7D2 or 80D with 100-400 II for Alaska

I’m planning a summer trip to coastal and interior Alaska and want to pick up a Canon crop-sensor to use with the Canon EF 100-400 IS II lens + Canon 1.4x III teleconverter for wildlife, eagles, etc.

I am having trouble deciding between the 7D2 and 80D for this trip. I’ve been wanting to buy a crop sensor and this trip is a good excuse to pick one up, just can’t decide which one would be better for the trip.

I will also be taking a 5D4 w/ EF 16-35/f4 and a EF 24-105/f4 to round out the wide/normal range.

The 70-200 f4 IS will probably stay home since I’m planning to make the crop-sensor body a dedicated telephoto setup with the 100-400 lens.

Any ideas? Anything I’m missing or should be thinking about?

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I have no experience with the 7D I or II but I do own the 60D.

For me I LOVE LOVE LOVE the articulating LCD screen on the 60D which the 80D also has, but the 7D's do not have.

I would buy the one with the articulating screen, the 80D.

They are very close to each other in regards to IQ. The 7D2 sports dual cards, 10fps for fast bursts of BIF, better weather sealing, and an upgraded AF system. The 80D sports better low ISO DR (less pushed shadow noise below ISO 800) and has the flip screen.

Just have to decide which of the features are more important to what you shoot.

Thanks for the insight and boiling it down. I like features of both, which makes it a hard choice. Canon needs to hurry up with the 7D3 already!

Well the 80D has better low ISO dynamic range....but I'd be looking at the 7D2 for workflow. The 7D2 is a better companion to the 5D series because it has a similar body/interface. One thing you'll immediately love is that the full AF points will almost cover the whole viewfinder. It's custom functions and overall body is like the 5D4 (or 5D3).

7DII will only AF w/ center point with the 100-400 + 1.4; I *believe* that the 80D will allow more AF points at f/8, I haven't used that one to say for sure, though. Aside from that, I certainly think the 7DII compliments the 5DIV quite nicely; I just received my 5DIV and find that the results between the two are reasonably similar when it comes to processing, other than the 5D really has notably less noise to remove at higher ISOs.

A plus for the 7DII is that the control layout, menus and everything else is almost entirely mirrored between the two bodies, so there's almost no fumbling when switching between bodies on the fly. Those two bodies and the 3 lenses you mention ought to cover you very well up there. Based on my last trip, and the way I tend to try to work, that's actually exactly the loadout I'd be looking at taking my next trip that direction...

What part are you headed for and what type of trip? Pure sightseeing?

In regards to F8 focus with the 7D2, it's not just the center most point. At F8, the center is cross type, but surrounding points are also included. The 80D may include 14 points with F8 focusing (depending on lens setup).

Snydremark wrote in post #18591383
Nope; once you mount the TC the *only* point available is the center point; tried more than once to change 'em out of reflex...won't allow it.

That is incorrect. See excerpt from the manual below. The 100-400II with 1.4X TC is a Group G lens. The center point and adjacent points can be selected. I have this gear and can attest it works as described.

Archibald wrote in post #18591391
That is incorrect. See excerpt from the manual below. The 100-400II with 1.4X TC is a Group G lens. The center point and adjacent points can be selected. I have this gear and can attest it works as described.

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forum: Canon Digital Cameras

My original point remains; however 'off' it may have been worded. You cannot manually choose any af point besides the center point, nor can you move it around in the frame. Even if the expansion points are active, you are limited to either focus and recompose, or focus in center of the frame and crop to composition later. This is still a limitation to the use of the combination that can't be ignored when comparing its merits against another body which offers more flexibility.

The 80D offers 27 *selectable* af points with this same lens combination; 9 cross-type points around and including the center point, and 9 horizontal-sensitive points in the left and right af groups.

Again, I would not personally trade out the 7DII for an 80D just for that update, but it could be a deciding factor when making a choice like this.


If you appear to have different functionality than I've described, please let me know what firmware version is on your body; I'm sitting here with my setup in hand and it works precisely as described above with v1.1.0 installed. I would be curious to know whether there's been an update released since then that changed the way this works.

I believe 7D2 AF at f8 capabilities have now been clarified. (EDIT made a cup of coffee while posting, now 7D2 capabilities still being discussed)

Regarding 80D, with the 100-400II and 1.4TCIII, 27 AF points are available. (Must be V2 lens, V3 TC)

To me, this makes the decision even harder. I think for the majority of shots you will still be cropping. So achieving focus is critical, ability to chose a particular AF point less so. Just centre subject and cropping will allow some composition choice. The 80D will allow far more choice of AF points, if you want to, but the 7D2 makes it much easier to chose alternate AF points, but you have very little choice! What a photundrum.

On the 80D the centre point is Dual cross-type. At f2.8 it is horizontal, vertical, diagonally left and right sensitive.
At f5.6 it is horizontal, vertical.
At f8, you get 27 points. 9 points in the centre cross type.18 outer points horizontal.

Both the 7D2 and 80D's centre point share the same sensitivity: -3.0EV.

If it matters, you can get the 80D body, refurb from Canon, for $815. See my thread at https://photography-on-the.net …showthread.php?​p=18589888. Order it at https://shop.usa.canon​.com …/eos-80d-body-refurbished.

I took 6d with 16-35 and 70d with 100-400 to Alaska a few years ago and it was awesome. Today I would take 5div with 16-35 and 7dii with tc and 100-400. A lot of my trip was wet...rain, boat rides etc. I think weather sealing is an important consideration...as is not having to change lenses

I should add that I got full frame photos of whales with 70d and 100-400 with no tc

Lux

I'll add my opinion since I own all of the gear asked about by the OP; 7D2, 80D, 100-400 II, and the 1.4x TC.

While the 7D2 can only use the center point at f/8, you can choose SPOT AF, SINGLE PT AF, or SINGLE PT with surrounding assist pts. If you are shooting small birds, the 7D2's AF is quicker than the 80D and more precise (repeatable). Using SPOT AF the 7D2 is much better at shooting between branches than the 80D. Above ISO 640 or so, the IQ and DR are almost indistinguishable. At ISO 100, the 80D has the advantage over the 7D2.

The 80D has the advantage of being a bit smaller, a bit lighter, and the touch screen is really nice for quickly adjusting multiple settings and/or reviewing pictures. Also articulates which can help for tripod work.

7D2 has the advantage of control layout IMO, but I come from 40D/7D experience, and a bit with borrowed 5Ds. If you don't come from that lineup, the 80D control layout is just fine.

The 80D can be had for significantly less money; currently a bit over $800 as a refurb. I picked up mine on Black Friday for $680 from Canon, and it came with the plastic fantastic kit 18-55mm lens which has proven to be quite nice in the right light, I use it a lot on my old 40D. I have seen refurbs as low as $650 in January.

Just dropping by to apologize to folks for a combative tone I did not intend and the OP for the slight derail. Sorry guys.

@archibald and/or @russbecker: Would either of you be open to a PM discussing the AF point issue? I am concerned that something is wrong or mis-configured on my system, since it positively does not operate the way you guys are describing. I would like to figure out what the differences may be.

Thank you.