Input from people who went 7d to 5d?

[Paul Cronin]

I keep thinking I should sell/trade my 7d for a 5d. Both are great cameras but I need nice wide images. With the 5d the lens choice for wide is greater.

Mostly I use the camera for wide time laps, some shot SDOF clips, and stills.

Has anyone else made this move? If so I would appreciate their input.

[Olof Ekbergh]

Paul,

I have a 5DmkII and I just ordered a 7D. I have no plans to sell the 5DmkII, I have had it for more than a year now.

Partly because I am selling my 40D. I like having a 1.6x as well as a 1x or 1.3x chip.

It makes your lenses more useful and the 2 cams compliment each other really well as still cams. My 400mm is now a 640mm. With no F-stop loss.

So mostly I did this because I do a lot of stills.

I also do use the 5D for video. It is great in low light and when I need super wide. And of course the SDOF.

It will be interesting to compare them side by side for video. I will post my comparisons here. I should have the 7D tomorrow.

I long for the day when Canon outputs full HDSDI or HDMI so we can use the NanoFlash to bypass the lousy codec in the 5&7D. I have heard rumors that is coming and soon.

[Bill Grant]

Olof, the 1.6 crop does not change your focal length. It just "crops" the image tighter. It is not like a zoom extender. 400 is still 400.
Bill

[Wayne Avanson]

I use both the 5D2 and 7D also and although the 7D was 'flavour of the month' for a while, I still prefer the images out of my 5D2.

Like Olof, I like the flexibility that having both affords me, but given a choice?


5d2 for me.

[Paul Cronin]

I do not have need for both. Stills are not much of my business.

Appreciate the input still deciding

[Cuong Dinh]

One more vote for 5DMII.

[Peer Landa]

Originally Posted by Paul Cronin

I do not have need for both. Stills are not much of my business.

As if the 7D is a be better still camera..?! I have no idea why someone would come to that conclusion.

Besides its price, the only advantage the 7D has over the 5DMKII, that I can think of, is its 24/25/60p (and that's probably only until the new 5DMKII firmware is out).

-- peer

[Paul Cronin]

No Peer you miss understood me I did not say the 7d was a better still camera. I said I do not need to own both cameras I only need to one one 35mm camera. Shooting stills is not much of my business so one camera will do. I hope that is clearer?

With some of the updates changes going around it might make sense to do nothing until I visit NAB and see what is new in this area.

[Olof Ekbergh]

Originally Posted by Bill Grant

Olof, the 1.6 crop does not change your focal length. It just "crops" the image tighter. It is not like a zoom extender. 400 is still 400.
Bill

What I am talking about is if you are shooting stills (or video even more so), I put a 17-40, 24-70 or 24-104 L lens on the MKII nice for wide, normal to short tele.

Then I put a 70-200 or 100-400 L lens on the 7D and that gives me great telephoto.

18 Mpx versus 22 Mpx means that there is not a lot of loss in the image pixels between the two cams.

I know the focal length does not change but you do end up with a tighter shot of your subject. And even compensating for px count you get more px's with the 7 than cropping the 5, if you are looking for as much tele as you can get. IE #pixels of someones face.

No doubt the 5 is a better cam than the 7. I was just pointing out that they make a very versatile combo.

[Wayne Avanson]

Makes sense Paul

When the 5D2 firmware is finally released, then the argument for the 5D2 over the 7D becomes even stronger. Maybe that will come at NAB? Who knows.

Avey

[Paul Cronin]

Agree Wayne,

I think that is my move. I don't need to make a change prior to NAB so I will wait and check the industry temp on my options.

[Olof Ekbergh]

I will do some side by side low light comparos, same lens same scene tonight. And post video tomorrow.

7D is on the UPS truck.

Hey Paul, we need some of your snow up here. We have only got 2" in the last month and half of the ground is bare up here. Dan is getting nervous about the heli shoot.

[Jon Fairhurst]

Recently Chris Hurd predicted that Canon will release the firmware before NAB at the latest. I fully agree. Canon wants people to focus on their latest products at NAB and to feel good about the company. The lack of firmware would be a big, negative distraction.

My opinion about the 7D/5D2 choice depends on what you will shoot. If you are content with zooms, the 17-55/2.8 IS will cover human-scale narrative nicely. The world is your oyster for longer lenses. There are wider digital zooms available too - as wide a 10 or 11mm.

If you want fast primes and don't shoot long-lens wildlife/sports, then the 5D2 is the better choice. You can put together an f/1.8 set from 28-85mm for roughly $1k. You can go as wide as 24/1.4 if you have the budget. And the Canon 14L, Nikon 12-24 (with expensive, rare adapter) or the EF 15mm fisheye are sick wide lenses.

Anyway, if you don't need superwides and are content with f/2.8 zooms, the 7D is great. If you want fast primes and crazy wides, the 5D2 is the ticket.

[Paul Cronin]

Thanks Olof look forward to your posting. I will send both you and Dan a email regarding the shoot.

Jon good to hear Canon will move forward with 5d firmware. Very wide is one of the main reasons for me to move up.

[Manus Sweeney]

possibly maybe a new camera next week already?

*UPDATE* Announcement Day February 23, 2010? | Canon Rumors