Wow, i am not the only one.
I started with the 350d, moved to the 40d,then i got the 7d and now i have the 7d mark ii and i always believed that one to be a lemon. Only 2/3 out of 10 photos are sharp, the sharp ones usually look nowhere as good as some of the pictures posted here etc. The first batch of the 7d mark ii was utterly garbage and canons denial of the problem really destroyed their reputation for me.
The specs of the 7d mark 3 better be good, but for sure i am not going to get the first batch.
Interesting I had the same path. 350d to 40d to 7D to 5DMKIII then 7DMKII as a secondary camera then twin 5DMKIIIs and a 7DMKII. Had a 5DMKIII stolen and bought a 6DMKII and 5DMKIV and sold the 7DMKII.
IMO the original 7D wasnt great and sold it within a couple of months. Hated the sensor even at base ISO it was noisy in blue skys and I couldn't take that thing past 1600 was just awful yet the 7DMKII was the opposit I took the 7DMKII to 6400 without too much issue as long as the exposure was correct. I also thought the AF system wasn't reliable on the 7D either.
There could have been an issue with the early 7DMKII cameras, but for many it was getting the AF settings to work for them. Many just had the settings wrong and they take a while to get dialed in. It is a complex AF system but was in the price range that made it available to a huge number of people over the 5 and 1 series. In all respect I feel like there was a lot of user error across the internet with this issue.
Canon are generally excellent at identifying issues and sorting them and in this case and in my experience having a pretty early version I dont know whether there was an issue.
I bought mine in December 2014 and once I had it dialed in had very few issues with it. I think also you have to think of the overal package I think I paid £1000 for mine even then, huge amount of camera for the money when a 5DMKIII was £2500 at the same time. Although it was a kick in the teeth when the 80D came along.
Have you set your shutter priority to focus over release? That is the reason many have lack of keepers because out of the box the priority is to release the shutter rather than get critical focus.
TBH i sold mine because it just wasnt being used after buying the 5DMKIV and 6DMKII. Once you are on FF the crop cameras just dont come close even with L glass for me and the newer FF are better in every way although I do miss the speed of the 7DMKII... 8fps of the 5DMKIV is quick enough for most situations.
Regardless they sell for 450-600 now preowned and its still a huge amount of camera and offers a lot for someone on a budget.
I do feel like there is a hole missing in the line up, a pro style body with great IQ at a decent frame rate.