Canon EOS 70D Owners Thread.

High ISO results arevery good (not in the league of the 5D but still very good).
I have had useable shots at 12800, just depends what you want to do with the pictures afterwards I suppose.
 
Well finally bitten the bullet and bought the 70d! First impressions are just as expected having read through this thread! Really pleased with the ISO performance, as had usable results at 12800. Which is great as use the camera indoors in poor light a lot. Thanks!!
 
Had a play with various cameras at the show today and the 70d was one of them. I must say I like the screen and a few features on it but the button layout is awful. How awkward trying to change the iso even. The button and wheel are in very poor positions
 
I've been stalking this thread with great interest - I'm thinking that the 70D could well be my next camera. I started off with a canon 1100D back in 2011 and that's still my camera now but I'm starting to find the limitations to my camera - maybe it is just my camera skills. I had thought that I would upgrade to the 650D/700D but as I've started to look into possibly upgrading I'm beginning to wonder if the 70D would last me longer with the right lens choices.

One of my questions is how good is the 18-135mm STM? I was just going to buy the body only, but on a side note I was thinking of buying an all rounder lens - I'm finding it a pain switching between my 18-55 kit lens and my 55-250mm one. I've read through a few varying reviews on the 18-135 being slightly better than the older kit lenses but I just wondered what people here had found? Will that one be ok or would I be better still just buying the body and paying out for a slightly better lens. It will probably be used for everyday shots and some travel/holiday photography. I've not got a budget for a lens as such but I'm not looking to spend out too much as in the L range as of yet unless it was on a good deal.

Hope this all makes sense - if not I'm just off to bed and will check again tomorrow x
 
I have the older 18-135 not the newer STM version and I don't take video. I find it a great general purpose lens and highly recommend it.
 
LizB90 said:
I've been stalking this thread with great interest - I'm thinking that the 70D could well be my next camera. I started off with a canon 1100D back in 2011 and that's still my camera now but I'm starting to find the limitations to my camera - maybe it is just my camera skills. I had thought that I would upgrade to the 650D/700D but as I've started to look into possibly upgrading I'm beginning to wonder if the 70D would last me longer with the right lens choices.

One of my questions is how good is the 18-135mm STM? I was just going to buy the body only, but on a side note I was thinking of buying an all rounder lens - I'm finding it a pain switching between my 18-55 kit lens and my 55-250mm one. I've read through a few varying reviews on the 18-135 being slightly better than the older kit lenses but I just wondered what people here had found? Will that one be ok or would I be better still just buying the body and paying out for a slightly better lens. It will probably be used for everyday shots and some travel/holiday photography. I've not got a budget for a lens as such but I'm not looking to spend out too much as in the L range as of yet unless it was on a good deal.

Hope this all makes sense - if not I'm just off to bed and will check again tomorrow x
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Hi Liz, only brought the body, but have looked at the stm lens on a 70d in the past. I tried it out for stills in a Selfridge's shop. It certainly seemed very capable, sharpness and colours were good and the AF and is were great. Would like to test it more though.
I am in the same position as I broke my 18-55!
Have a good look at it and see what other users say on here.
For me I am going to wait and see what happens over the next few months. Unless I come across a real bargain
 
Hi Liz, I had a look at the 18-135 STM when it was released and tried it on my 70D and the wifes 650D and it's a very good lens. It's quite a bit sharper than the older 18-135 IS that I had and the AF speed is a bit faster too and it's excellent with the 70D on Liveview. I only had the lens for an hour or so to test it but I would definitely have one if I had crop only bodies. As I've got a 'full frame' 5D3 as well I only buy EF mount lenses as it would be too costly to get a set of EF and EF-S. If I was starting out with a 70D and on a budget I would definitely be looking at the 18-135 and 55-250 STM to start with as I like to have some crossover in focal length. The 55-250 is another lens that has done really well out of its makeover to STM. The only STM lens I do have at the moment is the 40mm f2.8 pancake and it's fantastic on the 70D, specially for video (although I don't do much video TBH) and I really like it on the 5D3 too. Hope this helps to make your mind up.
 
I didn't even know there was an STM version of the 55-250! Something else to add to my list :) I'd like to try the "pancake" I've read lots of reviews on it and it definitely interests me, so could well be saving up for a little while to get all that. I'm glad my fire for photography has been reignited again.

I'm pretty sure that the 70D is something I want, now I just want to be able to get a handle of it and try it out before I buy. Unfortunately there isn't any sole camera shops I know of in Huddersfield, and I can't guarantee that our local curries/pcworld will have one on show to handle. Looks like a trip into Leeds or Manchester is on the cards. Making an extra trip to leeds will be annoying seeing as I work on the other side of Leeds, but unfortunately I can't leave at Leeds station on my ticket.

Thanks all I definitely feel closer to making my decision and getting my new camera :)
 
My 70D and 18-135 STM arrived yesterday! Hopefully, I'll be able to get out in some decent light this weekend and try it. Also bought a battery grip to see how I may get on with it. I do take a fair few photos at portrait orientation and want to see if the grip will help. I do find the contortion of the right hand and shoulder a bit awkward sometimes ...
 
LizB90 said:
I didn't even know there was an STM version of the 55-250! Something else to add to my list :) I'd like to try the "pancake" I've read lots of reviews on it and it definitely interests me, so could well be saving up for a little while to get all that. I'm glad my fire for photography has been reignited again.

I'm pretty sure that the 70D is something I want, now I just want to be able to get a handle of it and try it out before I buy. Unfortunately there isn't any sole camera shops I know of in Huddersfield, and I can't guarantee that our local curries/pcworld will have one on show to handle. Looks like a trip into Leeds or Manchester is on the cards. Making an extra trip to leeds will be annoying seeing as I work on the other side of Leeds, but unfortunately I can't leave at Leeds station on my ticket.

Thanks all I definitely feel closer to making my decision and getting my new camera :)
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I've only had the camera a week, but so far have been really pleased. Especially with some shots taken at ISO 12,800, they are very useable. Had great fun using the wifi feature and although the eos app doesn't let you do a great deal, other than take a picture, the ability to upload straight to my phone and emailed on is brilliant. The camera is certainly a dramatic improvement over my 550d in all areas, can't see how you could be disappointed. Good luck with your decision making
 
I've had the 70D for a couple of months now and the improvement in low light images is superb having upgraded from a 50D. I do lots of low light photography and it has made a big difference to me.
 
Mine just arrived today:) haven't had chance to do anything other than charge the battery yet, but it certainly feels good in the hand, more substantial than my 400D.

Button layout is certainly different, but I'm sure it will sink in.

Hoping for a good weekend to test it out!!
 
alan72 said:
Mine just arrived today:) haven't had chance to do anything other than charge the battery yet, but it certainly feels good in the hand, more substantial than my 400D.

Button layout is certainly different, but I'm sure it will sink in.

Hoping for a good weekend to test it out!!
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Alan, I moved from a 400D to a 50D and now to a 70D. I find the button layout so much more intuitive on the 50D and 70D compared to the 400D, I'm sure you will love it, enjoy.
 
Does the 70D have the same ability as the 7D to have different focus points based on it being portrait or landscape and can you set up multiple focus points i.e. I use 'AF-ON' for one point and '*' for a different point?
 
Forgot to mention above that I had also upgraded from a 400D to the 70D. I find it quite a bit more chunky, but the grip fits more easily in my hand - which was what I wanted to check out at the Photography Show.

I'm finding the plethora of settings and customisation a bit daunting, but I'm getting there :)
 
andyo said:
I'm finding the plethora of settings and customisation a bit daunting, but I'm getting there :)
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I haven't even looked at customising my camera, I've had the option. What do you all suggest as suitable. In my instance I shoot a lot of family pictures. I want to really get the most out of the 70d, any suggestions greatly appreciated.
 
Following advice on the forum I set up back button focusing which is great. I take action photos but I prefer it regardless now. It took a bit of getting used to but well worth it.
 
I've seen the use of bbf on here, is it as simple as using the af button on the back and using the shutter button purely for taking the shot?
 
Yes, thats it. It doesn't work in fully auto but does in any other mode.
 
drounding said:
It doesn't work in fully auto
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...which is a good thing, when passing camera to someone used to 'point & shoot', such as my wife and kids, set to auto rather than have to change settings in menu. V useful!
 
I have just bought 70D a few weeks ago, and have done many shots with it. I'm quite impressed with how well it works.

However, does anyone else notice that the colors of 70D RAW files in Lightroom 5.3 are a bit strange? The green and blue seem to be noticeably lighter and less saturated than what I'm used to from my 550D, 7D, and 5D3. Canon DPP generates colors that are much more similar to photos from other cameras. After shooting with multiple cameras and importing all photos into LR with similar default setting, I can immediately identify 70D photos from just thumbnails (due to color differences). Same is still true after playing around with camera profiles. I don't seem to find anything about it by googling. I wonder if I am doing something wrong.
 
barratt1988 said:
Had a play with various cameras at the show today and the 70d was one of them. I must say I like the screen and a few features on it but the button layout is awful. How awkward trying to change the iso even. The button and wheel are in very poor positions
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....Fortunately I tend to set the ISO for a session or as the light settles differently rather than reset it on the fly per shot but I agree that the buttons are far from ideal and that the DoF button is appallingly bad! The touchscreen is a good alternative sometimes.

AF-ON as the back button is invaluable. I shoot nearly everything in Av-mode as I only have telephoto L lenses.
 
pmhn said:
I have just bought 70D a few weeks ago, and have done many shots with it. I'm quite impressed with how well it works.

However, does anyone else notice that the colors of 70D RAW files in Lightroom 5.3 are a bit strange? The green and blue seem to be noticeably lighter and less saturated than what I'm used to from my 550D, 7D, and 5D3. Canon DPP generates colors that are much more similar to photos from other cameras. After shooting with multiple cameras and importing all photos into LR with similar default setting, I can immediately identify 70D photos from just thumbnails (due to color differences). Same is still true after playing around with camera profiles. I don't seem to find anything about it by googling. I wonder if I am doing something wrong.
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....I use Aperture on a Mac and although imported RAW images look a bit lifeless and dull at first, only a little bit of post-processing immediately brings them to life.

I thought it was normal for RAW images to look a bit lifeless as imported.
 
pmhn said:
However, does anyone else notice that the colors of 70D RAW files in Lightroom 5.3 are a bit strange? The green and blue seem to be noticeably lighter and less saturated than what I'm used to from my 550D, 7D, and 5D3. Canon DPP generates colors that are much more similar to photos from other cameras. After shooting with multiple cameras and importing all photos into LR with similar default setting, I can immediately identify 70D photos from just thumbnails (due to color differences). Same is still true after playing around with camera profiles. I don't seem to find anything about it by googling. I wonder if I am doing something wrong.
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I have noticed a desaturated look too. I now routinely increase Temp by 375 as my first move with an image.

Unfortunately I think you have to do this on an image by image basis in Lightroom 5.3 as you can't (as far as I can see) say "add 375 to Temp" in a preset. (Of course if you have a lot of images with the same White Balance then you can increase Temp for one and then copy the White Balance setting to the others.)
 
GardenersHelper said:
I have noticed a desaturated look too. I now routinely increase Temp by 375 as my first move with an image.

Unfortunately I think you have to do this on an image by image basis in Lightroom 5.3 as you can't (as far as I can see) say "add 375 to Temp" in a preset. (Of course if you have a lot of images with the same White Balance then you can increase Temp for one and then copy the White Balance setting to the others.)
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....You can set your White Balance in your 70D and therefore it becomes a global preset. However, it is safer to leave at the default AWB (Automatic). I have never felt the need to alter the WB Temperature in post-processing. I always check the WB but then my first step is Levels.
 
RedRobin said:
I thought it was normal for RAW images to look a bit lifeless as imported.
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I do understand what you mean by this, as RAW is supposed to be processed. However, this color shift is very strange. It feels like it does not have the "Canon colors" anymore, similar to when I used to use Canon camera and Olympus m4/3 at the same time. Last week I was using 70D along side 5D3, and LR rendering makes the photos very different. Of course, I can spend much more time to tweak colors in LR to make them more consistent, and actually, I find that increasing Hue and saturation in green and blue colors helps, but the amount depends on each photo. I never notice this issue with 7D/550D. Note that I only refer to LR rendering. There isn't much problem when using Canon DPP. You can see big difference if you compare the two (given similar PP setting). I'm just surprised no one else mentioned it.
 
I've noticed this with my 550D, Lightroom gives different colours no matter which profile I select. It's the reason I stick to DPP for all my raw processing.
 
RedRobin said:
....You can set your White Balance in your 70D and therefore it becomes a global preset. However, it is safer to leave at the default AWB (Automatic).
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I use AWB (and I wouldn't consider using a fixed value for White Balance such as "Cloudy"). What I need is an offset to the AWB of a specified amount. You can give a White Balance offset in the 70D (and I assume this applies to AWB), but this uses a relatively crude "number of clicks" along the axes rather than a specific numeric amount, which is what I'm looking for.

RedRobin said:
I have never felt the need to alter the WB Temperature in post-processing. I always check the WB but then my first step is Levels.
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My mileage varies. Here is a before and after for an image captured using AWB. While we do have some daffodils with a lighter yellow somewhat like the "before" version, this is not one of them. And the leaves in the background are definitely the wrong colour in the "before" version, with far too much blue in them.


Temp +1000, Tint -20 by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

This is a relatively extreme example, where I have increased Temp by 1000 and also reduced Tint by 20 (I rarely change Tint, but the camera got this image badly wrong). For most of my images the White Balance adjustment is much more subtle, but thus far I'm finding that I do need to boost Temp a bit to get a more realistic rendition (which also seems to increase the vibrancy/saturation of the colours and improve the local/micro contrast, curing an otherwise somewhat "flat" look to the image).
 
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The 70D was supported in LR from version 5.2, maybe there's a bug in that that code, especially if it's different in DPP.
 
CSB said:
I've noticed this with my 550D, Lightroom gives different colours no matter which profile I select. It's the reason I stick to DPP for all my raw processing.
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DPP gives me noticeably different colour renditions vs lightroom/PS RAW editor (DPP applies styles but there is a lot more to it than that). This is the same with my little S95, 550D and my new 70D.

Quite simply, a normal shot that has a little extreme or colour cast when shot (i do underwater a lot) the difference is severe. A typical shallow U/W manually white balanced shot in DPP looks good and i have plenty of scope for processing. The same RAW in LR/PS has the tint right up to 150, colour temp well up and still has a case but due to the slider positions, no further editing is possible on them.

I have to use DPP a lot for initial processing now (WB only) which is a pain as my drive is filling up with TIFFs which i then have to import into LR for my normal workflow.

Clearly these differences are down to how adobe implements the reverse-engineered RAW handling but it is annoying. The majority of photos it wont be seen but the further from average lighting you get the more obvious it is. (and yes, even applying the adobe "styles" doesnt cure it).
 
drounding said:
Yes, thats it. It doesn't work in fully auto but does in any other mode.
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I've set up my 70D for BBF (had started to use it on my 400D previously) and have a slightly more complciated query.

I presume that the exposure is still measured/set by a half-press on the shutter button. So, if I wish to use the AE-Lock feature, I'd need to focus using the back button, half-press shutter to get exposure, use AE-lock to lock this and then press shutter release ...
 
I think you can cut out the half-press shutter button stage and go straight to AE-lock, after bbf...
 
I never use the AE-lock asterix button because it doesn't toggle off once you have put it on. I find it a nuisance.
 
alan72 said:
Mine just arrived today:) haven't had chance to do anything other than charge the battery yet, but it certainly feels good in the hand, more substantial than my 400D.

Button layout is certainly different, but I'm sure it will sink in.

Hoping for a good weekend to test it out!!
Click to expand...

Had the chance to use it in anger for the first time at the weekend. So far I'm impressed, much better ISO performance, nice autofocus seems very accurate and much more control over focus than with my limited 9 points on the 400D. I was a little taken aback by just how many images were captured when I changed to high speed "rapid fire", good job it came with a 32GB card!! Not sure I wanted quite so many shots of the kids, cute as they are.

I'm finding the button layout ok, the top located buttons for iso, drive, metering etc. work nicely and I like the location. Still tying in knots with the focus select buttons though, works nice when I get it but a bugger to set it how I want it.

My only gripe so far is the lack of a button to simply adjust exposure balance (unless I just haven't found it yet?). I'm finding going into the "quick" menu a bit of a pain, it was a simple press and turn of the wheel on the 400D. I guess this may be something to try and set a custom function for.

Was also slightly miffed at the images not uploading into LR4.4, but I bit the bullet and the upgrade to 5.3 wasn't that much considering what I just spent on the camera and a new tripod:)
 
alan72 said:
My only gripe so far is the lack of a button to simply adjust exposure balance (unless I just haven't found it yet?). I'm finding going into the "quick" menu a bit of a pain, it was a simple press and turn of the wheel on the 400D. I guess this may be something to try and set a custom function for.
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Assuming you mean EV bias then on mine the directional joystick wheel does this in most shooting modes.
 
alan72 said:
My only gripe so far is the lack of a button to simply adjust exposure balance (unless I just haven't found it yet?). I'm finding going into the "quick" menu a bit of a pain, it was a simple press and turn of the wheel on the 400D. I guess this may be something to try and set a custom function for.
Click to expand...
Try the wheel on the back around the Set button - but you may have to half depress the shutter first. That's how it works on the 5D3 in Av and Tv mode
 
GardenersHelper said:
I have noticed a desaturated look too. I now routinely increase Temp by 375 as my first move with an image.

Unfortunately I think you have to do this on an image by image basis in Lightroom 5.3 as you can't (as far as I can see) say "add 375 to Temp" in a preset. (Of course if you have a lot of images with the same White Balance then you can increase Temp for one and then copy the White Balance setting to the others.)
Click to expand...

Just done my first manual kelvin white balance shoot here and sure enough in LR its showing the actual white balance figure minus 350 (so 7650 instead of 8000 etc etc). Not sure if this is a display issue or if it really is giving a lower colour temperature or not. DPP is fine.
 
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