70d or 7d

[hollis_f]

Oh dear, I was hoping this thread might prove useful but I think all the pedantic members have been out in the sun too long. :shrug: :nuts:

You expected useful information about a camera that's only been in real user's hands for the last 20 minutes?

 

[Paul Heyes]

Am I right in assuming that single point is different to spot AF?

 

[AHILL]

You expected useful information about a camera that's only been in real user's hands for the last 20 minutes?

That's just the sort of reply I would expect from someone spending too much time in the sun.

 

[Phil V]

Am I right in assuming that single point is different to spot AF?

Yes
Spot AF is a smaller point within the AF sensor, useful for critical focus situations but not recommended for general use.

The single AF points are perfect for everyday use and the AF expansion mode is awesome for sports.

 

[dalegt4]

Yes the expansion is the one thing I miss on the 60D that I wish it did have.

 

[Janesy B]

My thoughts on the 70D as posted elsewhere

Some initial thoughts.

AF is good, but I guess this will be subjective as I am only coming from a 9 point AF camera, after some fine adjustment the camera tracks fast moving objects coming towards me very well. Some microadustment was needed, but at least the option is there. Being able to switch AF modes/zones/points without moving the camera away from my eye is cool, general ergonomics are very good and the grip is comfortable for long periods of use. The omission of the joysitck is a shame as I feel it could have been a great benefit but the combination of the top/back jog wheels works fine and it's very easy to change things on the fly. Having a CA correction profile for my 17-55 f/2.8 is nice too.

Image quality is an improvement, low light performance wasn't really tested but shots at ISO 400 are clean where my old camera would introduce a lot of grain/noise in dark areas. Battery lasted about 1200 shots with some video, more than acceptable. JPEG quality seems to be much better too, I always found Canons JPEG output to be a bit soft but looking at the results from shooting in RAW + S1 (I did this because I knew I wouldn't be able to touch the RAWs until LR is updated) I am more than pleased. http://i.imgur.com/vxZcYIM.jpg

My only gripe is some of the plastics used for the flip out screen, they scratch too easily and that's disappointing. It's a shame that they use plastic for xxD cameras, if it had a mag alloy body and a joystick it would be perfect, but I guess we can't all get what we want. All the buttons work nicely and it's a nice camera to handle and use, but I don't think it will wear well.

I figure that I'm more happy about having more feature than with the camera itself, but I can see this being the last crop camera I buy until I go FF in a few years. Once Adobe pull their finger out and release an update for lightroom I can post some proper sample shots.

70D is definitely the better hobbyist camera, if you're spending a lot of time outdoors in the wet shooting birds or motorsport the 7D will be the one to go for, obviously down to the better build and proper sealing. IMO.

 

[hollis_f]

That's just the sort of reply I would expect from someone spending too much time in the sun.

So, exactly what sort of useful information were you expecting to find when no independant reviewers had got their hands on the camera? Previews, press-releases and speculation are all well and good. But you're not going to hear about potential problems until real, paying, punters start relating their experiences.

 

[Janesy B]

So, exactly what sort of useful information were you expecting to find when no independant reviewers had got their hands on the camera? Previews, press-releases and speculation are all well and good. But you're not going to hear about potential problems until real, paying, punters start relating their experiences.

Actually reviews are starting to filter out and idiots like me have got their hands on them. My initial thoughts are above.

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Canon_EOS_70D/

 

[AHILL]

So, exactly what sort of useful information were you expecting to find when no independant reviewers had got their hands on the camera? Previews, press-releases and speculation are all well and good. But you're not going to hear about potential problems until real, paying, punters start relating their experiences.

Surprisingly enough Frank the useful info is filtering through despite the crap.
And yes I prefer to get feedback on a product from real, paying, punters relating their experiences instead of paid reviewers being told what to write.

 

[Paul Heyes]

Yes
Spot AF is a smaller point within the AF sensor, useful for critical focus situations but not recommended for general use.

The single AF points are perfect for everyday use and the AF expansion mode is awesome for sports.

Thanks for that info

 

[modchild]

Here's a shot I got with the 70D the other day. It's a jpeg and has had minimal PP (just a crop in PSE11) and I'm quite pleased with it. Took in single point focussing at f8 using my 70-200 f2.8L IS MkII and 2x MkIII converter.

There's some more on my Flickr account if you wish to have a look, but I have to say I'm already more impressed with my 70D than I ever was with either of the 2 7D's I had.

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