# 6D + 7D Mark II or 5D Mark III



## supaspiffy (Mar 16, 2015)

Hi guys,

For those of you who saw my other post, you know that I have lost my 7D along with three of my other lenses. As someone wisely advised at a post I read somewhere, this is an opportunity (or an excuse) to upgrade. So if I was shopping for a new body, which is the better option? 

How is the low light performance of the 7D Mark II compared to the 5D Mark III? How is the high ISO noise and the AF and tracking ability? I know that the 5D Mark III still beats out the 7D Mark II with low light, but by how much? And would having a 6D combination offset the difference?

I know I'd be trading in the 7D Mark II's reach and FPS for the 5D Mark III's low light abilities, but is it a big leap in low light performance especially when shooting moving things?


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## sunnyVan (Mar 16, 2015)

supaspiffy said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> For those of you who saw my other post, you know that I have lost my 7D along with three of my other lenses. As someone wisely advised at a post I read somewhere, this is an opportunity (or an excuse) to upgrade. So if I was shopping for a new body, which is the better option?
> 
> ...



If you're used to a 7D, the AF of the 6D could be a source of frustration for you. If you want a general purpose camera that is good for both indoor and outdoor use, you should get 5dmk3. If you need to shoot sports and wildlife the 7dii is good. If you are fine with 7D's AF abilities I don't see why you'd be disappointed in the mk3's AF. To me the 7Dmk2 is a specialty camera. At least I know I won't benefit from its fastness.


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## supaspiffy (Mar 16, 2015)

> If you're used to a 7D, the AF of the 6D could be a source of frustration for you. If you want a general purpose camera that is good for both indoor and outdoor use, you should get 5dmk3. If you need to shoot sports and wildlife the 7dii is good. If you are fine with 7D's AF abilities I don't see why you'd be disappointed in the mk3's AF. To me the 7Dmk2 is a specialty camera. At least I know I won't benefit from its fastness.



I have both already... well I meant I used to have the 7D too until it got stolen, but I still have that 6D and I'm familiar with its controls. I just wonder if the combination of a 6D and a 7D Mark II dual body is enough to trump all the benefits of having one 5D Mark III.


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## monkey44 (Mar 16, 2015)

I went from 7D to 7D2, and don't regret it. I also own the 5DM3 ... an excellent camera.

I like the combination of FF and CF, especially these two ... I've never shot with a 6D, but hear good things about it, and your already familiar with it. So, if it does what you need in FF, go with the 7D2, it's a great CF and fast, and works well with long lenses and extenders.

IF I had to chose between 7D2 and 5DM3, I'd choose 5DM3 even tho' a lot of my work is sports and wildlife - some outdoors scenic, and NO studio work. In retrospect, I need two cameras for my fieldwork, otherwise, I'd only have the 5DM3, but because I need two, the two compliment the outdoor challenges better with a FF and a CF.

If I had a 6D, and liked it and it did the FF work I need well - then I'd add the 7D2 as a pair ...


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## chasinglight (Mar 18, 2015)

I owned a 7D and a 6D at the same time. I thought I would use the 7D for action and reach and the 6D for everything else. I ended up never using the 7D because the 6D was just better in most respects (the files are much cleaner). Obviously I was giving up 8fps and 19 af points...but if you can assimate I found the 6D to be a better camera. I recently sold the 7D and picked up a 5D3. Using the 5d3 and the 6d side by side I can say the biggest difference is the af. The 5d3 has better tracking and has more points in more places which is nice for composition. Bottom line.You can get good images with crop, but the full frame files are just cleaner out of the camera and more malleable in post. So if you can afford to make the jump it is worth it.


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## AcutancePhotography (Mar 18, 2015)

I don't think you can go wrong with the 5D3. Is just a good all-around camera,


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## kaswindell (Apr 4, 2015)

I looked at the 7D II as an upgrade to my 50D last fall but decided to wait a little longer - just got a refurb 5D III with a 24-105L from Canon this week. I think you can guess what my opinion is....


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## Hjalmarg1 (Apr 4, 2015)

I'd get the 7d2 to complement what I am missing. I had the 7d and sold it to buy the 5d3, despite considered the 6d as well, but the faster AF and high ISO capabilities were the aspects I wanted. Now the new 7d2 has most or better features except ISO but I would like to get one.


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## Tabor Warren Photography (Apr 4, 2015)

I would recommend the 5D3, all day, every day.

If you need more reach, I would buy a longer lens.

I stopped using the 60D when I got a 7D. I stopped using the 7D when I got a 5D2. I stopped using every anything other than a 5D3 after I bought one. We have since begun upgrading our business to nothing but 5D3's. I'm sure the 7D2 is great, but I would most certainly recommend one 5D3 over two of another camera.

I hope this helps!
-Tabor


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## justaCanonuser (Apr 4, 2015)

supaspiffy said:


> How is the low light performance of the 7D Mark II compared to the 5D Mark III? How is the high ISO noise and the AF and tracking ability? I know that the 5D Mark III still beats out the 7D Mark II with low light, but by how much? And would having a 6D combination offset the difference?
> 
> I know I'd be trading in the 7D Mark II's reach and FPS for the 5D Mark III's low light abilities, but is it a big leap in low light performance especially when shooting moving things?



According to reviews and images I've read and seen I'd say the 5D3's noise performance is roughly about one stop better than a 7D2's. I use both a 5D3 and an original 7D frequently, and they differ about 2 stops, that's huge. 

Be aware that the 5D3 isn't the cleanest FF option actually. If low light IQ is most important for you a 6D would be the best option within the Canon system. The 5D3 suffers a bit from color noise banding in the shadows, in particular when you tend to pull shadows quite often when post processing. Btw it looks like Canon solved this banding issue with the 7D2. Another of the very few things I'd love to be improved on my 5D3 is its metering system, in settings with objects in front of bright backlight even my old 7D performs better. With the 5D3 I nearly stopped using e.g. spot metering and returned to always correct its exposure settings manually in such situations. On the other hand, overall color rendition of the 5D3 with auto settings is quite good. The 5D3 still is a very good general purpose FF camera, a great tool with a top AF system. 

Coming from a 7D, you also will be quicker familiar with the 5D3, e.g. the thumb wheel which I personally really would miss on a 6D. If I were you, I'd only go for a 7D2 if I really needed the crop factor - e.g. for birding with superteles. For exactly this application (and macro) I'll upgrade my original 7D soon with a 7D2.


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## FTb-n (Apr 4, 2015)

My choice would be the 5D3. I upgraded from the 7D to the 5D3 and it's hard for me to go back to crop. Crop images lack the pop of FF images. FF has better color depth, better DOF control (as in smaller DOF options), better low light performance, and is most often sharper than crop. Many overlook the latter. The "reach" advantage of crop is offset a but by the fact that crop will give softer images than FF with the same lens. Take a look at the link below which compares the 7D2 with the 1Ds3.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=972&Camera=963&Sample=0&FLI=0&API=0&LensComp=972&CameraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=0

I shoot a lot of events and sports (mostly indoor) and prefer to use two bodies -- one with a short zoom and one with a long zoom. For a while, I used the 7D as the second body to the 5D3 and it was frustrating. I wanted every image to be as sharp and as clean as possible. When I switched from a long zoom situation to a short zoom situation, I found that I was swapping lenses between the two bodies. It would have been easier to shoot with a single body.

The 5D3 AF system is extremely good, every bit as good as the 7D. I don't miss the extra 2 FPS of the 7D. However, I do have to be more selective when I burst in RAW because the 5D3 buffer fills up faster. Still, this hasn't been a problem. In low light, I have found tracking sometimes loses focus when the subject lacks contrast. But, playing with the Case settings has resolved much of this.

I'm in a situation where I occasionally challenge the limits of the 5D3 with low light sports -- such as with figure skating. 6 fps (and 8 fps of the 7D) is too slow to rely on. Skaters can rotate 180 degrees between frames. I have to rely on timing, instead. I've been tempted by the 7D2 with hopes that it will track better and the 10 fps may increase the odds of capturing a mid-jump shot with the skater looking in my direction. But, I can't go back to crop for these low light situations. The 7D2 might give me a few extra shots that I'm missing with the 5D3, but every shot will lose the extra pop that I get with the 5D3. My keeper rate with the 5D3 is quite high and I'm not willing to drop down in IQ for the sake of a few extra images.

I understand that the 5D3 still has at least a stop advantage over the 7D2 in noise. I live between ISO 3200 and 6400, so that extra stop is important to me. If you most often shoot below 3200, noise may not be a factor.

For action with more light, perhaps the 7D2 will do fine. It's worth noting that an f2.8 lens on crop has the DOF of an f4.4 lens on FF. So, crop does benefit from this extra wiggle room when tracking moving subjects. It can be off just a tad and subjects will still appear in focus. If the FF body loses focus slightly while tracking, it may be more noticeable. However, when it locks on, the FF body will still have more pop with the smaller DOF and the sharper images.

I must stress that the 5D3 has a fantastic AF system and is an underrated sports body. Personally, I'm in a position to up my game and seriously considered the 7D2 for its advantages with AF tracking and 10 FPS. But, for the reasons stated above, I'd rather stick with full frame. I've decided that the only path up for me is a 1Dx (which is on order, thanks to dropping prices).


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