There are people that wonder what Canon has in mind for their customers with a cropped body action-oriented camera (i.e. the 7D Mk II). As you might guess, I am one of those people.
The lack of any credible rumor about the 7D Mk III starts to get worrying. A successor for the 7D Mk II could (or: should) be near. The combination of the rumor that Canon stopped the development of at least 1 DSLR (“Canon said to have scrapped at least one DSLR in development [CR2]” ) and the recent rumor that the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II may be due in Q4 of 2019 (“The follow-up to Canon EOS-1D X Mark II may come in 2019 [CR2]” ) does not give much hope.
It is no shame that 4 years after the 7D Mk II was introduced, technology has improved to a degree that the EOS 7D Mk II no longer is “best-of-class” like when it came out.
Although the 7D Mk II is still a potent camera for many situations, there is better technology available now. And as a Canon owner, I want access to that. I think that more of Canon’s 7D Mk II customers might feel that way.
Especially in action photography, with fast maneuvering aircraft or birds in flight and often no way to influence the lighting, a more capable camera means the ability to get good results under circumstances that until then gave little hope for success.
Nikon has shown with its D500 that useful improvements are still feasible for this class of cropped cameras. In particular in the autofocus system and also in sensor technology. Such improvements benefit the user because they result in more keepers (a result from improvements in AF behavior) and in better image quality (a result from a better sensor). The latter is due to more ‘room’ for post-processing, in particular because of better Dynamic Range, but also somewhat better Noise properties.
But the 7D Mk II is no toy camera, so further improvements in AF- and sensor performance will not come easy. That is: they will not come cheap. As a result, for the EOS 7D Mk III to get on par with the D500 in these areas, Canon will need to invest in both the sensor and the AF system: in development as well as in engineering. This is expensive.
Personally I am a bit worried by the “Canon said to have scrapped at least one DSLR in development [CR2]“ rumor. I can see Canon’s marketing managers scrapping the 7D Mk III to avoid investing in a better AF system for the 7D Mk III, because that is specific for DSLRs and will have no spin-off to future mirrorless. And perhaps Canon even foresees that without a 7D Mk III, cropped action shooters will switch either to Canon’s FF bodies or to the cropped EOS “R-for-action-shooters” as soon as that one arrives.
I wish all moderators of this forum,all the posters and all the readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2019.
My own wish for 2019 is that the new year 2019 will quickly bring clarity what Canon has in mind for cropped camera action photographers, as a successor to the 7D Mk II.
The lack of any credible rumor about the 7D Mk III starts to get worrying. A successor for the 7D Mk II could (or: should) be near. The combination of the rumor that Canon stopped the development of at least 1 DSLR (“Canon said to have scrapped at least one DSLR in development [CR2]” ) and the recent rumor that the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II may be due in Q4 of 2019 (“The follow-up to Canon EOS-1D X Mark II may come in 2019 [CR2]” ) does not give much hope.
It is no shame that 4 years after the 7D Mk II was introduced, technology has improved to a degree that the EOS 7D Mk II no longer is “best-of-class” like when it came out.
Although the 7D Mk II is still a potent camera for many situations, there is better technology available now. And as a Canon owner, I want access to that. I think that more of Canon’s 7D Mk II customers might feel that way.
Especially in action photography, with fast maneuvering aircraft or birds in flight and often no way to influence the lighting, a more capable camera means the ability to get good results under circumstances that until then gave little hope for success.
Nikon has shown with its D500 that useful improvements are still feasible for this class of cropped cameras. In particular in the autofocus system and also in sensor technology. Such improvements benefit the user because they result in more keepers (a result from improvements in AF behavior) and in better image quality (a result from a better sensor). The latter is due to more ‘room’ for post-processing, in particular because of better Dynamic Range, but also somewhat better Noise properties.
But the 7D Mk II is no toy camera, so further improvements in AF- and sensor performance will not come easy. That is: they will not come cheap. As a result, for the EOS 7D Mk III to get on par with the D500 in these areas, Canon will need to invest in both the sensor and the AF system: in development as well as in engineering. This is expensive.
Personally I am a bit worried by the “Canon said to have scrapped at least one DSLR in development [CR2]“ rumor. I can see Canon’s marketing managers scrapping the 7D Mk III to avoid investing in a better AF system for the 7D Mk III, because that is specific for DSLRs and will have no spin-off to future mirrorless. And perhaps Canon even foresees that without a 7D Mk III, cropped action shooters will switch either to Canon’s FF bodies or to the cropped EOS “R-for-action-shooters” as soon as that one arrives.
I wish all moderators of this forum,all the posters and all the readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2019.
My own wish for 2019 is that the new year 2019 will quickly bring clarity what Canon has in mind for cropped camera action photographers, as a successor to the 7D Mk II.