Canon 7D or 70D, which one and why?

[JWalker175]

I am looking into purchasing a new camera body, the 7D or the 70D obviously and I cannot decide which one to get. U have read/watched countless reviews and comparisons but they dont really help me that much. I mostly photograph landscapes, travel photos, and my dog (who is still a puppy and moves around very fast). I currently own a T2i. 

From what I've read, the 70D is a lot better at videos but I almost never shoot videos so the video quality is not very important to me.

[JWalker175]

Or should I wait for the 7D Mii?

[ebiggs1]

Either camera will do a wonderful job for you.  The big difference is the 7D is aimed more towards the pro market and th e70D is an advanced amerture camera.  You really can't go wrong so consider your goals.

The 7D Mk II will be more advanced and will cost more.  So, the question do you want to shoot right now or sometime whenever Canon decides to release it.

[JWalker175]

Thank you, for low-light indoor photographs which camera performs better?

[ebiggs1]

The difference is going to very minor.  Pick the one that fits your fancy.

[RobertTheFat]

---

@ebiggs1 wrote:

The difference is going to very minor.  Pick the one that fits your fancy.

---

Here's a slightly different approach: Go back over the problems reported in this forum in the past few months and notice which camera has generated far more of them than the other. Then ask yourself whether those problems would bother you if they were happening to you. If it were me, the decision would be obvious at that point.

[ebiggs1]

Bob from Boston,

I don't place too much store in what "some" ( a couple right here) internet posters say or report.  You have no idea what is behind them or even if it is not the same person.

I have had a 7D since it came on the market and it has never missed a beat.  Not once, and I am a person that is not easy on equipment.  Doing the kind of work I do.  Now you don't know me, either, as I am just another internet poster but my results have been possitive to their negative.

I am in the fortunate position to try a lot of new stuff.   Or, I have a circle of buds that have.  That is the only really foolproof way of knowing the truth.  Use it yourself but most can't I realize.

I can't really comment on the xxD series because we don't seem to buy that line of Canon equipment.

If the poster wants my unabashed opinion, I would get the 7D in a heartbeat, today and not wait.  Too many photo ops to wait until Canon decided to release a newer more costly version.  I'd be 1000's of picture down the road by than...................................

[TCampbell]

---

@JWalker175 wrote:

Thank you, for low-light indoor photographs which camera performs better?

---

The cameras have similar performance in low-light.  The 70D has a newer sensor and has an edge over the 7D, but it's not an enormous difference.  In side-by-side comparisons you'd probably see the 7D is slightly nosier ... if you look at the images long enough. 

Lens selection makes a big difference here.  If you're shooting in low light, use a lower focal ratio lens.  

Suppose you're taking a photo using the kit zoom lens (18-55mm f/3.5-5.6) and using 50mm.  The lowest possible focal ratio for that lens, when using the 50mm focal length, is going to be f/5.6.  -OR- you could use your 50mm f/1.8 which is able to do f/1.8.  

Dropping from f/5.6 -> f/4 is one stop.

f/4 -> f/2.8 is another stop

f/2.8 -> f/2 is another stops (so that's 3 full stops)

f/2 -> f/1.8 is 1/3rd stop.

That's a total of 3 1/3rd stops.  Each "stop" doubles the amount of light the lens can collect when the shutter is open... combine those stops and the f/1.8 lens is collecting nearly 10x more light as compared to the f/5.6 lens.  The problem with f/1.8 is that it also has a very shallow depth of field so depending on how much you need to keep in focus beyond just your focused distance it may not be suitable... perhaps you back off to f/2.8... or perhaps you back off to f/4 for more depth of field ... but f/4 is still twice as much light as f/5.6.

[ebiggs1]

One thing to remember, though, is a lens can not put something in a picture that is not there.  The availble light is all there is unless you add in more.

[RobertTheFat]

---

@ebiggs1 wrote:

Bob from Boston,

I don't place too much store in what "some" ( a couple right here) internet posters say or report.  You have no idea what is behind them or even if it is not the same person.

I have had a 7D since it came on the market and it has never missed a beat.  Not once, and I am a person that is not easy on equipment.  Doing the kind of work I do.  Now you don't know me, either, as I am just another internet poster but my results have been possitive to their negative.

I am in the fortunate position to try a lot of new stuff.   Or, I have a circle of buds that have.  That is the only really foolproof way of knowing the truth.  Use it yourself but most can't I realize.

I can't really comment on the xxD series because we don't seem to buy that line of Canon equipment.

If the poster wants my unabashed opinion, I would get the 7D in a heartbeat, today and not wait.  Too many photo ops to wait until Canon decided to release a newer more costly version.  I'd be 1000's of picture down the road by than...................................

---

All true, but my point is that all else being equal (and you pretty much said that it is), reports from the user community can be useful as a tie breaker.

Like you, I'm a satisfied 7D owner, and my unabashed opinion is pretty much the same as yours.