Probubly the 500th 6D vs 7DII Thread

I've had my 7D since 2009... its time to upgrade it, its been a solid workhorse and durable companion for 7 years, its taken rain, snow, mud, sub zero temperatures, being knocked around and even outright dropped recently and it still works 100%..I think (I've had doubts the last few times ive shot it, ive felt it isnt working as well as it used to, the shutter and mirror sound..different.. the images still come out good but it just feels... off)

Age is just catching up to it and I feel the time is here to move on.. The question is simply.. To what

The GX8 has taken over the food and walkaround shooting, its better suited for that, my Canon gear has now shifted to when im serious, when im going out specifically to shoot things, What things? Birds, Wildlife, animals, macro, if i go on a trip someplace I'll bring my Canon gear (Mostly.. i might debate on this depending on the nature of the trip.. if say, im going to a garden or a zoo, the Canon stuff, if i go to visit a friend with no specific photo outing planned, ill bring the GX8 kit) The Canon stuff will be used when i need a speedlite or macrolite, and I prefer my 15-85 (Or a 24-105 type of lens) to the available m4/3 options.

I have the 11-16, 15-85, 100L, 150-600 OS C and my 50mm f/1.4 Sigmalux, I will possibly trade one or two lenses off (the 100L for a longer macro to better differentiate from the GX8's 45mm and the 11-16 for something a bit more "fun" like the 8-16 or the 10-18 IS) but im not in a huge rush to do so. I might add another 70-200 to the kit or something else for bigger flowers.

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What do I want from an upgrade? Better IQ mostly, It doesnt have to be worlds better, I'll be content with cleaner files at 1600, 3200 and 6400, its not that my 7D is bad there, but technology advanced and theres room for improvement. I'd like a locking mode dial because Im tired of the 7D's one getting knocked out of whack everytime i take it out of the bag and I'd like a easier to operate DoF preview button because the 7D's is abysmally placed. While I work with it, i do not love the heavy AA filter and would love crisper OOC output. Id love less banding if i have to push something (Not often but hey, its useful) and better detail retention at higher ISO

What do I like from the 7D? The burst rate is useful for birds, especially ones that like to move, it lets me make sure i get that one perfect shot where the sun catches their eye perfectly, or their wings are in the perfect position, or they're about to take off, it lets me get the perfect image of a raindrop bouncing off a flower petal. And I'll be honest, the IQ has been amazing for 7 years here, ive taken a lot of fantastic shots, and frequently ive said "I couldnt have done this without the 7D's AF and burst" the shots still impressed me and i only tired of the output after I got the GX8 and saw how far tech advanced.. its still not bad however

I have two options I see.. the 6D and the 7D Mark II

The 6D...well obviously the "full frame" allure pulls at me given how much the internets says its so grand, but.. I dont know if it will really benefit my shooting. I find the crop factor useful frequently after all, I feel Id be giving up the ergonomics Im accustomed to (I hate the joypad) throwing away the AF system I enjoy having (the 11 point isnt bad, but its not better than the 19 point AF in my 7D) and i would most certainly need to do some big lens rearranging (Bye to..everything but the 150-600 and 50mm f/1.4 most likely.. even then id likely want an 85 instead of the 50 now)

The 7DII.. Well its a 7D that fixes my few complaints on my 7D, they fixed the DoF preview button, the mode dial locks, and every part of it is just that little bit better.. But I'm still "shooting a crop camera" and the internet says thats "not ok" Not sure what else to say on it actually.. I rather like it, it looks like the logical choice to be honest, its just the "internet" says crop "sucks" and maybe I ponder if i shouldnt move on, going full frame would draw a stronger line between my m4/3 gear and my Canon setup as well. But Im not sure it will result in a better camera for me.

We could also throw the 5D Mark III into contention I suppose, I am just not sure it will be in budget which is why I'm sticking to the 6D and 7DII for consideration, because I KNOW those are in budget, I also seem to remember I found the 5D Mark III a bit harder to use (in the sense of ergonomics) than the 7DII but I cannot for the life of me remember why

I'm not terribly interested in switching, I like my Canon glass and my Canon gear has held up for..well lets see.. I started with an EOS 3.. Bought the 30D when it came out, then the 7D.. its been probubly 11 years. I've played with switching a lot. I just dont feel the hassle involved will really be a "revelation" or anything. I played with the idea of Sony, the system isnt there to me yet.

As for selling my 7D im not going to bank on it too much, its pretty beat up and im an honest guy, after the last fall im genuinely unsure its working 100% right anymore and i wouldnt want to sell it to someone else when i suspect it has problems. I MIGHT ship it to Canon first, not sure what a cleaning/calibration/c​heckup will run. May also talk to my insurance guy and find out if its too late to claim the Camera too (Since the same fall wrote off a 70-200 f/4L IS and 580 EX II speedlite, i thought the 7D was fine and shot a little with it, but i think i just didnt test it anywhere NEAR enough)

Are you not considering the 80D?

frugivore wrote in post #17971786
Are you not considering the 80D?

Ergonomics come back to it again, the 80D is lovely but lacks the thumb joystick.. the joypad thing on the 70D/6D stinks and isnt very usable to me

I have both a 5d3 and 7d2. Since getting the 7d last fall, I have pulled out the 5d3 once to do Christmas portraits. Everything else has been with the cropper. If the 7d was good for you, the 7d2 is simply better at everything, AF, iso, ooc jpegs, shadow noise, dual slots, build and weather seal, etc.

I went to Best Buy today and handled the 7DII, 6D and 5DIII and I came away from it largely favoring the 7D, Id like to try it with a different lens however.. even borrowing customers and walking employees as test subjects the difference in AF speed/accuracy was clear between the 6D and the 7DII... I also could get the 7DII to focus "behind" an obstacle, ie, like a bird hiding behind branches

Also the little switch thing is REALLY NICE

Get the 7D2. You will not regret it.

Ignore the internet, get the 7DII. It is what the 7D *should* have been.

Interesting that you mentioned ergonomics of the mark iii... what dont you like about it? I found the mark iii to handle superbly. However I have now switched over to Nikon and wow, talk about ergonomics. The buttons and dials are in all the right places for me.

50mmshooter wrote in post #17977780
Interesting that you mentioned ergonomics of the mark iii... what dont you like about it? I found the mark iii to handle superbly. However I have now switched over to Nikon and wow, talk about ergonomics. The buttons and dials are in all the right places for me.

Engineer?

Snydremark wrote in post #17977880
Engineer?

Yes I am!

50mmshooter wrote in post #17980183
Yes I am!

Excellent; that fits! ߘ
I have a running theory that Nikon ergos/UI was designed by an Engineer and Canon's by an Artist/Designer. I find that most engineering/math/logic folks I know prefer Nikon controls and creative/intuitive folks prefer Canon.

Sample:
Nikon: EC: Dial turns right to DEcrease exposure by closing down the iris; scale goes negative (righty-tighty ; lefty-loosy)

Canon: EC: Dial turns right to INcrease exposure by opening up the iris of the aperture; scale goes positive (you count up to greater numbers == brighter)

Nikon logic based on "what you're doing with the camera.

Canon logic based on the effect you're having on the image.

To be honest i go both ways, I like the Nikon ergos too and it doesnt take long for me to adjust one way or the other.. The hardest "adjustment" i had to make on a cameras was the GX8's focus by wire system and how it works... once i adjusted i find it works splendid To me good design is not having to pause and think about what you want to do.. you "want" to do something and your body naturally knows the commands to accomplish that task

As for what i didnt like on the 5DIII i think its that the body felt bigger.. I tried one again and dont get me wrong, its an amazing camera but it didnt feel "right" in my hand.. the 7DII? I picked it up and everything was "where it was" it took me almost no time to get used to flick the little lever around the joystick to change AF modes and i LOVE that now the 7DII i dont have to hit the focus point selection switch to throw my AF points around the viewfinder.. The metering system also seemed to do better with backlit subjects (Which happens with birds, obviously) a girl in the store was in front of a very brightly lit samsung display, i threw my focus points on her, locked focus and had, as far as i could tell, a burst of 10 perfectly exposed and focused images.. I had it tracking people even if say, a display ended between me and them, i tried the 18-135 STM AND the 70-200 f/2.8L IS II (I felt this was probubly one of the best AF lenses Canon has in its lineup) and both did a superb job.. It made my 7D feel lethargic which is something I can't say I've ever felt

And yeah i toyed with getting the D500..but its a lot more money and i cant see a lot of what it adds capability wise (Consider about $3k for the kit which id want because the 16-80 is nice, This makes the D500 investment twice the price, $1500 buys me another very nice lens to go on my superb 7D II that i can likely take just as nice, if not better, images with)

If you like the 7D, the 7D2 is just better in all ways. With the better JPG engine alone, OOC images are very good.

ISO 4000 direct from the camera, no post processing...

ISO 12800 needs work though, this is OOC, but you would really want to shoot raw and process accordingly. ISO 6400 is good though with minimal work.

It's easy.....buy the 5dmk3.

You'll have fast AF, clean high iso images and it's a full frame like the 6d. The banding in shadows is not that bad. If you like the GX8 images the 5dmk3 is a massive jump in IQ from the 20mpx M43 body.

If you said your into BIF, sports and hardcore fast action photography I'd say buy the 7dmk2 and compromise in the higher ISO performance of the 6d(slower af) or 5dmk3.

The 80D makes alot of sense for me because it has better video capabilities than the 7dmk2 for my family documentation. The 80D has less fps but for kids sports it will be adequate. Better shadow recovery with the new 80D sensor. The 80D is less capable in tracking to the 7dmk2 but it's more of a general universal body. I still think Fuji crop sensor images are more pleasing than Canon crop sensors but I guess that all depends on the lenses you use too.

At the end of the day a 7dmk2, 80D will be great on print. For pixel peepers the 6d for slow moving subjects will satisfies that nasty habit

Like anything as you get accustomed to the camera body you can shoot anything with relative ease. The ergonomics of your gx8 isn't that great if you compare it to an aging Olympus E-m1 or even a panny G7. If anything I find the 70d/80D to be much more manageable in functionality. Yes the 7dmk2 has a "joy"stick so it's more intuitive.

If I blindly walked into my local favourite camera store I could walk out with a 7dmk2 or 80D and I'd be happy. Image quality wise and my shooting style I would still have preference to my aging 5dmk2 over a crop sensor. Strangely I have preference to my fuji files over a Canon crop sensor. An 80D would meet my needs in "non hunting" 1080 video and built in "1.6 TC" crop factor with excellent shadow recovery.