7D vs 70D - 70D worth $150 more?

B&H and others have the 7D body only for 749 vs 70D for 999. I shoot mostly landscapes and wildlife. I hike a lot of streams in all kinds of weather so better sealing would be nice. I have almost 0 interest in shooting video. Seems like most of the advantages of the 70D are video related.

The lack of weather sealing comes from the swivel touch screen on the 70d.

1.The 7d has the joystick for AF point selection, helping to quickly choose the AF point that you want. You can keep your eye to the viewfinder.

The 70d i find i like to use the touchscreen to choose the AF point, but you have to look at the camera and remember where you wanted the AF point to be.
If you are an at all experienced photographer, this should not be an issue as i know it isn't for me. You can still choose the AF point as with a rebel, it isn't touch screen only.
Both cameras have a one button to press to choose single, zone or auto AF point without looking away from the viewfinder.

2. 70d has cleaner useable iso. How much, you would have to find some reviews on it. (look at the review at the end of the post) He claims nearly 1 stop and i agree.

3.7d shoots 8fps while 70d shoots 7fps. If you already burst shoot wildlife and find that every shot counts, this is about the only time you would notice wanting the 7d over the 70d. (or sports).
7d has a faster buffer, so more raw images in a row with shutter held down. With jpeg, you would never see a difference.
*thank you Crbinson, the 7d mkii is 10fps, i edited this post for proper fps of the 7d.

4. 7d uses cf cards (faster but more expensive, keeps up with 10fps)
70d uses sd cards (keeps up with the cameras 7fps)

5.7d has a longer battery life compared to the 70d. A second battery is essential with the 70d.

6. The 70d has 20.1mp compared to 7d 18mp. This will help retain the image sharpness when cropped. (refer to review)


They are very similar cameras. You won't be disappointed in either of them. Especially if coming from a rebel series.
I personally went with the 70d. I don't need the extra fps and wanted to pay less for cards and yes, i do shoot some video.
I have used the 70d under a waterfall, but kept it under my jacket when not shooting on a tripod with no issue. But i would not want to risk it again without a bag around the camera.

I hope to others opinions on the matter and please, let us know what you decide.

http://www.grantatkins​on.com …and-canon-eos-7d-compared

Thanks for such a detailed and thoughtful response.

They are both very capable bodies. I chose the 70D for the bells a whistles. Coming from a T4i I liked the flip-out LCD and touch screen plus the Wi-Fi capability. If find it handy to transfer pics on the fly to Iphone or Ipad and share with others.

While the 70D does take from the 7D auto focus system is does not match it. The 7D has a more robust A/F system.

I believe the FPS is closer between the two than stated in earlier post, 7D @ 8FPS and 70D @ 7FPS. I think you have to be in 7D MkII or 1D MkIV territory to get 10FPS.

I don't believe the battery statement above is completely accurate either. They both use the same LP-E6 battery and specs for shots per under same conditions are identical. Now if you keep Wi-Fi on all the time then yes battery consumption will be higher.

For me the decision came down to superior A/F system or more bells and whistles. I opted for the latter.

Good luck with your decision.

crbinson wrote in post #17490543
While the 70D does take from the 7D auto focus system is does not match it. The 7D has a more robust A/F system.

Not sure what you mean by more robust but spec-wise the 70D is missing the spot focus and point expansion modes from the 7D.

However, it doesn't under-perform by any means. One of the more accomplished members on this site moved from a 7D to 70D. I can't remember his reasoning but his portfolio has many great examples using both bodies:

https://www.flickr.com …4/sets/72157627​825385400/

joeblack2022 wrote in post #17499559
Not sure what you mean by more robust but spec-wise the 70D is missing the spot focus and point expansion modes from the 7D.

However, it doesn't under-perform by any means. One of the more accomplished members on this site moved from a 7D to 70D. I can't remember his reasoning but his portfolio has many great examples using both bodies:

https://www.flickr.com …4/sets/72157627​825385400/

Perhaps more robust in that the 7D AF system has a dedicated processor with the camera having dual Digic 4 processors. The 70D has a single Digic 5+ processor, but Canon introduced other AF enhancements in the 70D. It might be a wash. As you indicate though, both cameras are capable of producing very good results.

The touch screen is much more of a plus for me than I'd have expected. I have been using Live View whenever possible for portraits since the 5DII (it returns me back to the groundglass view I missed when I gave up medium format film cameras). I'm also now getting into video.

The touch screen and new fast focusing makes Live View portraits a magnitude easier, and it makes the 70D the only Canon DSLR with genuinely workable automatic focusing in video. Once you get the touchscreen focusing two-step down, it's amazing to use, nearly as neat as Canon's old eye-point focusing system. I never thought it would be as convenient, but it's far more intuitive than using the hard controls.

RDKirk wrote in post #17499775
The touch screen is much more of a plus for me than I'd have expected. I have been using Live View whenever possible for portraits since the 5DII (it returns me back to the groundglass view I missed when I gave up medium format film cameras)

Could you please talk more about the live view shooting for portraits?

From what i have read the focus in Live view is supposed to be more accurate than just focusing and shooting, though i have not had any issues with this, that is shooting the normal way.

Am i doing something wrong that it takes 1.5 seconds for the shutter too go off in live view. because of this delay, to me there is no benefit to shooting with live view.
Are you just doing this in studio with a tripod????

Does anyone know of any good links where i could find out more about this?

Micro5797 wrote in post #17500773
Could you please talk more about the live view shooting for portraits?

From what i have read the focus in Live view is supposed to be more accurate than just focusing and shooting, though i have not had any issues with this, that is shooting the normal way.

Am i doing something wrong that it takes 1.5 seconds for the shutter too go off in live view. because of this delay, to me there is no benefit to shooting with live view.
Are you just doing this in studio with a tripod????

Does anyone know of any good links where i could find out more about this?

I started using medium format cameras 'way back in 1969 (a Yashica TLR that I bought for $80 from a pawn shop). The significant thing is that it provided a ground glass image the same size as the negative. This was a view of the image itself, as close as you could get to what would be captured on the film. Looking at the subject 2D "picture" rather than "peerin' through a tiny 'ole," you got the best sense of form and composition.

Live View provides the same thing, but even better. Tie that in with push-button Exposure Simulation at the actual shooting aperture, focusing directly on the sensor itself, and it's darned near perfect. I can't see why any landscape or architecture photographer would not be using it. What I see in Live View is what I'm going to see when I open the image in Photoshop. Because I compose portraits like works of art, I use it whenever I can. The important point is that I'm looking at the picture rather than just at the subject.

Using a tripod enables me to change only the elements I want to change without creating a new perspective every time I look through the camera. I even use it on the street. Like a golfer, I can change one element for a particular shot and keep everything that was right still right. When I shoot groups, I'll put the camera on a tripod so that I can take shots concentrating on individuals--particularly children--and get the right expression from each person. But with each shot being in perfect register, I can easily composite everyone's best look into the final image. Added: That's what Annie Leibovitz does to make her annual Hollywood covers for "Vanity Fair." They never get all those top actors into the same room at the same time.

With the 5D2 Live View, I used the loupe function exactly the way I did with an optical loupe on the groundglass of my view camera to enlarge the specific point I wanted in focus. Use the AF-On button to focus from the sensor in that mode. There is a bit of lag shooting in Live View, but it shouldn't be more than a tiny fraction of a second.

Don't use "Quick Mode." Quick Mode drops the mirror to employ phase detection, which is fast focusing but not as accurate as contrast focusing on the sensor (which is why you use contrast focusing on the sensor to calibrate phase detection when you do micro-adjustment).

Thanks for the information. It will take me a few reads and some practice to get all of what you are saying. I will first start practicing with landscapes and street photography and see how i like it before trying to implement it into portraiture.

A year or so back i saw on creativelive "Robert Scott Limb" using his Sony (i forget what camera). And saying similar things as it was a mirrorless camera.

While i look through my viewfinder, i image what the image will look like based on the settings, focal length etc that i am shooting at. I never bother with the DOF preview button. I am anxious to see how this will work and i had never thought of the lcd showing how the image would look, i assumed it would be the same as i saw through the viewfinder.

I didn't even know there were different live view options such as quick view. I had to look up the options to see what they were.
I can see this working best on a touch screen camera.

You have given me a lot to think about, thanks.

Micro5797 wrote in post #17500773
Could you please talk more about the live view shooting for portraits?

From what i have read the focus in Live view is supposed to be more accurate than just focusing and shooting, though i have not had any issues with this, that is shooting the normal way.

Am i doing something wrong that it takes 1.5 seconds for the shutter too go off in live view. because of this delay, to me there is no benefit to shooting with live view.
Are you just doing this in studio with a tripod????

Does anyone know of any good links where i could find out more about this?

In addition to what RDKirk noted, Canon introduced the Dual Pixel CMOS AF system in the 70D that provides on-chip phase detection AF. The 7D Mark II now also includes a version of this system. It helps to improve the speed and accuracy of Live View and video focusing. Live View Quick Mode uses the dedicated AF sensor, so it's the same as the AF when using the viewfinder to focus and shoot, and you lose the benefit of the Dual Pixel CMOS AF system.

I'm not sure what's causing the shutter lag when you use Live View. I don't notice this on either of my Canon bodies. If you're using Quick Mode AF, the delay might be the time it takes to lock the mirror up before the shutter fires.

davinci953 wrote in post #17501112
I'm not sure what's causing the shutter lag when you use Live View. I don't notice this on either of my Canon bodies. If you're using Quick Mode AF, the delay might be the time it takes to lock the mirror up before the shutter fires.

Yeah, I think that's what's happening to him.

I tried live view a bit ago. It isn't the 1.5 sec like it felt like the time i tried it. I will just have to use it more.

I can't offer any advise on the differences between the two cameras, I have the 70D. With that out of the way I shoot quite a bit of macro and the adjustable screen on the 70D is much better than I ever imagined! I actually used the camera for several months before I realized that you can magnify the image and focus on the part of the image the interests you the most. Plus by adjusting the screen you can get the camera in positions that would be very difficult, if not impossible, to look through the viewfinder. BTW, this is my first DSLR. For the most part, the other bells and whistles are not my thing, I shoot 90% manual exposure and focus(macro). Battery-wise, I went to a friend's family event and took over 400 pictures, some with flash and the camera did just fine on a single battery(I also carry a spare).

I rented both the 7d and 70d in a local store and went with the 70d mainly because of the image quality. I was using a Tamron 24-70 VC and it seemed that the 70d images always came out a little better than the 7d.