Rumour mill gets into overdrive re Canon 7D MkII

[Donald]

I see that a lot of sources are getting very excited with the belief that Canon are going to launch a new 7D in the first week of September.

Apparently Amazon in the US is now showing the 7D as 'Discontinued' . One thing I read states, "A new Canon patent points to combining Phase AF from the sensor with conventional Phase AF for better burst performance" and "7D2 rumours are getting a bit of a bump - only to be expected with the suspected announcement less than a month away. No WiFi and 24+MP both suggested."

Let's see what transpires.

[deetheturk]

Will you be tempted Donald?

[Donald]

Tempted? Yes.

But the reality is that I'm producing what are, I think, reasonable images with my trusty old 40D. And that begs the question - What would I achieve with a new 7D that I can't with the 40D, given the sort of photographer I am and the sort of photography I do?

New toys are always nice. But do I need it?

[NorthernFocus]

There is a parallel rumour of a new "action" camera in the mill at Nikon. But the rumours are that it will be another full frame model. Considering the full frame lineup is pretty dense already and that the 7D and Nikon D300 have been linked at the hip, perhaps the 7D2 release is a harbinger that the new "action" Nikon will in fact be a DX body???

[DanK]

Amazon US still has them.

The rumors have been very intense lately, but then again, they also were a year or more ago, for months on end. I probably would have bought one had they actually appeared. I finally gave up and bought a different body.

Donald--I suspect your question was rhetorical, but having gone through this recently, I'll answer anyway. If I did mostly landscapes, I would wait to see details about the sensor's performance. You presumably don't need the AF system, which even in the current 7D is much better than in the 40D. I'd be very surprised if the new 7D has fewer than 20MP. That could be either good news or bad, for your purposes, but it will be coupled with three generations of sensor improvements. My old body is a 50D, which is quite similar to the 40D in terms of noise and AF, although with a somewhat higher pixel count and MFA. My main dissatisfactions with it are the poor high-ISO noise performance and the mediocre AF, but I'm guessing that for your purposes, neither matters very much.

I think if I were a landscape photographer, wanted an upgrade from the 40D/50D, and wanted not to spend money needlessly, I would probably buy a 6D. It has an even better sensor than my 5D3, and what it lacks relative to the 7D (AF, reach) doesn't matter much in much of landscape photography.

Dan

Dan

[Loose Canon]

Tempted? Yes.

New toys are always nice. But do I need it?

"Need" and "want" seldom have anything to do with each other!

[NorthernFocus]

One could argue that ever improving dynamic range of newer sensors is useful to landscape togs

[loosecanon]

But what will be the launch price, Canon seem to load the price of new cameras quite a lot, whilst surprisingly they don't for lenses (well not in same way). So will 7DII be over £2000, or will they make it £1200 to gain some ground on Nikon.

[DanK]

One could argue that ever improving dynamic range of newer sensors is useful to landscape togs

yup. that is part of what I meant by three generations of sensor improvement. But I'll wager that the 7DII, if it ever arrives, does not match the 6D in that regard. Not that I am pushing a 6D, or even FF for that matter. Just laying out some of what I saw as the pros and cons as I weighed different options for myself.

[NorthernFocus]

...I'll wager that the 7DII, if it ever arrives, does not match the 6D in that regard....

Well now I'm confused. Are we trying to help a guy with reasonable excuses to buy a new camera body or trying to provide sound technical advice

[Dr Bob]

As a 7D owner and going off of the rumors of the 7DII, I am not tempted to upgrade. However, I am thinking about complementing my 7D with a 6D for landscape and nature shots. So DanK, your comments on landscape photos and the 6D are helpful.

Dr Bob

[wilgk]

I read this thread with a great deal of interest. I have the 7D in a lot of cases for indoor fast moving sports.
When there is a performance e.g Cheerleading comp' I borrow another 7D body from my workplace. I do have in the back of my mind that this won't always be possible & which body would I buy as a backup.
The 6D with a Full frame sensor is tempting, as I do need very high ISO settings in some of the regional gyms. On the other hand I have concerns about its capability after reading a review that said -no good for fast action.... I know "One swallow does not a summer make".... but it gave me pause.
The top line 1DX or whatever that level is currently called is out of my league, in terms of my ability, # of paid jobs per year & it's price!
But am rattling around the options in the Used 5Dmark 3 vs new 6D .... & maybe 7Dmark 2....
Suggestions, advice, links to non directional reviews all very much appreciated.

[DanK]

Kay,

If you want superb AF, the better high-ISO performance of a modern FF, and a reasonable burst rate, the 5d Mark III would bve a great choice. I have one, and I really love it. There are only two big disadvantages of that specific model: (1) it is very expensive, and (2) it is big and heavy (although a 1 series would be worse on both counts). The AF is the same as in the 1 series. The other, generic disadvantage of moving to FF is that you would have a lot less reach for any given focal length, so you are probably talking about at least one new (heavier and more expensive) lens.

Personally, if I were in your boots, and if I were not in a rush, I would wait a bit to see what (if anything) the 7DII offers. My guess is that if it appears, it will have a substantially upgraded sensor from the current model. But that is just me.

Dan

[inkista]

While a 5DMkIII is bigger/heavier than a 7D, it's not a lot bigger, so I think pt 2 needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

I would also advise waiting to see what the specs on the 7D MkII (or whatever they wind up calling it) are before making a purchase decision, given that we're relatively close to announcement time (Photokina is Sept. 16-21, so....). My guess would be that the 70D PDAF tech will definitely be making its way into the 7D successor, as well as an AF system upgrade (between 19 and 41 (5DMkIII) or 51 (1DX) AF points, there's a lot of room). Given that the 70D now more or less has the 7D's AF sensor array hardware, I can't see them leaving that as-is.

But I do keep thinking that there's something else going on, given the delay on the 7D. In the "normal" (who knows?) course of events, I'd have expected the 7DMkII to come out before the 70D. So, I can't help positing something entirely new to the Canon lineup may be happening in the 7DMkII; not just the addition of the 70D's PDAF sensor tech or the addition of more AF points. Maybe the removal of an AA filter; or the addition of 4K video or something--but those would be expected.