All Purpose Camera - Canon 7d Mk2 or 5d Mk3 - or 70d maybe... CONFUSED!!

Spiderdudeuk

Spiderdudeuk

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I am more confused than ever right now having read every review, owners post and snippet I've found on the net and here.

Looking at the Canon range of cameras as all my current equipment is Canon and lens are not an issue at this stage.

What is the best £ for £ all purpose camera they offer. The reviews around vary from 70d to 5d Mk3 with 7d Mk2 thrown in as well. All depends what you read.

Money is not an issue I should point out, well not an issue in the sense of not wanting to spend 1Dx money.

The vast majority of photos I take are of sport and birds. But I am exploring other areas now as trying to learn more techniques. But the camera is starting to go everywhere with me now and landscapes in summer will become more prevalent along with cityscapes.

So, what would CANON would you buy right now if you had say £2500 to spend if you want one that will do everything??? :runaway::runaway:
 
It's more about the lens you bolt on the front of the body than anything...if you primary interest is birds and wild life I'd probably go for the crop of either the 70D or 7D2 likely the later as its the newer of the two....however if you want the best out of those three in terms of low light performance etc then I'd go 5D3 I own the 5D3 and there's nothing I've done that it's struggled with doing :thumbs:

So do you have lens or is that also something that needs to be factored into the budget?
 
MWHCVT said:
So do you have lens or is that also something that needs to be factored into the budget?
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I have a 70-200mm f/2.8 L, 400mm f/5.6 L, 24-105mm F/4 L plus a couple of crop ones, a 50mm f/1.8 II and a 1.4x extender II

So lens are well covered, low light is an issue on sport photography under floodlights... This is the issue, it's what is the all encompassing camera of the 3...
 
How about a 7D mk2 + a 6D for the best of both worlds. High speed crop for wildlife and sports then a 6D for all your full frame goodness :). If you carry the two at sports / wildlife it'll give you the ability to cover more focal length and have a backup.
 
Without a shadow of a doubt the all encompassing one is the 5D3, the 7D2 is primarily sports wildlife and the 70d is not going to cut it in the quality stakes. I use the 5D3 for weddings landscapes nightscapes macro and portraits, i have found it to be outstanding in all those areas - however i dont often need to use the focussing system to its full as in wildlife sports , i have however done a few dog shoots with fast running animals etc and found a good 50-70% keeper rate with the af tracking. You can get the 5D3 for the 2-2.3k mark depending on offers ..
 
I have a 5d3, a 70d and a 1d3 and I struggle not to take the 5d with me wherever I go. I shoot the same kind of stuff as you, but add some people stuff in as well for good measure.

At some point I will move the 70d on for a 7d2, but I reckon it will still be the 5d I lean towards.
 
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Sharky said:
How about a 7D mk2 + a 6D for the best of both worlds. High speed crop for wildlife and sports then a 6D for all your full frame goodness :). If you carry the two at sports / wildlife it'll give you the ability to cover more focal length and have a backup.
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An interesting option and something I did consider to be honest. But, it comes back to wanting to just have one camera that covers all areas or certainly as many as possible. I know there will be a compromise somewhere, which is why I'm edging towards the 7d due to volume of photos being sport or wildlife.
 
Don't forget that the crop factor will also have quite an impact on your lens "coverage".

For example on the 5D3 your 400mm lens will have a different field of view on the 7D2, where it will be equivalent to a 640mm lens on the 5D3 because of the crop factor.

And if by "crop ones" you mean the EFS lenses these cannot be used on the 5D3.

Also the extender you have will decrease the light getting to the sensor by a full stop which means your f4 lens will become f5.6

So basically you need a camera with excellent AF even in low light, may take EFS lenses, and also may need high FPS so as not to miss the important moment.

The only one which might cover all these is the 7D Mk2.
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petersmart said:
Don't forget that the crop factor will also have quite an impact on your lens "coverage".

For example on the 5D3 your 400mm lens will have a different field of view on the 7D2, where it will be equivalent to a 640mm lens on the 5D3 because of the crop factor.

And if by "crop ones" you mean the EFS lenses these cannot be used on the 5D3.

Also the extender you have will decrease the light getting to the sensor by a full stop which means your f4 lens will become f5.6

So basically you need a camera with excellent AF even in low light, may take EFS lenses, and also may need high FPS so as not to miss the important moment.

The only one which might cover all these is the 7D Mk2.
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Yes, and the crop factor and what I am used to covering football would be a potential issue. The crop lenses I'm not to worried about I would unload these or pass them onto my son to use.

So as I expected, there is a mixture of views on what will work best...
 
Spiderdudeuk said:
An interesting option and something I did consider to be honest. But, it comes back to wanting to just have one camera that covers all areas or certainly as many as possible. I know there will be a compromise somewhere, which is why I'm edging towards the 7d due to volume of photos being sport or wildlife.
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Sports and wildlife with one body i'd personally go for the 7D MKII but i would seriously consider adding a FF body to give you choice when shooting your landscapes / cityscapes etc.

Price from a reputable grey supplier is around £1100 7D + £900 6D with 3 year warranties so well inside your overall budget and covers everything.
 
5d3 does everything extremely well. Weather resistant, great image quality, fast frame rate, accurate AF, FF loveliness, good low light capability, nothing it can't do well. Other cameras are a little more specialised. Since getting mine neither my 50d nor my 1d get a look in other than standby bodies. Out today at Brands in the snow showers, 1d stayed in my bag. ☺
 
Andrew Davies Photography said:
That is a hell of a price , has anyone had experiece of Panamoz - BACS transfers leave no protection for the seller ??
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That is with credit card payment so covered on that.. £1513 with BACS.

Plenty on here about Panamoz, so wouldn't be too worried about buying form them...
 
Sharky said:
How about a 7D mk2 + a 6D for the best of both worlds. High speed crop for wildlife and sports then a 6D for all your full frame goodness :). If you carry the two at sports / wildlife it'll give you the ability to cover more focal length and have a backup.
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I've got a 7D mk1 that I use for wildlife & Motorsport but I found it a bit lacking for landscapes so I've just ordered a 6D.

I got the 6D for £899 so price wise it made sense to go the two body route :D
 
Spiderdudeuk said:
So lens are well covered, low light is an issue on sport photography under floodlights... This is the issue, it's what is the all encompassing camera of the 3...
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....Then you only have one choice because the 7D Mark II is the only one which offers you Canon's new 'Flicker!' feature which deals with artificial lighting. Watch this - The 'Flicker!' feature is explained starting after approx 5:00 into the video....


Also, the 7D2 + 400mm F/5.6 L combo is good for wildlife and you invariably want reach. It also has a very sophisticated AF system for action.
 
Thats great, not seen this video.. Can't believe I missed one... Very much appreciated :ty:
 
Spiderdudeuk said:
Thats great, not seen this video.. Can't believe I missed one... Very much appreciated :ty:
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....Glad to help if I can :)

I'm not suggesting that the 7D2 is the 'best' of the three you have shortlisted but I had a 70D before the 7D2 and loved the 70D but the 7D2 is the next step up (I posted a comparison some time ago but don't know if I can find it) and represents the best value for money if that's important to you. 10 fps and killer AF system plus professional build durability are what I prefer about the 7D2 but the 70D articulated screen was very useful for some shots.

The 5D3 has loads going for it because it's Full-Frame and it without doubt is an excellent allrounder. But if you are shooting sports action and wildlife then most photographers will recommend the 7D2 and Canon have declared that it's designed for that market.
 
MWHCVT said:
It's more about the lens you bolt on the front of the body than anything...if you primary interest is birds and wild life I'd probably go for the crop of either the 70D or 7D2 likely the later as its the newer of the two....however if you want the best out of those three in terms of low light performance etc then I'd go 5D3 I own the 5D3 and there's nothing I've done that it's struggled with doing (y)
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Andrew Davies Photography said:
Without a shadow of a doubt the all encompassing one is the 5D3, the 7D2 is primarily sports wildlife and the 70d is not going to cut it in the quality stakes.
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I have always understood what Matthew said to be the actual fact, although Andrew has confused the issue for me. I thought that the benefits of going for a higher spec body would be better noise handling if FF, or higher FPS if 7D2, or 70D if you were not made of money.

I shot a family wedding with my 450D as I had a 'decent camera' and have been known to take 'good' shots. I was a bit reluctant to do it for obvious reasons, but it all turned out well. I used my Sigma 30mm f1.4 and Sigma 17-70 for most of the shots paired with a 430EX flash and I shot in raw and processed in DPP. Everyone commented on how well the shots turned out, although we did have a nice day for it.

Now, I know a 5D3 would be the choice for a pro as it will cope significantly better in lower light. The 70D would also have been a better bet for low light but, given use of the same lenses in good light (forgetting for the moment that the lenses mentioned are both crop only), would there really have been that much of a difference in quality between the 450D images at ISO100 and the 5D3? Would you really be able to tell the difference if they were both processed the same way?

If the answer is yes, then does that mean that when people say it is all about the glass and the person behind the camera, they don't know what they're talking about?

I genuininly confused now, and I am writing this from the point of view of someone who is looking to upgrade to a 70D as it will be better than my 450D in low light, have higher FPS for when I shoot aircraft plus video. I also understand it is more intuitive with menu features and options, but I was not necessarily expecting a massive step-up in image quality.
 
www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Canon-EOS-70D-versus-Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-III-versus-Canon-EOS-450D___895_795_185

take a look at that link and it will give you an idea , the difference in low light capability between the 450d and 70d is not huge , between them two and the 5D3 the difference is HUGE ! if all your work would be done at iso100-400 then yes the 70d quality would look probably just as good , however if you are to venture into the 800+ range then the 5D2 or 3 will leave the rest standing.
 
Thanks. Having problems viewing the comparison though due to size of the page and script error messages. I suppose it all comes down to how much money you have or if you use the camera for your job, as you clearly do. In that case a 5D3 is a no-brainer, and it would be for me too, but when it is just a past-time, even though I could afford a 5D3, I don't think it would make that much of a difference to me apart from occasional low light shots where you need a high enough shutter speed and hence higher ISO.
 
I would plump for as nice a 1D IV as I could get my hands on
 
After looking at this thread I've just ordered a 5D3 to back up my 70D. this will allow me to have 2 kits which will mean I should be able to get some great shots. The 70D kit will live in my car and whilst I won't have brilliant lenses with it I will be able to take some oprtunistic shots. The 5D3 will live at home and will be used with my new lenses. I'm looking forward to getting some use out of these and some critique from you guys. :)
 
I've had a 5D3 and a 70D, I traded both in for a 7DII and I love it, no regrets. Yes the 5D3 is better at higher ISO, but the 70D/7DII aren't bad plus they have built in flashes if you want to use it (I don't always carry a flashgun around and when it's just my kids playing it doesn't need to be perfectly diffused light).

The 7DII is an excellent sports camera, 10fps, huge buffer, fast card write speed and an absolutely sublime AF system. I've also used it for portraits and been very pleased.

Both the 70D and the 7DII are harder on lenses, some that were good on the 5D3/1DX I found to be 'meh' on the crop bodies.
 
If ultimate image quality is what you want then the 5D3 is the one to have. Has got probably a good stop on the 7D MkII in ISO but the difference will not appear so great if the 5D3 files are cropped to the 1.6 equivalent.

I traded my 5D3 for a 7D MkII purely for the crop factor. My initial thoughts are that the 7D MkII performs well with good lenses, which is pretty much a requirement these days to get the very best out of cameras. At 75% or above of the frame on the 7D then Ive been happy with the results. Cropping in more has left me underwhelmed slightly. AF seems to be good and im sure that it would be a decent all round camera.

ISO is OK up to 1600 but in my eyes 2000 is about the max. After that i feel that loss of detail starts to become an issue.

Plenty of customisation options on the 7D and I think its good value at its current price.

As pointed out above going grey could provide you with a 7D and 6D for your budget.

Both 5D & 7D will AF at f8 so your 400 +1.4 would be good on both.

Also bear in mind that my views on the 7D are made comparing it to a 5D3 and 1DX which quite frankly blow the 7D away in ultimate image quality. Against other crop cameras like the 70 D and 7D MkI then im sure that it has the edge in image quality and certainly in overall performance.
 
I thank all the contributors to this post,very much appreciated.

As I have said, it appears there is no "jack of all trades" camera, all have their strong points and are very closely matched on most others.

I have plumped for a 7d MK2 in the end. I have been asked to photo another football team in addition to the one I already do. So the sporting capabilities of this over the 5d are what won it over.

Once again, many thanks for the contributions and comments, they all have been very helpful. Cheers all, you're a good bunch! :ty::ty::clap::clap:
 
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