Canon EOS 70D Owners Thread.

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Stuart or just Stoo!
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Picked mine up from LCE in Lincoln early this afternoon :) First impressions are mixed. The camera feels solid enough, but a little on the small side for me, there's nothing for my little finger to grab, so I'll be scouting out a grip for it. The rear dial is a little bit fiddly as i'm used to my 5D3, 1D3 and 7D but I'm sure I'll get used to it. The screen is very responsive and the short time I had it on Liveview it was pretty quick locking on and taking the shot.

I'm a little bit disappointed that the 2 Sigma lenses I've used will need a bit of MFA but the Canon lenses have seemed fine so far. These 2 shots are among the first few shots with the camera and were taken with my Sigma 150-500 OS before any MFA and are SOOC jpegs with no PP and very little time spent going through the menus.

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Overall thoughts are pretty positive though. The build quality is very good, the touchscreen is very responsive and the camera is quite fast at attaining focus and tracking is good, this being compared to my 5D3. Once I get down to changing all the settings to how I want I'm sure I'll be very happy with it. I'm now going to read through the manual and see if I can find any tips in it.
 
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Which lenses did you try?

Looking at either 18-55mm STM or 15-85mm USM and concerned re: autofocus performance. Do I go STM or USM? Really want to go for the latter.
 
So far I've tried the 2 Sigmas (24-70 f2.8 HSM and 150-500 OS) and as said above, both will need MFA to get them spot on. I've also tried a Canon 24-105 f4L, 70-200 f2.8L IS MkII, 85 f1.8 and a 50 f1.4 and they are spot on. The 85 is fantastic on the 70D and the 5D3 and is one of my favourite lenses. It's ****istantly raining here now which has curtailed my testing but I'll be out again once it's dried up.

I'm going to try the wifes' 40mm STM on it next and try some video and liveview shots to see how that is. I've only shot around 10 minutes of video on all the bodies I've had as I'm not interested in it but I will test it out.

Omens, the AF performance on all the Canon lenses so far is excellent, fast and accurate so I'd go for whichever focal length suits you better. The STM will be better for video as it's silent AF but the 15-85 will give you a better reach. Don't discount the 18-135 STM either as that's a cracking lens. If I only had crop bodies I'd have one like a shot after testing one in a shop recently, but I've got other bodies that are EF mount only so I tend to only get EF lenses.

Raincloud, I've only got the usual 2 arms and it's very rare I have more than 2 bodies at any time but for wedding shoots it's easier to have the lenses on the bodies for what you need. Sometimes though I wish I'd got more than 2 arms but then I'd need extra eyes to go with them. LOL
 
It was the silent AF that I was interested in for video work.

I need to sit on my hands for a while or I'll end up ordering this tonight. I want to wait for proper hands-on reviews rather than rely on previews.
 
Ill be watching this thread with interest. Very tempted to order one now but will wait a bit for prices to drop. I'd like to see some high iso pictures at night whenever you have time please.
 
Has no one else got 1 yet, the guy in the shop said they'd got 36 coming in and they'd all been sold on pre-orders. Looks like there could be some new people finding their way to the forum soon lol.
 
Here's another shot with the 70D and Sigma 150-500 OS, after a bit of adjustment. It's another shot similar to the first one above but it just goes to show what the AF of the 70D is capable of. It's not got spot focus like the 7D or the 5D3, which would be a real good firmware upgrade, but it's still very good.

I wanted to do some comparing of noise levels at higher ISO levels and this was shot at ISO1600, 1/1000sec, f7.1 and +2EV purposely to see how it handles the noise. Compared to MY old 7D the noise is much less and the detail is much better at similar settings. MY 7D suffered really badly with noise at ISO1600 whereas I've taken shots at ISO6400 on the 70D today, again purposely for comparison, and I'm much happier with the 70D.

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This one was taken in a shady copse (very dull for mid afternoon) and I purposely took it at ISO6400 to see how the camera coped with the dull conditions. Not a great shot obviously as the noise is noticeable but still a great improvement on my 7D, which was virtually unviewable at the same setting. I've seen a lot of great shots with the 7D at high ISO but I could never get mine to work well.

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Thanks for the images. Were they shot raw and if yes, did you apply any noise reduction?
 
They were shot as jpegs and on the first there's a slight levels increase in the shadows (one up on Elements 11) and just saved. The second shot I used the despeckle on Elements 11, but I can honestly say neither the wife or myself could see any difference from before to after.

I was more using it just to test the noise handling against my 7D and was only out for an hour or so. I'm going to a wildlife park tomorrow and will take some raw and jpegs to see what can be done to improve the raw files in DPP and Elements 11.

So far I have to say, the files are cleaner than the 7D (my 7D especially, don't know about anyone elses) and noise levels seem slightly better than the 60D I had. The only thing I'm not so happy about is the lack of 'spot focus points' as I used to use the function a lot on my 7D and nearly all the time for wildlife shooting on my 5D3. Hopefully canon will cross that with a firmware fix in the future but who knows.
 
From what I have read I was expecting miracles in the sharpness department but you are pushing it, as I would I suppose with a new camera, but I am impressed by the levitation skills of the dog walker.
 
Does the touch screen allow you to focus in live view photo mode?

650d does allow you to focus for still shots so I'd expect the 70d does too. Should be able to confirm tomorrow when mine arrives :E


The STM lenses are pretty quiet so you'll rarely hear them focus apart from in a very very quiet environment.
 
I've got one. I wouldn't be too disappointed about the fact you have to MA 3rd party lenses, I know someone with a 5DIII that had to tweak their sigma primes.

Does the touch screen allow you to focus in live view photo mode?

Yes you can.

The annoying thing is that I am waiting for an LR update so I can process the photos I have. Initial impressions from JPEGs straight off the camera are good though.
 
I need to keep myself away from this thread. Just read Gordon Laing's review: clicky. The autofocus system looks awesome.
 
Got one on the way, hope to post up some shots worth seeing, iso 400 will be the first port of call:D
 
Just emailed Ian at flashcamera for his prices. They're comparable (slightly cheaper) to digitalrev prices.

I'm ordering one. As soon as I work out whether to go for 18-135 or 18-55 STM lens.
 
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ISO 1250 shot from my walkabout yesterday.

This was shot in RAW and processed with the Lightroom 5.2 beta which has support. Only changes made are a crop and the usual Lightroom sharpen for screen option in exporting.


On a rope by Phal44, on Flickr
 
Correct me if I am wrong the 70D does not have the joystick on the back, I have found this one of the most useful things about my 40D for selecting AF points, how do you do it on the 70D and is as good imo as the joystick?
 
Correct me if I am wrong the 70D does not have the joystick on the back, I have found this one of the most useful things about my 40D for selecting AF points, how do you do it on the 70D and is as good imo as the joystick?

The AF points can be configured in a few different ways. There's a button just forward of the shutter button which will bring up the different AF point options. You can cycle through the 3 main modes by pressing that button and the 3 modes are the following:

1- Single selectable points
2- Selectable zones of 3/4 points each located either top,right,left,bottom,centre
3- All points together for automatic AF and you can choose a preference

As far as selecting the individual points, you can do either of the following:

1- Bring up the AF point selection and tap on the touchscreen
2- Cycle through them using the joypad button (up/down/left/right etc)
3- Scroll through points using the two wheels available (back of camera wheel goes left/right and the top aperture scroll wheel goes up/down)
 
hi im new to this forum and just wanted know if i can get some help. i really like this camera and by looking at these images and the reviews i think its amazing. i cant wait for the 7d mk2 to get announced so i thought i would buy this right away (had the canon 1000d for too long). just wondering where i should go to buy it as it seems pricey to go to the local jessops. However the digitalrev website looks promising. still not sure about the hong kong and warranty thing even after reading about it for a while.
just wondering if anyone has got any suggestions on were to go for the cheaper prices and a good deal. thanks for the help and sorry if this has got nothing to do with the post but i usually dot go on forums so im not sure about posting things.
 
flashcamera.co.uk gave me quotes comparable to digitalrev when I emailed them. They're UK based.
 
Well you probably won't get much cheaper than somewhere like DigitalRev which is where mine is from.

Ultimately, you need to weigh up the pros and cons... Is the extra £170 or so worth the quicker support you'll get from the regular Canon warranty. DR will still do warranty replacements for a year but obviously it's slower than the regular UK work. Alternatively, you can just pay to have it repaired if you want faster work so ultimately it's just a decision to make.
 
thank you very much omens. but do you know the prices for it as i would like to get as soon as possible. And i know this must be asked a lot but can i trust and buy my 70d from digitalrev.
ok thanks phal you should ignore what i just said lol.
 
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I've used them a few times and plenty of people here have too (they have their own section in the forums)

If you can buy the same item for the same price with a warranty valid in the UK then that might be worth it but failing that, it's still a decision for you to make; Is the price difference worth the hassle of the extra leg work needed for warranties.
 
thanks a lot phal. looks like il go with the deal on digitalrev. i hate making these decisions lol. And all i can find is £1200 price wherever i go (might just be me lazy at searching). But digitalrev being £250 cheaper looks like a great deal. ignoring the warranty stuff that i can always find a way to deal with. thank you so much for the help. i love that you guys helped me right away and replied lol. il be sure to visit the forum and this post more often in the coming days. cant wait to get the 70d.
 
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Body only £849
with 18-55mm STM £949
with 18-135mm STM £1149

Now if only Ian would respond to my replies. He emailed me back when I asked about prices and delivery, but has said nothing when asked about payment details.
 
Yes but US sourced so Canon honours the warranty, according to them. Canon won't honour any cashback deals though.
 
Had a day trip out and took the 70D with me as well as the 5D3. Got some cracking shots off both cameras and I've added some to my Flickr account. This one is taken by the 70D and is a Jpeg SOOC and only cropped in PSE11. I've not added any sharpening to it but I don't know if PSE does it automatically.

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This one has had a levels alteration and a bit of sharpening, but I'm quite happy with it. These were both taken with the 70-200 f2.8L IS MkII and 2x MkIII converter. The bird was taken at f8 and the Giraffe wide open at f5.6.

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This one is also taken wide open with just a slight crop in PSE11 only.

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The more I use the 70D the more I'm liking it. IMO the files are much cleaner than the ones I got from my 7D and that was the primary reason for buying it. For those not bothered about imports HDEW Cameras have it at £870 http://www.hdewcameras.co.uk/canon-eos-70d-camera-body-1348-p.asp and Panamoz have them at £741 http://panamoz.com/index.php/canon-eos-70d-20mp-digital-slr-camera-body.html and I've bought from both before and had great service from them.
 
For those not bothered about imports HDEW Cameras have it at £870
Oh FFS. I only emailed them yesterday and they said they didn't know when it was coming in nor the price! :bonk:

I emailed Ian at Flashcamera and he quoted £850 for the body with £20P&P so works out the same but an American grey import.
 
Had a day trip out and took the 70D with me as well as the 5D3.

Hi,

your thoughts compared to the 5D Mark 3, I know they are totally different as I have one too but would like the crop body again and wondered ?

I had a 7D for a few weeks and hated it, far too much work to get decent images imo, so figure if the AF on the 70D is as good as they 7D then the 5D III would be sold and just keep the 70D body for our trip to Florida with my dad's 18-135 STM lens

Mike.
 
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