Would you still buy a 7D if the price was right?

Ok, I own a 5DIII and 1DX but I'm looking for a camera to upgrade my son (he's been using an old XTi I had) and when I had a 7D I really liked it. So I've definitely been leaning toward getting him a lightly used 7D I've found (mint shape with ~7100 clicks).

There have been a lot around at prices from $650 to $750 depending on their use. This one seems like a good deal at $700 given its great physical shape and lowish usage. At this type of price range would you look to anything else? It will be Canon so he can borrow my lenses and use the ones he's "borrowed" from me already. He's not a kid. (Don't want to admit my age but he's in his early 30's). He and his new wife are saving for house and wanted to get him something he could get some milage out of.

He loves to shoot his Rugby matches so a reasonable auto focus system and relative good frame rate would be a big help to him compared to what he's shooting with now. He's not a landscape shooter so I think APS-C is just great for his usages.

I've seen a 70D for a couple of hundred more. Haven't really considered looking at the 60D. On the Canon Refurbished site is in only $460.79 where the 70D I now see is only $767.36. Its interesting since in the used market the 7D is less than the 70D by $100 to $200. For the 7D Canon Refurbished want $959.36.

I now the 7D is 5 year old design but it still seams like a tried and true performer. Like to get your thoughts.

Thanks,

Steve

I think the 7D is very slightly still a better camera than the 70D, but for about the same price I would rather have a warranty in a refurb 70D over a used 7D. Looking at your gear list, it doesn't seem you are hurting for money. Why not just get him a 7D2?

I'm not getting a 7D Mark II for the following reason. As I said this is for my son who is recently married and savings for a house. Given the choice between a 7D or 70D and $1000 in his pocket and a 7D II he can put the cash to better use and still enjoy an upgrade to support is Rugby shooting

swldstn wrote in post #17232481
I'm not getting a 7D Mark II for the following reason. As I said this is for my son who is recently married and savings for a house. Given the choice between a 7D or 70D and $1000 in his pocket and a 7D II he can put the cash to better use and still enjoy an upgrade to support is Rugby shooting

Fair enough. If the primary focus is action Rubgy shooting, the 7D offers expansion AF mode, one frame per second more, a 100% view finder, a joystick, keeps CF cards if you already have a collection, and IMO a more comfortable grip. The 70D is probably better in the other aspects though.

For my child (Daughter in my case) yes.
As a 5D3 and 1D4 owner, like you with your 5D3 and 1Dx, not for myself.

And yet the 7D2 does have me very interested!

I do portraits for the most part I use my full frame cameras. Ive kept my 40D for times when I want to do stuff where the reach of a crop might assist. Ive been pondering picking up a different camera for that role and both the 7D or 1D3 are candidates. So yes, if the price is right I would definitely get a 7D.

I would definitely consider a 7D. It is a great camera.

I'm thinking I may buy the 7DmkII at some point to be a second crop camera for my 5DIII. The 7D2 looks to be just the right tipping point for high ISO and AF to compliment the 5D3 (no, it can't be as good IQ as a FF...but it's getting close). If the 7D is meant to be soley used, I think it's still quite a capable camera. If your son gets into photography and eventually wants to upgrade, the 7D's interface is also closer to the 5D/1D

7D but hopefully he has a decent telephoto lens to go with it.

I'm going to hang on to my 7D and wait for the 7D Mark III.

Heya,

At this point, probably not (referring to the 7D) (at least for me). The slight edge in ISO, and the WiFi and MFA are big selling points as features that differentiate the two significantly if priced very close, which they are fairly closely priced these days, referring to the 7D vs the 70D.

I would buy a 7D if it were in good shape and close to $500.

But at $800 tier, I'd rather get a 70D at this point.

Buying a 7D means you're after it's AF system and it's FPS. If you don't need the most robust AF system for the price range, or the highest FPS, without going into an older 1D series camera, then you don't need the 7D and any other camera with the features you want in this range will suite fine. A lot of what makes the 7D good is the AF system.

Very best,

7d and 70d are the same price refurbished. Which would you get if you wanted a camera to pair with 300 2.8 and 2xtc for wildlife

I would definitely grab a 7D, starting to do a bit more sports now so yes , locally here i see them very cheap now

I'm keeping my 7D for a while.

Hi Steve,

I'll be shooting with my pair of 7Ds for a little while longer too.... At least until the dust settles from the initial rollout of the 7DIIs. Then I'll be upgrading to a pair of those, since my five year old 7Ds now have upwards of 100,000 clicks apiece (though they're going strong).

The 7D is still a great camera. Fast focusing, 19 AF points all of which are "cross type", up to 8fps (it does slow for metering though, when using any auto exposure modes), 100% viewfinder, built like a tank (almost exactly the same size and weight as your 5DIII, in fact). It takes some getting used to the active matrix AF screen (as you probably know since both your cameras have it too).

7D is really designed with sports photography in mind, so should be great for rugby (quick focusing lenses may be needed, to fully complement the camera's capabilities... I mostly only use USM and many of them are f2.8 or faster).

Do be aware, though, that the 7D is a much different animal than the XTi he's been using. The 7D is more pro-oriented with a lot less "support" for less experiences users. For example, you won't find any of the "scene modes" on the dial ("running man" for sports, etc.). Instead you'll find three user programmable "C" modes (60D has one "C" mode, in comparison, as well as a full array of the "scene modes", more similar to the XTi). 7D is far less a "snapshooter's" camera, was the most pro-oriented APS-C model Canon has offered, until the 7DII (70D is a bit ahead of 7D in some respects, but a bit behind it in others). 7D uses a lot of 1D-series "trickle down" technology.

I'm sure your son would enjoy either. 60D would be a very solid upgrade from XTi in many respects, yet still familiar in some ways. 7D would be a more substantial upgrade, probably less familiar feeling with a bit longer learning curve to truly master it.