quality exceed my expectations, and knowing the huge array of other 7D II feature advantages over the 70D, I began having serious second thoughts at this point in the review process. Overall, the Canon 7D Mark II looks impressive from an image quality perspective.

Going into this review, I was thinking that there was little chance that I was going to be replacing my 70D with a 7D II... After seeing 7D II image quality exceed my expectations, and knowing the huge array of other 7D II feature advantages over the 70D, I began having serious second thoughts at this point in the review process...

My 70D is on the porch waiting for the brown truck as I write this. I sold it to B&H Photo's Used Department to help fund the 7D II acquisition."
 
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Woody said:
AvTvM said:
Conclusion: confirmation of what was already known ... IQ improvement vs. 70D minimal and even vs. 7D quite disappointing. Too bad. Really great DSLR otherwise, everything there, except built-in WiFi.

Wow. Did you even read the review or you just assumed Bryan will share your opinion? From http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EOS-7D-Mark-II.aspx

"... More surprising is the 7D Mark II's high ISO noise performance....

... I predicted that the 7D II's image quality would be at least as good as the 70D but not significantly better...

Truth is, I expected to see practically no difference between the 7D II and 70D results until at least ISO 1600 or 3200...

Overall, I see more image quality improvement from the 7D II than I expected. I love when my expectations are exceeded...

I continue to be impressed with the 7D II's improvements over prior Canon APS-C bodies. The 7D II shows off its noticeably higher resolution against the 7D and shows some high ISO noise level improvements. Though very similar to the 70D at ISO 100, the 7D II shows progressively cleaner results as ISO settings are increased...

After seeing 7D II image quality exceed my expectations, and knowing the huge array of other 7D II feature advantages over the 70D, I began having serious second thoughts at this point in the review process. Overall, the Canon 7D Mark II looks impressive from an image quality perspective.

Going into this review, I was thinking that there was little chance that I was going to be replacing my 70D with a 7D II... After seeing 7D II image quality exceed my expectations, and knowing the huge array of other 7D II feature advantages over the 70D, I began having serious second thoughts at this point in the review process...

My 70D is on the porch waiting for the brown truck as I write this. I sold it to B&H Photo's Used Department to help fund the 7D II acquisition."

+1
 
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Great review...
Pretty much comfirms to me this camera is far from being a dud, but a camera I believe will help me deliver the goods.
It would have been unrealistic of me to expect 1Dx performance at a greatly reduced price just because it has a couple of FPS fewer and a cropped sensor. Sure, it would have been nice to have a sensor with much higher DR and less high ISO noise but the truth is I rarely shoot action in low light situations and as suggested by Bryan, I can always use my FF 5D for those darker moments ( I can't justify a 1Dx for my work). The sensor which seems to attract alot of criticism is just but one component (albeit important one)in a camera but for me, the AF, FPS, durability and available lens system is just as important.

I have total faith in the Canon lens system and looking at the Canon body line up, the 5D3 is too slow and the 1DX is too pricey. It looks like I only have one to choose from. The product people at Canon have certainly got me in their buyer pool!
 
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Despite Bryan's commentary, I'm with AvTvM on this. To my eyes, the noise comparison page (link below) shows minimal difference from the 70D at any ISO and certainly less than a stop (maybe 0.5 stop?) against the 7D, which seems to me a disappointing return for five years' progress. Along with a 6D, I still have a 7D but there's not enough here for me to feel the need to upgrade it. YMMV.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Comparisons/Canon-EOS-7D-Mark-II-ISO-Noise.aspx
 
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Cosmicbug said:
Great review...
Pretty much comfirms to me this camera is far from being a dud, but a camera I believe will help me deliver the goods.
It would have been unrealistic of me to expect 1Dx performance at a greatly reduced price just because it has a couple of FPS fewer and a cropped sensor. Sure, it would have been nice to have a sensor with much higher DR and less high ISO noise but the truth is I rarely shoot action in low light situations and as suggested by Bryan, I can always use my FF 5D for those darker moments ( I can't justify a 1Dx for my work). The sensor which seems to attract alot of criticism is just but one component (albeit important one)in a camera but for me, the AF, FPS, durability and available lens system is just as important.

I have total faith in the Canon lens system and looking at the Canon body line up, the 5D3 is too slow and the 1DX is too pricey. It looks like I only have one to choose from. The product people at Canon have certainly got me in their buyer pool!

Yeah, I tend to agree with Bryan that the IQ is far better than the 7D's and quite a bit better than the 70D's. Combined with a superb AF system and amazing performance, it looks like a huge winner to me. So many reviews are talking about how well it does at high ISO, which also gels. The constant negativity about it seems surprising...yet I guess I shouldn't BE surprised at it ultimately! LOL :o
 
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Sporgon said:
wtlloyd said:
Sporgon said:
Well I hope Brian's knowledge of the camera is better than his knowledge of horses !

You might try reading the review before embarrassing yourself with a gratuitous negative comment.

"Perhaps even more beneficial for understanding what can be done with this frame rate is to look at a visual example. Drag your mouse over the labels under the following image for a visual look at the 10 fps rate. Drag your mouse completely across all of the labels in 1.3 seconds to get an idea of the speed of the approaching horse – approximately 40-45 mph (64-72 kph). I know, the labels are a bit small for that mouse move, but this approach happened very fast."

She would have to be riding a top form Derby winner - on the flat - on good going - with a race saddle - riding weight less than 7 stone. As I said, this target would have been travelling towards the camera at 18 mph max.
Hi,
Know nothing about horse, but are you sure horse run so slow?? Slower than most top athlete?? Hmm... I thought basically any healthy horse can out run the fastest human...

Have a nice day.
 
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Read the review and agree with the results. In real life shooting I would never go over 800 with the 7D but with the 7DII willing to go to 3200. When you put that in context that everything has been improved and that new features added, I'm extremely happy with my upgrade to the 7DII, now I need a buyer for my 7D. Anybody interested?
 
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Chapman Baxter said:
Despite Bryan's commentary, I'm with AvTvM on this. To my eyes, the noise comparison page (link below) shows minimal difference from the 70D at any ISO and certainly less than a stop (maybe 0.5 stop?) against the 7D, which seems to me a disappointing return for five years' progress. Along with a 6D, I still have a 7D but there's not enough here for me to feel the need to upgrade it. YMMV.

I do not own the 7D2 and have no intention of getting one (too heavy for me).

I am also in agreement with you there is minimal image quality difference between 70D, 7D and 7D2. Or even the Nikon D7100, Sony A6000 etc (at least before any 5 stop shadow recovery is carried out...)

However, there is a difference between what you and I think, and what Bryan Carnathan says in his review. I do not think it's fair to state otherwise.
 
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Sporgon said:
wtlloyd said:
Sporgon said:
Well I hope Brian's knowledge of the camera is better than his knowledge of horses !

You might try reading the review before embarrassing yourself with a gratuitous negative comment.

"Perhaps even more beneficial for understanding what can be done with this frame rate is to look at a visual example. Drag your mouse over the labels under the following image for a visual look at the 10 fps rate. Drag your mouse completely across all of the labels in 1.3 seconds to get an idea of the speed of the approaching horse – approximately 40-45 mph (64-72 kph). I know, the labels are a bit small for that mouse move, but this approach happened very fast."

She would have to be riding a top form Derby winner - on the flat - on good going - with a race saddle - riding weight less than 7 stone. As I said, this target would have been travelling towards the camera at 18 mph max.

Completely digressing from the topic, I think a horse can manage 30/35 mph at a gallop for very short distances. In this particular case, I wouldn't be surprised if Bryan asked his daughter to urge her horse fast towards the camera to model for the shots. You are referring to speeds held consistently over the course of a mile or so.

Widely believed to be faster than cheetahs in endurance races, the thoroughbred is the fastest breed of horse in the world, and can maintain a speed of 45 miles (72 km) per hour for a distance of more than a mile (1.6 km), making the Derby's 1¼ mile-long race the fastest two minutes in sports.
 
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+1 on the post above me. Horses can easily run faster than the 18mph that Sporgon said. Please exercise at least common sense. A horse cannot run faster than a human? Football running backs run at 20mph, and none of them will outrun a horse. And yes, various online resources rate the horse at around 45mph tops. Which makes the AF all the more impressive.
 
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This review is the one I've been waiting for and I find that it's telling me I bought the right camera for what I want to shoot.

The 70D is still a fairly new camera and that the 7Dii, IQ wise, improves over it, even by small margins, is enough for me.

After all, it is easier going from 0-100 than from 100-200.

Now it's less about reading up on the camera and more about taking photos with it :)
 
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Chapman Baxter said:
Despite Bryan's commentary, I'm with AvTvM on this. To my eyes, the noise comparison page (link below) shows minimal difference from the 70D at any ISO and certainly less than a stop (maybe 0.5 stop?) against the 7D, which seems to me a disappointing return for five years' progress. Along with a 6D, I still have a 7D but there's not enough here for me to feel the need to upgrade it. YMMV.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Comparisons/Canon-EOS-7D-Mark-II-ISO-Noise.aspx

Yep, exactly what i see.

7d II IQ is visibly lower than sony A77 II and Pentax K-3 and even nikon D7100. And also behind sony A6000.
It just demonstrates Canon's ongoing sensor/readout weakness.

I don't want to be negative. Had a 7D from the first day in 10/2009 when it started to ship. Sold it in june 2014. Had the 7D II sebsor been fully competitive with any other APS-C camera on the market, I probably would have bought it, despite me looking for a more compact, preferably Ff-sensored mirrorless system. I am not going to do so for only a 0.5 EV improvement after 5 years. No way. Does not matter, how good the rest of the cam is. It is lacking in the most important discipline: image quality. A specializrd tool for reach-limited photographic applications, where there is not a lot of competition at currrnt due to nikon's fumble re. d300s successor and sony's lack of good long tele lenses.
 
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