80D vs 7D Mark II

Trying to decide whether i'm going to upgrade my 50D to a 7DII or an 80D.

I have been (really) disappointed with the AF performance of my 50D. As in, blurry image directly under the active AF point in bright light with a fast shutter. Actually sent my body and some L-series glass to Canon and paid a premium for out-of-warranty service, and I'm still not happy. I think I must have gotten a bad copy of the body.

So I'm wanting to say goodbye to the 50D, and was about to pull the trigger on a 7DII, when I see the 80D specs here.

Now I'm stuck. I'm an avid hobbyist, shooting mostly my kids in action and portrait shots, with the occasional landscape photo. DSLR video will be a new thing for me, so I'm not sure whether the flip touchscreen will make a huge difference or not.

I'm most interested in whether the 65-point AF system on the 7DII will be substantially superior to the 45-point system on the 80D. And will the other differences in performance between the two cameras outweigh any advantage in the AF system?

Hoping Bryan will include lots of 80D/7DII comparisons in his forthcoming 80D review. I want to finally get my money's worth out of my 24 L II, 70-200 L IS II and EF-S 17-55 IS.

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Originally Posted by bitwise

I have been (really) disappointed with the AF performance of my 50D. As in, blurry image directly under the active AF point in bright light with a fast shutter. Actually sent my body and some L-series glass to Canon and paid a premium for out-of-warranty service, and I'm still not happy. I think I must have gotten a bad copy of the body.

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Hi Bitwise....if I haven't already, welcome to the forum.

As for your post, let's start with the above statement. Have you AFMA'd your 50D? I would have thought Canon would have done this, but it is the most common source of your complaint. You can test for it fairly easily by one of two methods (likely more):

• Set your camera up on a tripod aimed at a well-lit, high contrast target that is parallel to the sensor (so, a great target). Have the target resting on a counter or floor that has a pattern. You've got some great glass, I would use the 70-200 II at 135-200 mm f/2.8. Take about 10 shots from the tripod where you are sure the phase detect AF is hitting the same spot on the target. Then look to see where your "in focus" plane is. If it is in front of or behind the box, your lens/body combination needs to be AFMA'd.
• From a tripod, aim at a target with either contract detect (liveview) or phase detect (through the eyepiece) AF. Achieve focus with one method, then switch to the other method and try to focus again while watching your lens AF. If it needs to move, then you likely need to AFMA your lens/body combination. (basically, contrast is slow, but should be accurate with the focus plane, so if it doesn't agree with the focus plan of the phase detect system, something is wrong).

As each lens + body combination can be different, you likely need to test each lens.

Recently, I think most people are using Reiken Focal to AFMA their lens body combination. You could just buy that software and AFMA your lenses as a third option. Sometimes even adjusting +/- a few units can really sharpen your end product.

As for the 80D vs 7DII, I would suggest waiting on the reviews and price comparison at the time you make your purchase, but, right now for what you described, I would be leaning toward the 80D. I think the 7DII will win out for those that want as many AF points as possible, fps, ultimate build quality, etc. But the 80D seems to have a very adequate AF system and, from what we're seeing in early assessments, a newer generation of image sensor.

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Originally Posted by bitwise

I'm most interested in whether the 65-point AF system on the 7DII will be substantially superior to the 45-point system on the 80D. And will the other differences in performance between the two cameras outweigh any advantage in the AF system?

Hoping Bryan will include lots of 80D/7DII comparisons in his forthcoming 80D review. I want to finally get my money's worth out of my 24 L II, 70-200 L IS II and EF-S 17-55 IS.

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The 7D2 is often known as a "baby 1Dx", and has the same kind of menu control of AF that the 5D3/5Ds*/1Dx offer. I'm not familiar with the 70D/80D, but I bet it's a safe guess that they wouldn't undermine the 7D2 by extending the same power down to the two-digit lines. There's a flip side to that: the AF system has a steep learning curve, and reading the manual seventeen times is no substitute for actual hands-on work building an intuition for the system. We've owned a 5D3 for nearly three years, a pair of 1Dx bodies >2 years, and a 5DsR for six months now, and I'm not certain that I know it inside and out yet.

I skipped the two digit bodies, going from T1i to 7D to 1Ds2 to 7D2. The AI Servo on the T1i would lag, which means it wasn't good for sports where the action is heading towards/away from you. As I was doing dog sport shots, I had a lot of sharp tails and blurry heads with the T1i. As it's predictive, there's no good reason to be so far OOF, except that Canon's software intentionally makes the lower-end bodies worse in order to ensure sales of high-end bodies.

You need to find out if 70D owners are happy with AI Servo in high-speed directly-at-the-camera type situations. Bryan often does this test with his daughter on a horse.

And yes, AFMA, is good advice. I never bothered with the 7D, but with the 7D2 I'd adjusted my several of my lenses via the "shoot/review/change if needed" method. It makes a significant difference.

The size/build quality is likely very different. If you want a magnesium alloy and larger body you want the 7D II, if a smaller body with mostly plastic construction is ok the 80D may be your pick.

The 80D looks to be a really nice camera. I shoot with a 6D and 60D right now. If I was picking between 7D II or 80D I'd pick the 80D. Reasons:

-- 24 MP vs 20
-- Improved low ISO dynamic range
-- Articulating touch screen is a big plus
-- Size is preferable for me
-- 45 cross type focus points is good enough
-- 7 FPS is good enough

Dave

The 7D II does not have the touch screen. If you want to shoot video of the kids running around the house the touch flip screen of the 80D is very valuable.
The 7D II AF system will be better for the kids in action.
I doubt you would see much benefit out of the additional 4 mp of the 80D unless you are using a tripod. That wouldn't be a deciding factor for me.
The 10 fps is big if you like shooting action, you have a greater chance at hitting that right moment.
If you do not PP your photos I can tell you the JPEGS out of the 7D II are great.

For me if I wanted a family camera to capture moments I would go with the 80D, it is suited for that. Video and all.
If I wanted a body because I was serious about shooting sports and wildlife and wanted a rugged body I would get the 7D II.

Just saw that Bryan's noise tests were posted. Here is the 80D vs 7DII at ISO 3200. Overall, I think it is pretty even, but it does seem like the noise of the 7DII might be a bit finer grain, which I've found easier to remove in post. Looking a little better than the 70D at ISO 3200.

Having a flippy screen - Whenever I "go back" to the T3i that started my recent chase in imaging for a couple of days. The first thing I miss is the flippy screen. Not only for Video but for the Macro/tripod work. Be able to tilt the screen up, down, etc so I don't have crane around is a wonderful thing. If you have a camera rental place nearby you might try a flippy screen model for a weekend.

If you aren't going to be out in the brutal wet/salt etc this one feature seems to offset a lot of the other "pro" level step up in functionality which really might be quite minor in the totality of imaging effort.