We're Not Convinced an EOS 7D Mark III is Coming in 2018

[Canon Rumors Guy]

We sent this information out last week in our newsletter and we haven’t received any further clarity about the Canon EOS 7D Mark III.</p>
<p>There has been a lot of unfocused chatter about an EOS 7D Mark III recently, and in my experience, that’s not a good thing.</p>
<p>Our best source is telling us that they haven’t heard anything about an update to Canon’s flagship APS-C camera. That doesn’t mean one isn’t coming in 2018, but the earliest it would be coming is Q4 of 2018, and not the rumored first half of 2018 that we’ve been told previously and others keep reporting.</p>


<p>There’a always a possibility that Canon is changing the way they launch popular flagship products to try and make it harder for sites like this to leak information. Although I don’t think that highly of myself or that I would wield that much influence over Canon Inc.</p>
<p>We’ll keep you updated and we will resist posting about the EOS 7D Mark III until we get a better feeling about what is true and what isn’t.</p>
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[Yasko]

Ah, ok. Thanks4info.

 

[ahsanford]

Re: "There’a always a possibility that Canon is changing the way they launch popular flagship products to try and make it harder for sites like this to leak information. Although I don’t think that highly of myself or that I would wield that much influence over Canon Inc."

You are right, it's not this. You guys generate and fan the flames of GAS. Canon should love you -- it's not like you guys are offering a bounty to corporate/factory employees to sneak out major reveals like the cell phone folks do.

- A

 

[ahsanford]

This news does not surprise me at all -- prior timing projections here:
https://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=33734.msg695050#msg695050

Yes yes, the D500 was not around when Canon stretched out the 7D1 lifecycle years ago, so that's not an iron clad read of Canon's 'habits' in this segment. But again, if Canon is not losing business to the D500 -- if the D500 is principally just getting picked up by Nikonians -- what's Canon's rush here?

Also, they may be launching something else to take up the spotlight this year -- 4K ILC camcorder, FF mirrorless fixed or ILC design, etc.

- A

 

[C-FMST]

:'( That's too bad, because I wanted to buy one!

 

[Don Haines]

So how would a 7D3 be anything other than marginally better than a 7D2.....

More megapixels? More FPS? A slightly bigger buffer? WiFi?

Is this really enough of a reason to come out with a new model?

I would not be surprised in the least for the 7D3 to come out before the fall of 2019, and even then, I doubt that it would be enough of an improvement to tempt most 7D2 owners.... (7D owners, probably yes)

 

[x-vision]

My gut feeling is that the 7DIII announcement will be this year - and that it will preceded the 5DsII announcement with a couple of months.

Thus, if the 5DsII is announced at Photokina in September (which is not all that unlikely, IMO), then the 7DIII announcement will be in June.

Another possibility is that the 7DIII will be announced at Photokina, in which case the 5DsII will come in February 2019.

I definitely don't see a 90D until late 2019 the earliest.

 

[Isaacheus]

So how would a 7D3 be anything other than marginally better than a 7D2.....

More megapixels? More FPS? A slightly bigger buffer? WiFi?

Is this really enough of a reason to come out with a new model?

I would not be surprised in the least for the 7D3 to come out before the fall of 2019, and even then, I doubt that it would be enough of an improvement to tempt most 7D2 owners.... (7D owners, probably yes)

I can see enough improvements in most of canons other cameras to warrant an upgrade for the 7d2

Fps and buffer would be a start but the sensor is arguably behind the competition (d500 and 80d) depending on who you talk to.
Video could be improved, as could the rear look lcd, touch screen and tilting would be good.

More importantly though, af seems to be something that comes up in threads, giving it the 1dx2 af or better would be great.

Dual fast card slots
USB charging. Wifi, Bluetooth etc

I think adding most /all of these would be tempting for a number of people to upgrade

 

[x-vision]

So how would a 7D3 be anything other than marginally better than a 7D2.....

I think we can expect similar differences as between the 5DIII and 5DIV: better sensor, some modern amenities, etc..

... I doubt that it would be enough of an improvement to tempt most 7D2 owners.... (7D owners, probably yes)

Agree.

 

[ahsanford]

So how would a 7D3 be anything other than marginally better than a 7D2.....

I think there's a nontrivial percentage of people that think on-chip ADC is an entitlement that's long overdue for the 7D line. How that magically lifts their ISO 3200 output while birding is lost on me. :

(FTR, I think the 5DS camp -- esp. any landscape / studio / product people work at/near base ISO -- may have an argument for on-chip being something to look forward to, but not here with the 7D3)

But otherwise? A 7D3 needs the latest AF (not a priority, but a fair expectation), more f/8 AF points and a touchscreen to go along with that DPAF. The rest (MP/fps/throughput) is gravy, IMHO -- nice but really only a number to show progress over the 7D2. It's not like a some 36 MP x 12 fps supercrop is coming.

- A

 

[Isaacheus]

So how would a 7D3 be anything other than marginally better than a 7D2.....

I think there's a nontrivial percentage of people that think on-chip ADC is an entitlement that's long overdue for the 7D line. How that magically lifts their ISO 3200 output while birding is lost on me. :

(FTR, I think the 5DS camp -- esp. any landscape / studio / product people work at/near base ISO -- may have an argument for on-chip being something to look forward to, but not here with the 7D3)

But otherwise? A 7D3 needs the latest AF (not a priority, but a fair expectation), more f/8 AF points and a touchscreen to go along with that DPAF. The rest (MP/fps/throughput) is gravy, IMHO -- nice but really only a number to show progress over the 7D2. It's not like a some 36 MP x 12 fps supercrop is coming.

- A

I'd be surprised if Canon stuck with off sensor adcs for a pro body. I can't see it magically fixing high iso shots but it would help with lower iso noise?

Mostly though as the 80d has that tech and I could see an even bigger backlash than what was seen with the 6dmk2 if it was omitted

 

[Andreasb]

We DO need a better sensor, more DR, always need better AF, and a little better buffer would be nice, the Nikon D500 has all that and I think it would be in Canons interest to protect their revenue base and deliver it this year...

So how would a 7D3 be anything other than marginally better than a 7D2.....

More megapixels? More FPS? A slightly bigger buffer? WiFi?

Is this really enough of a reason to come out with a new model?

I would not be surprised in the least for the 7D3 to come out before the fall of 2019, and even then, I doubt that it would be enough of an improvement to tempt most 7D2 owners.... (7D owners, probably yes)

 

[djack41]

The 7D3 should at least get close to the performance and features of the D500, which is the new benchmark. The 7D2 is so dated. Canon should be embarrassed for its lack of innovation .

 

[ahsanford]

I'd be surprised if Canon stuck with off sensor adcs for a pro body. I can't see it magically fixing high iso shots but it would help with lower iso noise?

Mostly though as the 80d has that tech and I could see an even bigger backlash than what was seen with the 6dmk2 if it was omitted

Please don't mistake me -- the 7D3 will highly likely get on chip ADC or folks will go absolutely nuclear (even worse reactions than the 6D2, I think).

It's more the entitlement to an on-chip ADC sensor should force Canon to change its plans and bring the 7D3 out sooner. That is not gonna happen. The 7D3 will come out exactly when Canon wants it to.

I've heard similar feature-set envy from the 5DS camp and they, too, just have to be patient. Canon doesn't stay #1 in sales by frantically servicing the dreams of its customers -- they do it by sticking to the plan.

- A

 

[dolina]

Between 24 July 2019 & 24 July 2020.

 

[greger]

Maybe we will see a new 90D in February, a two year refresh cycle and a new 7D lll in September, a four year refresh cycle.

 

[Andreasb]

Something tells me that the leaks about a coming 7DMKIII thi spring could also be an intentional marketing tactic by Canon to try to block to many people from jumping ship at Christmas. Nikon had real heavy promotions for the D500 with a grip and extra battery for a very good price at Christmas.

On the other hand Nikon is probably in the works with a D500s, a smaller refining update, they seems to do that every two years or so after the release of a major new model (also D5s should be on the way as well)

It is a bit risky for Canon to delay this to long, most people would be very happy with a better version of a 80D sensor better AF and bigger buffer (some people seem to need non crop 4k as well, not that I'm personally interested)

 

[goldenhusky]

Don't worry CR. Noki.....ta will leak specs and images between 7-14 days before release. Until them keep posting "rumors"

 

[[email protected]]

I took more than 500k shots with my 7D2. Blew up its motherboard twice in rigging up odd power alternatives. Loved that thing. But the 5D4 produced better action and wildlife shots - even with its nerfed frames per second.

One of the things people came to expect with Canon releases is that they sometimes blew up their product line heirarchy. The 7D2 came out not long after the 1DX, and had new tech in it that the 1 series lacked. It was plainly a better camera for action and wildlife than the 5D3 of the day. This upset the apple cart a little bit, with a crop body invading some of the market of the full frame cameras. The 6D blew away its superiors in terms of low light focusing. I think it is for this reason that the 6D2 got ambivalent reviews. The image quality is fine, but it not only didn't improve much, but it didn't come anywhere near resetting the 6 series in a place that approached the current 5 series. For the line, this was a step backward. I think people didn't express this well, but this was the motivating factor in people's dissatisfaction.

Back to the 7D3... The sensor improvements shown in the 80D are far from trivial. There will be easily more improvement in the sensor from the 7D2 to the new model than their was in the 5D3 versus the 5D4 (and there was a LOT of improvement there). But let's not get our hopes up too too far. Just because the last release increased the megapixels past the then-seemingly-permanent 18mp barrier doesn't mean the 7D3 will do the same, or that it will again double the 5 series' frames per second, or that it will again improve color noise, introduce a much more silent shutter mechanism, etc., etc. It may indeed not be quite as remarkable an improvement next time around, but the sensor is going to beat the pants off the 7D2, of that I'm certain.

 

[masterpix]

Good or Bad, not sure, however, a delay in the 7D only means one thing, more capabilities of the camera. As presented a few days ago, Canon leaders seeks "innovation" and since "innovation" may probably be higher color depth, higher noise reduction, better AF system... that would benefit us, as users, in the end.