Did you upgrade from a 7D to a 7D2? Satisfied?

I'd like to hear from anyone who has upgraded from a 7D to a 7D2. I'm especially interested in your experiences with image quality. I recently purchased the 7D2 and have not seen much, if any, improvement, and in fact most comparison shots seem more vivid and sharp on the 7D. (I shoot RAW and import my photos into Lightroom 5.7). I'm trying to decide whether to return the 7D2 and stick with my trusty 7D. Another option would be to try another 7D2 body if others who have made the same switch are happy.

Thanks!

No, and yes i sent mine back.

Yes, I upgraded and, so far, I'm very satisfied. Images are sharper and focusing is much more accurate for me. The high ISO performance is very nice, as well. (While not necessarily a lot less noise, it is "clean" noise that doesn't look bad.) I have to admit I haven't had enough time with my 7D II to really review it but, so far, I'm satisfied. I plan to post some more as I get opportunities to put it to use.

I love the new 7D because it will autofocus at f/8. I use the 100-400mm a lot, and now I'm finding the 1.4XIII is always mounted too. Makes for a great combo for birds and other critters.

I don't do much critical work where an IQ improvement would be evident, so it's hard to comment on that part. A few years ago I upgraded from the 40D to 7D and also didn't notice much of a change in IQ. But I did notice a few months later that my keeper rate had improved.

Archibald wrote in post #17362175
I love the new 7D because it will autofocus at f/8. I use the 100-400mm a lot, and now I'm finding the 1.4XIII is always mounted too. Makes for a great combo for birds and other critters.

That is probably the feature that will get me to upgrade my 7D eventually. While 400mm on a crop body is long enough for me most of the time for the wildlife I shoot, there are occasions where some more reach would be helpful. I am upgrading the 100-400L first, though.

Archibald wrote in post #17362175
I love the new 7D because it will autofocus at f/8. I use the 100-400mm a lot, and now I'm finding the 1.4XIII is always mounted too. Makes for a great combo for birds and other critters.

I used to use the 7D in my kit with the 5D3 but I dropped the 7D because of its lack of F/8 focus. As soon as I get a good deal on the 7D2 I'm going to jump on it.

I have been very pleased with the upgrade although I have not had enough time to really test everything. I wanted the improved focus and I am getting what I wanted. I have used it on a U9 baseball game (we are different in So California) with a 70-200 2.8 IS II trying different settings. I could never get comfortable with the 7D in zone focus modes but the new camera excelled with zone focus. I tried it with a 300mm 4.0 IS on birds and was very pleased and had similar results. It focused the 300 faster than the 7D. I am finding a huge learning curve including Lightroom. I shoot RAW and use presets on import. I need to redo these to get the files back to what I want. I also had a chance to shot butterflies in a grove with bright and dark. I tried A ISO and was pleased. A ISO was a frustration for me with the 7D. I went from a 30D to a 50D to the 7D. The 30D and the 50D took the sharpest chain-link fence pictures at every baseball game. I made a 20X30 print of a cropped BIF picture last week, focus and detail were great.
Richard

SteveHS wrote in post #17362063
I'd like to hear from anyone who has upgraded from a 7D to a 7D2. I'm especially interested in your experiences with image quality. I recently purchased the 7D2 and have not seen much, if any, improvement, and in fact most comparison shots seem more vivid and sharp on the 7D. (I shoot RAW and import my photos into Lightroom 5.7). I'm trying to decide whether to return the 7D2 and stick with my trusty 7D. Another option would be to try another 7D2 body if others who have made the same switch are happy.

I have found the 7D2 to be much better in many ways, and worse in no way. AF is more consistent, and faster, and works in darker light and with higher f-stops. The 7D2s "Spot AF" is awesome - I can pick out a small bird in a bush with the Tamron at 600mm when there are branches or leaves right next to it; virtually impossible with the 7D. The 7D2 lacks the vertical banding noise of the 7D at low ISOs, and has less and much finer noise at high ISOs and lacks the salt-and-pepper outlier pixels of the 7D. EC with manual mode is great; it keeps me from having to switch from M to Av. There are other benefits; I just can't remember them now.

Archibald wrote in post #17362175
I love the new 7D because it will autofocus at f/8. I use the 100-400mm a lot, and now I'm finding the 1.4XIII is always mounted too. Makes for a great combo for birds and other critters.

I don't do much critical work where an IQ improvement would be evident, so it's hard to comment on that part. A few years ago I upgraded from the 40D to 7D and also didn't notice much of a change in IQ. But I did notice a few months later that my keeper rate had improved.

Curious about the bolded, I have a 7D about 2 weeks old. Wondering what is this issue?

shutterguy wrote in post #17362543
Curious about the bolded, I have a 7D about 2 weeks old. Wondering what is this issue?

The 7D2 will autofocus with a maximum aperture of F/8 so you could, for instance, use a 1.4xTC and a F/5.6 lens together and still autofocus reliably. The 7D can autofocus with a maximum aperture of F/5.6. There are workarounds for the 7D but they aren't really all that reliable in my experience.

nqjudo wrote in post #17362565
The 7D2 will autofocus with a maximum aperture of F/8 so you could, for instance, use a 1.4xTC and a F/5.6 lens together and still autofocus reliably. The 7D can autofocus with a maximum aperture of F/5.6. There are workarounds for the 7D but they aren't really all that reliable in my experience.

Ok, so if I don't use TC's I should be ok. The longest lens I've used is the 100-400mm by itself.

shutterguy wrote in post #17362583
Ok, so if I don't use TC's I should be ok. The longest lens I've used is the 100-400mm by itself.

Oh yeah. No problem for AF there.

Very pleased with the 7D MK II! Haven't had time to do all the things I'd like... The ISO performance is very much improved. Nice not to be nailed to the wall all the time. I was shooting at ISO 1600 with very little noise.
Still need to micro-adjust all my glass.
No problems with focus.

I upgraded to 7D Mark II, from 7D, though also by way 70D, an interim camera. My twin 7D cameras at the time, about 5 years back, replaced 1D Mark III cameras.

Love the 7D Mark II! I am so used to the very much greater AF coverage in the frame that going back to the 70D is hard, and the 7D feels primitive. The new AF system is very responsive, which is necessary for fast action fotos. My main subject is bellydancers, who move very quickly, I have to have a camera fast enough to use unconsciously.

I find the low-light high-ISO image quality about 2/3 to 1 stop better than 7D, and seem a bit cleaner than the 70D. Referring here to dark noise, mainly. I have also used all three types of cameras for astrophotography. Lunar fotos without using Cine picture styles on the 7D Mark II are as clean as with a Cine style on the 70D. I have to upgrade some software to be able to load picture styles on the new 7D Mark II. Picture styles are very powerful way to manipulate tonal response on Canon EOS cameras. Seeing the improvements on both 7D and 70D using picture styles, I now suspect a Cine picture style on the 7D Mark II will offer truly mind-blowing results.

The faster AF and frame-rate is noticeable. Other features packed in from 1D series cameras like the silent shutter mode are really important for taxim or other quiet moments in belly dance shows. The 100% viewfinder matters to me. The 7D Mark II retains all the technical capability of both 7D and 70D, plus extracts all the features I had with 1D cameras, like dual media slots.

The 7D Mark II does use more power than the 7D or 70D. All day foto shoots in the studio have more battery drain for sure, so more backup batteries are required for work. Not a huge inconvenience.

I am so satisified I'll eventually get a 2nd 7D Mark II body. I particularly like the APS-C system, the EF-S lenses are awesome, and the format is more favorable to glamour applications.

I will otherwise repurpose my 7D cameras with Magic Lantern, esp. for experimental film work, when this software is no longer in beta on the 7D.