Reworking the lineup

Hi guys,

So I'm going to NYC and the States (again) and it's a little tradition of mine that I buy some new gear just before going on holiday. Last year I didn't really get very much, and this year I was thinking about a new body, because I really want to be able to do video.

Basically: I dunno what to do. My original plan was: buy 5dmk2, sell 10-22, upgrade to 16-35L. I really like the idea of full-frame, because the 35L basically sits on my camera at the moment. But I wanted to keep the 40D because I have the 100-400, and the 1.6 crop gives me much more reach. So that's quite a bit of cash right there - I'd probably have to sell my 200L as well to be able to justify it.

But with the 7D, I'm now confused. I could sell the 40D instead, keep the 1.6 crop, keep the 10-22 and be a heck of a lot better off money wise. Plus it seems to have a lot more in terms of the video and a lot more refined.

So I guess the question is: do I lose a hell of a lot by upgrading to the 7D as opposed to the 5D? Anyone else in a similar position?

The 7D is a fine camera. IF you don't need FF for whatever reason, I would strongly recommend this body. It is excellent.

i have both
a 5dmk2 and a 7d. i find myself using hte 7d more often.

Yeah. I'm not convinced on the 5dmk2. If the video were just a bit better... but considering I want video, it just seems like the 7D is just better at that.

I guess there's just that allure of full-frame that I find hard to shake. Something very special about some of the photos I see from it.

yokotas: any particular reason why you use the 7d more often?

I find many folks who swear by FF are simply more use to FF. Since you don't have a FF currently, you aren't use to it. The 7D will be like a 40D on steroids =)

davem720 wrote in post #9668400
Hi guys,

But with the 7D, I'm now confused. I could sell the 40D instead, keep the 1.6 crop, keep the 10-22 and be a heck of a lot better off money wise. Plus it seems to have a lot more in terms of the video and a lot more refined.

There's your answer right there! My buddy has the 7D and it truly is a wonderful camera.

Geh. I've been thinking about this a lot over the past 24 hours.

My brain is telling me that the 7D is the way forward, allows me to grow creatively, and at a modest price to boot. But my heart kinda still wants the 5D... blah!

I think I have to ignore my heart for the time being and go with the 7D, then upgrade my 10-22 at some point and grab a 5dmk3 when they come out

Well. I pulled the trigger. Managed to get my hands on one today... literally cannot wait for tomorrow to go test it out

Why wait till tomorrow, go now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to the club. Be sure to post pictures in the "7D Post Your Pictures Here" thread.
Don't forget to update your signature.

So I got a chance to get out before work this morning and play with my new toy

My tradition with new gear is to go down to the lakes near me and shoot some birds. Well, when I say birds, I really mean ducks and geese because they're pretty awesome, but whatever. I've been neglecting my 100-400 a lot recently, so this seemed a real good test of the camera generally, but I wanted to test out the AF by getting some birds in flight - something I never really managed to do very well with the 40D.

This is going to sound really sad, but purely from a standpoint of usage, the thing that really stood out for me was the viewfinder. It is freaking awesome. Whoever thought of putting an LCD overlay inside the viewfinder is a genius. It's very easy to see precisely which metering and AF modes you have engaged and which points are the current focus.

Second, the AF. The zoned AF is unbelievably good. Again, I pretty much always stuck to centre point because it was such a pain to shift between AF points on my 350D and 40D. Honestly it made shooting in flight so much easier, mostly because it's like using one big AF point.

The other really noticeable difference is the LCD. Very, very crisp; you can clearly see the increase in pixel density from 40D-7D. Also the difference in sensor size between my 40D and this thing is really apparent. Shooting RAW, this thing eats CF space like crazy. I need some bigger (and faster) cards.

Stupidly, I left my CF reader at home (!!!) so I have to wait until later to actually post some shots, and also I want to see what the high ISO noise is all about. But I'm super impressed so far.

themadman wrote in post #9709320
Why wait till tomorrow, go now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was dark and raining

oldvultureface wrote in post #9709499
Welcome to the club. Be sure to post pictures in the "7D Post Your Pictures Here" thread.
Don't forget to update your signature.

Thanks! I will do as soon as I get back home and can grab the photos off of my memory card

we want a duck

Sigh. I hate to be one of those bitchy guys that has to complain constantly about camera gear. But I'm not a happy man So the 7D was a dream to use. But when I got home with the photos this evening it's just been a really big letdown for me.

Most of the photos came out pretty poor; lots of haze, lots of noise, just a huge amount of fail really. At this point I don't really feel like posting them up. I thought I'd captured some really great shots, especially of a heron in flight (which I've only ever seen about 3 times before), but most of the photos came out looking like crap really.

I came back and did some test shoots this evening in the office, and on the bench at least, I don't see massive amounts of difference between my 40D and the 7D. So probably it's a case of user stupidity

In any case, something doesn't sit right with me at the moment. I don't know whether it's buyer's remorse having just parted with a large chunk of cash, or letting too many bad threads on the forum pull down my expectations, or kicking myself for not having gone full-frame, or what.

I guess I'll take a day to think about it, try the camera some more. But right now I just feel like returning it and getting the money back :/

I tried some more shots this morning; more tracking birds in flight, some more still shots etc. My problems with my particular 7D were:

• AF on AI Servo (both zoned and expansion) seemed very hit and miss for fast movement. Possibly this was a calibration error, but my experimentation with the alignment seemed to suggest that my lenses were focusing perfectly. My 40D definitely doesn't have this problem.
  
• Too much noise. I know there's a lot on this, but I really didn't expect as much as I saw.
  
• Very sensitive to any kind of camera shake, especially on my 100-400.
  

I feel sorry that the 7D doesn't work out for you. Looks like the 5D2 is also out because of it's weaker AF system. So only 1D mkIV left to try now.