Canon EOS 70D Review
The latest masterpiece from Canon
The Canon EOS 70D is surely the first DSLR that has arrived with an on-chip phase-detect autofocus system that is not dependent solely on the contrast-detection feature to ensure focus.
This further enables this masterpiece to offer fast and smooth autofocus whilst recording the videos, even though it falters a bit in the dim lighting.
Canon DSLR EOS 70D with flip screen is a perfect fit for all the canon shooters who want to go beyond its contemporary look, without going to a full-frame.
Even though it delivers quite well in the video aspect, unlike canon flip screen cameras it falls a bit short with the Nikon D7100, which has been largely deemed as the most perfect DSLR in the mid-price range.
Pros
- Smooth video autofocus
- Lucid touch-screen LCD.
- Cutting edge pentaprism optical viewfinder
- Quick focus
- 7fps nonstop drive shooting
- Tons of physical controls
- Availability of vertical grip add-on
- Flash sync speed of 1/250-second
- Integrated Wi-Fi
Cons
- Live view autofocus falters in dim lighting
- Only a single SD card slot
- No built-in GPS
- Absence of PC sync socket
- 1080p video confined to only 30fps
- Inability to record video with enabled WIFI
Canon EOS 70D Review
The Canon EOS 70D flip screen comes as the only traditional DSLR which offers the smoothest live view autofocus, even though it falls a bit to lock that focus in low light.
Design and controls of Canon 70D
Canon EOS 70D DSLR with flip screen
The Canon EOS 70D is quite bigger and it measures 4.1 by 5.5 by 3.1 inches and weighs around 1.7 pounds.
Even though the big size may be a constraint for a few, all the extra physical controls and a bigger, heavier pentaprism viewfinder efficiently compensate for the same.
The Pentaprism viewfinder can be taken as an upgraded version of the Pentamirror, which has been present in the Rebel T5i.
It’s quite a robust piece of glass along with a reflex mirror that diverts the light captured by the lens directly to your eye.
Although it won’t be offering you full-frame coverage, Canon asserts that it will deliver almost 98 percent of the image captured by the lens, with a bit of information absent on the edges.
Well, that is something where its rivals, the Nikon D7100 and Pentax K-5 II perform better as both deliver 100 percent of the coming frame to your eye.
Right now, you expect it from a traditional DSLR. You will find Canon EOS 70D loaded with lots of controls. At the edge of the lens mount, you will find a preview button to control the depth of the field.
On the other side, you will see a mode dial control on the left of the eyepiece right at the top plate. It will come as locked so you have to turn it on while depressing the center button.
Right below that dial, you will find the power switch.
There’s also a monochrome information LCD located to the right of the finder, along with buttons ahead to control the autofocus mode, ISO, drive mode, and metering pattern.
You will also find a small button in front of that which will enable you to control and adjust the shutter and the active focus points.
Functions of Canon 70D
The rear camera and focus points of Canon 70D
The rear front of the camera is quite basic with all the info buttons and a menu, along with a toggle switch which will allow you to change between the still and video capture, coming with an inbuilt button to toggle the live view.
Right behind the information display, you will find the AF-ON button to activate the focus, a lock button for exposure, along a button to let you select from any of the 19 focus points of the Canon EOS 70D.
Even though Canon EOS 70D doesn’t offer as many focus points as the D7100, all of its focus points are briefly cross-typed.
Shutter Speed and ISO of Canon 70D
The image below was taken with Canon EOS 70d with 1/320 shutter speed
Canon EOS 70D DSLR with flip screen – shutter speed
You will also be getting a rear control dial along with a center set button; in most of the modes, the given dial will allow you direct access to the exposure compensation adjustment control.
Moreover, the Q button, which is one of the most common features in Canon SLRs, directly activates a touch-sensitive menu right on the rear LCD.
It further offers smooth and fast control over the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, flash compensation, exposure compensation, picture style, focus mode, white balance, drive mode, metering pattern, image quality, and all the other image optimization settings.
You may find them identical to the usual on-camera controls, but accommodating all of them in one place creates certain magic to the hands.
1040k-dot resolution
The rear LCD comes along with a vari-angle design where the hinged display will allow it to swing out to the side of the camera.
Moreover, it can be tilted as well to let you see it with the camera over your head, at your waist, or placed upfront.
The 3-inch display is touch-sensitive and comes perfectly loaded with an amazing 1040k-dot resolution.
Even though its strong competitor Sony Alpha 77 also comes along with a hinged display, there’s no touch screen available, with the whole hinged display mechanism being a bit different.
Just like the full-frame 6D, the Canon EOS 70D also incorporates Wi-Fi but it still lags behind the 6D due to the absence of GPS.
Right like the other Canon cameras, you can easily transfer all the photos to your smartphone or tablet with the free EOS Remote app.
Moreover, you can also print the shot to a Canon Wi-Fi printer, beam it to the other canon camera, view the shot on an HDTV via DLNA, or upload it right away to the web.
To upload it to the web, you need to connect the camera to your desktop or laptop and then configure the type of Web service you would like to access via the Canon Image Gateway service.
The EOS Remote app offered by canon also goes well with remote control.
You will see a live view feed on your smartphone or laptop’s screen and that way, you can easily control and adjust the focus point, and exposure compensation, whilst also firing the shutter.
Still, the absence of full manual control is a bit annoying. Moreover, you can’t record a video whilst the Wi-Fi is on and that too is one of the biggest downsides of Canon EOS 70D.
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