In-Depth Comparison of 7DMk2 with 1DMk4

[Grant Atkinson]

For those wildlife shooters who might be wondering what the biggest differences are between the 7DMk2 and the 1DMk4, I have shared my experience with both bodies:
http://www.grantatkinson.com/blog/canon-7d-mark-2-compared-to-canon-1d-mark-4
There are also direct image quality comparisons, as well as discussion of what I found to be the main advantages and disadvantages of each. They are both pretty good wildlife bodies for the money.
Cheers
Grant

 

[Mikehit]

Thank you, Grant. An excellent review IMO and one that tackles well the different framing options of when you are focal-length limited plus cropping and when you have the option of different lenses or changing position (you know, those real-world factors when shooting wildlife).

You talk there about the 1D4 being better for fast action and mention pixel density as a possible factor. Another explanation I have heard is that the 1D4 is better engineered to drive the power requirements of bigger lenses - any thoughts on this ?

I still opine occasionally whether I should have gone for a second hand 1D instead of the 7D but you have given me confidence I have made as good a judgement as I could have done.

 

[Grant Atkinson]

Thank you, Grant. An excellent review IMO and one that tackles well the different framing options of when you are focal-length limited plus cropping and when you have the option of different lenses or changing position (you know, those real-world factors when shooting wildlife).

You talk there about the 1D4 being better for fast action and mention pixel density as a possible factor. Another explanation I have heard is that the 1D4 is better engineered to drive the power requirements of bigger lenses - any thoughts on this ?

I still opine occasionally whether I should have gone for a second hand 1D instead of the 7D but you have given me confidence I have made as good a judgement as I could have done.

Hi Mikehit, glad you found the comparison useful. I think that the 1D only drives AF faster when you are using the longest, biggest superteles, like the 400 f2.8, 500 f4, and 600 f4 as it has a 11V battery compared to the 7D Mk2 which is 6.something volts. But it could be a positive factor in favour of the 1D superior fast action hit rate. I have not actually tested them side by side through long focus pulls on a big lens. I know that the 5D Mk3, which uses the same battery as the 7dMk2, is a lot slower at driving big lenses through long pulls but I get around it by just making an effort to keep my focused distance close to where my subjects might be even when i cannot see the subject.
I do find it harder to get multiple sharp shots in sequences when I am using fine pixel pitch cameras though. I also try counter it by shooting really fast shutter speeds. But if I were forced to choose a camera just for shooting fast action, I would rather have one with larger pixels than smaller. Others might have different experience with this though as it is also influenced by the user. I am fortunate to be able to carry more than one camera in my wildlife bag, so i usually have it covered that way

One other thing I think about is Canon's 1D series which have always been built to excel at capturing high-speed sporting subjects, and their pixel pitch progression has never gone smaller than the 1D Mark 4. From the 1D Mk2 at 8.2 microns, 1DMk3 at 7.2 microns, 1Dmk4 at 5.7 microns, 1DX at 6.9 microns and 1DX Mk2 at 6.5 microns
Cheers
Grant

 

[Mikehit]

Thank you, Grant.

 

[Click]

Excellent review. Thank you, Grant.

 

[Grant Atkinson]

Excellent review. Thank you, Grant.

Thanks for reading and the feedback Click

 

[Kerry B]

Grant, very useful, many thanks.

 

[StudentOfLight]

Hi Grant, I randomly happened to find your video on youtube last week. Good stuff.

 

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Grant, I randomly happened to find your video on youtube last week. Good stuff.

Thanks Student Of Light, I was hoping to get the review done some months ago, but the outdoors and wildlife got in the way . Anyway, better late than never
Thanks for the feedback!
Cheers
Grant

 

[Grant Atkinson]

Excellent review. Thank you, Grant.

Thanks for reading and the feedback Click

Thanks Kerry B
Always nice to share experiences using Canon cameras with fellow enthusiasts
Cheers
Grant

 

[IglooEater]

Thank you Grant- I've been hoping someone would do that very comparison in depth for a long time!

 

[Grant Atkinson]

Thank you Grant- I've been hoping someone would do that very comparison in depth for a long time!

Hi Igloo Eater, I have been meaning to get it finished for a long time , in fact I was ready to write by about the middle of last year already as I had enough time with the 7D Mark 2 by then to be confident of what I wrote, but only managed now. Hope it is still of interest and thanks for reading.
Cheers
Grant

 

[IglooEater]

Thank you Grant- I've been hoping someone would do that very comparison in depth for a long time!

Hi Igloo Eater, I have been meaning to get it finished for a long time , in fact I was ready to write by about the middle of last year already as I had enough time with the 7D Mark 2 by then to be confident of what I wrote, but only managed now. Hope it is still of interest and thanks for reading.
Cheers
Grant

Yes! Definitely still of interest. Very much appreciated as I enjoy wildlife and hope to upgrade to one of these bodies someday. Thanks!

 

[zrz2005101]

Thank you Grant, for a detailed review on the 7D mark II and the 1D mark IV.

When I did my own little iso test I hoped that the 7D mark II could have a better noise performance than the 1D mark IV but the results are very similar to what you got here and the AF performance is quite similar between them so I ended up selling it (as I do not shoot super long distance)

One issue that Canon never mentioned is that the spot linked AF does not work on all the AF points, if you use the camera in 45 points selection, either manual point selection or auto, it will NOT link any AF points with spot metering. I only have it work in 19 points AF selection to get the spot linked AF working which was a kind of a disappointment as I had to "downgrade" the AF system to a 1Dsmk3's level to utilize the function.

 

[Jack Douglas]

Wow, excellent although too late for me. I sure could have used this last spring. I bought the 1D4 for a better than 7D2 price and used it for eagle photography at Haida Gwaii for a month then back home for another month or two and finally sold it for roughly what I paid for it.

I was frightened away from the 7D2 by the early common complaints.

What I really didn't like about the 1D4 was the way it jumped to a high magnification for image review and how slow it was to move higher and lower in magnification using the two buttons. There were no options to change this.

I also was thrilled with my typically 25% cropped images at ISO 600 but felt quite let down at ISO 800. This was after the fact awareness and if I had known I would have fought to stay at or below 600.

My disappointments with the 1D4 were mostly relating to having to crop. As you mentioned if the frame was filled the camera was excellent! I loved the size of it and the weight didn't bother me at all compared to my 6D. The loss of IQ compared to the 6D was irritating because the 6D would fall flat on its face for BIF but I kept wasting time trying to acquire them and then finally gave up. I loved the lighted focus point.

The 1D4 would have been kept if not for the early news on the 1DX II which after using the 1D4 I was determined to own and will get later this year.

Grant, you writing style is great and with your obvious knowledge base I'll be watching for more reviews in the future and have bookmarked your site.

Here is one of my 1D4 shots that didn't need significant cropping.

Jack

 

[Grant Atkinson]

Thank you Grant, for a detailed review on the 7D mark II and the 1D mark IV.

When I did my own little iso test I hoped that the 7D mark II could have a better noise performance than the 1D mark IV but the results are very similar to what you got here and the AF performance is quite similar between them so I ended up selling it (as I do not shoot super long distance)

One issue that Canon never mentioned is that the spot linked AF does not work on all the AF points, if you use the camera in 45 points selection, either manual point selection or auto, it will NOT link any AF points with spot metering. I only have it work in 19 points AF selection to get the spot linked AF working which was a kind of a disappointment as I had to "downgrade" the AF system to a 1Dsmk3's level to utilize the function.

Thank you Grant, for a detailed review on the 7D mark II and the 1D mark IV.

When I did my own little iso test I hoped that the 7D mark II could have a better noise performance than the 1D mark IV but the results are very similar to what you got here and the AF performance is quite similar between them so I ended up selling it (as I do not shoot super long distance)

One issue that Canon never mentioned is that the spot linked AF does not work on all the AF points, if you use the camera in 45 points selection, either manual point selection or auto, it will NOT link any AF points with spot metering. I only have it work in 19 points AF selection to get the spot linked AF working which was a kind of a disappointment as I had to "downgrade" the AF system to a 1Dsmk3's level to utilize the function.

Thanks for the feedback on the post ZRZ, and I did not know what you mentioned about Spot Metering. I know that the camera can Spot Meter from more than one AF point but I did not know it was only able to do it for 19 of them. I will try read up some more on that and add what i find into the review. As I never ever shoot in Spot Metering Mode I have no experience in that.

I also know that the 1D Mark 4 actually also has an early version of Spot Focus Point, which basically minimizes the active size of the Single AF Point. In this it is similar to the 7D Mark 2, however, the Spot AF (minimizing AF point sensor size as opposed to Spot Metering) is only available on lenses that have the ring of four custom function buttons on them - like the EF 300L f2.8 IS and so forth.

Thanks again for that
Cheers
Grant

 

[Grant Atkinson]

Wow, excellent although too late for me. I sure could have used this last spring. I bought the 1D4 for a better than 7D2 price and used it for eagle photography at Haida Gwaii for a month then back home for another month or two and finally sold it for roughly what I paid for it.

I was frightened away from the 7D2 by the early common complaints.

What I really didn't like about the 1D4 was the way it jumped to a high magnification for image review and how slow it was to move higher and lower in magnification using the two buttons. There were no options to change this.

I also was thrilled with my typically 25% cropped images at ISO 600 but felt quite let down at ISO 800. This was after the fact awareness and if I had known I would have fought to stay at or below 600.

My disappointments with the 1D4 were mostly relating to having to crop. As you mentioned if the frame was filled the camera was excellent! I loved the size of it and the weight didn't bother me at all compared to my 6D. The loss of IQ compared to the 6D was irritating because the 6D would fall flat on its face for BIF but I kept wasting time trying to acquire them and then finally gave up. I loved the lighted focus point.

The 1D4 would have been kept if not for the early news on the 1DX II which after using the 1D4 I was determined to own and will get later this year.

Grant, you writing style is great and with your obvious knowledge base I'll be watching for more reviews in the future and have bookmarked your site.

Here is one of my 1D4 shots that didn't need significant cropping.

Jack

Wow, excellent although too late for me. I sure could have used this last spring. I bought the 1D4 for a better than 7D2 price and used it for eagle photography at Haida Gwaii for a month then back home for another month or two and finally sold it for roughly what I paid for it.

I was frightened away from the 7D2 by the early common complaints.

What I really didn't like about the 1D4 was the way it jumped to a high magnification for image review and how slow it was to move higher and lower in magnification using the two buttons. There were no options to change this.

I also was thrilled with my typically 25% cropped images at ISO 600 but felt quite let down at ISO 800. This was after the fact awareness and if I had known I would have fought to stay at or below 600.

My disappointments with the 1D4 were mostly relating to having to crop. As you mentioned if the frame was filled the camera was excellent! I loved the size of it and the weight didn't bother me at all compared to my 6D. The loss of IQ compared to the 6D was irritating because the 6D would fall flat on its face for BIF but I kept wasting time trying to acquire them and then finally gave up. I loved the lighted focus point.

The 1D4 would have been kept if not for the early news on the 1DX II which after using the 1D4 I was determined to own and will get later this year.

Grant, you writing style is great and with your obvious knowledge base I'll be watching for more reviews in the future and have bookmarked your site.

Here is one of my 1D4 shots that didn't need significant cropping.

Jack

Hi Jack, thanks for posting a power flight image of this bald eagle, in great light too, and at a good angle to the camera. Also appreciate you adding your user experience to the mix here. I think that the 1DX Mark 2 will do very well for you, as its image quality is ahead of the 6D a bit, and then it has superior AF to the 1D Mark 4, so you are going to experience an all-round upgrade
I am in the field right now with weak internet, and I also dont have my 1D Mark 4 with me, but I think there may have been a way to change the zoom-in magnification amount/ratio, perhaps in the Blue Playback menu?
I will check when I get home in a few weeks...
Thanks again
Cheers
Grant