Should i make the upgrade (40D to 7D)

I was going to wait for a 5D mark III but it's so far away and Henry's here in Canada has come out with a great sale that basically means i can get it cheaper than B&H...........

Is the ISO performance much better than the 40D...i find mine unusable after ISO 400...decisions, decisions...i need to decide by tonight.

400?! Wow - I use mine up to 1600 with little problem. How big do you make your prints? Do you use noise reduction software?

The first thing everyone will ask is: Does the 7d have a feature that you need. Do you need the high ISO? Find yourself wanting it? Think it's worth the money?

I will use up to 1600 if i need to but to be honest i'm not happy with the quality....and in some cases i need to do enlargements. I do use noise reduction software.

The difference in noise handling between the 7D and the 40D is NOT THAT significant. If that is your major reason for upgrading, then you will be disappointed in the 7D. Why not go for the 5DII?

5Dmaniac wrote in post #10312240
The difference in noise handling between the 7D and the 40D is NOT THAT significant. If that is your major reason for upgrading, then you will be disappointed in the 7D. Why not go for the 5DII?

What a crock, the 40d and 7d are totally different and noise is not a problem upto 6400, the 7d puts out perfectly acceptable prints i have found.

I say do it, unless of course you have a collection of lenses that could be used on the 5dMkII....in that case I would go for the latter.

Well i find that the ISO is the greatest limitation for me. I also find myself doing alot of cropping. I've been wanted to use flash off camera as well. So higher ISO performance is not the only consideration.

40D to 7D was my path, do it, you will love it 40 is/was a good camera, but the 7 is in another league for quite a few reasons... if the 5d3 was around when I bought mine and it had the same af/off cam flash stuff I would have been tempted, but the 7 will hold value for a long time so you could easilly move to 5d3 when it eventually arrives..

I upgraded from a 40D to a 7D and love both cameras. I thought going from a 10meg to a 18meg pixel camera it would make a big difference with cropping. I am not able to explain it (I imagine someone will jump in and add detail) but you do not get the additional cropping you would think even though there is a large jump in pixels. Focusing on your wish list, getting a 70-200mm zoom might be the best depending on what you are shooting.

Even though I will probably get slammed for saying this, one word of warning. The 7D required a much longer learning curve than I ever expected jumping from the 40D. It has taken me months to get the hang of it to get some of the same quality pictures I achieved easily with the 40D. I will say this, once you get the hang of it...the pictures are outstanding and you will not want to use anything else.

I included a 7D picture taken at ISO 3200 to help you see what you get. (Taken raw and processed in CS4 with no noice reduction software.) I typically do not like using a high ISO, I never went above 1600 with the 40D and still struggle with it on the 7D. Even with the 7D the quality is never the same but I like having the option knowing I can still get a good/usable picture without a flash beyond what I got with the 40D depending on the situation/lighting. Sorry, I hope I am not making this choice harder for you. I struggled with the choice to spend another $1600+ on my favorite money pit of a hobby, so I understand your dilemma. Good luck with your choice!

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When I had the 40D, iso800 would be my usual upper limit.

I found that with the 7D (looking at the overall image, FoV), iso3200 yielded the same results as the 40D @ 800. To me, it was a 2 stop difference in noise.

What's even better about the 7D is that it doesn't show any crappy banding pattern. So at 6400 and even 12800, the images are relatively easy to "clean up".

I also upgraded form a 40D to a 7D. I would say that the 7D is only about 1 stop better ISO performance than the 40D.

I use the wireless off camera flash a lot. That plus the other features make it a very nice, but pricey upgrade.

The main difference is the additional features the 7D sports on top of what the 40D has to offer. The 7D even more than the 40D is a camera optimised for action photography, and such pictures (should) have enough attraction value by their content to lure the spectator away from even noticing if there's noise or not in the image. I don't care; I use whatever ISO I need to avoid getting motion blur. Again, in an interesting image, nobody notices the noise, but they'll see blur immediately.

Well on top of all other reasons, i need a backup camera. I went ahead and bought the 7D today...went to a local Henry's store and they matched the online deal. I'm now waiting for the battery to charge....

Thanks all for the input! Now i'm off to read the manual....

Congrats and enjoy...let us know how (much) you like it.

I haven't uploaded any photos to the computer yet but as far as the camera goes, i'm loving it so far. It's pretty fast and i love all the bells and whistles. There is definitely a larger learning curve with this camera.