GH2 or 7D

EMA747

EMA747

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Andy
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How much difference is there in quality of stills between the Panasonic GH2 and Canon 7D? I can find a lot of comparison for video but not stills?

With almost all the photos I take I really just post on flickr or sites like here. I'm beginning to wonder if a 7D and L lenses is overkill.
If I got a GH2 I could sell my L lenses and make around £2700 to put into a new video camera (I know GH2 is ok for video but I'm talking pro video).
 
I suspect though I'm not sure that the 7D will be better at high ISOs - I think it's fair to say there are less really high quality lenses available for M4/3, but for posting on the web you really won't see much difference if any.

The 20mm pancake is very very good indeed, the 14-45 is pretty good, the 14-140 is meant to be good too. The 7-14 looks fantastic but is expensive.

Not sure exactly what you mean by pro video but look at some of the stuff people like Philip Bloom have made with the GH2 - it's one of the best video cameras out there unless you are getting into pretty serious territory.
 
with a adaptor you can use 4/3 lenses, Olympus have some quality glass
 
Only at very high ISO will you see a slight advantage from the 7d. The 7d offers you more lens choices though, better lenses is another matter. The GH2 and it's kit lens will outperform a 7d and it's kit lens, I'd hazard a guess that L glass versus Zuiko SHG glass it would be a very close run (and expensive!) game though.

What lenses do you currently have?
 
From the *reviews* I've seen, the 7d is cleaner above ISO 800, which is what should be expected of an aps-c v micro 4/3 comparison. Talking raw of course. Panasonic's jpg engine could be brilliant though, for all I know. Dpreview should have comparison images up by now.
 
Interesting replies. I have read some people saying the 7D "blows the GH2 out of the water" quality wise but from the replies here I'm not so sure that is true.

I have three main issues right now:

1) If I get the GH2 and sell my L lenses will I see a big hit in quality compared to what I am used to and regret the downgrade?

2) If I get a 7D I will not to sell my L lenses. The 7D body is a similar price to the GH2 kit but my L lenses are worth about £2700 used so you could say going the 7D option is going to cost me £2700 that I could otherwise use to pay for the camcorder, if you see what I mean.

3) I shoot aviation quite a bit and I'm not sure if the GH2 would be good for fast moving planes?
 
EMA747 said:
Interesting replies. I have read some people saying the 7D "blows the GH2 out of the water" quality wise but from the replies here I'm not so sure that is true.

I have three main issues right now:

1) If I get the GH2 and sell my L lenses will I see a big hit in quality compared to what I am used to and regret the downgrade?

2) If I get a 7D I will not to sell my L lenses. The 7D body is a similar price to the GH2 kit but my L lenses are worth about £2700 used so you could say going the 7D option is going to cost me £2700 that I could otherwise use to pay for the camcorder, if you see what I mean.

3) I shoot aviation quite a bit and I'm not sure if the GH2 would be good for fast moving planes?
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1) Depends what lenses you have now and will be replacing them with.

2)I don't really do video, but the GH2 video is the best video on the market from a stills camera. I have no idea how much equal quality costs in dedicated camcorder format.

3) Don't know. The closest I've got is ahooting that Rally at night with a GH1 and 14-45. It did fine but we're talking sub aviation speeds! I'd expect that as long as you can track it in the viewfinder, the GH2 will focus on it, although I'd expect you'll have to work harder to get the shot. With a 45-200 you can kiss goodbye to aviation, it's too slow and too soft at the long end.
 
EMA747 said:
Interesting replies. I have read some people saying the 7D "blows the GH2 out of the water" quality wise but from the replies here I'm not so sure that is true.
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Looking at the samples on DPR the GH2 looks visibly sharper than the 7D and better at ISO 1600 too although to be fair I think it depends where you look in the test image as in some places the 7D looks better, must be a close thing.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicdmcgh2/page19.asp
 
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Alan Clogwyn said:
1) Depends what lenses you have now and will be replacing them with.

2)I don't really do video, but the GH2 video is the best video on the market from a stills camera. I have no idea how much equal quality costs in dedicated camcorder format.

3) Don't know. The closest I've got is ahooting that Rally at night with a GH1 and 14-45. It did fine but we're talking sub aviation speeds! I'd expect that as long as you can track it in the viewfinder, the GH2 will focus on it, although I'd expect you'll have to work harder to get the shot. With a 45-200 you can kiss goodbye to aviation, it's too slow and too soft at the long end.
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1) I have all Canon - 17-40 L, 24-70 L and 70-200 f2.8 IS mkII L.

2) I have placed an order for a video camera plus I need pro codec etc for the work I plan on doing/selling with it. ;) GH2 sounds like it will take some nice footage though.

3) This is one of my main worries with the GH2.
 
EMA747 said:
1) I have all Canon - 17-40 L, 24-70 L and 70-200 f2.8 IS mkII L.

2) I have placed an order for a video camera plus I need pro codec etc for the work I plan on doing/selling with it. ;) GH2 sounds like it will take some nice footage though.

3) This is one of my main worries with the GH2.
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Well you won't find any direct equivalents of those in m4/3:

m.Zuiko 9-18mm, Panasonic 14-45mm, m.Zuiko 40-150mm would cover the range more or less but are a stop or 2 slower mostly.

Fast glass is on the way but theres no definite date or specs yet, other than the 25mm f1.4 from Panasonic.

For 4/3 lenes on an adapter you could think about the Zuiko 12-60 f2.8-4 (Sharper than the canon at wider apertures, equal at F8) and the 50-200SWD f2.8-3.5 (not quite as good as the Canon)

I've linked them to the SLR gear test pages, as they cover more lenses than dpreview, though I find dpreview to be a little more in agreememnt with what I've found myself.
 
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As far as the 7D 'blowing the GH2 out of the water' in terms of IQ I think that's nonsense personally.

The GH2 is meant to have very good focus speed for M4/3, but I've not tried it - it's not likely to be as advanced/fast AF as the 7D though I wouldn't have thought.

edit: There's some stuff about the AF here in the dpreview - http://dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicdmcgh2/page9.asp

There's a user on here called Glen Surtees (sp?) who shoots planes (commercial airliners so not mega fast moving I suppose) with I think a GH1 or two and the 100-300, results look very good to me.

The 45-200 is not a great lens, but the 100-300 looks to be a lot better.
 
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