50D vs. 7D - autofocus

[Eric Virkler]

I recently lost my 50D to a long drop onto rocks and water. I am going to replace it with another 50D, or the 7D. I see that the 7D has 19 AF points, but I've never used a camera set up that way. Is the autofocus on the 7D far superior for bird photography than the 50D, or is it not that much different?
Thanks for your help.

Eric Virkler

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Eric
Autofocus on the 7D is superior in a number of ways to that of the 50D for bird photography...the AF sensor was an all-new design in the 7D. Another advantage is that the 7D has two Digic 4 processors, and that should also make for more effective autofocus results. There are not only more AF points to select from, but you can also control them in different ways..as a single point, or with a few expanded points around your selected point, or you can even make the selected AF point smaller for greater accuracy (called Spot AF) or use a cluster of them called Zone AF. There are still further benefits to be had from a bunch of custom functions that have let you fine-tune how your AF actually functions in Ai Servo, with parameters for setting on AF tracking sensitivity, on focus or release priority and more. The 7D shares many of those custom function parameters with the 1Dmk4. The 7D AF is a major upgrade from the 50D, and having owned both cameras, I can say that the 7D AF also worked a lot better for me, especially when using it for action photography.
cheers
Grant

[Rachel Hollander]

I also have had both the 50D and the 7D and agree with everything Grant said.

[Eric Virkler]

Thank you Grant and Rachel. That is very helpful.
Eric

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yes, compared to the 50D you'd see a difference with the 7D. It is also highly customizable...if you do go with the 7D here is the best article I've seen in setting up the 7D's autofocus system, by our very own Doug Brown:

http://www.deepgreenphotography.com/2009/12/setting-up-your-new-canon-7d/

[Mat Bingham]

I agree with all above. The 7D is much better than the 50D i have owned both.

[Eric Virkler]

Thanks for the link Dan, very informative.
Eric