Hey all, I am going to be making my first big jump into a nice camera setup after working with what I had last fall. I have looked at the canon 7d Mark II, as well as the 90D. I have heard a lot of great things about the markII, but am wondering if there is a newer version or body that someone would recommend? I also liked the 90D, and the video ability, but the more I read about them the more I don't like it for BIF. Open to any and all opinions!!
I've hated the agonizing I do before buying a camera body. I started with a 350 (Rebel XT) then went to a 40D then an 80D. One thing that is true of camera bodies that isn't true about lenses is that they depreciate. A camera body wears out over time and is quickly made obsolete by the continual introduction of new features and technologies in the next generation of bodies. Canon is good about keeping their consumer, prosumer and pro lines from competing with each other but for most of us the features of the prosumer level cameras (two digits) are more than enough to get the photographs we want. My 80D, for all the features, stays in Aperture mode with spot metering, a single focus point and auto-white balance. If I were you, I'd get the 90D with it's 4k video feature and much better battery life.
It's been awhile since I've been here on the forums, but I just happened to notice IowaWaterfowler10's post. If you are a bird photographer, and like shooting birds in flight...It's pretty tough to beat the 7DII. I've used mine for a number of years now, primary with the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens. I'm on the POTN (photography on the net) forum a lot these days, and I see so many outstanding bird photos. The most popular bird camera is still the 7DII, and the most popular lens combination is the 7DII with the Canon 100-400 zoom lens. Having said that, I also shoot with the Canon 80D, which I feel is also a great camera. It is however more of a "jack of all trades" camera, and has provided me with some bird shots that I'm quite pleased with. At times I use it successfully for BIF (larger birds) shooting, but it does not do as good of a job as the 7DII when shooting smaller, and faster flying birds. The 7DII offers so many more program choices and custom features than other crop sensor cameras. It is head and shoulders above the older 7D camera...especially when it comes to noise.
100% agree. I got rid of the 7D and dropped back to shooting my 40D for a couple of years. When I got the 7DII, my game improved drastically
Between Mad Duck and Lame Duck there’s a lot of very good experience speaking there. You’d be hard pressed to go wrong with their advice. The 7D MkII is available at Adorama (used only) for $649.00.
Thank you, Bill. It appears that the DSLR's are being slowly squeezed out by mirrorless cameras. On the "Photography On The Net" forums,https://photography-on-the.net/forum/index.php, many of these folks who shoot birds and other wildlife are taking some remarkable images with mirrorless cameras. The Canon EOS R (mirrorless full frame camera) shooters are able to shoot with all their older lenses at no loss of image quality at all. Canon has promised a brand new pro mirrorless camera, The EOS R5, https://www.techradar.com/news/canon-eos-r5, to be released sometime this summer. I've read everything I can find about it, and it really is appealing to me. I am curious as to whether you have any plans to go mirrorless? At my age, it's probably a dumb idea to think of switching since I've had so many good years shooting with my 7DII. The price is going to be a major factor. Everyone is expecting the EOS R5 to be quite expensive.
