Nikon D7000 vs Canon 60D vs Canon 7D

[fjrabon]

There are two different questions here:

1) are the 7D and D7000 clearly superior bodies to the 60D? yes, they're unequivocally better.

2) Should you switch now? Probably not. I shoot 5-16 hours a day 6 days a week, and I get paid to do it. The 60D would drive me crazy if I had to use it that much instead of a 7D. I shoot live action sports, yearbook photos, senior portraits, team photos, etc. You probably don't shoot that much, and it's probably not that big of a deal. My trusty old D3100 was perfectly fine for most of my 'hobbyist' photography.

But only you can ultimately answer if it's worth it to go ahead and make the switch.

 

[swiftparkour94]

YOURE RIGHT I DO HAVE UNLIMITED MONEY!!!

Before you make your decision, I highly recommend installing Magic Lantern firmware. Google it and look at the Wikia link, too much about it to explain. I researched it for 3 months + because I was very conspicuous. After having it on my T3i for several months it is the best decision I have ever made! I get all these genius tools FOR FREE! it has never bricked (ruined) anyones camera of the thousands of people that have installed it. It runs alongside Canon's firmware through the SD card and you can delete it completely through formatting your card through your camera or simply deleting the files from your PC. Look up MediaUnlocked on YouTube, they post video tutorials and instructions about it all the time. The reason why I'm telling you this? It's not compatible with the 7D or Nikon cameras. Installing it is the same as updating your cameras firmware. Definitely worth checking out and I'll show you it over Skype some time if you want or need assistance installing it. I've helped others with it, it's really not that hard at all

 

[MLeeK]

grr i feel annoyed now that i made the wrong choice

You bought recently, right? Can you return the 60D? If so do it ifmits really bothering you! It's only money, right?

I think it is generally accepted that both the 7D and D7000 are a step up from th 60D. But they are also at higher price points, so ultimately you need to make the cost/benefit decision on your own.

YOURE RIGHT I DO HAVE UNLIMITED MONEY!!!

Then just buy the 1DX and stop doing this.

 

[fjrabon]

You bought recently, right? Can you return the 60D? If so do it ifmits really bothering you! It's only money, right?

I think it is generally accepted that both the 7D and D7000 are a step up from th 60D. But they are also at higher price points, so ultimately you need to make the cost/benefit decision on your own.

YOURE RIGHT I DO HAVE UNLIMITED MONEY!!!

Then just buy the 1DX and stop doing this.

Just screw it and go Phase180.

 

[jaomul]

60D specific as same as 50D....just only the monitor can turn, if you compare 60D or 7D, you need to consider the monitor only, if not, 7D must be better the 60D, if 60D.... i think i will choose 50D is better than 60D ^^, just my opinion~

Not correct

 

[TheFantasticG]

YOURE RIGHT I DO HAVE UNLIMITED MONEY!!!

Then do what I did: buy the D7000 and 60D.

 

[swiftparkour94]

I'm telling you, just buy the 60D and install Magic Lantern firmware, then BOOM!!! $2,000 camera.

 

[fjrabon]

I'm telling you, just buy the 60D and install Magic Lantern firmware, then BOOM!!! $2,000 camera.

well, except for almost everything that would make a camera worth $2000.

 

[swiftparkour94]

well, except for almost everything that would make a camera worth $2000.

Very true, but even the best don't have what ML has which gives good reason to get it on a cheaper camera model. When I eventually get the Mark II with ML installed....watch out world

 

[TCampbell]

The question you should ask yourself is: What will actually make a difference in the results you get?

The pecking order goes something like this:

1) YOU - your skills and experience. The best tools don't guarantee good results. They only make it easier to get good results if you've got the skills to exploit the tool.
2) LIGHTING - this is probably the area most people skip, but shouldn't. Lighting can really make a photo in ways the camera and lens could never do. Lighting can influence the mood, convey emotion, draw out textures, the list goes on.
3) LENS - I've seen people fuss over "this body has fractionally less noise than that body at the same ISO", etc. They're haggling over differences that require carefully scrutiny to even notice at all. Meanwhile... the lens choice they've chose is four to eight stops slower than a lens they could have used which would have completely changed the game.
4) BODY - this is last. The body wont make you a better photographer... only you can do that. If you have the skills, then a poor body might hold you back IF (and probably only if) you're shooting in situations that really stress the limits of your camera. On most average shots, however, this wont be the case.

With that in mind, the 60D is the least expensive and also the least on the features. The 7D is the most expensive and has the most features.

Look at the features.

The 60D and the 7D both have Canon 18.1 MP APS-C sensors with the same ISO performance. That means that at the end of the day, if you put the same lens on the camera body, they can take an equivalent photo. You may see some differences which require extreme scrutiny to detect, but image quality difference wont be significant.

The significant differences:

The 60D has a 9 point auto-focus array with all cross-type focus points. The 7D has 19 AF points and all are cross-type. The D7000 has 39 points, but only 9 are cross-type (cross-type points are faster and more accurate... it's harder to "fool" a cross-type point into focusing incorrectly.)

The 7D has dual DIGIC IV processors, the 60D has a single DIGIC IV processor (most cameras have a single processor.)

The 60D uses SD cards, the 7D uses CF cards (CF cards have a faster data transfer rate).

The 60D can shoot in continuous burst mode at 5.3 frames per second. The 7D can shoot at 8 frames per second.

The 7D has a magnesium alloy body (metal). The 60D has a polycarbonate (plastic) body.

The 60D has a swing-out LCD screen. The 7D does not.

The 60D has the "scene-based" shooting settings on the mode dial. The 7D does not. This isn't really a big deal since "scene" modes are really just uses of the "program" mode where the camera knows the intended type of shot so it biases the program for that type. You can do the same thing by using program mode and just rolling through the equivalent exposures (with the jog wheel on the front near the shutter button) until you bias the exposure for the type of shot you need to take. e.g. for sports/action shots you prioritize by speeding up the shutter. For landscapes you prioritize by reducing the f-stop to increase the depth of field. For portraits you increase the f-stop to reduce the depth of field and put a bit of background blur into the shot. The "scene" settings are really there for beginners who don't necessarily know these techniques and want the camera to do it for them, but an experienced shooter would never use those modes -- they pretty much hang out in the PASM part of the mode dial (Program, Aperture priority (Av), Shutter priority (Tv), or Manual.) Pro cameras don't have "scene" based modes. In fact... if you go any higher up in the line than a 7D, they even drop the built-in pop-up flash (pros generally wont use a pop-up flash. Also... the bump out for the pop-up flash gets in the way of tilt-shift lens controls.)

Both are weather-sealed.

The pattern you can see emerging is that the 7D was built with several features optimized for high-speed shooting. It shoots faster, processes images faster, and writes them to the memory card faster. BUT... the images that it takes are largely of the SAME quality as the 60D. If you want better shots, you'll need to work on your skills, have the right lighting and know how to use it, and if the situation calls for a lens optimized for the type of shooting you need to do then make sure you use an appropriate lens.

If you're on a budget, I really don't see a reason why you should pay for a more expensive body.

If you told me you were doing wildlife photography or sports photography and you needed a durable camera to handle the banging around and needed high-performance continuous burst speed to capture the action, then I might suggest spending more on the body -- just recognize that what you're getting is mostly speed and not a difference in image quality.

 

[swiftparkour94]

The question you should ask yourself is: What will actually make a difference in the results you get?

The pecking order goes something like this:

1) YOU - your skills and experience. The best tools don't guarantee good results. They only make it easier to get good results if you've got the skills to exploit the tool.
2) LIGHTING - this is probably the area most people skip, but shouldn't. Lighting can really make a photo in ways the camera and lens could never do. Lighting can influence the mood, convey emotion, draw out textures, the list goes on.
3) LENS - I've seen people fuss over "this body has fractionally less noise than that body at the same ISO", etc. They're haggling over differences that require carefully scrutiny to even notice at all. Meanwhile... the lens choice they've chose is four to eight stops slower than a lens they could have used which would have completely changed the game.
4) BODY - this is last. The body wont make you a better photographer... only you can do that. If you have the skills, then a poor body might hold you back IF (and probably only if) you're shooting in situations that really stress the limits of your camera. On most average shots, however, this wont be the case.

With that in mind, the 60D is the least expensive and also the least on the features. The 7D is the most expensive and has the most features.

Look at the features.

The 60D and the 7D both have Canon 18.1 MP APS-C sensors with the same ISO performance. That means that at the end of the day, if you put the same lens on the camera body, they can take an equivalent photo. You may see some differences which require extreme scrutiny to detect, but image quality difference wont be significant.

The significant differences:

The 60D has a 9 point auto-focus array with all cross-type focus points. The 7D has 19 AF points and all are cross-type. The D7000 has 39 points, but only 9 are cross-type (cross-type points are faster and more accurate... it's harder to "fool" a cross-type point into focusing incorrectly.)

The 7D has dual DIGIC IV processors, the 60D has a single DIGIC IV processor (most cameras have a single processor.)

The 60D uses SD cards, the 7D uses CF cards (CF cards have a faster data transfer rate).

The 60D can shoot in continuous burst mode at 5.3 frames per second. The 7D can shoot at 8 frames per second.

The 7D has a magnesium alloy body (metal). The 60D has a polycarbonate (plastic) body.

The 60D has a swing-out LCD screen. The 7D does not.

The 60D has the "scene-based" shooting settings on the mode dial. The 7D does not. This isn't really a big deal since "scene" modes are really just uses of the "program" mode where the camera knows the intended type of shot so it biases the program for that type. You can do the same thing by using program mode and just rolling through the equivalent exposures (with the jog wheel on the front near the shutter button) until you bias the exposure for the type of shot you need to take. e.g. for sports/action shots you prioritize by speeding up the shutter. For landscapes you prioritize by reducing the f-stop to increase the depth of field. For portraits you increase the f-stop to reduce the depth of field and put a bit of background blur into the shot. The "scene" settings are really there for beginners who don't necessarily know these techniques and want the camera to do it for them, but an experienced shooter would never use those modes -- they pretty much hang out in the PASM part of the mode dial (Program, Aperture priority (Av), Shutter priority (Tv), or Manual.) Pro cameras don't have "scene" based modes. In fact... if you go any higher up in the line than a 7D, they even drop the built-in pop-up flash (pros generally wont use a pop-up flash. Also... the bump out for the pop-up flash gets in the way of tilt-shift lens controls.)

Both are weather-sealed.

The pattern you can see emerging is that the 7D was built with several features optimized for high-speed shooting. It shoots faster, processes images faster, and writes them to the memory card faster. BUT... the images that it takes are largely of the SAME quality as the 60D. If you want better shots, you'll need to work on your skills, have the right lighting and know how to use it, and if the situation calls for a lens optimized for the type of shooting you need to do then make sure you use an appropriate lens.

If you're on a budget, I really don't see a reason why you should pay for a more expensive body.

If you told me you were doing wildlife photography or sports photography and you needed a durable camera to handle the banging around and needed high-performance continuous burst speed to capture the action, then I might suggest spending more on the body -- just recognize that what you're getting is mostly speed and not a difference in image quality.

Well put, I applaud you

 

[BXPhoto]

Owning all of the above listed camera's I can honestly just add a few comparisons I've found.

The D7000 is great for DR. But I feel it isnt as responsive of a camera compared to both the 7d/60d. The AF on it just isn't as snappy no matter what lenses I'm using. Just seems to lag.

The 60d iq is the same. Although it had beaten my 7d in high ISO buy atleast a half stop. Meaning 1600 IS0 on the 60d was as clean as the 7d at 1250 ISO. It was more noticeable the higher I went. I compared this to two seperate 7d bodies and achieved the same ISO results.

The 7D's and D7000 lens calibration feature (MA /AF fine tune) come in handy for prime shooters like my self.

These were my personal findings from using all of these cameras out in the field.

 

[StinkyFeetMendoza]

Then do what I did: buy the D7000 and 60D.

If you had to pick one over the other, which do you prefer?

 

[StinkyFeetMendoza]

If you had to pick one over the other, which do you prefer?

FANTASTICG-- if you had to pick one over the other, which do you prefer?

 

[jakobshooster]

You bought recently, right? Can you return the 60D? If so do it ifmits really bothering you! It's only money, right?

I think it is generally accepted that both the 7D and D7000 are a step up from th 60D. But they are also at higher price points, so ultimately you need to make the cost/benefit decision on your own.

YOURE RIGHT I DO HAVE UNLIMITED MONEY!!!

Then just buy the 1DX and stop doing this.

I shall do that then