Sharpness comparison from 40D to 7D or 5DII

I own a 40D and am wondering as far as focusing and sharpness how much difference will I notice upgrading to a 7D? How much difference upgrading to the 5DII? (I use my 70-200 4L quite a bit, other current lenses are 50mm 1.8, 135mm 2.8, 17-85mm 4-5.6 ).

In my experience, because of the anti aliasing filter on the 40D and 7D, they require more capture sharpening than the 5DII. The 7D and 5DII have MFA, so you can tweek the focus of the camera/body if need be. I noticed a bit of improvement on my 7D and 5DII over my 40D after MFAing the lens and bodies, not a lot. I had a real noticeable increase in sharpness of my 400 F5.6 when MFA'd.

To be honest your question has been a battle between the 7D/5D MK II on who has the better IQ. So your going to be getting mixed answers. I wish I could be more of a help. I upgraded from the 40D to the 5D MK II for the FF and the IQ jump. Honestly the pictures are only as sharp as the person taking the shots. If you look at some of the pictures here on the is forum you will see some out of this world pictures taken with middle to not so middle range cameras. Its all up to you.

blackandwhitekeys wrote in post #11412138
I own a 40D and am wondering as far as focusing and sharpness how much difference will I notice upgrading to a 7D? How much difference upgrading to the 5DII? (I use my 70-200 4L quite a bit, other current lenses are 50mm 1.8, 135mm 2.8, 17-85mm 4-5.6 ).

With 5Dii, the IQ is A LOT better. With 7D, pretty much the same IQ, but with better focusing system. For my needs, 7D is not an attractive upgrade, 5Dii is.

A LOT better? Hardly. But I won't bother typing an essay every time someone decides to proclaim FF is the bees knees and APS-C has significantly inferior IQ.

themadman wrote in post #11413571
A LOT better? Hardly. But I won't bother typing an essay every time someone decides to proclaim FF is the bees knees and APS-C has significantly inferior IQ.

It gets painful sometimes, doesn't it?

This place is worse than Congress at times.

One thing to ask is what is the primary display device? If your always displaying your photos on the monitor, digital photo frame, sharing in facebook, flickr, and other photo sharing sites, you'll probably never see the difference because so much of the image is already being tossed. If you do a lot of printing especially larger prints, lots of cropping, then you might see the difference the newer cameras bring with their higher resolutions.

I'd consider the 7D a major step up in terms of usability and camera function. I also find the images nicer out of a 7D as well, some of it is probably placebo, but there is a huge improvement in terms of image noise/resolution. I also like the screen a lot.

It's the same with the 5D but you will definitely produce a finer product OOC and you get the added bonus of real focal lengths. You will also notice the performance gap to the 7D, the 7D is faster. That said, unless you are using the body at the extreme end of the conditions it was designed for, it's not that big of a difference.

A camera's day-to-day performance is much more important to me than the very minute differences in IQ, and they are very minute. To me all the modern dSLRs are basically the same IQ unless you plan on very very specialized use of your equipment, especially if you shoot raw and process them afterward.

The 7D is a worthy upgrade to the 40D, at this point I'd wait on a newer 5D if you decide to go that way. All in all, right now is about the right time to look to upgrade from a 40D, the new features on bodies 2 gens ahead are really worth it.

If you like the crop format then I would go with the 7D. Also if cost is a problem the 7D will be the better choice.

themadman wrote in post #11413571
A LOT better? Hardly. But I won't bother typing an essay every time someone decides to proclaim FF is the bees knees and APS-C has significantly inferior IQ.

It's not even an argument here: FF has more than twice the sensor size than APS-C. At similar resolution (manufacturers tend to make similar mp for both FF & APSC), the DOF seems narrower, the ISO performance is much better than same generation APS-C, the aperture can be smaller without noticing diffraction effect. IQ is sometimes subjective to many, but if you really care about IQ, bigger sensor is the way to go. Otherwise, compact camera is not bad at all.

Of course, it's not night and day better, just obviously better if you are pixel peeping.

My experience was that the 7D is an extraordinary camera but it puts your lenses through a stress test. If you have superior glass, it is a fabulous camera. On the flip side, I rented a 5D2 and shot a few thousand frames with it. I think it's a great landscape camera but my perspective was that it's a 50D with a large sensor. Of course, coming from a 40D the interface will be almost obvious. As others have noted, it is beginning to show its age and will be replaced in the foreseeable future.

If you have a single camera, then I think the 7D is the more versatile. Your choice can be informed by what you shoot.

You have to remember the 7D has Dual Dig! 4 processors so the 7D should have the slight edge compared to 5D MK II Single Dig! 4 processor.

pasm365 wrote in post #11413522
With 5Dii, the IQ is A LOT better.

pasm365 wrote in post #11413845
Of course, it's not night and day better, just obviously better if you are pixel peeping.

So the 5D2 is A LOT better but it is not night and day... ok

I'll tell you it is not night and day even if you are pixel peeping.

Now you make a decent point about a FF sensor of the same generation, but most people don't care about generation, they care about the $$$. Given the same cost comparison is better than given the same generation comparison as it is more useful to most folks deciding.

In addition the 5D2 costs about $800-$1000 more than a 7D and I think no one is going to argue that $1000 is going to make a far greater difference in IQ when spent on lenses oppose to camera. (Unless you have all the lenses you could ever want already I guess...)

XFaega wrote in post #11414091
You have to remember the 7D has Dual Dig! 4 processors so the 7D should have the slight edge compared to 5D MK II Single Dig! 4 processor.

That just means it has faster FPS pretty much. As well as slightly faster response, etc but those are pretty minor.

noisejammer wrote in post #11414046
My experience was that the 7D is an extraordinary camera but it puts your lenses through a stress test. If you have superior glass, it is a fabulous camera.

can any of you name some cheap non L glasses for the 7d?