Mini-Review of 7D vs 50D with some JPG OOC (long)

I have done other mini-reviews on lenses, so this is my first on the camera body side. After being frustrated with the chroma banding of the high ISO of the 50D, once I saw what the 7D was offering (and having come off a MKIII prior), I knew this was going to be my next camera (until the 1D MK4/5, whatever comes out). Please read my assessment of the 50D vs the 7D, and at the end of the review is my summary of the ISO performance, as well as two links to smugmug galleries of full-size JPG out of camera as well as post processed versions.

(my poor attempt at a self-portrait using a mirror with the purported 7d contender in hand)

History

I used a 10% ebay coupon and the Bing 8% to purchase the 7D from Profeel (PMI Digital on ebay) this weekend where they had listed the body at list price. I received it Thursday (today), so shipping was actually pretty good, and they kept me updated with status, and even replied to an email I sent pretty quickly. So feedback for this company is good, which I will leave on ebay here shortly.

The 50D I purchased from ebay back in June from somebody that received a new one from Amazon, so I made a pretty good deal on it, and have somewhat enjoyed it, but only as much as one could after having had a MKIII for over a year. Once you go to the 1D series, the cliches are true, you really never want to go back.

Thoughts on the 50D

I enjoy the 50D. I really don't think it is worse than the 40D, the problem is that Canon hyped up the expectations of it before it came out, then the negativity went rampant on it. ISO 3200 is pretty good, in my opinion, 6400 is workable with alot of post processing, and 12800 is about useless, at least on my copy. Again I was a bit spoiled by the MKIII so that didn't help. I have shot 3 band competitions all at ISO 3200 and 6400, all needing post processing, and they came out okay, the parents like the shots. You can see this work on my smugmug gallery if you are curious. The 50D felt good, AF was very good, and all in all, the 50D is a very good camera, especially at the current $800-$900 price point today, given the new LCD and microadjustment capabilities.

Thoughts on the 7D

I like the look of the camera, it has a more professional air about it. Probably due to the chrome accents everywhere, which really aren't needed, but it looks good. Time will tell how well all those accents hold up.

Buttons

I actually like the button placements, I never liked the buttons at the bottom of the LCD when they moved there on the 50D. I DON'T like where they moved the top lcd light button, that is very annoying to me, I liked where it was before. I am not sure I like where the on/off is, it reminds me too much of the rebel series, and I had an XT with a flaky on/off, hopefully this doesn't happen on the 7D. I love how you can redesign what most of the buttons do, I asked for that in the past, and they have delivered. I haven't yet read the manual, but at this point, after having used so many of the Canon's, it almost becomes second nature on where to find everything. I always use a camera for a few days first, then I go back and read the manual, so maybe this is what I will do this weekend.

Menu

The menu is good, if you like the 50D menu, you will be comfortable with the 7D. If you have had a 1D series with all the CF functions, you will also be comfortable with the CF functions here. It is nice to see a bit of the MKIII in the 7D menu structure.

Ergos

Camera feels very substantial, I really do like it. The build quality is there, you can see and feel it. I doubt, just like on the 50D, that I will ever want a grip on it. I do have to move my Mennon/Hakuba-like strap over to it yet tonight. I absolutely LOVE the LCD focus screen, the ability to show all AF points, just the ones you are using, how they illuminate, adding the grid, etc. That is very, very cool in my book, back when I heard that Nikon had that, I always wondered when Canon would. The LCD looks like the one on the 50D, but I expect I won't see a difference until I have it outside on a bright day, from what I read.

AF/Movie/Flash/MA/Etc

AF is much faster and better, almost reminding me of the MKIII. I like the different AF modes, I liked them on the MKIII, and the different twist that you find on this is nice. I will try different sets over the coming weeks to see which I like best, I don't do alot of fast moving subjects (like car races, air shows, bif, etc), so the basic single point or single point expanded might just do it for me. I tried out movie mode, I like it, but I have to get alot better at MF and composition, video is a different art yet again to that of photography I think. I like the button that switches between live view and movie mode, so that is good too.

EDIT: The onboard flash in wireless mode triggers my Sigma EF DG 500 ETTLII flash, so that is great! I am not well versed in flash photography, like all the wireless configurations and didn't read the manual yet, but was able to get the camera to talk to the flash, and then work in unison to do a shot. That was pretty neat! Before this, I would just use the optical slave option on the flash, but this worked well with ETTL. Also regarding micro adjustments, this is my 3rd such body. The 17-55 actually requires more adjustment on the 7D than it did on the 50D, it went from a +5 to a +8 on the 7D. Strange...

ISO Performance

I will get flamed here, but I don't care. I have used 8 different Canon bodies over the past few years (no FF bodies though so I won't draw any conclusions there). The only camera that I have used that beats the 7D is my MKIII, period. The noise is so much more fine and random on the 7D, and really doesn't take away from the shot as much as the same shots on the 10D, 20D, 30D, 40D, 50D, XT, and XTi that I have owned in the past. I have owned several of each of these, and still stand by this comment. I have tried many 6400 and 12800 shots with the 7D tonight, and I haven't found any that I could not do post processing on and have a keeper. Again, this is my opinion, and I really don't care what others have to say on this matter, I know each and every body I have had and how well they performed.

In any case, here is my test subject attached at the bottom of the post. I don't do test shots of printed material, that is an utter waste of time. I decided to tell my daughter to sit still and I rattled off several shots of her. Some may be a bit blurry as she might have moved or I might have moved, but I was not going for IQ sharpness, as the 7D is just as good as any of the other bodies in this regard.

Conditions of the ISO samples

I put both cameras on large jpgs. I was going to shoot raw, but I figure the worst shot you will get out of the 50D and 7D would be their large JPG settings with high ISO NR turned off. These shots are directly out of the cameras directly into my smugmug account. I put both in AV mode and let each do their AWB and their own metering. You can look at the Exif to see how the 7D definitely meters differently (longer exposure needed than the 50D, creating a brighter exposure). I was going to go to manual mode, but the exposures do end up different, so I decided this was the best way to go for what it is worth.

Lens was my 17-55 IS set at f5.6, ISO samples from 1600 through 12800 under a mix of incandescent and CFL bulbs (when you have nearly 30 recessed lights, 65w incandescent bulbs KILL the electric bill). I wanted to see if the AWB was better, I am not quite sure yet. The actual lit space is not far off from what either camera captured, it is a bit yellowish under these lights, the 7D does a tiny bit better here though.

You may download the images from smugmug if you dare (they are large) and do your own processing on it, whatever you want. If you really get bored, please feel free to look through my other photos there and comment.

2 Galleries for your viewing pleasure:

My ISO Comparison Gallery - images should be ordered 50D, then 7D for each ISO range. You should be able to view whatever size you want, then just step through them in sequence. Draw your own conclusions, I have already for myself.

EDIT: I went through and did some rudimentary post processing. Using CS3, I autoleveled, then used some noiseware, and finally some USM. I did the same exact settings for each camera shot at the same ISO. After the placeholder shot that separates the OOC from the PP shots, just click the first post processed one from the 50D, and I should have them ordered correctly. The 7D, using the same exact noiseware settings as the 50D, cleans up better. The algorithm Noiseware uses has a better result at the higher ISOs.

7D ISO 100-12800 OOC Gallery - Shots at each ISO range directly out of camera, no post processing at all. You can just move through the sequence to see the noise levels increase.


Thank you for reading this long and probably a bit redundant and boring review, since so many others have already contributed.