My brief 7D vs 1D IIn experience.

I shoot sports with a 1D IIn. I borrowed a friend's 7D for the weekend and shot a baseball game with both cameras. Here's my quick summary from a sports shooting perspecive.

AF - Close call, but the IIn was a bit better.

Nose - Outdoor, ISO 800 - no significant noise in either. I did some indoor test shots at ISO 3200 and found the noise was (shockingly) about the same. UPDATE - I did some more indoor testing. 7D beats 1D in noise by 1 stop or more. 7D noise at ISO 3200 is about the same as the 1D at 1600. Dynamic range is better on the 7D at the higher ISOs. In fact, with some NR, the 7D images at ISO 6400 are the same or better than the 1D IIn at 3200. I shot all of these in RAW mode, BTW.

Handling - Both are nice, 7D has a bit of a squared-off grip that is not so great. The 1D with the built-in grip is superior.

LCD - 7D is better. The LCD is brighter, easier to see outdoors. But, when I shoot, I pretty much ignore the LCD most of the time.

Image Quality - I found the images from the IIn were a bit better looking than the 7D. Colors were just a bit better, skin tones on cropped shots were a bit less blotchy.

6 Months ago, I considered both cameras and chose the IIn. Boy am I ever glad I did.

YMMV.

Can't quite call it an un-biased review but thanks for the input

n1as wrote in post #10227605
6 Months ago, I considered both cameras and chose the IIn. Boy am I ever glad I did.

And for the last 6 months i've had both...and the MKIIN rarely leaves the house any more.

It's a funny old world.

Sorry, but the 7D ergonomics crush the 1d2n. The 1d2n is a great camera, and the built in grip is great, but the button lay out and workings of the buttons are horrible compared to the 7D. The LCD is soo much better on the 7D, and thats reason enough to buy it for me. The AF is awesome on both cameras. If I had to chose, it would be the 7D everytime, unless I had to shoot in the rain.

Trevor04GT wrote in post #10228017
Sorry, but the 7D ergonomics crush the 1d2n. The 1d2n is a great camera, and the built in grip is great, but the button lay out and workings of the buttons are horrible compared to the 7D. The LCD is soo much better on the 7D, and thats reason enough to buy it for me. The AF is awesome on both cameras. If I had to chose, it would be the 7D everytime, unless I had to shoot in the rain.

First of all, I wonder...do you own either camera?

I finally got my hands on a 7D last week and I would have to agree with most of what the OP has said here. The button layout on the the 1D2 is different, but in no way horrible as you over exaggerate. Ergonomically, the 7D felt good, and very comfortable, but when positioned for portraits the 1D2's built in grip feels much better in the hand to me. The Image quality and prints I got from the 7D was great, but I didn't feel that it edged out the 1D2 enough to obsess over. Overall, I thought the 7D was a fine camera and I wish I had more time to try out the video before I had to return it, and fortunately (for my wallet) I didn't find any overwhelming desire to ditch the 1D2N after my experience.

Everyone seems to rant on and on about how the ergonomics on the 1d2 suck. I couldn't disagree more. I find it very quick and easy to change settings on the 1d2 and also find that I rarely if ever have accidental setting changes happen to me like I do on the 20d from time to time.

tfd888 wrote in post #10228300
Everyone seems to rant on and on about how the ergonomics on the 1d2 suck. I couldn't disagree more. I find it very quick and easy to change settings on the 1d2 and also find that I rarely if ever have accidental setting changes happen to me like I do on the 20d from time to time.

Mostly from people who have never really owned one, or used one long enough to figure out how to operate them and appreciate the benefits like you mention.

I own both, mk IIN and 7d. I shoot low light, dirt track racing. I personally like the way the 7D feels (it's almost as good at my MKIIN) It's a great camera but they're are weekends then the camera seems to really "fight" with focus in low light, where my good OLD MKIIN just seems to "work" for me. I always have L lens mounted on both body's (so it's not the lens). I hope to work out the bugs (might be pilot error) with the 7D. As far as colors, the MKIIN has ALWAYS given clean, professional looking results. I'm sure the more I use the 7D the more I'll get used to it.

btw.......the 50D is always in the bag. GREAT CAMERA, but never used anymore.......

I do not think the ergonomics on either suck. I bought the 7D because it just fit my hand... perfectly, even my XTi fits (IN) my hands.

I personally feel shots from the 7D are a touch more clinical, and clean. The shots from the 1D mark 2 have this nice organic quality to them...

Bought the 1D mark 2 about two weeks after I bought the 7D and can not imagine shooting with just one of the two.

tfd888 wrote in post #10228300
Everyone seems to rant on and on about how the ergonomics on the 1d2 suck. I couldn't disagree more. I find it very quick and easy to change settings on the 1d2 and also find that I rarely if ever have accidental setting changes happen to me like I do on the 20d from time to time.

+1

I shoot events with two bodies, a 5D2 and a 1DMK2n and have zero problems with the different menu layouts .. it's not like you're piloting jet fighters, it's just a camera

I've never owned a IIn but I rented one a couple of times. I would choose the 7D over the IIn. The III and IV are a different story.

I went from a t1i to a 1dmk2. It took me about 2 hours to look through the manual and memorize the great majority of the changes I make (shutterspeed, aperture, iso, drive mode, af mode, white balance). Is the UI as good as more recent cameras? no. Is it bad? no.

Things I like about the 1dmk2 are the focus (reliable and fast), the integrated grip, the viewfinder, the top LCD, and the general heft of the body (I find it better for shooting, worse for carrying around all day).

Things I miss from my t1i are the pixel count (the t1i was a better camera to crop pictures), the ISO performance (I haven't done any scientific testing, but ISO 1600 on the t1i felt cleaner than ISO 1600 on the 1dmk2), and the lithium batteries (I HATE the np-e3 batteries - I wish we had lithium or even nimh versions).

I went from a T1i to a 7D to a 1D3. My friend has the 5D and 7D and I was playing with it for a while, damn, I can't remember how to use the 7D at all despite having owned one. I forgot how to use it and the feel of using a non 1D body is just quite different. I felt like I've learned to know my 1D3 fairly well that I will never go back to anything but a 1D body.

So what are the bad things about the 1dmk2n?

OP here - one other thing I forgot.

The larger files from the 7D made my 2 year old computer seem slow. Lightroom paused more with the bigger files.

It took me months to get used to the 1D controls. I'm there now, but it was not an easy learning curve. Now, I appreciate the fact that most of the settings can't be accidentally bumped like they could on my 40D.