tomscott
Photographer & Graphic Designer
It is interesting. Generally these comments come from amateurs with gear hunger not from pros actually making images and money. Its a tool and it does what it was designed for well, its 4 years old and its time for a new one.
At the end of the day, yes it could do with a bit more DR and focus accuracy issues could do with some work but otherwise the 7DMKII is a great camera especially for the price. I was an early adopter and I paid about £900 at the time which is a bargain for a continuous AF 10fps camera.
Many newer cameras boast these sorts of stats especially mirrorless but if they dont track accurately its just wasted memory and effort.
It is true Canon doesn't make a camera to fulfill the needs of every photographer because its not possible. They are a little bit like Apple they nail whats important and give you the features you need to get the job done over and over again. There's the odd bump in the road but the products are always super polished and reliable with a service that is dependable which amateurs don't appreciate because their cameras don't get the hammer.
Again when the 6DMKII came out it was absolutely slated. Ive used most of canons top flight products over the last 10 years and it has become one of my favorite go to cameras because its fun to use and easy to produce good images in nearly any situation. The combination of a full frame sensor that improves all the downfalls of the 5DMKIII and gives super sharp images with wifi and GPS and a tilt screen. Excellent, again yes it could do with a little more DR and I wouldn't take it where weather sealing is an issue but I haven't really needed much more over what a 5DMKIV offers. It could do with an extra card slot, but ive never had a card fail in the 10 years ive been shooting professionally although its always a risk.
What they have done which nobody speaks about is make a very polished product which cuts the 5DMKIV more than £1000. The AF system for example from the 80D but it hits just as well as my 5DMKIII did (which is a more advanced system) and even the 7DMKII from my usage so far. For me its not really about money its about value, the more value the more money I make and also willing to spend. Put images side by side and I doubt anyone would be able tell the difference between any manufacturer.
It depends on where you sit, whether your a glass half full kind of guy or worry about every detail of a specification.
My Canon gear very rarely disappoints or does me a disservice. At the end of the day yes Nikon are going all out with every single product... why... because they are struggling and desperate to get people over and in this process their cameras have had manufacturing defects etc etc
Would I like some of the extra features... yes, would i like a canon D850, yes. But its not the end of the world.
From a marketing and production point of view what do they do with the next generation? DSLRs are in their final stages and improvements are few and far between. Theres little to add value and thats how companies make money by selling you another camera. Nikons strategy obviously isnt working as well as Canons yet they make great products. Canon are much more on the fence but they are selling more cameras in a difficult climate.
At the end of the day if you cant get the job done with whats available then there is something wrong. There has never been a better time to be into photography because the value for money thats available its frankly amazing.
Saying that I dont want to be the guy thats conservative, Canon does need to start competing more aggressively. On the other hand the DSLR is pretty much at the end of its life and whether its worth companies investing heavily in it is questionable too. The reason I didnt buy a 5DMKIV for £3500, its an excellent camera but I dont think its worth that amount over the 5DMKIII and 6DMKII, especially 18 months later you can find them for £2100. For most that £1400 is a trip of a lifetime. I traveled the world for 12 months and went to some of the most incredible places in the world with a fraction of the amount the gear I took cost.
I expected a hybrid 5DSR/MKIII 7-8fps with 40 odd MP which is what the D850 ended up being. Which is what I meant about value, not that the MKIV is a bad camera but its not a great value proposition imo.
Canons top flight hasnt got enough to distinguish from the prosumer market currently. Hopefully the next gen will and it will trickle down. Who knows what the next 4 years will do, we might not be talking about DSLRs.
The market is treading thin ice. There needs to be more inovation not incremental updates.
Half of these conversations get heated over tiny specification differences which make little difference in the grand scheme of things. The industry needs a change like what happened with the mobile phone. We need companies like Sony to give the bigger companies the scare they need to sort the men from the boys. We are in a transitional period and I dont think mirrorless is the answer. I dont think any of these manufacturers know what this could be.
I could see a hybrid mobile OS built into a camera that you could do more with, like apps a more open source environment similar to what magic lantern have done but official. Add this to the reliability of canons products. Anything could be done its just not happening. Companies get to the point where they are so big they protect products rather than push the boundaries. The market reducing doesnt help, but anyone who is even slightly into photography knows that even the best smartphones are pretty poor and all this DOF simulation isnt the same.
Until something changes Canon are still right up there, not worce not better. Nobody is doing anything innovative in all honestly. Investing huge money in changing systems for small spec differences is currently not a good option for anyone and although the numbers on paper are different in the real world Canon cameras perform as well as anything else on the market currently.
At the end of the day, yes it could do with a bit more DR and focus accuracy issues could do with some work but otherwise the 7DMKII is a great camera especially for the price. I was an early adopter and I paid about £900 at the time which is a bargain for a continuous AF 10fps camera.
Many newer cameras boast these sorts of stats especially mirrorless but if they dont track accurately its just wasted memory and effort.
It is true Canon doesn't make a camera to fulfill the needs of every photographer because its not possible. They are a little bit like Apple they nail whats important and give you the features you need to get the job done over and over again. There's the odd bump in the road but the products are always super polished and reliable with a service that is dependable which amateurs don't appreciate because their cameras don't get the hammer.
Again when the 6DMKII came out it was absolutely slated. Ive used most of canons top flight products over the last 10 years and it has become one of my favorite go to cameras because its fun to use and easy to produce good images in nearly any situation. The combination of a full frame sensor that improves all the downfalls of the 5DMKIII and gives super sharp images with wifi and GPS and a tilt screen. Excellent, again yes it could do with a little more DR and I wouldn't take it where weather sealing is an issue but I haven't really needed much more over what a 5DMKIV offers. It could do with an extra card slot, but ive never had a card fail in the 10 years ive been shooting professionally although its always a risk.
What they have done which nobody speaks about is make a very polished product which cuts the 5DMKIV more than £1000. The AF system for example from the 80D but it hits just as well as my 5DMKIII did (which is a more advanced system) and even the 7DMKII from my usage so far. For me its not really about money its about value, the more value the more money I make and also willing to spend. Put images side by side and I doubt anyone would be able tell the difference between any manufacturer.
It depends on where you sit, whether your a glass half full kind of guy or worry about every detail of a specification.
My Canon gear very rarely disappoints or does me a disservice. At the end of the day yes Nikon are going all out with every single product... why... because they are struggling and desperate to get people over and in this process their cameras have had manufacturing defects etc etc
Would I like some of the extra features... yes, would i like a canon D850, yes. But its not the end of the world.
From a marketing and production point of view what do they do with the next generation? DSLRs are in their final stages and improvements are few and far between. Theres little to add value and thats how companies make money by selling you another camera. Nikons strategy obviously isnt working as well as Canons yet they make great products. Canon are much more on the fence but they are selling more cameras in a difficult climate.
At the end of the day if you cant get the job done with whats available then there is something wrong. There has never been a better time to be into photography because the value for money thats available its frankly amazing.
Saying that I dont want to be the guy thats conservative, Canon does need to start competing more aggressively. On the other hand the DSLR is pretty much at the end of its life and whether its worth companies investing heavily in it is questionable too. The reason I didnt buy a 5DMKIV for £3500, its an excellent camera but I dont think its worth that amount over the 5DMKIII and 6DMKII, especially 18 months later you can find them for £2100. For most that £1400 is a trip of a lifetime. I traveled the world for 12 months and went to some of the most incredible places in the world with a fraction of the amount the gear I took cost.
I expected a hybrid 5DSR/MKIII 7-8fps with 40 odd MP which is what the D850 ended up being. Which is what I meant about value, not that the MKIV is a bad camera but its not a great value proposition imo.
Canons top flight hasnt got enough to distinguish from the prosumer market currently. Hopefully the next gen will and it will trickle down. Who knows what the next 4 years will do, we might not be talking about DSLRs.
The market is treading thin ice. There needs to be more inovation not incremental updates.
Half of these conversations get heated over tiny specification differences which make little difference in the grand scheme of things. The industry needs a change like what happened with the mobile phone. We need companies like Sony to give the bigger companies the scare they need to sort the men from the boys. We are in a transitional period and I dont think mirrorless is the answer. I dont think any of these manufacturers know what this could be.
I could see a hybrid mobile OS built into a camera that you could do more with, like apps a more open source environment similar to what magic lantern have done but official. Add this to the reliability of canons products. Anything could be done its just not happening. Companies get to the point where they are so big they protect products rather than push the boundaries. The market reducing doesnt help, but anyone who is even slightly into photography knows that even the best smartphones are pretty poor and all this DOF simulation isnt the same.
Until something changes Canon are still right up there, not worce not better. Nobody is doing anything innovative in all honestly. Investing huge money in changing systems for small spec differences is currently not a good option for anyone and although the numbers on paper are different in the real world Canon cameras perform as well as anything else on the market currently.
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