• Canon EOS 7D, 5D MkII and 1Ds MkII image quality comparison

The test image: "Pyrenean autumn", with deep blues, saturated reds and lots of details.

Canon EOS 7D at ISO 100, 17-40mm f:4L, tripod

© Oriol Alamany

(Resumen en Español al final del artículo)

Every autumn I teach some Photographic Workshops in the Pyrenees mountains. In the last one, thanks to photographer Mario Miranda, I had the opportunity to make a comparison of the image quality of one Canon EOS 7D against one Canon EOS 5 D Mark II and my usual Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II.

The resolution characteristic, sensor size, and announcement date of these three camera models are as follows:

- Canon EOS 7D: 18 MP, 14 bits, in a 1,6X sensor (September 2009)

- Canon EOS 5D Mk II: 21 MP, 14 bits, in a 1X sensor (September 2008, one year old model)

- Canon EOS 1Ds Mk II: 16,7 MP, 12 bits, in a 1X sensor (September 2004, five year old model)

Here you can take a look to 100% crops of the same image with the different cameras, with a 17-40mm f:4L lens at f:8, on a tripod, and at ISO 100. All come from RAW files developed in Canon Digital Photo Professional software with the same settings, without any noise reduction at all, and with my usual Level 2 in the Sharpening slider.

7D, 5D MkII and 1Ds MkII 100% crop at ISO 100, f:8

(Click images to see at 100%)

7D, 5D MkII and 1Ds MkII 100% crop at ISO 100, f:8

One can see that the colors of the 7D developped in Canon DPP with the same Picture Style and settings (Neutral, Contrast +1, Saturation +2, Sharpening +2) are different than the two Full Frame cameras. And also, and more important, that the level of detail in this 7D camera body is less, perhaps due to a stronger low-pass filter, or some NR applied by the camera, or at some diffraction due to the much smaller pixels (although the aperture is not very small at f:8). It will be necessary to put the DPP Sharpening slider to a much stronger level (4 or 5) to achieve a similar detail to the two Full Frame cameras. The very old (in digital terms!) 1Ds Mk II has an excellent image quality, almost on a par with the 5D MkII and better than the 7D.

Here are the same images with an additional Unsharp Mask applied to the 7D (150%/0.3/0) and 5D MkII files (100%/0.3/0), to equal the level of detail to the 1Ds MkII file, who seems to have a weaker low-pass filter. Smaller pixels seem to need more Sharpening in DPP. This also happens in my EOS 400D and PowerShot G10.

The following ones are a test for noise at 1600 ISO (Remember, no noise reduction at all).

7D, 5D MkII and 1Ds MkII 100% crop at ISO 1600, f:11

7D, 5D MkII and 1Ds MkII 100% crop at ISO 1600, f:11

Both, the 7D and 5D MkII are advertised as exceptional cameras in noise terms. The 5D Mk II is really the king here, followed by the 1Ds MkII and the 7D. But remember that the 1Ds MkII is a five years old camera, and that the new 7D has a much smaller sensor, so the comparison is not fair for them.


P.D.: November 9th: Found an excellent and much more in depth 7D to 5D MkII comparison with exactly the same conclusions.


P.D.: November 16th. Read also this conclusion at The Digital Picture 7D review.
"My perception is that, at a sharpness setting of "2", the 7D image is similarly sharp as the 50D image. And at a sharpness setting of "3", the 7D image is similarly sharp as the 5D Mark II image. I'm guessing that the 7D's anti-alias filter is a little stronger relative to the individual pixels on this sensor compared to the T1i or 50D. And that the 50D and T1i's anti-alias filter are a little stronger relative to their individual pixels compared to the 5D II and some other prior DSLR models."

Un sencillo test de calidad de imagen comparando la nueva Canon EOS 7D (18 MP, 1,6X, 2009), con la 5D MkII (21 MP, 1X, 2008) y la 1Ds MkII (16,7 MP, 1X, 2004).

En la prueba a baja sensibilidad (100 ISO) la 7D sorprende por su menor resolución, quizás consecuencia de un filtro del sensor CMOS más fuerte que las otras cámaras, o bien de la difracción debida a sus pequeños píxeles. A alta sensibilidad (1600 ISO), la 5D MkII es la reina, con una clara diferencia sobre sus dos compañeras. La 7D es la peor, aunque hay que tener en cuenta que su sensor es de menor tamaño.