[Big G]

Yep, decided to branch out into another brand and got a deal on the Canon EOS 7D with 15-85mm IS USM lens.

So far, it's brilliant. The autofocus system is simply unbelievable in its accuracy and speed, particularly in low light levels. Birds in flight and fast action are a breeze, having 8 fps under your finger is also good. It's a bit of beast though, if you're a fan of small lightweight bodies you'll find it big and heavy. For me, it fits my hand perfectly and the weight isn't far off my K20D anyway.

I'll get some shots up soon, need to get a Sigma 10-20mm in Canon mount, currently selling off stuff to fund those purchases.

[LeDave]

Hearing about the AF speed and accuracy of Canon cameras make me jealous, congrats on the 7D.

[pingflood]

Congrats! I've been tempted at times to upgrade the 50D but can't really justify it. Would love to have the new AF system though.

How do you like the 15-85? From what I've seen it's a spectacular lens on a crop body.

[Clicker]

I know it's more money but did you have a look at the EF-S 10-22 also?

[VHDEL]

Congrats...it's a great camera.

I got the 7D & 17-55mm f/2.8 IS.
Arriving this week hopfully will be the 580 EX II speedlight, 7D grip & battery.
And the new 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II.

I could not afford to shoot two systems so I had to sell my
K7, 540 flash, DA* 16-50mm, DA* 55mm, DA*60-250mm.

I did have a good time spending my last 3 weeks doing side by side test with the
7D & K7 with their respective 17-55/16-50 lenses.

Cheers

[PentaxPoke]

I did have a good time spending my last 3 weeks doing side by side test with the
7D & K7 with their respective 17-55/16-50 lenses.

Any chance of you posting a comparison, with pics?

[VHDEL]

Link to images below.
These are just few test that I compiled together.
It was tough call to sell the Pentax system as over the 3 weeks their were some things on the K7 that I took for granted.

Matrix metering on both I found the 7D on HDR scenes seemed to clip the highlites more than the K7.
Although having said that I have had shots where the 7D meters much better, 50/50.

White balance. In our house we have the Florecent long life globes.
AWB or any presets on the 7D are no good, I always need to use a custom setting which means having to take a picture of a grey card and apply that shot to the custom setting.
The k7 seems to do a much better job at this with presets even AWB, solution....shoot RAW.

The AF tracking test I think was pushing the AF a bit.
50mm @ f/2.8 subject distance between 1.5 to 8 meters
Although I was not completely blown away with the AF results of thy 7D keeper rate.
I did find that all the 7D images that were sharp, were better than the k7.
I guess It's a fine line between getting shots in focus and OOF.

Please keep in mind these test shots were for my evaluation only.
Since a member has requested some images I'm happy to assist.
Please do not turn this into a brand war.
As mentioned before, I could not afford to shoot two systems so one had to go.
I needed the system with the better AF as my kids are growing up and becoming
more involved with sports.

EDIT " I also had a look at 4 sets of AF tracking shots I did with 7D a few days later using AF point expansion.
The results as far as in focus shot were about the same as the single point AF test.
But the OOF shots were no where near as severe"

Cheers

Two sets of AF tracking tests
Both at 3fps AF-C & AI Servo
Av f/2.8
ISO 100
Center Point AF
Shutter Speed between 1/1600 to 1/3200

17-55 vs 55mmSDM test distance to target was 12 meters
tripod mount timer/on

Scanned Images pictures by VHDEL - Photobucket

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Last edited by VHDEL; 03-15-2010 at 03:04 AM.

[Big G]

How do you like the 15-85? From what I've seen it's a spectacular lens on a crop body.

I haven't done some solid testing yet, but it's sharp from f/5.6 and I've been blown away by how sharp it is at f/8. Autofocus is fast and silent, build quality is good, but not brilliant. Distoritions are minimal from 24-85mm, but pretty bad barrel from 15-24mm (as expected since all lenses of this ilk are the same).

It's an excellent walk-around.

Edit: I forgot to mention that vignetting at f/3.5 at the wider angles appears to be a problem, stopping down as usual will mitigate the issue.

[Clicker]

One disappointment i've found on the 15-85 there is lens creep at the 35mm mark, all the others are fine just at that mark?

[dylansalt]

What I want to be hearing is that the 7D blows the 20D/K7 outa the water!

Otherwise what was the purpose of switching systems? Surely tests were done before purchasing?

If what I read from above, the performance increase is minimal.

Buyers remorse setting in, what?;-)

[alexeyga]

What I want to be hearing is that the 7D blows the 20D/K7 outa the water!

That would only apply to AF and over-all camera speed... and perhaps high-iso performance.. but IQ-wise, don't expect any miracles...

[jsherman999]

That would only apply to AF and over-all camera speed... and perhaps high-iso performance.. but IQ-wise, don't expect any miracles...

IQ at ISO < 1000 is probably going to be about the same, with the 7D pulling ahead a tiny but if you crop very heavily or print very large - with respect to sheer resolution.

If you want better high ISO performance when shooting jpeg, the 7D is pretty good - but if you shoot raw, the difference will be less apparent. Faster AF lock and access to a wider range of lenses are two more reasons why you may like the 7D. (Although you won't have Limiteds - at least not without the MF adapter)

But... I just don't see a lot of advantage to completely switching systems if you're sticking with aps-c. There just won't be that much difference in IQ, and even the AF speed isn't going to be as big of a jump as going to the 1Ds III/IV or Nikon D700/D3 models would be.

If you have a minimal investment in Pentax and are just not happy with your performance, it makes sense to switch, but I can almost guarantee some level of disappointment if you're expecting radical change in performance, or even moderate IQ improvement.

.

[pingflood]

Being the owner of a 50D and a 1Ds II, I can attest that even the 40D/50D bodies are a quantum leap over anything Pentax I've touched auto focus wise. In fact, the jump from my K20D to a 50D is greater than the 50D to a 1-series.

[dylansalt]

@ Pingflood - for sure autofocus=quantum leap over Pentax (although forum member Kunik with K7 would disagree) -what about IQ?

Would you agree that the 50D/7D does not really outshine the K10/20D/K7 with regards IQ?

[pingflood]

Definitely. The 50D in particular is no better than the K20D resolution wise and frankly I'd say that the out-of-camera output of the Pentax is nicer looking though after careful post processing you can get the 50D files to look about the same. I'd love a K20D with the AF system of the 50D -- the Pentax camera is excellent in most every other way.