Canon 7D Mark II Owners first thoughts

[toddbeall]

Well I bought the 70D, which I'm actually very happy with but now this will almost certainly be the next body I buy.

How do you like your 70d? I am also upgrading from the T2i to the 70D and was curious as to your findings (having looked at your thread where you discussed what camera to buy a year ago)

Thanks!

 

[RustyTheGeek]

FWIW toddbeall, I think the 70D is a great camera. I've shot a few swim meets with it and it has produced great shots and handled well. And the swim meet shots are High ISO in terrible light. They have much better IQ than the 60D. The focus is much better than the 60D and 7 fps is very nice as well. Unfortunately I don't do much video but that is supposed to be what it is best at with the new sensor tech. I think you would be delighted at how well the 70D performs when upgrading from the T2i. Hugh increase in all aspects of the camera. Plus the touch screen is pretty handy too. I happen to be selling mine unless the 7D2 I bought sells first.

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=23572.0

 

[pierlux]

On Monday, October 3, I pulled the trigger. In the evening I was playing with my new toy.

My first thought, coming from a 5D2, was "oh Lord, now THIS is an autofocus!"

My second one was "how will I ever be able to remember all the available functions and settings?"

The third one was about priorities: what next? Battery grip, 24 f/2.8 IS as a walkaround lens for crop or Sigma 150-600? (I decided, I'm saving for the Siggy).

The fourth one crossed my mind just for a moment: "mmmh... selling organs is now legal in both Australia and Singapore... I wonder how much is a 54 years old kidney in decent conditions valued... (ok, I admit this one's not true ;D )

The fourth one (this one is true) was "I want to start a thread on CR: what are your settings on your 7D2 and why?" But I didn't. I think first I have to decide which are mine. I'm continuously changing them, from what is displayed in the viewfinder to custom functions, to autofocus, to metering, to which settings to save under C1, C2, C3, to... to... too many. But boys, oh I'm having so much fun! Btw, I won't feel offended if someone starts such a thread in my place, rather I'd be glad.

I'm so happy I decided for the 7D2 instead of the 70D!

 

[fragilesi]

Well I bought the 70D, which I'm actually very happy with but now this will almost certainly be the next body I buy.

How do you like your 70d? I am also upgrading from the T2i to the 70D and was curious as to your findings (having looked at your thread where you discussed what camera to buy a year ago)

Thanks!

I really like it. As ever it depends on what you're going to use it for. The AF is excellent - though presumably not in the same league as the 7d2 by the sounds of things. The 10 FPS will just have you giggling first time you try it. But it makes for a great upgrade in many ways. The touch screen is "nice" I'd say and the menus and options are similar enough but with enough new things to make it both a comfortable upgrade and an interesting one.

I'd tend to agree with everyone else that the actual picture quality characteristics do not change hugely but with better AF in all conditions I've tried and the other options you'll get far more keepers.

Of course if you're a landscape guy then it might not be the best choice but for most users I'd say it's a well worthwhile upgrade. I've not been disappointed for a moment.

 

[fragilesi]

PS If you like using Live View AF or use the camera for video you will be pleased x 10. The Live View AF using DPAF is night and day better!

 

[RichM]

Yesterday my local shop called to let me know that my 7d2, grip and battery were all in. So at 4:30, I picked everything up, stopped briefly at home to unbox, grab the rest of my equipment, and head to a soccer game under lights. I didn't have time to walk through all the settings and make sure I had it set up the way I wanted until I was on the sideline, as the game was almost an hour away from my home and started at 6.

The setup was so quick, simple and familiar that I had pretty much everything the way I wanted it in about 5 minutes. Given far from ideal lighting, I set the ISO to 4000 and went to work. I was getting 640-800/sec so, that seemed like a good place to start. I shot about 120 frames and headed home to see what I got.

So here are my first thoughts (less than a couple hundred clicks in):

1) I sincerely hope Lightroom gets an update to handle raw files soon.
2) The high ISO performance is significantly better than the 7d. I wouldn't have shot this game at ISO 4000, and have always felt that anything over 1250 wasn't worth it. 4000 was pushing my personal limit, but they were really quite good and a lot better than I expected.
3) With AF in Servo mode, iTr on, etc. the focus was amazing. I only had 1 shot out of focus, and it was entirely my fault. I'm not a "spray and pray" shooter at all, but the few sequences I did shoot were all dead on!

I'm still not sure about color, IQ under normal conditions (i.e. any reasonable light), etc. but a couple of daylight games this weekends should answer many of those questions. Now that I've actually gone through all the setting, and tweeked several, I can hardly wait to get out again.

I've been waiting for this upgrade for at least a couple years. All I wanted was better high ISO performance, and better focus/tracking. I'm not at all disappointed so far.

http://nhsports.smugmug.com/Soccer/2014-Soccer/D3-Semi-Bow-vs-Stevens-11-5/

 

[RustyTheGeek]

Great work RichM!!

Those are some great shots and the IQ and focus looks awesome. Thanks for sharing!

 

[sanj]

Here is another one with the 24 f2.8 IS on the 7D2. That electronic level in the viewfinder is my new favorite thing. Shame I don't have that on my "landscape" camera. Once again I feel the lens has a very neutral field of view on this camera. Handheld, f8, 1/50th ISO 200. Higher ISO versions of this scene had issues with the DR which was a bit beyond the cameras natural range. At ISO 6400 it was pretty mushy all over.

On your landscape camera you will have a bubble on your tripod. Or electronic level finder in live view. Just saying.

 

[pierlux]

Here is a photo with the 24 f2.8 IS on the 7D2. As you can see very little distortion on a crop body. Hand held at f5.6, 1/60th at ISO400. Framed it up with the in-viewfinder level and shot. It was raining buckets here all day so light was pretty soft. DR right on the edge though with the glass in the background. This should make an excellent "normal" lens.

GraFax, thanks a lot! After the supertele zoom and the battery grip, the 24 f2.8 IS will be my next purchase for sure. Excellent option on FF, also.

 

[jrista]

Sorry if I'm beating this to death. Here is another one. ISO 1600 subject with high DR (14stops?). The kind of picture you are not supposed to be able to take with a 7D2. Not perfect but completely acceptable for many uses in my opinion. Not what I bought this body for but good to know it'll do in a pinch. Canon 24 f2.8 IS, ISO 1600, f5.6 1/40th of a second handheld.

Well, you certainly don't have 14 stops worth of data in that image. The scene itself may be around 14 stops, but a lot of the highlight information is clipped. According to the only source of info we have at the moment, DXO, the ScreenDR measure indicates the 7D II has 9.53 stops of DR at ISO 1600. That's fairly on-par for APS-C sensors. For example, the D5300, which uses a Toshiba sensor with over 13 stops of DR at ISO 100, gets only 9.66 stops ScreenDR at ISO 1600. So, given the highlights in your photo appear to be clipped, I'd say the DR of your photo is right around 9.5 stops.


All that aside, I think your photos are wonderful. Is that a botanical garden somewhere? It looks pretty awesome.

 

[Joey]

The OP of this thread is apparently a UK resident and received his new camera on 29th October(?).

I'm also in Britain, and as far as I can tell none of the major resellers have stock yet. Is this another example of Rip-Off Britain? When I finally get my camera I will have to pay about 30% more than the US price, and in the USA they get their kit weeks before we do!

I could, apparently, order from DigitalRev in Hong Kong, who have them in stock, and I'd receive my camera in about five days and pay £200 less than buying from a reputable UK dealer who buys through the Canon UK distribution channel. Does anyone have a view on whether it's worth sticking with Canon UK distribution, or saving money and getting my camera quicker by ordering from DigitalRev?

 

[Sporgon]

The OP of this thread is apparently a UK resident and received his new camera on 29th October(?).

I'm also in Britain, and as far as I can tell none of the major resellers have stock yet. Is this another example of Rip-Off Britain? When I finally get my camera I will have to pay about 30% more than the US price, and in the USA they get their kit weeks before we do!

I could, apparently, order from DigitalRev in Hong Kong, who have them in stock, and I'd receive my camera in about five days and pay £200 less than buying from a reputable UK dealer who buys through the Canon UK distribution channel. Does anyone have a view on whether it's worth sticking with Canon UK distribution, or saving money and getting my camera quicker by ordering from DigitalRev?

Dale Photographic in Leeds have them in stock; £1,599.00

(They also keep getting in surprisingly large amounts of used D600 and D610s)

 

[Davebo]

The OP of this thread is apparently a UK resident and received his new camera on 29th October(?).

I'm also in Britain, and as far as I can tell none of the major resellers have stock yet. Is this another example of Rip-Off Britain? When I finally get my camera I will have to pay about 30% more than the US price, and in the USA they get their kit weeks before we do!

I could, apparently, order from DigitalRev in Hong Kong, who have them in stock, and I'd receive my camera in about five days and pay £200 less than buying from a reputable UK dealer who buys through the Canon UK distribution channel. Does anyone have a view on whether it's worth sticking with Canon UK distribution, or saving money and getting my camera quicker by ordering from DigitalRev?

Dale Photographic in Leeds have them in stock; £1,599.00

(They also keep getting in surprisingly large amounts of used D600 and D610s)

Wow, at £1,599.00...that converts to roughly $2,875 CAD...over 50% more than the current Canadian list of $1899! For warranty purposes, it's usually best to buy in your home country,but with that big a price difference it might be worth taking a chance and shop around. $1899 CAD is approximately £1,056....or nearly £550 difference. Even with shipping/duty you stand to save. Maybe a large US or Can retailer might be worth checking out.

 

[candc]

got mine today and did some test shooting. a lot of the post about this camera seem to be coming from 7d users who compare the 2. i would like to compare it to the 70d. i bought the 7dii for birding and also for use with the sigma 120-300, the 70d is too small for that lens. the 7dii seems to be great for what i want it for but i can't imagine using it for much else, it is really a brick. anybody that does not really need the souped up af and frame rate should really consider the 70d. the iq is pretty much the same and its a more sensible size with a very nice feature set.

something i like about the 70d over the 7dii is the af select button (by shutter) on the 70d which is the mfn on 7dii. on the 70d its live all the time so you can press it anytime to cycle and change points with the multi dial. on the 7dii you have to press the af select button on the back to change points. you can set the thumb rocker to live cycle modes but you still cant change points without pressing the main af select button with your thumb first. its always one extra button press. The 70d has touch/swivel screen and wifi.

I don't like the heavy shutter on the 70d, the shutter on the 7dii is smooth light and quiet. I like that the thumb nubbin over the dial rocker but I will have to get used to it again after the 6d and 70d. The 7dii viewfinder seems better and brighter. The 7dii af is more accurate and much better in low light. I am going to get a 1066x cf card because according to tdp you can get 49 shots at 10fps on the buffer and then it will continue to shoot 5.7fps unill the card is full. The 70d has left me stuck with a full buffer and unable to shoot. It really bogs down.

 

[-Gamer-]

got mine today and did some test shooting. a lot of the post about this camera seem to be coming from 7d users who compare the 2. i would like to compare it to the 70d. i bought the 7dii for birding and also for use with the sigma 120-300, the 70d is too small for that lens. the 7dii seems to be great for what i want it for but i can't imagine using it for much else, it is really a brick. anybody that does not really need the souped up af and frame rate should really consider the 70d. the iq is pretty much the same and its a more sensible size with a very nice feature set.

something i like about the 70d over the 7dii is the af select button (by shutter) on the 70d which is the mfn on 7dii. on the 70d its live all the time so you can press it anytime to cycle and change points with the multi dial. on the 7dii you have to press the af select button on the back to change points. you can set the thumb rocker to live cycle modes but you still cant change points without pressing the main af select button with your thumb first. its always one extra button press. The 70d has touch/swivel screen and wifi.

I don't like the heavy shutter on the 70d, the shutter on the 7dii is smooth light and quiet. I like that the thumb nubbin over the dial rocker but I will have to get used to it again after the 6d and 70d. The 7dii viewfinder seems better and brighter. The 7dii af is more accurate and much better in low light. I am going to get a 1066x cf card because according to tdp you can get 49 shots at 10fps on the buffer and then it will continue to shoot 5.7fps unill the card is full. The 70d has left me stuck with a full buffer and unable to shoot. It really bogs down.

You can change the AF points around without an extra button press. Just go into Custom Controls and change it. :

 

[candc]

Found it thanks, there is an option to make the thumb nubbin live for af point select. it is very customizable

 

[Mancubus]

Dear owners, I'm grateful about the short reviews and comments and I'm about to buy a 7D Mark II.

Did anyone here had any issues with the camera so far? The benefits are very convincing, but I'm looking for issues such as:

- The excessive sensor dust/oil on several Nikon bodies
- The white spots on long exposures using early releases of the Nikon D810
- The serious inconsistent autofocus issue with early releases of the Canon 70D (that one got me, that's why I'm extremely cautions on the next purchase)

Thanks in advance.

 

[DominoDude]

Wish the new AF mode lever was bi-directional. I hate having to go through all of the modes to get back to single point AF from expanded.

If you know that there are certain modes that you don't use, you could deselect them, and thus get fewer options to flip through.

 

[alby87a]

At first I was very skeptical of the 7D Mark ii since I had a 7D but ever since I heard about decent IQ with high ISO, I had to check it out.

So I decided to stop by my local shop and pick up the camera which was just the body. Professionally I shoot weddings and I contract with a company who does high school sports. So I figured I'd take it out on my football game gig. This thing was pure amazing. I was at 1/500 and at 4000 ISO shooting only JPEG. If you are shooting sports this is the way to go. I'm hooked on this camera. This will be replacing my 7D. However I'm just disappointed about no straight access with Lightroom with RAW other than that I'm very satisfied with this camera. The AF really came in handy vs my old 7D. I don't know if I'm going to use my 7D Mark ii later on today for an engagement shoot because I feel more comfortable shooting raw. I wish Adobe would get on this!

 

[pierlux]

The OP of this thread is apparently a UK resident and received his new camera on 29th October(?).

I'm also in Britain, and as far as I can tell none of the major resellers have stock yet. Is this another example of Rip-Off Britain? When I finally get my camera I will have to pay about 30% more than the US price, and in the USA they get their kit weeks before we do!

I could, apparently, order from DigitalRev in Hong Kong, who have them in stock, and I'd receive my camera in about five days and pay £200 less than buying from a reputable UK dealer who buys through the Canon UK distribution channel. Does anyone have a view on whether it's worth sticking with Canon UK distribution, or saving money and getting my camera quicker by ordering from DigitalRev?

Dale Photographic in Leeds have them in stock; £1,599.00

(They also keep getting in surprisingly large amounts of used D600 and D610s)

Wow, at £1,599.00...that converts to roughly $2,875 CAD...over 50% more than the current Canadian list of $1899! For warranty purposes, it's usually best to buy in your home country,but with that big a price difference it might be worth taking a chance and shop around. $1899 CAD is approximately £1,056....or nearly £550 difference. Even with shipping/duty you stand to save. Maybe a large US or Can retailer might be worth checking out.

We are not lucky at all as concerns the cost of tech products in Europe, and not only tech stuff, unfortunately. Everything costs 30% to over 50% more than US and Canada. I paid €1,629 for mine in Italy and I'm very happy because the 7D2 is currently listed at €1,799. Btw, the battery grip is practically nowhere to be found here at present.

I had resolved not to be an early adopter and wait for the price to settle a bit also because I was still undecided between the 7D2 and 70D, but after reading some first impressions reviews and the comments of the owners I couldn't resist and I'm happy I didn't wait. The 7D2 is really a mini-1DX.