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Our first
So here is our first review of a camera.
The review is simple and to the point. There is nothing scientific about what I've done. I'm basically giving you my opinion of the camera and what I noticed after a couple of days shooting with it. There are lots of places around the web that will give you insane amounts of samples and tests.
I'm trying to convey what you'll experience when you walk into a retail store and try the camera out for 10 minutes and what to pay attention to.
I will update the review over time and I'll look to improve the flow of it.
There is now a new button on the menu for mini reviews. The 7D is now there.
https://www.canonrumors.com/canon-eos-7d-mini-review/
Do check the part about the 8fps, I'm sure this “issue” is going to come up a lot. Thanks to Dan Carr for his insight on the matter.
7D's in the USA
I have confirmation that Adorama is now shipping 7D's.
cr
How smooth is the direct print button?
I was actually wondering the same thing…
Nice review – what lens did you use for the examples? Thanks!
silky
Lolz
Interesting point of view… direct to the point. Will start my own test tomorrow… can’t wait.
Yay on Adorama shipping! Though I haven’t gotten an email yet… I seriously freak out every time I get an email on my phone.
Any chance you know if it is able to do voice memos attached to a picture, like the 1D series? I would think Canon could have implemented it, since the 7D does at least have a microphone built in.
I am upgrading to a 7D from my Rebel XTi and am very excited, good review with good info without the pages of B.S.
I get to pick mine up at my local shop in SE Texas tomorrow!!
I’m not exactly thrilled with the iso performance either…
Yeah, what he said. I could even do that on my old 30d. I’m sure you can do it via custom functions, otherwise Canon is going backwards.
Nice review, I’m even more tempted to get one now but I don’t make a lot of money taking photos so I don’t know if its worth it for me to upgrade from a 40D. I’m also not too crazy about 18mp, I’m fine with 10, maybe 12 max. It just takes up too much space on the hard drive.
So my question is… would this camera be a good complement to a 5d2? i love the image Q of that camera, but I also love to go outside and shoot some birds & critters. I find the 5d2 slightly too sluggish in that regard. would a 7D fill that gap for me?
I posted a response at the end of the review.
You can just use medium jpeg (10mp) or sRAW (8mp).
Yeah I know, I just wish it was a 10-12mp sensor but its not like the 18mp is a dealbreaker or anything. If I get it I’m sure I can live with it.
:(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dpmPojCXZs
Thanks for the review CR guy. I enjoyed the first look.
Have you noticed anything about the image quality relating to the pixel density? There were a lot of worries about cramming 18Mp into an APS-C.
Thanks for the mini review,
it’s looking more and more like I’m going to be waiting for a different camera,
there are just too many things that
are not on my ‘Must have list to warrant an upgrade’
Thanks for the objective and unbiased quick review. It’s pretty much the way that I would have summed it up having read a few early reviews and pixel-peeping the many sample shots posted on the web: 1) this is a sports/wildlife camera body for well-lit conditions; and, 2) any comparisons to the 5D Mark II is futile. They’re just different camera bodies for different purposes and audiences. Each has its merits. You very nicely summarized that part in your conclusion. The 7D should be another big seller for Canon. They’ll need it after the poor consumer response to the 50D.
talking of sRAW, if I remember Aperture won’t process it… anyway it was my case with the 5D MKII
Nice, honest minireview, and cool sample photos! Thanks!
Answer sounds fair to me. I’m looking to replace my 30D. 7D sounds perfect, with its 1.6x crop and same battery as my 5D MKII… they should be a great complementary couple ;-) Not sure which one will be the male or the female…
Thanks from me too for the objective and unbiased review.
It’s disheartening to hear that the 7D is as not as noise-free as I was hoping it to be.
As much as I like the pro features of the 7D, what I’d really want at this time is a camera with better ISO than my 40D.
Let’s hope that the next iteration of the 7D will have it.
hey, thanks for the no bs review. as i was expecting during the rumor episodes, the 7D will be a good partner for the 50D with regards to event shoots.
like a baby’s bottom
I’m glad you think the noise is similar to the 50D. Thankfully, you’re objectively *wrong*.
I picked up my Canon 7D in Seattle today at Frys (the only 1 they got in stock – girl held it for me, but she was out when I got there and a guy was happy to take her commission). I agree a lot with the review. I’m moving up from a 30D and just use the camera for hobby photography (though I’ve built up a collection of lenses that I could go into business). I really like the image quality and the video is just amazing. I am a video guy and I just can’t believe how well this camera does. I had to use the XL2 to use lenses and have the flexibility this camera gives me. To say the least, I’m in love with the video capabilities! I’m still getting used to the body and the few different buttons/settings. I like the new location of the on/off and the majority of the buttons, but wish the larger spin-wheel on the back was just a tad larger with some rubber grip on it. It is slightly smaller then my 30D and my large hands need to get used to it. I’ve always added the double battery pack to give the body some additional weight and make it easier to control, but I don’t think I’ll need to do that with the 7D. It actually fits my large hands better, with my right pinky resting below it and the rest of it fitting nicely into my hand. I haven’t had time to even open up the manual (I like that it came with 2 manuals instead of 1 combo language), so I’m still fumbling my way around the controls. Can’t wait till this weekend to take it out and shoot the city….if this rain can just clear up for a bit.
Heh.. spoken like someone who doesn’t actually have one.
Actually it has more to do with the dozens of reviews, example pictures, and analysis I’ve seen, all of which I trust more than one person’s anecdotes.
I updated the point I was trying to make. Worded better.
By all means go pick one up, just don’t expect the noise to be significantly better than the 50D.
I find that the noise characteristic of the 7D is more granular, less “clumpy” but it seems to have more speckling than the 50D. Just my experience so far.
Sometimes you’re gonnna encounter situations when the framing is not the most adeacuate for your taste and therefore cropping is a must and “if” you do that like I do plenty of times when doing event photography you really gonna apreciate those extra pixels that the 7D is offering, Yes I agree is a heavy load for your computers HD but believe me is worth the extra minutes or hours you spend in post-processing and everyone’s gonna be happy about when they see your artwork, as ISO performance coming from a rebel XSI am sure am gonna be more than happy to be able to shoot above ISO400 without worring about noise that my software can’t handle, if you see labtest on imaging reosurces website You’re gonna be more than convinced that the 7D handles and have more IQ than is counterpart 40D and 50D, a good camera is as good as the one who holds it to take shot is, so start learning how to use this machine as old EOS series xxD wont come even close to this camera, I take wonderfull and some outstanding pictures with my rebel, imagine when i get a piece of the 7D …ahhh eosssss !
Regarding “No GPS addon yet”: Check out the manual on the WFT grip. It seems it is compatible with most (any?) USB GPS recievers.
umm…
That was my favorite review I have ever read.
Fantastic job. Thank you for being honest and real.
I love it. I may love you.
Wow. Thank you for that.
I really appreciate what you do here at this site, and I REALLY appreciate this realistic review. You line up perfectly with the “dumb” things that I feel about cameras. Weird.
Thank you for the review.
Thank you for this site!
stop winning about noise people, if you dont want a little noise, go rob a bank a buy the 1DSmkIII or the 5DmkII for noise free happy campering …jesus … theres enough software material outthere to handle those issues, stop pixel pipping you’re gonna get sick in the process, even David Sizer’s and Joe McNally’s pictures have noise so stop winning and keep on shooting until you break it ……………….and then go buy the 7D ! LOL !
CR Guy, what white balance lens cap do you use / recommend ?
I’ll add the word “affordable”. :)
I use the BRno Caps.
http://www.balens.ca/catalogpc.htm?Category=BALENS_CA_MAIN&NBReset=1
Not sure of their availability outside of Canada.
any body who is expecting that is expecting a miracle.
If you don’t need its featurs, buying it would be a bad idea. The 40D is a great camera, I’ve had 4 of them.
I sold my 40D and 1D MK II to wait for the 1D MK IV, but have decided to give the 7D a try first. Mine shipped from Adorama today.
85 1.2 II
wouldnt mind a mini review of the 5Dmkii… i just like how you did it. so yeah ^__^
BH is also selling them. BH delivers to my country, but the shipping charges are greater than the base price. Bleah.
Thanks, CR guy :)
The engineering of the sensor is different – new – so effectively the pixel size is the same as that of the 50D. Gaps between pixels have been reduced etc etc to accomodate a larger pixel size.
I really don’t see that noise is a problem – I shot a test at ISO100 with flash and then unplugged and shot the same at ISO6400 and was suitably impressed, there was noise but for 6400 I though it was acceptable. I think users tend to forget that noise is not simply an ISO issue – it has a lot to do with signal amplification ie: how much light signal there is available for the sensor to process – so effectively I have tested and confirmed that if I controll the situation I can shoot a more noisy picture at ISO400 (in low light) than at ISO 3200 (in more light) if I choose and this goes for any make or model of camera.
Can’t wait for Adorama to ship mine. It’ll be a great upgrade from my 350D/Rebel XT. Even if the noise performance isn’t great(I wasn’t expecting miracles), it’s a great deal better than my 350D.
Which means I’m not confining myself to ISO 400 as a maximum for low light anymore. Not to mention the added focusing and live view/focusing that will be awesome.
Or the $360CA that canon charged me to get my 350D cleaned…
you guys should pickup some lenses too, they are going up oct 1st.
10% but 15 and 20 % on big white .
got my 7d 8fps crop mira mar air show this weeked.
Nice review, but… There are other reviews about 7d not working great with some lenses, especially with 85mm lenses, so servo focus results can’t be taken as final with this lens. And in my opinion, 85mm lens on an APS-C is a complete waste of time and money. It’s meant to suit the full frame camera. So give it a go with something like 50mm/1.4, 100 (105mm)/2.8 or some zooms like this new 18-135mm to have a clear picture. Portrait lenses are not action/sport lenses.
wow, thats like needing an invention to work .. first you must buy a very expensize grip, then you must also buy a GPS reciever. Then for a noob like me I’m sure I’m gonna burn something up in the process.
Don’t understand why you don’t go with the 5D MKII ?
Interesting comment in the review about the noise!! Judging from the NR-Off jpg’s on Imaging Resources, adjusted so that the same items (i.e., bottles, threads, pieces of cloth, etc) were the same size, I concluded that the 7D had much more resolution than my 40D but about the same level of noise. I can make good 20″x30″ prints from images made with the 40D and a good lens (e.g., 300 f/2.8 with 2x TC) in front.
In other words, as far as I’m concerned, Canon blew it again. They should have made the 7D a 12MP, 12FPS camera with high ISO images at least a stop better than the actual 7D model. That I would have bought.
And the only thing I can think of to do with the Raw/JPG button on the back of the body is DISABLE it. That’s all I need to do, press it by mistake and waste space on my card!!
Great Review! But disappointed to hear that the noise level isnt much better than the 50D. Guess I might just have to buy the 5DMii… When your shooting stock, noise levels is a no no. Gonna have to wait and see as the 5DMii is still a little pricey for me… Maybe with the release of the 7D, it might drop a little….
Great review. THanks. It’s nice when someone tells us how they shoot, and then gives their opinion straight. I can’t stand the “everything” technical reviews with no shooter context.
Still might not be the right camera for me, but I might try one out after the 1Dm4 comes out, and the 7d price drops in response. IMO too many MP (not because of noise, but I just don’t have the HW to work files this size in RAW. I like my 10MP RAW — nice and snappy!)
This brings up a question of mine. When can we expect the next round of Canon lens rebates??
Hi Canon Guy,
Your Mini review mentioned that you are currently using 1DmkIII’s. How would you say they compare under low light/available light conditions to the 7D. I also mainly shoot weddings and was pretty keen to replace my 30D and grab a 7D as back up to my 5D MkII. My other option would be to pick up a second hand 1DS MkIII and how would you say they compare for low light conditions?
You say in your review that ISO 400 on the 7D doesn’t compare to the 1D3. I was considering buying a 7D as a backup to my 1D3 and shoot mostly at ISO 400 & 800. From what you’ve seen, is the 7D worse enough that I’ll be unhappy with the results? Have you tried to clean the images up with Noise Ninja and compare with the final results from the 1D3? I definitely need a second body. I was pretty set on this one, but might just grab a 40D or a 1D2N and save the money toward a 1D4. Thanks
No kidding. Go print your photos rather than looking at them at 100% on your 100ppi monitor.
If your theory about available light is correct, how’d you explain the factor of time exposition (I mean the noise is proportional to this factor as well to ambient temperature) and how in your opinion works NR function built in camera that makes dark picture (with closed ) immediately after and corrects only those pixels that “exploded”?
And again an unhappy guy trying to explain Canon how to do business…
The point is that Canon just got it RIGHT on the 7D and will say them like hotcakes.
+1 to Marc
seriously, if it has the same level of noise as the 40D but is 1.8 times the number of MPs, how is that “blowing it again”?
if you’re so dead set on 12 MP max, I know another Japanese company that would love your business
Oh, don’t worry, the noise will be better than the 40D. I love my 40D, but it’s probably the worst camera Canon has put out as far as ISO noise goes. All of the sample images I’ve seen so far are way better than what I can get with the 40D.
+7… D
the people who whine all day about noise are people who never earnestly shot back in the day with film.
every film had a grain structure, some finer than others, but ultimately if you shot anything above ISO 100 or 200 you were bound to get plentiful noise. doesn’t mean we never shot ISO 400, or pushed 100 film to the point where noise appeared.
it would be like expecting a car to run completely silent in the cabin. or expecting a boat to not pitch in waves. you get the picture, it’s a silly train of thought that leads people to conclude DSLRs “NEED” to have no noise
jochy, one additional point:
it shouldn’t even be a heavy load on the computer’s HD, as if you are serious about taking and storing photos, you should be investing in portable storage (as well as back-up portable storage)
that aside, right on
look folks, its 1.6X sensor. all of the 1.6X sensors have noise.
guess what? so do FF sensors. ever look at a blue sky shot from a D700 or a 5DMkII?
if you keep expecting the next generation of cameras to have no noise, keep hoping. the rest of us will be buying and enjoying our 7D, 5D successors, and 1D/1Ds while you moan and gripe about noise all day.
I’m still shooting with my 30D and printing up to 13″x19″ just fine. unless you’re making murals with your photos, I don’t see the problem.
Also, to all the people that whine about noise every day, go take a look on ESPN.com at their sports coverage. even downsized to web-view sizes, the images still show noise. unacceptable? if it’s good enough for ESPN’s editors, what are you whining about?
Thanks for the quick reply and the answer :)
No kidding. Obviously Canon was shooting for a market that wants a high speed high res camera, since there are no real competitors in this price range. If you don’t like it, you’re not the one Canon was marketing to. If you want lower resolution, there are other options on the market.
An unmentioned advantage in terms of noise is that if the 40d has the same noise level at 100%, but the 7d has 1.8 more pixels, then the resulting downsize/upsize will have less noise.
Also. John Swan is dead. Long live John Swan!
The review is ok but it compares a mid range camera with a top range camera. I also doubt the noise is really close to a 50d but rather you mean it is similar to crop cameras in general. Do you even have a 50d? A real comparison is going to be to get this 7d side by side with other crop offerings, 40d, 50d, nikson D300s, etc. It isn’t telling us much when it’s compared to a camera that cost more than double the 7d price tag and the more expensive one wins. So the review is good and to the point, I just didn’t completly agree with the comparisons to other offerings. I guess when I own my own crazy big website that hundreds of people look at per day I could write my own review, but I don’t, so yeah, like the site. Keep it up.
I agree with anonymous.
And actually, it is the FIRST time I finally get a chance to see pics from the CR guy. Glad to discover that he actually takes pictures and not talk about photography.
Concerning the review, I also agree that it is not fair to compare the 7D with the 1D and that to compare with a 50D (noise), then it should be nice to SHOW pics from both.
For me, it is only partial opinion based on personal feelings. Some people will call it “unbiaised” just because it is the CR guy. For me it is unuseful because it is based on no real comparison (Show us at least pics from the 1d to compare).
“…trying to explain Canon how to do business”?? That is in incredibly stupid way of putting it. What I’m trying to explain is what I’m willing to buy. If they don’t make what I want, I’ll keep my money in my pocket and use what I have.
Interesting review, you’re certainly much better at taking pictures than evaluating rumors!
Does anyone know why all US sites I’ve seen have the kit lens as a 28-135 (including canon usa), and when I look at uk sites, and other over seas sites the kit as a 18-135 lens? What is the deal?
It would be sweet if Canon made a super-fast, small portable printer so we could have sweet instant Polaroids action again. Then DP would rule the world.
“85mm lens on an APS-C is a complete waste of time and money”
Hmm. So what do you do when you want the FoV equivalent of a 135mm lens on APS-C?
ok, here my first non-scientific thoughts. For an unknown reason I had to struggle with autofocus, I can’t explain why, but in “Auto Select” all my pictures are… out of focus (blurry) and finally chose “Spot AF” which seems to work fine on a tripod. Need to spend more than 5 minutes to master the camera…
Did some shots to compare noise with my 5D MKII. Same lens, same aperture (f5.6), same shutter. I used the 24-105 f4L. I shot at 50mm for the 7D and 85mm for the 5D MKII. Both on tripod. Verdict… well almost 2 stop advantage for the 5D MKII. Not the same camera, not the same price, but I had to compare.
So for those who wonder, if you hesitate between a 7D and a 5D MKII you need to rethink the kind of photo that you want to do.
Forgot to say that the 2 stop is based on a visual evaluation only. 7D ISO 800 was quite similar to ISO 3200 on the 5D MKII.
It’s the one that says Selphy on it
and talks :-)
Michael Riechmann’s review specifically notes that it doesn’t have voice annotation capability.
Maybe they’ll have a nice 3D offspring :-)
..and no banding :-)
And yet again, someone compares it to a full frame… and the full frame wins. Oh my God, are you serious? Are you freekin’ kidding me? wow, didn’t see that one coming. I understand you all may want to compare it to your existing cameras, but seriously, this is a crop factor camera. Is it a good crop factor or more of the same? That’s the question, not how does it compare to your crazy expensive full frame cameras. My 26 speed bike goes so much faster than my childs three wheel, maybe I should tell him how slow he is, and how he just doesn’t compare to my speed. I appreciate all the reviews out there, but I really wish someone would make a fair comparison.
Well, I was just passing some info… sorry to bother you, may I ask you forgiveness ?
I’ve tried to help others that don’t know what to choose between 5 or 7… instead of bashing them, I’ve decided to be a bit helpful… you might try one day, you know, it doesn’t hurt.
Oh, and just in case you have some reading issue, when I said “Not the same camera, not the same price…” I thought it was explicit that they were not the same/equivalent camera… I’ll try to be more precise the next time.
I don’t mind direct comparisons. I have a 1D3 and I don’t expect the 7D to match it in noise… but I’d like to know what I’m getting into. If you tell me it’s 1 stop worse than my 1D3 at ISO 400, then I’ll know to expect roughly the same noise as I get from the 1D3 @ ISO 800. It’s not that I want to compare to see if the 7D is better, just how much worse.
just go to imaging reosurces website for comparison, CR guy did not take pictures base on lab tests, to me 7D compares very very close to 5DmkII on IQ, and at the edge on ISO handling, a lot better than the nikon d300 to my judgement (pixel pipping the HRes samples) and remember the add-ons: first cannon crop with dual processor, first 8fps, first 64 dual layer 8 bit processing, first xD series with both infrared remote and flash commander, first with improved wearther sealings, first with 19 AF points, what the heck else you need, a surrogate to got out and take the pictures for you ?
Thanks for sharing.
The 7D and the 5DII are Canon’s two best non-pro cameras, so comparing them makes a lot of sense.
It appears that there’s a good reason why the 5DII is $1K more expensive ;)
I Definately Agree, CR guy doesnt have the proper tools for testing the full range of the camera capabilities.
Comparing APS-C and FF is totally useless and creates only unnecessary info noise. Even treating APS-C as secondary or complementary equipment is wrong. If you mostly value IQ and low noise, because your photo profile needs it then FF is the only choice. But FF is a heavy brick even in 5Dxx case and you won’t climb the ladder in the mountains if you like this kind of activity. Also, you won’t climb a tree if you are a paparazzi. However you can shoot birds but you need to sport a healthy backbone to carry all the equipment.
I think that CR guy did a great job but using more specific lens for this kind of camera like, say 24-70 f/2,8 (for FF and without IS) at f/5.6-f/11 would get better info. Shooting f/1.2 with portrait lens is biased IMO.
I want a selphy that can spit out DPs 8/sec and verbally assures me that they are all excellent. Oh yeah, I don’t wanna spend more than $100. Come on Canon… I’m waiting!
in the Last two shoots (The Sunglases and the Houses) you will be able to se a real diference in Noise:
http://vimeo.com/6825676
if you can’t see notthing better go a buy a 500D and invest the extra money in some Books and Quality Lens ;)
It’s great optically, there’s no doubt about that. But if you’re not a dedicated all-prime-lenses user and you need to fill the gap between 70 and 100mm, then I’m not sure that this lens covers enough of the subject matter to be in your bag. Especially if you have some of the 70-200s @ 2.8 or 4. I like primes too, but this one I tried and didn’t convince me that it’s something I’d often use. But that’s my opinion, and I respect every other opinion and decision that anyone makes. :-)
When will the 7D drop in price?
Not sure it was his intention to test “the full range”
The 7D is selling for $1,100 on amazon used right now… does anyone know that company?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B002NEGTTW/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&m=AYR59FR9Z0LOY&qid=1254430537&sr=1-1&condition=used
That’s simply not true. The 40D was far ahead of the competition when it was released and it’s still better than anything that Pentax or Olympus has put on the market to this date. The 50D, however, was actually a step in the wrong direction.
I have a 5D MkII and I’m considering the 7D for sports and wildlife shootings.
Great review!
I did a quick and dirty comparison of my new 7D against the 5DMkII tonight as it was getting dark, since I was hoping to use the 7D for high school soccer night games like I do the 5DMkII. I used my 70-200 f/4 IS lens on each body. Unless I got a bad 7D or some focusing problem, 100% crops were awful on the 7D, using the same picture style and sharpening. Very disappointed. Spoiled with the 5D and didn’t know it. I may even send the 7D back if it does no better in good light. What’s the point of 8 fuzzies per second.
Same thing with me. I had to use “Spot AF” with my 70-200 f2.8L IS to get good focus, the other 4 modes in low light were quite blurry. I’ll do some test outside before trying to return it back for an exchange.
Rox I totally agree with you, I tried the center point autofocus after what you said and it really made a difference (things actually focused) but I won’t keep a camera with a new fancy 19 point autofocus mode you can’t use to get good pictures. Same here, will try in daylight before returning but already I have a bad feeling. I may be one of those who return it and wait for the Pro camera and work an extra job to afford that.
This is most definitely a scam! Notice they ask that you contact them directly. If it was legit, they would want you to buy through Amazon.
No… we should definitely compare them and factor in the price difference when we analyze it.
Lets face it- most people here have a sound investment in Canon lens… if we’re going to buy a new cam/lens without swapping out the entire system, its all about comparing against other Canon offering. We need to be able to compare between the image qualities produced by the different prices (cameras) available to us.
While it might be useful to know how the other side (Nikon/Sony/etc) are doing, how useful is that? We compare price vs quality to determine what’s “worthwhile” for us. Is 10% better image quality worth 50% higher price? Maybe worth 25% more price-wise? *THIS* we can try figuring out from Canon-to-Canon comparisons.
Comparing to Nikon’s offerings (while unwilling to swap systems) is just to keep looking at the neighbor’s field and think the other side is always greener.
And TY CRguy for all your work on this page and that neat review. It was a nice change of pace from the rest of the reviews out there.
Now, to smash a piggy bank…
Arguably, we’re glad that is the case.
A good professional photog will be able to afford running this website. Dont think the synergy works that well the other way round.
Any rumours is are good rumours though… they are, after all- rumours. :)
I just saw it available to day in Vancouver, Canada with the 15-85 lens as a kit. Sadly, the lens feels a bit… flimsy.
Let the crying begin.
Nor does he need to.
We appreciate his review as is very much.
Why biased? Its what he works with.
Not a word about the lack of interchangeable focusing screens!?
What good is a “big viewfinder” if you’re forced to focus at f/4.5 equivalent depth of field..
What I wonder is if the screen is still user replaceable in some way, like it was on the 350D/20D.
snif…
So i guess the bottom line is….is this camera worth the money?Did anyone really expect a crop camera to compare to the 5dmkii? Are you getting what you paid for? Im at the cross roads if keep waiting to upgrade from my xti I’ll never get a new camera.If it performs well at iso 3200 great cause right now 400 is my limit until noise kicks in.But I dont want to pay $1600 if the images are not reasonably sharp.Are they sharper than 50d?
If you are about great IQ and really high ISO go for 5DMkII definitely but you have to consider the lenses problem. Only those fast and with good resolution at the edge are worth money. In other case you have to crop the image and effectively you’ll get a portion similar to APS-C format. Nevertheless this portion (say, 8 Mp) would be of much better quality than 8Mp on a real APS-C.
so the 7d will be no better than my xti??
I wouldn’t say that. I don’t know how you shoot, but my XT max’s out at ISO400(sometimes 800) for acceptable noise as well, and the 7D shots so far look a lot better even at 3200. Can’t wait for mine.
Of course it won’t be as good as a 5DmKII because of the smaller photosites, but depending on what you shoot the 7D may be a better camera.
And you can spend the extra grand on fast good lenses.
Yeah same for me iso 400-800 max on my xti, but I have some very good NR software so if the 7d is decent at 3200 iso great.And as far as IQ nik software sharpener pro works great.
Did some searching on flickr and there are alot of images there to check out, alot of people happy with it and high iso is not so bad in my opinion. However one person is on his third body due to some kind of short circuit with the flash check it out…..
http://www.flickr.com/groups/canon_7d_digital_slr/discuss/72157622373450393/
look at this vid!!! something its wrong about 7d??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dpmPojCXZs
Hiya Paul,
What is that “10% better image quality” you talk about? It’s nigh impossible to add a percentage to something as subjective as image quality IMHO. Statements about the 1D being much better mean nothing to me. Just like Marc said: At least show us pictures from both cameras. Then you can judge for yourself. Leave the percentages out though. (Or am I reading all of this too literally? ;-) I agree with you (Paul) though that comparing cameras and prices within a brand can be useful. But then again I want to see images to see what I think is better, not what the writer thinks is better, describing his opionion in words.
Cheers,
H
Craig, I’m curious if you can confirm what the early 7D AF review on that other site, where the European nature photog guy claimed that the 7D AF is better than the 1-series, since that was also what he was using before using the 7D, just like you. Thanks in advance.
Thanks for the mini-review.
Question: How do the weight and bulk compare with the 5Dm2 and the 5D? In answer to a question from a birder, you mentioned that the 7D is snappier than the 5D. Can you comment on the weight and size as well?
Cheers.
And Again there’s the misconception that the 7D was intended to surpass the 5DmkII on IQ or Hi-ISO performance, you cant never compare a full frame sensor or even H with a crop, the 7D was intended for those wanting to upgrade from down 40,50 and rebels cameras, it was not intended for you to downgrade, it has been designed as a companion instead for those wanting to capture higher frame rates (sport, wildlife, etc.), so as longest you people keep trying to match the 7D to hihger end canon meat you always going to be disspointed.
I can’t never spect canon to offer you that of a 1D or 5D series level of machinery on a lesser model, never gonna happen, you have to willingly go out and spend some few grands for that, plain and simple, for those having a xxD and xxxD series cameras this will be a great improvement for the intended photography and for those wanting to have a more rugged and capable piece of equipment like I and a whole group of photogs wants to have. I rest my case and hope for this blog to go away already, the EOS 7D is a marvel or a camera if we compared to is predecessors. The End !
Definately much much better, i cant stand the noise on my XSI at iso 800, I have shot the 50D (15mp) and images are very good, now with the improvement on the cmos on the 7D (canon has reduce the distance of the gapless microlenses to the photodidoes to make them more efficient gathering light therefore producing less noise levels), fullres 7D test images i have downloaded from imagin resources from a pre-production unit and shows that 7D images are quiet workable, i had taken the iso 6400 samples and processed them with Noiseware Pro in slight setting and the images came pretty good to tell you the truth. So If you’re capable of taking good photos with your rebel i guess you’ll make some outstanding photos with the 7D !
I’ll Be the Judge of That after I get my 7D on my hands and after i have taken at least a few thousand pics, with the understanding that no camera is perfect nor will be to surpass the fstop capability of our eyes own. digital photography is an intricate task as every day and every situation is completely different unless you’re in a controlled enviroment like and studio and have the lightning and metering tools to make every shot to be the same, and that what I like about photography, is a challenge to go take your camera and go out and snap and tweek and snap and adjust and snap and fix and snap and recompose ….. thats whats make photography so interesting.
So stop winning and keep on shooting !
Thanks. Honest, targeted bottom line review. Good work.
Comments from Pro Sport Shooter about the 7D !
Picked up 7D yesterday & just barely had time to charge the battery before using it for its first shoot — a night time (American) junior high school football game at one of the poorest lit stadiums I cover (4 poles, 6 old and dim lights per pole, some burned out). I am very very pleased with the results.
(Background, so everyone knows what I’m comparing against. Been shooting with 1D series since 2002, as that’s the only cameras to date that was able to reliably Auto Focus in most of the venues I shoot, those being night and/or indoor school sports)
RE: Auto focus, the 7D did every bit as well as my 1D Mark II. I used both 2.8L and 4.0L glass and AF worked great with both. I really liked the new display that actively shows which AF points locked on in AI mode.
RE: ISO, 6400 on it rocks! For the first time ever I took usable shots in that venue without a flash. 12500 on the other hand is marginal, but that’s to be expected since it’s really not “12500” but is a pushed 6400 (that’s why it’s called “H” instead of “12500”)
RE: Operation, again very nice. I personally prefer the smaller and lighter profile vs. the 1D series. It’s also quieter and was very responsive to the touch. I’ve never seen a spec on the shutter lag, but it felt very much on par with my 1D’s. Again this isn’t a surprise as it uses the same type of rotary shutter mechanics as the 1D series.
RE: Pop-Up Flash, can’t say — I never popped it up and probably never will
First impression bottom line — an absolutely great camera and a huge value for the money, as you can buy two of these for less than the price of a single 1D. I’m sure there will be some bad copies and some early issues but those will all get worked out. In the mean time, I’ll soon be putting a 1D2 on eBay.
It already has on-demand gridlines & other onscreen displays, that’s what the new transparent LCD sandwich is for, so there is no need for separate focusing screens. The only loss would be the >f/2.8 super-fine MF screen, but that’s no biggie, that’s why we have Live View now and that gorgeous 3″ screen at the back!
BH is also shipping the 7D.
I was in the backorder list and my 7D was delivered today.
After seeing several photos Im not sure if this camera is is sharp enough to spend $1600
Do you know how the ISO and overall image quality compares to the 1d Mark iin (as opposed to the mark iii)? I was thinking of replacing my iin with the 7D.
Who’s the kid? Pretty ADORABLE.
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