7D or 70D which one is better

[Skirball]

By and large I’d say the 70D, but it’s close enough, and the 7D has enough of a cult following, that some may argue otherwise.  Enough that I won’t simply claim the 70D to be superior.  That said, if I was buying one, it’d be the 70D no question.

The 70D is much newer, with slightly better IQ, slightly better resolution, slightly better high ISO, and a whole host of new features over the 7D.  Many features are subjective, you have to decide if they mean anything to you.  But the 70D offers others WiFi, a flipscreen, ISO boost, and in-camera editing like HDR.  It has much more advanced live view, and video autofocus (and an advanced one at that).  Do a search and you can see a spec comparison.

But the 7D was a favorite of many, and although older it was on a higher tier than the 70D, considered more of a professional camera.   It’s larger and heavier, which many interpret as more rugged.  And although Canon doesn’t qualify levels of weather resistance I’d suspect the 7D is better than the 70D.  The 7D also has a bigger viewfinder.  Many prefer the CF cards over the SD that the 70D use (though there really isn’t a performance difference anymore).    The 7D is slightly faster, slightly faster FPS, and larger buffer; most people probably wouldn’t notice the difference.  The 7D, being on the professional tier of Canon, will have more small customizable options.  These are small things that many don’t use, for example the 7D lets you customize the file names in camera.  Not a huge feature, but some pros who use multiple cameras find it useful.

[TCampbell]

The 7D model was introduced a number of years ago.  It is mostly optimized for action shooting.  It has dual DIGIC IV processors, it's continuous burst speed is 8 frames per second, and it's focusing system has 19 AF points of which all points are "cross type" and it's also capable of using expanded or spot focusing modes.  The body is magnesium alloy (metal) so it's a bit more durable and is weather sealed.

The 70D is newer (having just recently come out).  It has has a polycarbonate (plastic) body and also has a degree of weather sealing.  It shoots at 7 frames per second in continuous burst mode -- just 1 frame behind the 7D.  It has a DIGIC 5+ processor... but a single processor (not dual).  It also has a 19 point AF display and like the 7D, all 19 points are cross type.  But unlike the 7D it does not support the expanded and spot modes.  You can see from just what I've mentioned so far that it's just a tiny bit behind the 7D.  But there's more...

The 70D has an articulated LCD display and when shooting video it's the only DSLR that has dual-pixel AF which allows for continus phase-detect style AF performed ON THE SENSOR (normally a DSLR can only do phase-detect AF when shooting stills... not video.)  This is a HUGE plus in favor of the 70D if you want to shoot video.

The 70D also has a touch-screen LCD and also has built-in WiFi.  Canon has a free smart-phone app which is able to remotely control the 70D via the WiFi feature.

The 7D only accepts CF cards, but you have to remember this was done at a time when there was a clear performance advantage to CF cards (a high-end CF card could achieve data transfer rates of near 100Mbps).  The 70D takes SD cards.  Not long ago, the fastest SD card technology capped out at around 20Mbps (and most were much much slower).  Today you can get "UHS1" class SD cards (the 70D supports UHS1) and these cards are competitive with CF card technology.

If you're going to be in more rugged environments and planning to shoot mostly action photography, then the 7D is ahead.  If you're looking for a more rounded all-purpose DSLR and want to shoot video, then the 70D is ahead.

The 7D has been around enough years and all the camera models both above and below it in the Canon line-up have all been upgraded.   This means the 7D is probably ripe for a refresh.