Wildlife photography Canon 7D vs Nikon D7000

Derrel · Sep 7, 2012

ceejtank said:
DxOMark - Compare cameras side by side

In regards to this.. seems like they are missing quite a lot of specs on the 7D... Makes me wonder if that played into the score at all...

Yeah...it's always cool to cast doubt on RIGOROUS testing....read up on how DxO Mark actually performs its tests...the battery of tests they do is comprehensive and EXHAUSTIVE. I know, it's hard to believe that a Canon might get its butt kicked by a newer, better-designed Nikon...weird, huh...the 7D is showing the limitations in sensor performance that have allowed Nikon to pull substantially ahead since 2007 and 2008. The 7D's performance at higher ISO's is one in which color depth suffers quite badly. It's nowhere near state of the art in terms of sensor performance. The BODY in the 7D has a lot of nice features though, but it's technical image quality is just not as good as the Nikon and Pentax cameras using NEWER, and better sensors. It's still "good", but that does not in any way,shape or form, mean that it is a "best-in-class" imager. Fanboi types often scream pretty loudly when objective, independent laboratories down-rate their pet toys.

TwoTwoLeft · Sep 7, 2012

Ernicus said:
and about the noise...sorry but someone was doing something wrong. I have shot many shots with high iso and the 7D performs superb. my avatar was taken at 6400 iso actually....and you can't see noise anywhere.

You're avatar is TINY... It's not like you're going for a 20x30 print... Not hate'n, just say'n.....

enzodm · Sep 8, 2012

As a Canon owner, I'm envy of the new Sony sensors used by all except Canon (I trust DXOmark for sensor evaluation). When I bought my first dSLR, Canon 1000D was better than Nikon D3000, but after that, some gap appeared still to be filled (sooner or later will be, of course). It seems to me that Canon is concentrating more on video.

On the other side, the whole system is complex (sensor, body, lenses, price, photographer...) so that one point is just one point -as a component of the whole system, I'm still the bottleneck for quality

, so I upgraded to 60D even with such envy. And remembering that pixel peeping is the activity where those differences appear more than on printing.

Ernicus · Sep 8, 2012

TwoTwoLeft said:
Ernicus said:

and about the noise...sorry but someone was doing something wrong. I have shot many shots with high iso and the 7D performs superb. my avatar was taken at 6400 iso actually....and you can't see noise anywhere.

Click to expand...

You're avatar is TINY... It's not like you're going for a 20x30 print... Not hate'n, just say'n.....

the avatar was shrunk for avatar purposes, the original file is without noise. ;-)

jaomul · Sep 8, 2012

Nikon seems to kill canon in these tests. If I was using Nikon I would probably be quite happy, being canon not so much. I wont argue the point only to be wrong, but will post a link to a website that has fabulous photos taken with all kinds of canon cameras from older to new, admittedly all with expensive lenses stuck on the front. This site more than anything else I have read makes me think it is the lens that is more important and that most cameras now are probably performing to a level that makes it hard to point at one and say the image quality is bad (by the way I am in no way saying that a nikon set up could not do these or maybe better)

JuzaPhoto - Juza

KmH · Sep 8, 2012

DxOMark uses industry standard testing protocols and procedures.

ceejtank · Sep 10, 2012

Derrel said:
ceejtank said:

DxOMark - Compare cameras side by side

In regards to this.. seems like they are missing quite a lot of specs on the 7D... Makes me wonder if that played into the score at all...

Click to expand...

Yeah...it's always cool to cast doubt on RIGOROUS testing....read up on how DxO Mark actually performs its tests...the battery of tests they do is comprehensive and EXHAUSTIVE. I know, it's hard to believe that a Canon might get its butt kicked by a newer, better-designed Nikon...weird, huh...the 7D is showing the limitations in sensor performance that have allowed Nikon to pull substantially ahead since 2007 and 2008. The 7D's performance at higher ISO's is one in which color depth suffers quite badly. It's nowhere near state of the art in terms of sensor performance. The BODY in the 7D has a lot of nice features though, but it's technical image quality is just not as good as the Nikon and Pentax cameras using NEWER, and better sensors. It's still "good", but that does not in any way,shape or form, mean that it is a "best-in-class" imager. Fanboi types often scream pretty loudly when objective, independent laboratories down-rate their pet toys.

As I said later.. dxo is french.. I don't trust the french. Give me a US survey that says the same thing and I'll agree with it. :lol:

I've had no problems with 7D, use it regularly in low light situations at the MMA events I shoot while they are walking down to the ring. In the ring my ISO is always low becasue they have tons of lights.

I like the 7D. I'm not a fanboy. I see canon and nikon as the same thing basically. Only reason I went canon, is my dad shoots with canon, so I had access to lenses I couldn't afford when I just started shooting. Not a fanboy in the least.

unpopular · Sep 10, 2012

i hear the sony a99 has a "buffalo tracking" feature you might be interested in.

danadana · Dec 19, 2012

Choose the Canon over the Nikon - On the advice of others, I bought the Nikon d7000 because they said that the system would be familiar to me (I'm used to nikons) and I was told that canon and nikon are essentially similar quality cameras. So go with what you know was the wisdom. What a mistake. I like to photograph birds and canon is way better for this purpose than nikon for the following reasons: 1) the viewfinder on the canon 7d is WAY brighter than on the nikon. So I can focus in on things like eyes at a distance and actually see them on the canon. With the nikon d7000 I was vaguely aiming for the eyes without seeing them through the viewfinder.
2) The Canon 7d prime 400mm lens is sharp and quick focussing and relatively light compared to the nikon 80-400mm lens which ways more and sluggish when focussing. That's terrible for birds in flight. I couldn't find an affordable, good quality nikon lens that I could lift easily. I'd need alot more cash and a cheerful help of a sherpa to stick with the better nikon lenses.
3) the Canon 7d has fewer focus points (19) but they are all cross hairs and therefore more accurate; the nikon d7000 has 39 focus points but only 9 have cross hairs. So, you get alot more value and use out of the canon focus points than the d7000
4) to track a bird at a distance I needed to use 9 points in a block whereas the canon just needed 1 point for tracking accuracy.
5) the nikon d7000 feels great to hold I really like the way it feels in the hand. The canon 7d feels very good but is slightly more chunky.
Don't make the mistake I made. I wasted alot of time and money going with the nikon but have since made the change as I primarily do bird photography.