I photograph primarily birds, and was using a T2i, with the 400 5.6L. I had hesitated to buy the 7Dii because a lot of advice I was getting online stated the noise wouldn't be that much better, and the photo quality would only be a slight upgrade since the sensor wasn't really that revolutionary. I finally bit the bullet, figuring there was about a 50/50 shot I'd end up returning it. My results after about 4 weeks: you'll pry it from cold dead hands.
Seriously can not BELIEVE how good this camera is. I've played around friends' 7D and 70D's, etc., and obviously shot a ton on the T2i. Whoever said the 7Dii isn't that big of an upgrade over any of those 3 is out of their mind, just nuts. When sorting photos after a shoot I use light room to rate them 1-5. 1s are just deleted immediately. 2s I save only if it's something rare. 3s I keep if I have nothing better and the shot can be touched up. I would never print them, but may be suitable for online display. Four stars are the ones that came out really good, and I can display online and print after a small bit of work, and the five-star ones are the shots I absolutely nail.
Prior to the 7Dii out of every 100 shots I would get maybe 1 or 2 that I considered a '5', and 10-15 that I considered 4s, and maybe 25 that I would consider a 3. The rest were 1s on account of missed focus, and a bunch of 2s. Now, I get around 8-10 that I consider a 5, 35-45 that I consider 4s, 30 or so that I'd consider a 3, and the remaining 15-20 1 or 2 star shots. I'm not exaggerating; this thing does NOT miss focus. My first shot out of the box was of a bird hidden in a mess of sticks from about 15 feet away. I got a tack-sharp shot of the things eye through about 8 different branches. The focus is LIGHTENING fast, I've shot about 3500 shots at this point and I haven't had more than 3 or 4 shots that the focus has missed on.
Image quality....it's just superlative. I had people that would express interest in buying some of my shots in the past, now I have people that see my stuff and a few of them have been shocked that the pictures they're looking at are mine. Heck, I'm shocked; I can't believe how nice the quality of photos is. Even at high isos my shots have been largely usable. I've gone as high as ISO 2000 and been able to get shots that are postable/printable. My only quibble is that around ISO 320-640 there seems to be a tad more noise than I'd prefer. Not a big deal since I'm usually around 160-250. For reference, the attached shot was out my car window, no tripod, in almost no light right at sunset, and I still get that shot.
I absolutely cannot recommend this camera enough, and if you're shooting wildlife/birds this is absolutely king of the pile.
quick edit: I had to save the file at a lower quality in PS so it would fit file size, here's the original: https://www.flickr.com/photos/39445433@N02/18472272551/in/album-72157654028238451/
Seriously can not BELIEVE how good this camera is. I've played around friends' 7D and 70D's, etc., and obviously shot a ton on the T2i. Whoever said the 7Dii isn't that big of an upgrade over any of those 3 is out of their mind, just nuts. When sorting photos after a shoot I use light room to rate them 1-5. 1s are just deleted immediately. 2s I save only if it's something rare. 3s I keep if I have nothing better and the shot can be touched up. I would never print them, but may be suitable for online display. Four stars are the ones that came out really good, and I can display online and print after a small bit of work, and the five-star ones are the shots I absolutely nail.
Prior to the 7Dii out of every 100 shots I would get maybe 1 or 2 that I considered a '5', and 10-15 that I considered 4s, and maybe 25 that I would consider a 3. The rest were 1s on account of missed focus, and a bunch of 2s. Now, I get around 8-10 that I consider a 5, 35-45 that I consider 4s, 30 or so that I'd consider a 3, and the remaining 15-20 1 or 2 star shots. I'm not exaggerating; this thing does NOT miss focus. My first shot out of the box was of a bird hidden in a mess of sticks from about 15 feet away. I got a tack-sharp shot of the things eye through about 8 different branches. The focus is LIGHTENING fast, I've shot about 3500 shots at this point and I haven't had more than 3 or 4 shots that the focus has missed on.
Image quality....it's just superlative. I had people that would express interest in buying some of my shots in the past, now I have people that see my stuff and a few of them have been shocked that the pictures they're looking at are mine. Heck, I'm shocked; I can't believe how nice the quality of photos is. Even at high isos my shots have been largely usable. I've gone as high as ISO 2000 and been able to get shots that are postable/printable. My only quibble is that around ISO 320-640 there seems to be a tad more noise than I'd prefer. Not a big deal since I'm usually around 160-250. For reference, the attached shot was out my car window, no tripod, in almost no light right at sunset, and I still get that shot.
I absolutely cannot recommend this camera enough, and if you're shooting wildlife/birds this is absolutely king of the pile.
quick edit: I had to save the file at a lower quality in PS so it would fit file size, here's the original: https://www.flickr.com/photos/39445433@N02/18472272551/in/album-72157654028238451/