Canon 7d mk1?

Daniel Meads

Daniel Meads

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Daniel Meads
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Hi, I currently own a canon 450d and was looking at upgrading. I have looked at many used options like a canon 60d because of the price range, however I have primarily looking at the canon 7d MKi now, (didn't before because of the CF card slot and no SD card slot but realised that it's not a problem). It's in my budget of around £300 max and Ive seen the bodies sold on eBay for just under £200 which is perfect for me so I can spend more money towards an upgrade from my kit lens as well.

I am have just started my GCSE photography course and finding my 450d to start to get a few faults like the live view freezing and the flash not opening and overall, the resolution just not sufficient anymore for what I want to be able to do.

I need a camera that can do a bit of everything well but I tend to go towards the landscapes/cityscapes, wildlife and aviation side of photography and enjoy shooting these genres.

Is the 7d mk1 still a good camera in 2019 / is it worth the upgrade or are there any others I should consider?

Thanks in advance,

Daniel Meads
 
A 200D has a much better sensor than a 7D and is in your budget probably.
It has 24 mp VS 18 mp, more dynamic range, more color depth, better iso performance etc.....
However the 7D is a much higher class of dslr so its something to think about.
 
I 'upgraded' from a 40D to a 7D mk1 way back in 2012. I've had a love hate relationship with mine (I still have mine and dig it out when I feel like a challenge), you really have to nail the exposure, which usually involves exposing to the right, something I've only learned recently, to avoid the noise, grain and banding issues the Mki 7D has. Shadow recovery isn't good at all with this camera.

That said, it was a good camera to all intents and purposes back in the day and there's no reason why it shouldn't be a good camera now, it's just cameras have advanced over the years, not that the 7D has become a bad camera. In fairness to the 7D, I think mine is one of the bad copies, some bodies seem to be worse than others when it comes to the grain issues. Even a good copy will never be a low light camera though, not in the sense a full frame camera would be.

It all depends what you want to do, the 7D carries a lot of bang for the buck nowadays but for not much more money, you could get a decent, second hand full frame body that would give you much better image quality. Bear in mind though, EF-S lenses won't work on full frame, only EF. Just to say, I have a Fuji X-T10, which is getting on a bit now too but in my experience, a better camera than the 7D, with much cleaner files.

This is just my experience with my own copy of the 7D, there are some very succesful images out there taken with it.
 
Daniel Meads said:
Thanks for the advice, Haven't thought about a Fuji. Will have a look at that, the only problem is the switch of mount.
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Yes, indeed, it would entail a whole new lens system. Fuji lenses aren't cheap either. It was more for comparison really, the T10 is in my opinion, a better camera with better files. The 7D is feature packed, it was often called "the baby 1DX". It's still a great camera but in my experience, let down by the image quality. If your not OCD (like me) about an amount of grain in your images, I'd say go for it but I do think you'd get better sensors for around the £300 mark, used or new.
 
7D will mainly help with autofocus, and faster action. It is certainly an upgrade over 450d. It is not perfect but why not as the cost is now fairly minimal to switch and it doesn't lock you in to that for the next millennium either.

What lenses have you got as that will really determine your limits out and about?
 
Still have and use my 7D which I bought when they first came out, decided not to upgrade to a 7D2, Ok so I can get newer cameras with 24MP sensors, but you then have to store all those large files, unless printing really huge I haven't found 18mp a problem. It's still an awesome camera in my opinion
 
LongLensPhotography said:
what lenses have you got as that will really determine your limits out and about?
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Thanks for the advice, I just have the standard 18 55 kit lens(which I am also looking to upgrade due to poor image quality) and have just been given the canon 70-300 4-5.6 is ii USM for Christmas at a bargain price, as an upgrade from my 75-300 4-5.6 iii.
Taken it out today, and absolutely love the performance and overall sharpness but the quality can't truly be shown because of the low resolution of my camera and the noise issues.
 
I went from a 450D to a 50D and then to a 7D. There was a stellar difference between the 450D and the 7D for any action photography, and I stayed with the 7D for a few years until the 7D2 came out. You would find it a great upgrade for wildlife and aviation.
 
I still like and use my 7D but only outdoors and in good light. In that environment it's still a worthy camera even though it "only" has 18mp and shadow recovery isn't all that good. It'll sit on the end of my big Siggy for the rest of its life probably as I have a 5D mkiv for everything else. From your description of what you're likely to shoot, it should work for you very well. Cityscapes at night on a tripod at low ISO will be no problem. When I get the requisite post count I'll post up some night shots from Hungary which I think are perfectly acceptable.
 
Right, here we go, this was actually hand-held, ISO800 f4 1/25
heroes square.jpg
This one on a tripod ISO6400 f5.6 30secs
_MG_8591 low res.jpg
 
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By the way OP, the new 18-55ii is a much better lens than the original kit lens and the latest 55-250 STM is super too. Add in a 10-18 and you're made on a 7D
 
checkmate91 said:
it "only" has 18mp and shadow recovery isn't all that good.
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It's still an upgrade from the 450d, as that only has 12.2mp and the noise is horrible and I even get it at iso 100 with 1600 being the max iso on the 450d.
 
I will throw in my 2 pence worth,....
My camera portfolio is Minolta 700X Film, eos 50E Film, 400D, 7D original, 7Dii & Sony NEX5R

The 400D for me was my first DSLR and though it had lots of limitations and that for me was a good thing. As I had to learn techniques and not rely on the camera to do its magic. Then I upgraded to the 7D original and what a big difference in performance !
The extra AF points the quick AF, burst rate, quick buffer, solid body, and for me video !

Now the 7D is now an old camera and does have its limitations which have been mentioned above ie terrible high ISO performance, DR is poor. However the camera build is like a tank, it is weather sealed the AF is super fast and accurate and for wildlife and airshows it is great camera. The sensor can give sharp results with a good piece of glass. The EF 24-70L or EF24-70 mkii or new Tamron version. I use a Sigma 17-70 DC OSS HSM which works really well on my 7Dii and my old 7D original.

The 200D is a good choice for general use however the 7D can do general and wildlife & Airshows as well. As long as you do not go over 800 ISO on the 7D the noise is very, very low and IQ is pretty good.
Then there is the 70D which I think can had for around £300 or just a little bit more
Having good glass will be one of the best investments you can make as you will tend to keep glass for ever and upgrade camera bodies as an when.
I can appreciate budget is a very big limiting factor for you so can I suggest camera forums for purchase, borrowing lenses, joining camera club to network
 
Thank you to all of the advice I've gotten from everyone, I've ordered a 7d now from CameraJungle for £250ish in excellent condition and can't wait for it to arrive.
And again Thank You all.
 
Daniel Meads said:
Thank you to all of the advice I've gotten from everyone, I've ordered a 7d now from CameraJungle for £250ish in excellent condition and can't wait for it to arrive.
And again Thank You all.
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have you used the 7D yet ! ?
 
Tysonator said:
have you used the 7D yet ! ?
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Yes, I have used it a couple of times so far however not in any good light, here's one of a robin I tried when it was very cloudy and quite dull so it's just not very sharp at all
2019-01-20_06-44-59.jpghowever will wait for a sunny day and try again. But I have noticed how much quicker it is than the 450d and being double the frames per second, I knew I would.

2019-01-23_03-51-40.jpgand here's one of my photos that I was actually satisfactied with the results and the overall improvement over the 450d.

However, I have seen how limiting the shadow recovery resulting in some very noisy photos because of how I was used to shooting. I also had a bit of confusion over the exposure simulation and how it worked but after research I think I understand, roughly, how it works now because of being used to live view on the 450d, which is quite different. But yeah, I am overall pleased and glad that I did upgrade and just want to get out now that I know how to use it properly, but the weather recently hasn't really been that good in terms of lighting.
 
Glad you are enjoying the 7D.
remember if you cn not take the ISO over 800 as noise starts to creep in. Very good glass is needed for he 7D which will help AF lock on better to subjects like Wildlife.
I have a EF70-300L IS USM which is great, however expensive. The Tamron version is very good alternative. The older canon EF70-300 IS USM ( non L ) is ok but soft at 300mm.
Check out the used forum for good used glass.
 
Tysonator said:
Glad you are enjoying the 7D.
remember if you cn not take the ISO over 800 as noise starts to creep in.
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yeah, I do try to keep it as low as possible but this squirrel here was taken at f5.6, 1/2000 and iso 6400 with my canon 70-300 is 2 USM lens at 300mm and I was very surprised at how little noise there was considering how high it was, I know the background is quite noisy, but I would of got nearly the same amount as with 1600 on my 450d, considering that, I was very pleased with how it came out. (Keep in mind that it was downloaded at a lower Res so that I could put it on here)2019-01-29_08-08-55.jpg
 
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