Any Other 5D MKII Owners Feel A Bit Cheated?

[Feanor]

I have both cameras - the 5D II and the 7D. The 5D II gives me slightly better image quality plus full frame capability. The 7D gives me better focusing options and a faster frame rate. Yes, it would have been nice to see the 7D's focusing features on the 5D II, but that would put the camera close to the 1D range and I suspect Canon deliberately chose to keep their top line cameras - and their price tags - in a class by themselves.


I do not personally feel hard done by. I like the 7D's ergonomics and general usability better than that of the 5D II, but it's not a deal breaker by any means. The two cameras compliment each other very well. I could have waited, added the price tags together, and gone for a 1D IV, but I'm happy to have the two bodies plus the use of my existing EF-S lenses on the 7D.
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Interesting. If you were me, and bearing in mind that I rarely have the opportunity or the time for landscape photography, but am otherwise pretty eclectic in what I like to shoot - birds &amp; nature, people, low light - which camera would you choose? I bought the 5DII mainly for its low light abilities, but the 7D isn't bad in this regard and anyway it's not at the top of my priorities either.

In other words, I think the
reason why the 5D2 lacks fast mechanical parts is due to pricing
strategy (specifically, margin maximization through product
differentiation).


...

I'm hoping that eventually Canikon will start using
features I don't care about to differentiate their high-margin
products. They could give the $3,000 cameras all the important features
(body, autofocus, resolution, etc.), and try to fool the rich folks
with some useless feature, like "platinum-coated alloy results in
better autofocus" or something. I'm not holding my breath, though.

Ah, yes, a very good point . But then again product differentiation is of course a marketing strategy used in many fields, from mobile phones, to computers, even cars. The top-end models always bring in more profit and I'm not sure we can begrudge Canikon for this nor, as nice it would be, do I expect that they'll aim the top models at people who've money to burn on features they don't really need .

[musickna]

Interesting. If you were me, and bearing in mind that I rarely have the opportunity or the time for landscape photography, but am otherwise pretty eclectic in what I like to shoot - birds &amp; nature, people, low light - which camera would you choose? I bought the 5DII mainly for its low light abilities, but the 7D isn't bad in this regard and anyway it's not at the top of my priorities either.

If I had to chose based on the criteria you list, I would go with the 7D. As you say, the 5D II is superior in low light but the 7D is not bad at all. The faster frame rate and sensitive focus helps a lot with moving objects - birds, animals etc. You also have a bit more reach with a telephoto lens using the densely pixel-populated APS-C sensor - also useful for nature shots.


In practice, this is how my own use of these cameras has worked out. I use the 5D II primarily for static landscapes and/or low light situations and the 7D for birds and animals. Carrying these two cameras with me on a nature hike has proven to be a very satisfactory arrangement.