Bill Emmett Loc: Bow, New Hampshire

When you say the word "wildlife" you have changed the photography game. You'll need fast frames per second, fast focus, weather sealing, and low light. The 7D Mark II, was made for this type of photography. The only camera that will top the 7D II, is the 1DX, of course it cost over $6000.00. I own and shoot both cameras, if I'm doing a portrait, still life, or any other non-moving subject, I take the 6D, and get clear sharp photos. Anything that moves, or can move, darts erratically,or flies, I take the 7D Mark II. All those focus points are a bear to learn, but the results will be worth it.

B

aquadiver Loc: Planet Earth

It will indeed. I took it out yesterday set up exactly that way, with the 400 f/5.6 and the 1.4x. It was amazing. Autofocus was quick and tracked birds in flight as well as shorebirds skittering along the beach and songbirds perched. Samples attached.

redpepper Loc: Central NY

I upgraded from a 60D to the 6D and did notice it's not an action camera. But the low light capability on it is just amazing. The shallow DOF is great for portraiture and fine art work. I've had to improvise when shooting my sons track n field. I control the shutter burst instead of laying my thumb on the shutter to click away, and I get some great shots with my 70-200 f/4L. However, I do miss the reach in this situation. I'm in a nature photog group and have to heavily crop now shooting wildlife/nature. I think for what you shoot I'd go with the mkii. I haven't regretted my purchase tho. I love the image quality a FF brings.

Chris F. Loc: San Francisco

Hi there, the 5DIII is still quite a bit ahead of the 7DII in low light in my opinion. The 7DII is a nice improvement over it's predecessor, but iso gets noisey when pushed as high as the 5DIII. Regarding color the color, my vote will still be with the 5DIII, in fact that has been my pet peeve with the 7D and why to this day I still have kept my 50D (great colors with that one).

Hope this helps, there are lots of comments I see.

Chris

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

If you have a lot of APS-C lenses and plan to get rid of your old 7D, the 7DII would be a good choice. If you have the lenses and plan on keeping the old 7D, get the 6 or used 5DII. If you have been buying FF lenses all along, the 5DII.

Do you have a budget? What lenses do you have? What are you going to keep or sell?

Curl Loc: Toronto, Canada

I am confirming that the 7D II with a Canon 100-400 and a 1.4x III teleconverter will autofocus (center points only). I have done it. I tested the same thing with a 2x teleconverter and it would not autofocus.

Bill Emmett Loc: Bow, New Hampshire

The 2X, was it a Canon Teleconverter also? You may want to tape the 1,2, pins. Then it may work.

B

Curl Loc: Toronto, Canada

Yes. 2X was also a Canon III teleconverter. You may be correct re: taping the pins. I was in a camera store at the time using their equipment so I didn't try any tape.

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

You know you are talking two different animals. The 7D II is good for wildlife or any type of action sports. The 6D, even though a great camera for the money, is not. I owned a 6D and sold it and bought a 5D III because I mainly shoot wildlife. I wanted a FF for wildlife so the 5D III was a good choice for me. The focusing system is really lacking on the 6D for any kind of action.

You ask about low light and noise. Any FF will out preform any APC-S camera in theses areas. These are areas that the 6D shines in. You need to decide if a better focusing system or shooting in low light is more important to you. We can't answer that question for you.

Sorry but you need to decide what is important to you.

Jim D

Saigon Loc: Atlanta, GA

Well said.....

-

sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

Key word for info posted is "night time shots". Has to be the 6D. The 7DII has a dismal low-light rating according to DxOMark coming in at 1082 which is below competition (Nikon 7100) and even below some entry level older models like the Nikon D3300 and a couple of M4/3 sensors on Olympus cameras. Great new AF system though.

Of course it is always unfair to compare the proverbial apples/oranges (aps-c / ff) but for night time shots, the 6D sensor has a low-light rating of 2340 or twice the ability to gather light. Even at 2340 it is not the fastest race horse in the stable, but the 6D has earned a nice reputation for itself.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I use both Canon full frame and crop cameras. Currently I shoot sports/action with a pair of 7Ds (which eventually will be upgraded to 7DII). And I use a 5DII for portraits, macro and scenic shots.... and in exceptionally low light situations

You will see little difference in the images out of either, unless...

1. You are making huge prints. I mean 20x30 and larger. If you do that, you should go for the full frame camera. If making 13x19, 11x14, 8x10, 5x7... or even just sharing reduced resoplution digital files online, you don't need full frame.

2. If you are shooting in low light a lot, the full frame camera will be superior. Larger sensors generate less noise at high ISOs.... They probably average about 2-stops better than typical crop sensor cameras.

Another consideration... full frame cameras need full frame lenses. Depending upon what you need and use, these generally tend to be a bit larger, heavier and cost more. In some cases, they might be a whole lot larger, heavier and more expensive. The corollary of this is that crop sensor cameras can use both full frame and crop specific lenses, so you have more to choose among.

The 6D is essentially an "entry level" full frame camera... the most affordable and a somewhat simpler model. To put this in perspective, it's build and controls are about on par with 60D crop, which was actually a "step up" from the Rebel Series models.

The 7DII is a top-of-the-line crop sensor model. In a sense, it replaces the 1D series cameras (the previous models that used a unique 1.3X crop that were particularly popular with sports photographers... not the 1Ds or 1DX full frame models.) It's got some leading-edge features, if you need them and know how to use them. It can be a more complicated camera to shoot with.

Yes, 7DII will shoot with f8 "lenses", while 6D is f5.6 "limited"... But, seriously, how many f8 lenses do you have? How many do you see on the market? Truth is, this doesn't matter to most people. I bet for 98% of users it's a complete non-issue. (Note: there are some f6.3 lenses, but they focus fine because they "fool" the camera into thinking they are f5.6).

The one time that f8 capability tends to come into play is when wanting to use teleconverters, which reduce the light passing through, so change the effective f-stop of the lens they are used upon. An f4 lens becomes an f5.6, when a 1.4X is added. Add a 2X to an f2.8 lens and it becomes an f5.6.

Fact is, most lenses that become f8 or slower when a teleconverter is added, the image quality is so compromised that it doesn't matter.

Only you can say what you need in a camera... Hopefully, this gives you some idea why you might choose one or the other.

PCL92

Wildlife and sports 7D MKll and it is a great low light camera.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Curl, though I have not tried it, as I do not have a 2x, I have read from some pretty reliable sources that the pins can not be taped on the 2x, but only on the 1.4x.
In fact I believe that the original Internet source on taping pins(maybe Furman?), states that 2x can't be taped. ;-)
SS

haroldross Loc: Walthill, Nebraska

I would not call the 7D MK II a 'great' low light camera. Compared to the original 7D, it is a little better but not by leaps and bounds. When compared to the 6D or 5D MK III, it clearly is not a great low light camera.

I have the 7D MK II and I really like the advanced AF and some of the other features but the low light performance s nothing to write home about.