HELP!! 70D vs 7D, which to buy!

The 70D has a fully interactive viewfinder, and in fact it has a dedicated level display in the viewfinder that the 7D does not have. Dual axis levels I have never understood, how often do you shoot a shot that is level front to back? The horizon level is great, but front to back? You would be taking a perfectly square shot. That is just not something you do very often.

Not sure where you are getting your information from. The 70D is a 20.2MP sensor, it has full time AF during video which the 7D will not do, and it has an interactive viewfinder just like the 7D. It kicks out better jpegs straight out of the camera. It also has the new generation MFA that can save more lenses and can have settings for both ends of a zoom lens.

To me, the decision was pretty easy, for what I use my camera for and for what I wanted it to do, the 70D was the better choice.

Both are excellent and you can't really go wrong with either, both cameras have their fan camps.

Kylon wrote in post #16304981
Thanks people I have made up my mind, the 7D, on big reason is the view finder 100% and view finder display and dual axis level and stuff.

Its a pro camera and pro controls give me the precise control to get the focus and setting I need to take great shots.

When you start doing sports and action photography you'll be even happier you chose the 7D. Take some time and learn the autofocus system, and look up TeamSpeed's awesome thread on minimizing high ISO noise in the 7D to make a great camera's pictures even better: 7d High ISO Mini-Review

7D * Stills
70D * Video

Kylon wrote in post #16304981
Its a pro camera and pro controls give me the precise control to get the focus and setting I need to take great shots.

The 7D is not a pro camera.

Other than the ability to shoot 14-bit raw video via magic lantern, the 70D is superior to the 7D in every meaningful way. Give it a year and you'll wish you'd either waited for the 7dII or gone with the 70D in the first place.

For your entertainment, Digital Rev has a video up comparing the 70D and the 7D. Here is the link.

http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=WHhvvN4_RTk

juckerz wrote in post #16305460
The 7D is not a pro camera.

Considering I see pro's running arond with (old!) Rebels and amateurs at the Zoo with 1D camera's I see no reason whatsoever not to call the 7D a pro camera.

i would take 70D over a 7D anytime, regarding taking stills (pur image IQ and capturing).

sure the 7D has better control layout (bigger back wheel, joystick),better body and 2 additional important AF modes, however its been said, that 70D has a more responsive AF focus lock (7D owners say this is a "problem" with their camera), atleast as good focus tracking, IQ should be a tad better, so is the ISO department and sharpness on JPEG. 7D's JPEGs are soft. buffer on 70D is more than OK, especially with the UHS-1 Sandisk 95MB/s, is higher than 16RAW/65JPEGS claimed from Canon. 98% vs 100% VF coverage is really negligible.

Varago wrote in post #16305021
If I was you I do a little research on the low iso noise that the 7D has that the 70D does not have

This answers your question

TeamSpeed wrote in post #16304723
I have yet to see any side by side exact exposure comparison shots between these two that show in raw (not in camera jpg) that the 70D is noticeably better in ISO. The samples I pulled shows that the 70D actually has a bit more luminescent noise than the 7D, but a bit more detail. The resolution difference is negligible as well, not the 24 vs 18 that you call out in the OP.

I think really the differentiator will be more around feature and movie/live view modes than anything IQ wise for stills.

For me it would be a difficult choice of ergonomics. I love the flippy screen of my 60D for lots of reasons (latest was making videos with the camera at the maximum height of my tripod - around 2.2 m - when the screen made framing much easier). But I also hate the silly inner-ring navigation - the 7D's joystick is just so much easier to use.

What I want is a combination of the two - which is why I'm really hoping the 7D MKII has the split-focus and flippy screen of the 70D and the joystick of the 7D (as well as significantly improved DR, noise, etc.)

hollis_f wrote in post #16305861
....which is why I'm really hoping the 7D MKII has the split-focus and flippy screen of the 70D and the joystick of the 7D (as well as significantly improved DR, noise, etc.)

I don't think there'll be a 7DII...

Never underestimate the value of good AF. A picture that is well focused will always be better than an out of focus one taken by even the most expensive DSLR with a much better sensor much better ISO performance and much better DR. I realized that when I switched from 5DII to 5DIII ... the AF alone was worth the switch. If the 70D AF is as good as Canon is saying, it is a no brainer.