Reactions, Pros and Cons, and Results to the 70D

[Cariboucoach]

Now that the 70D has been out for a while, and I am planning on purchasing one in a few months, what are the good and bad things you are finding out about the camera?

I have a 40D so I am expecting a decent upgrade in IQ plus that ability to record video.

Leo

 

[candc]

I went from the 40 to the 70 and am very happy with it. The touch/swivel screen and live view are great. The per pixel sharpness is about the same but there are twice as many so the IQ is better at normal viewing sizes. You get better iso performance and the 70 just seems to make good exposure and wb choices, the in camera jpeg output is much better. I didn't like the feel of it at first it felt to small but now The 40 feels like a brick to me. I wish the 70 had the thumb nubbin and the 3 c modes on the dial instead of just one. I use the WiFi feature quite a bit for viewing on my tablet and e-mailing photos from my phone. It has a button next to the shutter to toggle between single point, zone, and area autofocus. I really like that function

 

[Aglet]

I was having a chat with the manager of a major retail chain outlet yesterday and we had a brief discussion about the 70D.
In short, this is probably Canon's best crop body yet, but the response from the buying public has been very underwhelming; they're sitting on the shelf much longer than expected.

40D is still my favorite Canon, 60D is very good too, but from what I've seen of the 70D you will likely find it a very pleasing upgrade from the 40D in most ways except for a few ergonomic differences.

 

[Cariboucoach]

I was having a chat with the manager of a major retail chain outlet yesterday and we had a brief discussion about the 70D.
In short, this is probably Canon's best crop body yet, but the response from the buying public has been very underwhelming; they're sitting on the shelf much longer than expected.

40D is still my favorite Canon, 60D is very good too, but from what I've seen of the 70D you will likely find it a very pleasing upgrade from the 40D in most ways except for a few ergonomic differences.

If it is truly the best crop camera, it has to beat out the 7D which from what I have read is pretty tough to do. I imagine they are on the shelf because of the uncertain economic climate. If I had the money Now, I would order it today.

I think sales will pick up before Christmas. There may even be a price reduction to lure more customers in. I can only hope that happens.

Leo

 

[candc]

You might be right on the price drop before Xmas that is the m.o. if you don't already have a standard zoom you want to keep then get the kit with The 18-55 stm. I tried one out and it is really a nice and sharp.

 

[tomberkley]

I also went 40 to 70d. Only had the 70 for a couple of weeks. The main things i have noticed are
Way better screen, leaving a shoot with the 40 was a gamble at times as it was really had to know how a image turned out on the crap screen.
It is much smaller, but the button layout is so much better and fully customisable.
Much faster in every area.
I like the grip on the 70 over the 40.
The touch screen and flappy screen are growing on me.
But the main reason I got it is its a lot of camera for the price.

A few hastles about it.
New battery
Different remote shutter jack
SD not CF ( tho this isnt a major, but buy fast cards)

Tom

 

[daniela]

I was having a chat with the manager of a major retail chain outlet yesterday and we had a brief discussion about the 70D.
In short, this is probably Canon's best crop body yet, but the response from the buying public has been very underwhelming; they're sitting on the shelf much longer than expected.

40D is still my favorite Canon, 60D is very good too, but from what I've seen of the 70D you will likely find it a very pleasing upgrade from the 40D in most ways except for a few ergonomic differences.

If it is truly the best crop camera, it has to beat out the 7D which from what I have read is pretty tough to do. I imagine they are on the shelf because of the uncertain economic climate. If I had the money Now, I would order it today.

I think sales will pick up before Christmas. There may even be a price reduction to lure more customers in. I can only hope that happens.

Leo

IMO Canon cropped their sales by offering the 70D only to a few shops. In Germany, there is still no real price-competition. Amazon e.g. is still not able to deliver the body. I think most customers will wait until the body is on the free market.

A question to the community: Canon has deliberately delayed reviews of the 70D? I heared that rumor. Is this just rubbish, or true?

 

[Sith Zombie]

40D is still my favorite Canon, 60D is very good too, but from what I've seen of the 70D you will likely find it a very pleasing upgrade from the 40D in most ways except for a few ergonomic differences.

Good call! The 40D is my favourite too, in fact I'm having a hard time upgrading because I want a camera with the same/similar ergonomics and that only leaves the 7d and 5dmkkiii. I would love a 5dmkiii but it's too much camera for what I do and the 7D is pretty old now, awesome but old.

 

[ftico]

I recently upgraded to the 70D from the 550D (T2i), so my situation is a bit different but here are some thoughts:

Pros:
- I am happy with the ergonomics -- but this is personal;
- I do not mind having a slightly smaller camera than the 7D, since I hike quite a bit with it;
- the dual pixel Af works reasonably well -- liveview shooting is actually pleasant now! -- and lets you take full advantage of the swivel screen for shooting at extreme angles;
- IQ is a bit better than the T2i/7D: noticeably more resolution, a little less noise and the noise that is there seems easier to be treated with lightroom/PS. I now shoot more confidently at iso 800/iso1600 in raw
- Fast buffer! With a fast card I get 21 raws at 7fps before slowing down.

Cons:
- it does feel a little less rugged than the 50D or 7D (that I used in some occasions);
- I managed to get a little spot on the viewfinder/focusing screen after a few indoor uses -- not sure what went wrong, I have been reasonably careful but I cannot blame the camera design for sure;
- it does not work with kenko teleconverters w some lenses IF YOU HAVE AF MICROADJUSTEMENTS ON.
- the main dial is a bit too easy to turn, for my taste;
- battery life takes a huge hit if you use a lot of liveview focusing -- keep spares at hand;
- the AF phase detection sensor is the same as in 7D but it does not allow for1) spot AF (different, smaller point than single point AF); and (2) single point expansion;

As I do a lot of bird photography, I would have really liked to have at least (1). Let's hope a firmware will come.

 

[Pandypix]

I had delivery on my camera last week and after my 500D i have lots to learn but first glance I am liking it very much.
The body is a good size for me and weight with the EF-S 18- 135 lens I have small hands and not a heap of hand strength.
Having said that I think that unless you had quite large hands it should be a comfortable fit. I do have other lenses but chose
the kit lens as I feel it will be a good walk about when I go to Europe next summer. Time and practice will sort this out for me.

 

[Aglet]

If it is truly the best crop camera, it has to beat out the 7D which from what I have read is pretty tough to do. I imagine they are on the shelf because of the uncertain economic climate. If I had the money Now, I would order it today.

7D is a different beast, and is now getting to be an old one too.
I loved everything about my 7D except the very strong low iso pattern noise mine had. if it weren't for that it'd still be THE top Canon crop body for so many reasons, IMO. Some 7Ds are good at low ISO, if you get one of those it's worth grinning cuz it is a really great photographic tool for so many kinds of work.

So yes, the 7D is still a very strong competitor and worth considering over the 70D in some ways.

For me, the 70D is an improvement/better because Canon has actually made some sensor improvements that result in almost non-existant pattern noise at low ISO. The split-pixel AF is a vast improvement in live-view AF which also has its uses.
I'm not sure I'll buy a 70D though.. I can wait until the 7d2 comes out to see what it will do. Meanwhile, Pentax has released the new K3 which might come close enough to the old 7D's abilities for me to be satisfied as I don't need top-teir performance as much as maximum low ISO image quality.

 

[Ruined]

Canon made two missteps with the 70D IMO, both likely the responsibility of the marketing dept limiting features for differentiated - but may end up backfiring.

Problem #1 - NO HEADPHONE JACK - Launch a revolutionary liveview autofocusing system, put this huge focus on video, then fail to include a headphone monitoring jack. So, you have all this advanced video focusing going on but no way to accurately monitor audio. Who is this supposed to appeal to? Mainstream consumers don't want to spend over $1000 for DSLR video (they will buy a t4i/t5i) - and a professional looking for video usage maybe for a backup or travel camera would likely pass due to the lack of headphone jack. Thus the signature selling point of the 70D, liveview autofocus, is totally gimped by the lack of headphone jack!

Problem #2 - 7D2 - The elephant in the room, everyone knows the 7D is up for replacement, as it is easily cheaper than 70D in many stores. So, again, who is going to spend over $1000 on a 70D when the 7D2 which could be much better is just around the corner? Canon should have released the 7D2 first or released these two in somewhat close proximity, otherwise you will have people holding out for potentially something better.

Also, on a less important note, the wifi is not fully baked yet, doesn't even support the high end Lumia 1020 41mp smartphone.

 

[xps]

.....So, again, who is going to spend over $1000 on a 70D when the 7D2 which could be much better is just around the corner? .....

A well situated clubmember of our local photoclub visited the formula1 race in Singapore, beeing able to join an actionphotoworkshop with some wellknown Asian photographer.
He reported, that there has been an s lively discussion about coming equipment.
He heared: No new body before football WM 2014, some bodies before the next summer olympics. These bodies will be highend.

So, I think there will be no 7D2 around the corner in the next month....

 

[Marsu42]

Now that the 70D has been out for a while, and I am planning on purchasing one in a few months, what are the good and bad things you are finding out about the camera?

The very bad thing is that there won't be any Magic Lantern for 70d for quite a while, the devs are busy with 5d3/6d and haven't even gotten hold of a 70d or had the chance a look at the fw.

This means no 100fps silent pictures, no raw video, no raw histogram/zebras, no focus peaking, no dual_iso for 14 stops dynamic range, no working auto iso vs. Canon's crippled version, no auto-ettr, no focus stacking, no dof bracketing ... I wouldn't want a camera w/o ml.

 

[unfocused]

I was having a chat with the manager of a major retail chain outlet yesterday...the response from the buying public has been very underwhelming; they're sitting on the shelf much longer than expected.

That's interesting since as of today (10-15) the body-only is Number 5 on the Amazon best seller list and the 18-135 kit is Number 8. In comparison, the D7100 body-only is Number 9 and there is no D7100 Nikon kit in the top 20.

 

[J.R.]

I was having a chat with the manager of a major retail chain outlet yesterday...the response from the buying public has been very underwhelming; they're sitting on the shelf much longer than expected.

That's interesting since as of today (10-15) the body-only is Number 5 on the Amazon best seller list and the 18-135 kit is Number 8. In comparison, the D7100 body-only is Number 9 and there is no D7100 Nikon kit in the top 20.

Could have been no. 1, but then too many people are just waiting for the 7D Mark II which (to me at least) explains the relatively slow sales of the 70D.

 

[regnwaldo]

There are a number of problems I've encountered.
Video focus tracking is SLOW. OK for family groups moving at walking pace. Useless for birds or pets moving erratically and fast. Yet that is when it is needed.
Live view autofocus is slow. The so-called FAST MODE involves exit from live view, autofocus, then retrun to live view. SLOW INCONVENIENT at the least and USELESS FOR WILD LIFE.

A MAJOR FLAW in image processing of hand-held long tele pics. The out-of-focus background is USUALLY renders as streaking from top right to bottom left with replication of detail. Out of focus detail points should degenerate to rather circular blotches but with my 70D the streaking is more common. ALWAYS TOP RIGHT TO BOTTOM LEFT. I suspect image analysis/modification during image stabilization. This is with 500mm lens and 1/750 shutter speed or faster. With the same lens and even with slower shutter speeds this has never happened in 2 years with my 5D Mk II, or many years with my 300D.

Pity. The first photos I took with the 70D were the sharpest I'd obtained, and turned my 500mm lens into 800mm equivalent. The camera is heading back to Canon.

 

[Marsu42]

Live view autofocus is slow. The so-called FAST MODE involves exit from live view, autofocus, then retrun to live view.

The "quick mode" is also known as "shutter killer" ...

 

[Cariboucoach]

There are a number of problems I've encountered.
Video focus tracking is SLOW. OK for family groups moving at walking pace. Useless for birds or pets moving erratically and fast. Yet that is when it is needed.
Live view autofocus is slow. The so-called FAST MODE involves exit from live view, autofocus, then retrun to live view. SLOW INCONVENIENT at the least and USELESS FOR WILD LIFE.

A MAJOR FLAW in image processing of hand-held long tele pics. The out-of-focus background is USUALLY renders as streaking from top right to bottom left with replication of detail. Out of focus detail points should degenerate to rather circular blotches but with my 70D the streaking is more common. ALWAYS TOP RIGHT TO BOTTOM LEFT. I suspect image analysis/modification during image stabilization. This is with 500mm lens and 1/750 shutter speed or faster. With the same lens and even with slower shutter speeds this has never happened in 2 years with my 5D Mk II, or many years with my 300D.

Pity. The first photos I took with the 70D were the sharpest I'd obtained, and turned my 500mm lens into 800mm equivalent. The camera is heading back to Canon.

I've never seen oof area like this before. I would think it is either your particular camera, or camera shake.

Thanks for the heads up and photo to show it.

Leo