Torn Between 70D and 7D

[SpiderRyno]

So all summer I had been waiting to upgrade from my t3i to a 7D, I had been saving pulling money etc. anyway, now they released the 70D, and i've only been into serious photography for a year and a half now. I know the benefits of a 7D(shot with it for a while, borrowed.) Yet, just when I was aobut to purchase it, the 70D comes out of nowhere and I start reseraching, and save the AFpoints, it seems that the 70D is jsut as good, if not eventually better than the 7D(one the mark 2 comes out). I'm unsure, and torn as to which one I should get. I eventually am going to upgrade to 5D mark 3, or that's the hope. At the moment though I'm a college student, so saving that much is hard.

her's a few things I'm considering(the 1 FPS difference doens't matter so much to me.) 

1.Racing

2. Basketball

3. Football

4. portraits

(Top 4 things I shoot)

I also shoot low-light soemtimes, i know the ISO on the 70D(from what I heard) seems to shoot better. though I mean basketball is basically daylight inside. 

Any advice would be great. 

[diverhank]

There's a RAW 8.2 beta that is available for download at the Adobe site.  It supports the 70D RAW.

[SpiderRyno]

Thanks Hank. 

I guess the only lsat question I ahve, that I havne't been able to figure out, is why when i either first turn the camera on, or when I switch from auto focus to manual focus, do my camera need me to lightly press the shutter button to let me focus it manually?  

I got the 70D kit with the 18-135mm lens. Just curious. 

[diverhank]

I'm not sure what you are asking...are you talking about manual focus by switching the lens to M then turn the ring?  What have you been observing? You can't turn the ring until you press the shutter button halfway?

If so I don't know of such limitation.  Perhaps someone who has a 70D can confirm or deny.  I don't own one, unfortunately.

The manual for your lens says do not turn the ring (try to manual focus) when the focus button on the lens is on Auto.  Some lenses allow you to do this but apparently not the 18-135.

With the 70D, while manual focusing, pressing the shutter button halfway will light up the spot where manual focus is achieved but I don't think it's mandatory.

[SpiderRyno]

when I have my camera in auto focus i don't touch the ring, but when I switch to Manual focus on my lens and then try turning the focus ring(It doe move) I ahve to push down halfway on the shutter button for the lens to start focusing, if I don't it doesn't focus... at least if it is it's a minisucle amount..

[diverhank]

Forgot to ask...is this during liveview or regular shooting?  In liveview, there is a mode called continuous AF and you are not supposed to use MF with it.  Make sure you are not in this mode.  That's about the only thing I think of. Sorry.

[SpiderRyno]

It's in normal shooting mode. not in live-view. Other than this little thing, and it could just be soemthing I'm missing, the 70D has been great. 

[ebiggs1]

"...  and it could just be soemthing I'm missing." ...

It sounds like this is the case. But remember the newest DSLR's are actually video cameras that do stills. Not the other way around as it has been in the past. The 70D has come about as close to mimicking your I-phone as possible and this trend is likely to continue.

It may be once the lens locks on, it needs to be told it is now in M. I don't have one and don't have plans to buy one as I am a still photographer solely.