Canon Debuts 70D: Can it Change the DSLR Auto Focus Game?

Updated: July 4, 2013

Canon recently announced it’s latest DSLR, the 70D, which is the successor to the, already popular, 60D. The 70D just like its little brother has been tuned and built mostly for video use. One of the biggest feature for the camera and also for Canon products in the future is the Dual Pixel CMOS AF feature.

This feature increasing the ability of fine tuning your shoots with smooth, accurate and fast autofocus performance. This is possible due to the cameras sensor being virtually double the actual pixel count size.

Originally, the camera comes with a 20.2-megapixel sensor but with the Dual Pixel feature it contains about 40.3 million photodiodes that all work together. “It’s like 20 million people tracking the focus with both eyes,” as Canon explains. This results in extremely better autofocusing for both stills and video.

The 70D is a huge improvement over the 60D in many ways other than just its autofocus capabilities. It comes with with 19 cross-type AF points compared to the nine of the 60D. Low-light performance has increased dramatically from the limit of 12,800 to 25,600. And the 70D now features touchscreen capabilities that go hand in hand with autofocusing.

The camera is capable of shooting to an incredible 7 fps which hovers over the 60D 5fps. There is a mic jack but, like always, Canon seems to have not gave us the perfect video camera just yet with no option to attach a headphone jack. There is also no uncompressed HDMI output which seems like Canon is directing this product to more of a consumer based crowd.

Canon has created a video to show off the autofocusing abilities which seems to be the main thing on this camera at the moment. The 70D is estimated to ship for $1,199 in September for body only and will also be available with a two lens option which is priced at $1,349 for the 18-55mm STM or $1,549 for the 18-135mm version. The prices are still not final, only expected. What do you guys think about another addition to the Canon family? Does the camera necessary have a place in the Canon line?