Has anyone done ISO comparison with their 7d Mark II and the 5D Mark III ?

[stinson001]

Just curious, I have seen that several 7D Mark II owners have stated that they also own the 5D Mark III.
Has anyone done any "higher" ISO, starting at say 1600?
If so , can you post the results?
I am at the point of making a purchase, to upgrade my 7D, and love the APS-C reach for shooting Airshows etc.

I know the argument that Full Frame is "Always Better", but really curious to compare the 5D M III with the new 7D MII as reasonably higher ISO's.
Thanks

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Just curious, I have seen that several 7D Mark II owners have stated that they also own the 5D Mark III.
Has anyone done any "higher" ISO, starting at say 1600?
If so , can you post the results?
I am at the point of making a purchase, to upgrade my 7D, and love the APS-C reach for shooting Airshows etc.

I know the argument that Full Frame is "Always Better", but really curious to compare the 5D M III with the new 7D MII as reasonably higher ISO's.
Thanks

You can make small images look good with almost anything at high ISO's, its when you need to print large or see fine detail that the difference hits.

The 7D MK II when looking at RAW images, is very usable up to ISO 1600, and above that point, significant detail is lost, but even so, ISO 3200 can be used with NR, even ISO 6400 with significant NR. Beyond that point, I'd stick to small prints 8 X 10 max. Its going to be fine for web photos clear up thru ISO 16000.

The 5D MK III is about a stop better depending on color, lighting, and subject matter.


The charts below will look different to different viewers because we look for different things. Look not only at noise in the gray areas, but colors, contrast, and most importantly, the fine detail.

There are many carefully done tests now online.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-powershot-g7-x/11

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

 

[Marsu42]

You can make small images look good with almost anything at high ISO's, its when you need to print large or see fine detail that the difference hits.

Agreed, save some unfortunate situations when the noise obscures some fine pattern (like a horse's fur) and even downsizing results in the infamous "wax look". I cannot quite explain how this effect occurs yet, I probably have to experiment more with ACR's various denoising and sharpening sliders to prevent this.

 

[digital paradise]

When I had to I shot my 7D at 12,800. 7D2 is better. It won't touch my 5D3 but I would have never expected it to. Comparing apples to oranges. For critical stuff I used to limit myself to 1600 using my 7D. With the 7D2 an comfortable 3200 or 6400 in a pinch.

7D2 @ 12,800. Opened in DPP and transferred to PS. NR in auto using DPP. This is from 2 weeks ago.

Now that adobe has released LR and ACR updates I can use the masking slider in the sharpening tab to further tame any existing noise.

My old 7D @ 12,800. NR using ACR.

 

[stinson001]

When I had to I shot my 7D at 12,800. 7D2 is better. It won't touch my 5D3 but I would have never expected it to. Comparing apples to oranges. For critical stuff I used to limit myself to 1600 using my 7D. With the 7D2 an comfortable 3200 or 6400 in a pinch.


Thanks for the reply,, but I am so curious about your comment that "It Won't touch my 5D3"
I am so torn over whether to go with the 5D3 or the 7DII. I shoot a lot of wildlife and
Aircraft at airshows,, and love the APS-C reach,, and I know the argument that I can Crop the FF image
and get just as good of a reach..

I guess in the back of my mind,, the newer Digic 6 processors and AF and FPS improvements will be even better in the 5D4,, if and when it is released,, so I have been trying to talk myself into buying the 7DII for now,, and waiting for FF with the next generation release,,

The photos you present as samples of the 7DII seem "mighty nice" to me!! But,, if you say that the FF 5D3 is that much better,, I may jump now,, and keep the 7D if I need the APS-C reach in any given setting.
It would be fun to see a direct comparison, 5d3 and 7DII, Same scene,, same settings, etc,,
and I know that will be coming,,
I guess if I am that curious, ,I can rent both,, for about $300 and do my own comparison, lol

THANKS again for the replies, ,and if anyone wants to add more, please do !!

 

[jeanluc]

I have a 7d, and a 5d3. I use the 7d for birds etc mainly for the reach, the 5d3 for landscapes. Using the 5d3 for wildlife is certainly great for IQ, but the reach leaves me wanting very expensive, heavy white lenses ( my longest is the 70-300L, which is great and VERY sharp).

So right now I am debating whether to get a 7d2 to use as my dedicated bird/wildlife body, or get the new 1-400 and just use my 5d3 and accept the lesser reach. Or buy buy the 7d2 AND the 100-400...........AND, I think we all expect a 5d4 "pretty soon"..........So I understand what you're thinking about totally.....

I think I will likely get the 1-400 and use the old 7d for now, and see what they do with a new FF body. It all boils down to a lot off new stuff in a short time, which means $$$. Either way, the lens is good on any body and the price of the 7d2 will come down, even if only a little over the next 6 months or so will help if I end up going that way.

Good luck!

 

[Marsu42]

When I had to I shot my 7D at 12,800.

The first thing you might want to do is understand and max out your gear. For example the highest iso setting of the old 18mp sensor like the 7d1 is 3200, everything else is only digitally amplified and results in a loss of dynamic range.

I am so torn over whether to go with the 5D3 or the 7DII. I shoot a lot of wildlife and
Aircraft at airshows,, and love the APS-C reach,, and I know the argument that I can Crop the FF image
and get just as good of a reach..

Question is: Do you print <a4 and are you doing this for fun? If so, I imagine the 7d2 with a 100-400L2 to be a terrific combination. If you're a pro and want to compete in photography lots of other people do, you'd better rob a bank and go ff+big white lenses.

I guess in the back of my mind,, the newer Digic 6 processors and AF and FPS improvements will be even better in the 5D4,, if and when it is released

The 5d4 will be outdated soon, just wait what the 7d3 and the 5d5 will have to offer :->

 

[MTCWBY]

I rented a 7DII a couple of weeks ago to shoot football and also shot a little around the yard the day before the games. I usually shoot a 5DIII with the 100-400 and that lens went on the 7 for the day. For day football shots the IQ is very close to the III. It's hard to quantify but the III images seem slightly more refined but it's so subtle as to probably not be important. On the plus side the autofocus is dynamite and my keeper rate definitely improved. The speed and the buffer size is also very nice to use for sports and probably moving wildlife.

When it started to get dark for the last game I found that I had to shoot 5000 or 6400 ISO where I might have gotten away with 4000 on the 5DIII. This is not as easy of comparison as the day shooting because I only shoot night games occasionally and the lighting at high school fields can vary quite a bit so I was experimenting. In hindsight I probably should have just let the ISO float to 6400 because in looking at the shots later the noise was reasonable. Chalk that up to operator error on my part. Also understand that I had to use the jpgs here because Adobe didn't have support when I was processing.

Overall its a very good sports camera IMO and if you mainly shoot sports I can't imagine being disappointed with it after my admittedly unscientific comparison. When light gets challenging it isn't quite as good but it's acceptable. I'm leaning towards seeing what the 1DX replacement is like but it's three times the price too. The autofocus and speed is certainly seductive and I'd recommend it to anyone getting into shooting sports that wasn't a pro.

 

[stinson001]

Hi Everyone,,
THANKS so much for all of your input on this,, a tough decision..
BUT,, I went ahead with the purchas of the 7D Mark II.

I think I will wait for the jump to FF until the next Gen cameras some out,, Whenever that is, ,lol
The weather here in MN has not cooperated to get out to do much shooting with the new MK II yet, ,but here is a
sample shot at ISO 6400 JPEG using my 16-35 L lens..

Not too bad!! for APS-C

 

[ritholtz]

If you want to do pushing shadows experiment with lens cap like Nikon reviewers, 7D2 (6d/70d) suppose to be better than 5d3 in terms of banding.