Which has the fastest AutoFocus 7d ? or 5d MkII ?

NeilMc

NeilMc

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Looking to upgrade my 450d in the near future and looking for a camera which has a fast and accurate autofocus system on it.

I'm assuming that as the 7d is billed as a 'sports' camera that the autofocus on it will be very fast and very accurate.


How does it compare to the autofocus system on the 5d MkII ?
 
I've had both and there's not a great deal of difference between the two, but the 7D just edges it. It all depends on what lenses you are focussing with though. My 70-200 f2.8 IS L was fast focussing on both but the 7D was definitely faster on my 100-400 L.
 
Define 'Fast'

Are you talking speed achieving lock (Virtually no difference between the two) or ability to track fast moving subjects?
 
When the light gets dimmer the 5DII begins to struggle to focus, especially with the outer focus points. In good light it can track moving subjects but starts to struggle as subject speed increases. The MkII can be very frustrating to use at times but it really depends what you shoot.

The 7D utilises a more sophisticated AF system and will happily track fast moving birds in flight such as Swallows etc. even on outer focus points. It also has the option to set the focus point for pin-point accuracy, expand to cover more points and adjust the reaction time of the AF sensitvity...and more.
 
NeilMc said:
I guess I mean lock.

Especially in low light.
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The 5DII is somewhere between poor and hopeless in low light and forget the outer focus points.

The 7D is better but I have still had it struggle on occasion.
 
Pet hate of mine unfortunately.

On the side of the lens there is a little switch "AF On/Off" and if set to off I find it remarkably quick at focusing especially in less than ideal light. :)

Seriously though, just because it has AF doesn't mean that one cannot turn it off and manually focus.

Steve
 
Or if you use back button focus you just don't push the button and focus manually, even quicker :D Yes, you end up focussing manually in those circumstances.
 
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Thanks for the feedback guys... invaluable as always.

perhaps I should start another thread... What is the best DSLR for use in Low Light and base my purchase on that, not on my gut, follow the Canon mantra.

I have tried a couple of times to focus manually.

One night I was shooting a steam train in the dark at Peterborough station and the auto focus was having none of it, so tried manually.... and failed, the shots were blurred, even though it looked spot on through the lens....

More practice needed I guess, but when you only have 3 minutes with a 'model' there's no time for dithering around with settings etc
 
Unfortunately, you're going to have to make a choice based on what you shoot most. Both cameras are superb in their given field but the choice is basically fast AF, get the 7D, ultimate quality and reasonable AF, get the 5d ii.

Break the bank - get the 5d iii !
 
Wayne Els said:
If you switch to liveview to manually focus you can see a lot clearer if it is correct by using the didital zoom function then go back to whatever mode you wish to shoot in. It is a lot more hitand miss than just using the eyepiece.
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GOOD TIP !! :hug2:

Never thought of using Live View....
 
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