Canon 1D mark iv vs 7D mark ii for college sports

Hi, I'm a college sports photographer looking to add a second body to my camera bag. I currently have a 70D, Tamron 70-200 f2.8, and sigma 17-50 f2.8. I was thinking either the 1D mark iv or the 7D mark ii as they both have 10 fps burst, good AF, and can be found for around $1,500. My concerns are that the 1D is getting rather old but the 1.3 crop would be better for sports like basketball and tennis for poor light and since I can get closer. The pro of the 7D would be that it has a 1.6 crop so for sports like football and baseball I can get closer to the action and I think the AF system is better.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

EDIT: Also the 1D has better battery life and I think is more durable but could be wrong (like water resistant).

I have a 7D2 with the 70-200 2.8 IS II attached always for sports and concerts. The 7D2 is sharp and fast and better than the 7D, which I still have and have my 17-40 attached. I think you would be saving some money to get the 7D2 and you will see a big difference just in the viewfinder. It's huge and you can definitely see what you are getting in the shot.

How's the battery on the 7D2 and what sports do you shoot?

Not bad. I always have 2 spares around. I buy the non-Canon brand because they are just as good or better and cheaper. I charge them all up. I think one battery can last a whole sports event, but I never let the battery go all the way to one bar. I like having power all the time. I have never had too much trouble, maybe only in cold weather, but all the cameras suffer from that.

ayattoni wrote in post #17942547
Hi, I'm a college sports photographer looking to add a second body to my camera bag. I currently have a 70D, Tamron 70-200 f2.8, and sigma 17-50 f2.8. I was thinking either the 1D mark iv or the 7D mark ii as they both have 10 fps burst, good AF, and can be found for around $1,500. My concerns are that the 1D is getting rather old but the 1.3 crop would be better for sports like basketball and tennis for poor light and since I can get closer. The pro of the 7D would be that it has a 1.6 crop so for sports like football and baseball I can get closer to the action and I think the AF system is better.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

EDIT: Also the 1D has better battery life and I think is more durable but could be wrong (like water resistant).

The performance and end product you will get from the 1Div vs the 7Dii will be so similar, it really comes down to other things like:

--Do you want the big 1D body? The superior handling?
--Do you want great protection in the elements vs supreme protection?
--Is the smaller crop factor a plus for indoor sports? Will it keep the body from being your field sports workhorse due to lack of reach with your 70-200?

The 7Dii will do everything you need it to do and more. It will take the abuse of a sideline just fine, and then some.

If you do a search in this forum you will see that this has been discussed over and over again, 1d4 or 7d2???.....There are so many "for's and against". I am in a Wildlife camera club and I know at least 5 members that have gone from the 7d2 to the 1d4. I myself have used both bodies and much prefer the 1d4. I use mine mostly for Bird photography and motorsport/motorcross photography and the occasional airshow using it with a Canon 500f/4 and 200/f2 as well as the 400 DO lens. It never lets me down, I always get the shot, The AF is excellent and my keeper rate is really high. It maybe a 7 yr old body but there's not much out there that can touch it in my view.

The 7D2 is better at low light acquisition than the 1D4, the 1D4 is actually not that great at low light. However I suspect college ball won't be all that low light, so that won't really be an issue. Both are very similar in AF and ISO performance. Both have similar builds as well.

Here is 12800 from nearly a 100% crop from my 7D2 (I used to shoot with a 1D4), the left is direct from raw, and the right is post processed. The final 8x10 deliverable follows that.

Here is one of hundreds if not thousands of high ISO shots from my 7D2.

On my 7D2 - two days of horse show, 2000+ images, went thru one canon and two off brand batteries the first day, one and a half the second, in AI servo at high ISO. Just switch out when I need to, keep a spare card and battery in my pocket, have them charging over on the side. the off brand was wasabi, but to be honest I think I had better luck with STK or another off brand but I really can't complain when the price was like 15 a battery. When shooting in one shot mode, I can go a whole day on a canon battery, pretty much. 4-500 shots.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #17946378
Here is one of hundreds if not thousands of high ISO shots from my 7D2.

Hosted photo: posted by TeamSpeed in
./showthread.php?p=179​46378&i=i224386243
forum: Camera Vs. Camera

I reckon you shot RAW and had plenty of time at home to fix it?

These days, I shoot jpg now, and simply used noiseware for noise, then USM for sharpening and contrast. Out of about 300 images on average from the game after weeding out the bad ones during the downtimes, I use the raw files for about 5% of them. If I want the best from a file, I will edit the raw to decrease the effects of sharpening, nr, and contrast, then run the jpg through the same 4-5 filters, like USM, noiseware, saturation, etc. Takes about 30 sec.

Actually the 1dIV is a little better at high ISO than the 7DMKII and to me the j-pegs are a little nicer,However it is 7years old and the 7DMKII has some features that the 1dMKIV doesn't (Anti-Flicker,-3 EV focussing,just to name 2)those 2 alone features along with being newer the 7dMKII would be my pick.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #17946374
The 7D2 is better at low light acquisition than the 1D4, the 1D4 is actually not that great at low light. However I suspect college ball won't be all that low light, so that won't really be an issue. Both are very similar in AF and ISO performance. Both have similar builds as well.

Here is 12800 from nearly a 100% crop from my 7D2 (I used to shoot with a 1D4), the left is direct from raw, and the right is post processed. The final 8x10 deliverable follows that.

Hosted photo: posted by TeamSpeed in
./showthread.php?p=179​46374&i=i40039552
forum: Camera Vs. Camera

Hosted photo: posted by TeamSpeed in
./showthread.php?p=179​46374&i=i82486456
forum: Camera Vs. Camera

Do you have any similar pictures taken on the 1D4 to show to difference?

Thanks

They are quite close, but I will have to dig around for my 1D4. I haven't shot with it in a couple years now, and will have to dig into my NAS for those files for the raws, so I can process them identically to the 7D2 for a fairer comparison.

according to this site:

DR range comparison, click each on the menu on the right

1DIV and 7D2 are so close it is identical, for practical purposes.
80D is too, except the low iso, where it is a substantial improvement.