Canon 7d mk ii, why so many for sale

6 weeks ago I had the dilemma of choosing a replacement crop body for my 7d. I was very fortunate to be able to borrow for the day a 1d4 & 7dII both mint condition used bodies. The 1d4 was £150 more. What surprised me was that I had all three lined up on the kitchen table. The very first test I done was to turn them on at the same time. To my amazement the 7d2 was the slowest even the old 7d was faster to turn on. I then connected a 24-70L (II) to each in turn focusing on objects in the kitchen and out the window. The 7d2 appeared to have more shutter lag. The 7d again was faster. Why would 2 old camera bodies be slower than the very latest model???.

EnglishBob wrote in post #17658666
I'm involved with a few camera clubs, in each there are a few "gear heads" They seem to buy a new camera every few months, sell that, buy the next etc. Heck I know one guy who just bought his second 5DIII, after selling the first a year or two back.

Some of them have enough funds to buy it, check it out, let it go for a loss a few months later.

I'm a "gear head"

I love the bodies and lenses as much as, if not more so than the pictures themselves,

I have no shame in admitting this.

The 7d2 has less shutter lag than the 7d, and is specd with the 1d series. I am not sure how you were measuring shutter lag, but it is a published spec. If you were measuring focus time, there are settings for how focus behaves that might be at play, like the priority settings.
http://www.the-digital-picture.com …Canon-EOS-7D-Mark-II.aspx

PCousins wrote in post #17731896
6 weeks ago I had the dilemma of choosing a replacement crop body for my 7d. I was very fortunate to be able to borrow for the day a 1d4 & 7dII both mint condition used bodies. The 1d4 was £150 more. What surprised me was that I had all three lined up on the kitchen table. The very first test I done was to turn them on at the same time. To my amazement the 7d2 was the slowest even the old 7d was faster to turn on. I then connected a 24-70L (II) to each in turn focusing on objects in the kitchen and out the window. The 7d2 appeared to have more shutter lag. The 7d again was faster. Why would 2 old camera bodies be slower than the very latest model???.

Shutter lag is a delay between pressing the shutter release fully and the actual recording of the image. This is annoyingly noticeable with many P&S cameras, but I have never noticed it with five different Canon DSLR bodies, including the 7DII. Are you referring to the time it took to obtain focus? I had a 7D previously, and if there is a difference between the two in this regard I never noticed it. Are all of the bodies in the same focusing configuration? This is probably the issue, I'd bet.

As far as boot-up time goes, the 7DII just might have more to do when it is turned on. I am not sure exactly how you are determining how long this process takes, but a more advanced machine might be expected to take a bit longer to get started. Unless you are powering it down in the middle of shoots, I can't imagine it would make any practical difference.

Yes the 3 bodies were in the same focusing configuration with same lens, (M) ISO 100, f2.8 can not remember speed......I've just googled this and found some figures .....

Shutter lag
7d - 171ms
7d2 - 249ms
1d4 - 104ms

Start-Up delay
7d - 400ms
7d2 - 500ms
1d4 - 400ms

I'm sure you are right that as far as boot-up time goes, the 7d2 has more to do, and yes I agree it makes virtually no practical difference. It was just the initial observation I made when comparing the 3 bodies side by side. The 7d2 just appeared to be slower.

You could detect a 100 ms difference in startup time? I'm impressed!

pknight wrote in post #17732805
You could detect a 100 ms difference in startup time? I'm impressed!

Actually, mine takes a second and a half to start up. It probably has much to do with the features and options one chooses.

These are not accurate numbers. There have been other threads discussing it. 7dii is quite fast, Google the thread it has extensive explanation.
It is no slower.

Yeah there are some incorrect numbers regarding 7D2 shutter lag on the various camera test sites out there. I was victim of the same numbers several months back.

gschlact wrote in post #17732912
These are not accurate numbers. There have been other threads discussing it. 7dii is quite fast, Google the thread it has extensive explanation.
It is no slower.

OK maybe the site I got the figures from is incorrect but I had the 3 bodies in question side by side. It was an initial observation, I did the tests several times with help from my 20yr old son. The 7d2 was the slowest, however, it was barely noticeable. I have no reason to lie after all I still think the 7d2 is miles ahead of the 1d4 & 7d.

PCousins wrote in post #17733848
OK maybe the site I got the figures from is incorrect but I had the 3 bodies in question side by side. It was an initial observation, I did the tests several times with help from my 20yr old son. The 7d2 was the slowest, however, it was barely noticeable. I have no reason to lie after all I still think the 7d2 is miles ahead of the 1d4 & 7d.

The big question here is that shutter lag is defined as XXms, so we are unsure how you are able to discern a 10 or 20ms difference between cameras without specialized equipment. Most likely again, the 7D2 has different AF/AI Servo settings that control how long AF takes and how responsive the shutter button is, and unless you understand those settings and set them all up on the different bodies to behave similarly, a) your assessment of just a small number of milliseconds is not very scientific and b) your behavior between bodies is due to settings, not the body performance itself.

In any case, any perceived difference in startup and shutter lag in the 7D2 vs others is highly unlikely to be a reason for why people sell 7D2s.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #17733969
Most likely again, the 7D2 has different AF/AI Servo settings that control how long AF takes and how responsive the shutter button is

Indeed. I think it would take quite a bit of effort to set these three AF systems up to actually be operating identically, and I'm not 100% certain that it could be done.