70D to 80D is it worth the upgrade?

Friend of mine asked me if it's worth the upgrade? They take all types photos from family pics to landscape. Looking at the specs I don't think it's worth it at this time. Any input?

I just did this and I think it is. I was not happy with the photos I was getting out of the 70D. They just weren't as good as I had been getting from my 30D. A lot of bad focus/missed focus. I would get a good photo, every once in a while and I've seen people posting great photos from the 70D. At first I thought it was me, needing to learn the new technology of the 70D or getting older and can't hold the camera still enough. Went to a class at a camera store. Then I thought maybe it was the older lenses, so I upgraded to some better ones, but something was/is still off. It was very frustrating and I debated on and off about the 80D. I finally got it and so far it is amazingly better than my 70D. Now I need to see if there is anything that can be done to get the 70D to perform better.

MadMadge wrote in post #18052198
I just did this and I think it is. I was not happy with the photos I was getting out of the 70D. They just weren't as good as I had been getting from my 30D. A lot of bad focus/missed focus. I would get a good photo, every once in a while and I've seen people posting great photos from the 70D. At first I thought it was me, needing to learn the new technology of the 70D or getting older and can't hold the camera still enough. Went to a class at a camera store. Then I thought maybe it was the older lenses, so I upgraded to some better ones, but something was/is still off. It was very frustrating and I debated on and off about the 80D. I finally got it and so far it is amazingly better than my 70D. Now I need to see if there is anything that can be done to get the 70D to perform better.

It's funny how that happens sometimes. I had the exact same experience but my lemon was the 40D. It was the most frustrating camera I have ever owned. I just could not get a decent pic from it unless I did everything manually, focus, exposure, WB, everything. I preferred shooting with an old XTi because it delivered better pictures. I considered switching to Nikon I was so frustrated but decided to upgrade to the 50D and was so happy I did. All of the problems went away.

In my opinion and experience (40D > 50D), single generation upgrades on crop bodies don't really matter that much. There's just not enough time in between upgrades to make them worthwhile. When you skip generations, however, could be a much better benefit.

Your friend is better off using the 70D, growing older and wiser with it, and saving the money for a future 90D or, better yet, a current 7D (assuming a preference for crop bodies).

Lemons aside.

MadMadge wrote in post #18052198
I just did this and I think it is. I was not happy with the photos I was getting out of the 70D. They just weren't as good as I had been getting from my 30D. A lot of bad focus/missed focus. I would get a good photo, every once in a while and I've seen people posting great photos from the 70D. At first I thought it was me, needing to learn the new technology of the 70D or getting older and can't hold the camera still enough. Went to a class at a camera store. Then I thought maybe it was the older lenses, so I upgraded to some better ones, but something was/is still off. It was very frustrating and I debated on and off about the 80D. I finally got it and so far it is amazingly better than my 70D. Now I need to see if there is anything that can be done to get the 70D to perform better.

My 30D may have been one of my favourites. There was something special about that vintage.

Nathan wrote in post #18052226
In my opinion and experience (40D > 50D), single generation upgrades on crop bodies don't really matter that much. There's just not enough time in between upgrades to make them worthwhile. When you skip generations, however, could be a much better benefit.
...

THis is true except when a feature is introduced that is a true game changer. This was definitely true of the 40 to 50 upgrade. With the introduction if MFA, no longer did you have to send lenses back to Canon with the hopes that they might actually do something but you could yourself insure that the lens is perfectly matched to the body. The 30 to 40 upgrade also had the introduction of LV and self cleaning also game changing features. But since the 50, all the features have been improvement to existing ones making the 50 to 60 upgrade pretty worthless and even the 60 to 70 not that spectacular.

As several have said, I think that a 1 generation upgrade is usually not worth it. I just bought an 80D as an upgrade to my 60D. But note that I skipped the 70D. So if I were you, I'd wait for the 90D (might be awhile, for sure!).

The sensor in the 80D appears to be a definite step up over that in the 70D. It appears to offer better low ISO DR and better high ISO noise characteristics.

Yes, I agree. Those are some of the reasons I upgraded from my 60D to the 80D. There absolutely comes a point where the accumulated improvements in a model will tip the balance as far as if it is worth it to spend the money for the upgrade. However, the question is whether these improvements are worth it (bucks-wise) to a 70D owner. Naturally, it depends on how you want to spend your money, etc. But I think it's not enough of an upgrade.

RAH1861 wrote in post #18052530
As several have said, I think that a 1 generation upgrade is usually not worth it. I just bought an 80D as an upgrade to my 60D. But note that I skipped the 70D. So if I were you, I'd wait for the 90D (might be awhile, for sure!).

30d to 5d mark III....a very pleasing jump to say the least....trying to remember what year I got the 30d....I know it was when it first come (pd like 8 or 9 hundred) think 2001 or 2002. Glad I had the 30d, it set a foundation that allowed me to really start to explore and understand photography. VERY VERY FAR from even being a good amatuer but my growth is because of my time with the camera.

drifter106 wrote in post #18053102
30d to 5d mark III....a very pleasing jump to say the least....trying to remember what year I got the 30d....I know it was when it first come (pd like 8 or 9 hundred) think 2001 or 2002. Glad I had the 30d, it set a foundation that allowed me to really start to explore and understand photography. VERY VERY FAR from even being a good amatuer but my growth is because of my time with the camera.

I really liked my 30D. There was something special about that camera. Razor sharp images.

Yes it is worth it. I made the same upgrade.
Depends on what your friends shoots and under what conditions.

gjl711 wrote in post #18052428
THis is true except when a feature is introduced that is a true game changer. This was definitely true of the 40 to 50 upgrade. With the introduction if MFA, no longer did you have to send lenses back to Canon...

I must not have been very good at taking photos back then (maybe not now, even), but after I calibrated my lenses my photos weren't that much better even if there wasn't any front focusing.

In all seriousness, though... I think my largest aperture back then was f2.8. I may have been getting by with minor issues in focusing, but in large part I never really noticed an issue. Therefore, MFA was not a game changer for me. The reason I upgraded from the 40D to 50D was because my apartment was broken into and my camera was stolen.

The biggest difference I noticed between the two bodies was less banding at higher ISOs. That was indeed a good improvement. However, I don't there are those types of issues in image quality between the 70D and 80D - may very well be mistaken, since I stopped following. The only improvement on the 80D over the 70D that would be valuable to me is having 45 AF points.

The question for your friend is whether there's anything particularly attractive about the 80D other than it being newer? To be frank, if you friend needs to ask if the upgrade is worth it, then I'm strongly led to believe that an upgrade is not needed. What does your friend have in terms of lenses? Money is probably better spent there for image quality.

Actually, there is one improvement over the 70d that might make a big difference for wildlife photographers - it retains autofocus with an f8 lens. What this means is that users of the 400mm 5.6L lens can use a Canon 1.4 teleconverter and still have AF, without pin taping and other tricks.

I bought a Canon 1.4 Mark II used fron KEH and it works great with the 80d plus 400mm. Much better IQ than with my old Kenko DGX tc, IMHO.

Heya,

Depends on the user.

The 80D has a few significant features that may be of interest. To me, the biggest being the AF sensitivity, going to -3 EV while the 70D is much less sensitive than that. The 80D simply will grab and hold focus better in lower light, faster and more accurately. There are other features that are only the same, or slightly better, or new properties, but ultimately I think the AF difference is the big one. If the difference of selling a 70D and getting a refurb 80D is only a marginal amount, I'd do it just for that.

Very best,