Trading down 1Dmark4 to 7D...

[Jason McDonald]

OK...the short story: I had a Nikon D700 for photography. A great full-frame camera with a ton of glass. I loved the high ISO and nice clean pictures.

Then, I was introduced to video. I first got myself a Canon XH-AH1 with a 35mm adapter and a bunch of Canon lenses. I then traded all that (Making about 1000 USD profit) for a 7D and 3 lenses (30mm Sigma, 17-55mm Canon and 11-16 Tokina). Carrying 1 camera for video and the other for photography got to be a bit much.

I sold all of it and got myself a Canon 1Dm4 and 3 lenses (70-200mm 4L, 100mm 2.8L and Sigma 24mm 1.8) It's a great camera for photography but I sometimes wonder if a smaller body with a couple of cheaper lenses would make better sense.

I do wedding photography for friends, it's fun and I get a little cash on the side to go towards adding more to my hobby...however, I wonder at times if a 7D with more L glass would be good. I love the high ISO and clean pictures (Video and photography) but when I shoot video, I am usually in a well lit area (If I were to go pro I would have some lights) and (When doing photography, I'm usually using a light or 2 off camera for some good flash photography when it's needed)

I wonder what everyone else thinks...

[Chris Hurd]

I'm in the exact opposite situation -- I'd like to trade up from my 7D to a 1D Mk. IV. But I'm using these cameras mostly for still photography, not video, so I agree that it would be nice to get some input on this from other event videographers. I can tell you this, the 7D doesn't have anything close to the lowlight performance of the 1D4 (which is truly in a class by itself in that regard -- it's the one video-enabled Canon D-SLR that can see in the dark).

Too bad we're not in the same country, otherwise it might have been practical to work out how much cash you'd want on top of my 7D. The ocean between us kills the idea though.

[Charles Papert]

The noise profile is noticeably different between the 1DMKIV and the 7D--I've had their images on a quad split on a monitor for a multicam shoot, even at a "reasonable" ASA (either 320 or 640, forgot which).

I wouldn't trade down if you didn't have to.

[Jason McDonald]

I loved my D700 for it's ISO capabilities...that's why I traded all my Nikon gear for Canon (I swore I wouldn't but Nikon just didn't catch up in time). Right now, I'm looking at 2 or 3 other lenses, that if I had, would make things complete,for photography, not sure about video though,,,the Canon lenses seem to do a better job...

[Bill Pryor]

I think the L lenses are good, but I prefer the Zeiss manual lenses. If I did mostly stills I might want the Canon for their auto focus.

[Norman Pogson]

If only Canon and Nikon would merge, I'm a Nikon still photographer with a D300 and know it very well to get good quality images, noise is still an issue with it. I bought a Canon 7D for video, but hoping that the one camera would do stills and video. I was very disappointed in the Canon 7D for stills, for video it is great and I love the functions like 60p and external monitor without resizing.

Nikon is best for flash and wide angle, Canon is great for full frame cameras at decent prices. I think at the moment the Canon 5D2 is the nearest one camera solution for video and stills, with good low light performance. The Canon 7D at the moment I believe is still the best video DSLR available.

I still carry two systems and it's getting heavy!

[Bill Pryor]

I sold my 7D and went to the 5DMKII and have been happy with that decision. I don't shoot in the dark and the low light performance of the 5D has been better than the 7D when I do deal with lower light. Better for stills as well, because of the non-crop factor. Only thing I miss on the 7D would be slo-mo, but most people I know are using Twixtor for that anyway to keep it 1080p, and I'll do the same. Full HDMI out is not relevant for me for the shooting I do.

[Buba Kastorski]

I would never do that unless I'd have to,
smaller body - maybe, if you need to put a camera in very tight spaces, like a mail box or something like that, cheaper lenses - as a rule means poorer quality, than why?
i shoot with all three of them, 7D is good, but not as good to trade your mkiv for it,
to be honest, it's so compact and so fast to setup and shoot amazing image so i have doubts that I'll ever let go 5D and 1D,
even after I'll get scarlet :)

[Andrew Waite]

I wouldn't do it. This is coming from someone who owns every Canon HDSLR. I love my 1DmkIV far more than my 7D. Maybe it's a matter of personal preference, but the 1D has a lot more going for it than the 7D. For example, all my 7Ds have gotten heat warnings or shut down due to heat at some point. Never as much as a warning on my 1D... Or 5D for that matter.. T2i way worse! 60D hasn't been put through it's paces yet. Larger sensor, better build quality, weather sealing, cf and sd card slots, WAY better batteries, WAY better low light, love the additional LCD screen, and of course it's a FAR superior still camera! I would hold on to it!

[Trevor Dennis]

It's good to see that Andrew owns both a 7D and 1DMK4 and can offer advice from personal experience. I own 1DsMK3 and 1DMK4 bodies, but recently had to process several hundred still shots from an assistant who insisted on using a 7D for a multi-day shoot because she was familiar with her own camera. (My usual assistant uses one of my 1D bodies).

The shoot involved both daylight and indoor evening sessions, and I was surprised at just how much difference in image quality there was from the 1D bodies over the 7D. The 1D4, especially, is highly consistent in difficult lighting conditions, and communicates with 580EX2 strobes particularly well. This makes life so much easier when processing a large number of still shots. (Incidentally, my assistant had free use of my lenses, so it was not a lens issue).

The 1D4 produces excellent video (AFAICT - I am still a relative beginner in this respect), but I am still finding a DSLR an awkward tool to shoot video on. Compared to my Sony HDR-HC1 for instance, for which I have a LANC controller, it is a PITA to use, but the results are so much nicer with the 1D4 so I am persevering.

My only grip about the 1D4 is the lack of a really wide lens (unless you count the Sigma 12-24mm which I found too soft in the corners on full frame - I have not tried one on a 1D4).

[Brian David Melnyk]

Originally Posted by Andrew Waite

someone who owns every Canon HDSLR.

jealous...