EM5 or Canon 7d....

[chrism_scotland]

Odd comparison perhaps but has anyone moved from a Canon 7D to an EM5.. AF aside which I know will be much better on the Canon can anyone comment on how the image quality would compare?

 

[Rockinggoose]

I have added a 7D to my E-M5 for it's superior CAF performance for bird photography. Not only does it lock and track a flying bird with amazing accuracy and speed (which the E-M5 can't) but the spot AF zone appears much smaller giving greater reliability in focusing on small birds in big bushes. IQ wise I think the 7D is roughly comparable with the EM5 except being slightly noisier at high ISO, although the Canon noise seems easier to deal with in LR4. At the moment I am running both systems but this partly because of my 43/m43 lenses. I await with interest the new offerings that may come in m4/3 and of course the new Canon 7D II promised (24mp?)

David

 

[MikeWhitten]

I have a 7D with maybe 15,000 clicks on it and bought the EM-5 as a travel camera. Now, for the most part, the 7D is sitting and I'm carrying the EM5 around.

Re the image quality; I'd say roughly equal. Truth be told I think which lens is used on which camera will dictate the "winner", with there being no appreciable difference in quality at most print sizes. I have sold quite a few images from the 7D and have no doubt that images from the EM-5 would sell just fine. My take is, base on IQ alone, there's little to choose between them.

I'm loving the size of the EM-5 and the convenience of the flip-out screen. As above, I love the continuous autofocus on the 7D and very much love the fine-point autofocus. When using the EM-5 for nature I miss my 300F4L IS.

I actually like the viewfinder on the EM-5 better in low light and like the more complete frame coverage of the autofocus boxes. And, in a way that's hard to describe, I find the Em-5 to be a more productive camera.

 

[noohoggin1]

I sold my 7D to fund the EM5. As mentioned, the 7Ds AF tracking is superior, but I found EM5's image quality otherwise sharper and less noisy at similar ISOs.

 

[With_Eyes_Unclouded]

My personal opinion is that IQ is better on the E-M5. The E-M5 doesn't blow highlights the way the Canon sensor (present in all their crop sensor cameras) does. It also doesn't excibit banding noise, has somewhat better noise performance and has considerably wider useable DR in general. I have found it a lot easier to work with OM-D RAW files; in fact there were some instances with my Canon cameras where I'd have to shoot HDR to get what I wanted, a method not needed with the OM-D.

As for C-AF, I seldom need it personally, but lets not forget that the 7D probably had (for a period of time) the best performing Canon AF technology south of the 1D. The 5D2 was inferior in that regard.

A final point is, although I consider the OM-D to be a very well made camera too, my opinion is that the 7D is an extremely rugged machine; a lot of friends use it extensively in quite punishing environments and they totally confirm my impression.

 

[Luckypenguin]

A final point is, although I consider the OM-D to be a very well made camera too, my opinion is that the 7D is an extremely rugged machine; a lot of friends use it extensively in quite punishing environments and they totally confirm my impression.

Yes!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCT-YMgjm9k"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCT-YMgjm9k[/ame]



In comparing the E-M5 with Canon APS-C sensors, they have definitely evolved with different philosophies. The E-M5 is quite Sony-esque with its (very useful) extra dynamic range compared with the Canons but I find it easier to work with the colours on a Canon, even going back to an older model like the 50D. I find that when adjusting colour saturation the E-M5 seems to have a smaller operating window between colours being too dull or over-saturated and so sometimes I find it hard to balance the colours to my liking. For all the wizardry of Sony's latest sensors, there are still some things that IMO Canon does better and makes it hard to separate them.

My biggest consideration in comparing the 7D to the E-M5 is whether I want my primary camera to be DSLR and therefore lose the size advantage and all the additional features of the E-M5.

 

[Terry]

Lens cost

I think a big plus for the OMD is the cost/quality to the lenses.
The good m43 lenses are as good as Canon L ones, but cost a lot less.

 

[dino1891]

I sold my full frame gear (Canon 5D) to enter the mirrorless world. It was well worth it. A camera should be used to its fullest potential. My 5D was only seeing use on the weekends, and that was ONLY IF I wanted to take it with me. I only took it out when I PLANNED to take pictures that day.

The difference I saw in weight was similar to when I went from using a huge dinosaur of a laptop to a macbook air. I can easily take both my camera gear and laptop with me EVERYWHERE I go, and my bag is SO light.

Also, I felt out of place when I whipped out my huge DSLR out at a starbucks or at the mall. When I whip out my micro four thirds gear, no one seems to really notice. If you want to have a kit you could easily take with you everywhere, I suggest mirrorless. If you are more planning on using it for special events, special occasions, soccer games, etc. I would prefer the Canon 7D. I like to take my camera out, while I am walking to school, walking to a coffee shop, and just snap photos when I see something interesting, so the much smaller kit is very welcome.

The image quality of micro four thirds and Canon crop sensor DSLR's are at par, if that is what you are worried about. My only concern moving to micro four thirds was depth of field control. You could get some pretty good results with lenses like the Panasonic 25mm, Oly 45mm, and Oly 75mm if you need it. Of course you wouldn't be able to get razor thin depth of field. But the APS-C sensor in the Canon 7D isn't much bigger than micro four thirds anyways. The bigger jump is from APS-C to full frame.

 

[arentol]

I had a 7d and was not impressed. My E-M5 outperforms the 7d for everything but sports shooting.

The thing is that 7d is a 4-year-old camera in a time when sensor technology has been advancing by leaps and bounds every year. It's sensor size should give it a small IQ advantage over m4/3rds cameras, but its ancient sensor tech results in overall inferior IQ (though not bad, just not up to the E-M5). Also it has too strong of an AA filter which really harms the images if you have to crop the image very much, or if you print it larger than 8x12.

Other E-M5 advantages (besides IQ):

Always available IBIS.
Best IBIS in the industry for videos, by leaps and bounds.
Lenses cost about 1/2 as much.
Lenses are about 1/3rd the weight and volume.
Better low-light focusing by a fair margin (faster and more accurate).
Probably lots of other things I can't think of right now.

 

[chrism_scotland]

Folks thanks for the replies.


I know it was a bit of a odd comparison but I pm rally thinking about the maybe 20-25% of the time that I'd want the AF performance of a DSLR as I'm very into motorsport and I know from when I previously had an EM5 that I didn't find he AF on the Panasonic 100-300 to be all that great and that's probably the obvious long lens for me to add to any new EM5 setup.

I do have the usual quandrys over size and IQ as I know that technology wise the Olympus is much newer and I was very impressed with the IQ I was achieving before.

I'm almost getting to a point where if I had the money I think I could justify an EM5 for my other shooting ( landscapes, would like to try portraits and street too ) and having a DSLR body with just one long lens for motorsport...

 

[RamblinR]

I sold a 7d, 60d and good quality lenses and flashes. Now carrying an EM5 with new lenses and love it. I find my portrait images are much sharper with this camera over the 7d and ISO noise is excellent. It's soooo light that even if I carry all my lenses with me its light weight.

Hardly ever shoot using tracking so not a problem for me.

 

[Ulfric M Douglas]

Surely 7D prices must be pretty bargainful right now?
Have both.

 

[demiro]

I'm almost getting to a point where if I had the money I think I could justify an EM5 for my other shooting ( landscapes, would like to try portraits and street too ) and having a DSLR body with just one long lens for motorsport...

I agree with the consensus regarding E-M5 vs 7D, and with your outlook on keeping both systems. I went from an E-M5 to a 7D and then back to the E-M5. I downsized my DSLR kit to a 40D + 3 lenses. The 40D is not in the class of the 7D, but used bodies are going for ~$325 which is crazy, but it easily allows me the luxury of keeping a DSLR for sports only.

 

[chrism_scotland]

Its the pricing of the 7D and D7000 that make me think hard about the choice.
A new EM5 is likely to be close to £1000 or £1150 with the 12-50, albeit that also includes either the grip and a battery or 45mm and a battery with the new offer.

However a 7D or D7000 can be had for £600-£700 body only, and when I price a similar setup with a battery, grip, 50mm and 35mm (25mm for the EM5) it does come out dearer particularly as both Nikon and Canon have relatively cheap fast 50mm lenses.

Then of course there is the added bonus of better AF, it might not bother me so much but when I had a 100-300 before on the EM5 (2 copies) I found that the AF was terrible it used to freeze and lot and refuse to AF which just wouldn't do for motorsport.

 

[romzL]

i was also a 7D user before and sold it for an EM-5. main reason for me is weight. it was the best decision i did for my camera gears

 

[Greytop]

I know it's not motor sport but I managed to get acceptable results (to me) with the Panny 100-300 at Airshow in the summer.
Have a look on this page of the Panasonic 100-300 image thread.
Some slower aircraft and some pretty quick, I didn't use continuous tracking but S-AF, I found this rapid enough to get the job done.

 

[chrism_scotland]

The more I think about and look at the images here I think I'd be better off with the EM5, for the few occasions I'd like something for motorsport I could rent something for the weekend - probably better than anything I would buy (5D MK3/D800).

Also having seen some of the shots taken here: https://www.mu-43.com/f88/swedish-rallysprint-championship-40248/ by GRID I think I'd be able to try manual focusing with the EM5 for motorsport.

Will have a ponder but the new offer on the Free Grip/Lens is very tempting as is the 75mm..... will also take another look at Fuji I believe the AF has been improved on the XE-1 but the 14mm lens is very pricey.