Canon officially announces the Canon EOS R7, Canon EOS R10 and two new RF-S lenses

[Sporgon]

R7 is magnesium too apparently

Pretty certain it will just be the internal chassis, similar to RP and R6. DPR also stated that these cameras were mag alloy body, which they are not in terms of what most of us understand the ‘body’ to be.

 

[Jasonmc89]

Pretty certain it will just be the internal chassis, similar to RP and R6. DPR also stated that these cameras were mag alloy body, which they are not in terms of what most of us understand the ‘body’ to be.

I’d like to take one apart to find out. Must be a tear down of an RP on YouTube somewhere. If the chassis is alloy and the outer shell is polycarbonate then that’s still plenty strong. These plastics are almost just as tough.

 

[thomste]

R7 vs 7Dii

32mp new sensor VS 20.4mp 2014 sensor

15fps (possible 30fps) Vs 10fps

IBIS VS DIY try not to shake

State of the art R3 based AF system VS 65 AF points no tracking

Flip screen VS fixed screen

EVF VS Optical viewfinder

Very acceptable weather sealing VS supposedly built like a tank

DigicX vs Dual Digic6

51 raw files single burst VS 31

Release price at launch USD1,500 vs USD1,800

So yes, the 7Dii fans are absolutely correct, the R7 is a very underwhelming piece of crap

 

[Sporgon]

I’d like to take one apart to find out. Must be a tear down of an RP on YouTube somewhere. If the chassis is alloy and the outer shell is polycarbonate then that’s still plenty strong. These plastics are almost just as tough.

There are a few sites on the web that show both the RP and the R6 stripped down, and it seems to be an identical construction, and those that own both say they feel the same. I was quite pleased to be reassured about attaching relatively large and heavy lenses to the RP because clearly the R6 is designed to use and handle those weights judging by its spec sheet.
I’m sure plastic outer shell parts are cheaper to produce and also Canon uses the polymer as a differentiator, but I’m also quite sure they are just as good in practice as the mag alloy shells. However, it’s a matter of aesthetics; I much prefer the feel of a mag alloy body, and perceive a higher quality.
The R6II will probably have a full mag alloy body in order to entice users to move on from one perfectly fine and competent camera to a new one.

 

[Michael Clark]

R7 vs 7Dii

32mp new sensor VS 20.4mp 2014 sensor

15fps (possible 30fps) Vs 10fps

IBIS VS DIY try not to shake

State of the art R3 based AF system VS 65 AF points no tracking

Flip screen VS fixed screen

EVF VS Optical viewfinder

Very acceptable weather sealing VS supposedly built like a tank

DigicX vs Dual Digic6

51 raw files single burst VS 31

Release price at launch USD1,500 vs USD1,800

So yes, the 7Dii fans are absolutely correct, the R7 is a very underwhelming piece of crap

The R7 has what is essentially the sensor introduced in 2019 for the 90D/M6 Mark II. Canon may claim it's a brand new sensor, but they also claimed almost every single one of those retreaded 18MP APS-C sensors they used from 2009 (7D) until a decade later in various Rebels were "new" sensors. So it's really a 32MP 2019 sensor (that has been described by several reviewers as the best APS-C sensor currently on the market) vs. a 20.4MP sensor from 2014. There's still a good bit of separation between the two sensors, but nowhere near what would have been the case if Canon would have offered a newer design with the readout speed of the R3.

The 7D Mark II does have Canon's iTR tracking feature introduced with the 1D X in 2012. It wasn't great (because it tracked a tad too slow), but then neither was the first version in the 1D X, which also was a little too slow to be useful. iTR didn't really work the way Canon described it would until the 1D X Mark III had enough processing power with the DiG!C X to drive it.

 

[Michael Clark]

I mean I think the analogy is a bit weak tbh. I wasn't the one who was making sweeping claims about grips either way, incidentally. But I don't think they're quite akin to either shoes or eyeglasses.

Yeah, I didn't realize until after I replied that you were not Jasonmc89.

 

[Michael Clark]

Weather sealing is like the lottery – some people use Rebels in the rain (I’ve seen that) with no problems, others report water damage to 1-series bodies in similar conditions.

At issue is not your personal experience/luck, but rather the type and extent of sealing Canon uses on the camera. As one example, recent 1-series bodies and the R3 have O-rings under buttons, bodies with second-tier sealing (7DII, 5DIV, R5) have foam.

The point is that Canon stated the 7-series DSLRs had weather sealing equivalent to that on older 1-series DSLRs, e.g. the 1DIIN. The R7 has third-tier sealing similar to later xxD DSLRs, which is not as robust as the 7-series DSLRs.

It’s another way in which the R7 is not a mirrorless 7DIII.

When Roger Cicala stated "the Canon 7D Mk II may be the best weather-sealed camera I’ve run across" maybe he'd already also been inside the 1D X that came out a couple of years earlier or maybe he had not. At the end of the same blog he said, "This is, by dissection at least, the most thoroughly weather-sealed camera I’ve ever run across. (I would point out that I don’t take apart every camera so please don’t change my wording to say it’s the most weather sealed camera. I don’t know that.) But this isn’t just market-speak weather sealing. It’s a thorough and complete attempt to seal every possible crack and crevice the camera has."

Continue to hold whatever opinion you wish, but Uncle Roger's is good enough for me.

 

[AlanF]

Weather sealing is like the lottery – some people use Rebels in the rain (I’ve seen that) with no problems, others report water damage to 1-series bodies in similar conditions.

At issue is not your personal experience/luck, but rather the type and extent of sealing Canon uses on the camera. As one example, recent 1-series bodies and the R3 have O-rings under buttons, bodies with second-tier sealing (7DII, 5DIV, R5) have foam.

The point is that Canon stated the 7-series DSLRs had weather sealing equivalent to that on older 1-series DSLRs, e.g. the 1DIIN. The R7 has third-tier sealing similar to later xxD DSLRs, which is not as robust as the 7-series DSLRs.

It’s another way in which the R7 is not a mirrorless 7DIII.

Remember Richard Feynman and O-rings

 

[thatguywitha.camera]

Other than possibly Rebels (I haven't looked at them in well over a decade), not since before at least the 20D for Canon x0D and xD bodies.

20D-90D all have at least one guide hole in the body and at least one guide pin on the grip.
5D-5D Mark IV all have a guide hole in the body and guide pin on the grip.
6D and 6D Mark II both have a guide hole in the body and a guide pin on the grip.
7D and 7D Mark II both have a guide hole in the body and a guide pin on the grip.

The 1-Series have no guide holes, but the reason for that should be quite obvious.

They've all got guide holes.

I wish you were correct, but I don't think you are.

Another reason why the R7 will not have a battery grip:

The camera's width can't accommodate two batteries side by side plus the housing of the grip. And the battery door is not removable (without force). The camera however can be used and powered while connected to an USB-C power brick or bank with at least 3A power delivery. Not an elegant solution, but better than none at all.

Quick shot I took at a recent Canon Promo Event:

 

[neuroanatomist]

Another reason why the R7 will not have a battery grip:

The camera's width can't accommodate two batteries side by side plus the housing of the grip. And the battery door is not removable (without force).

I had battery gripe for the T1i, 7D and 5DII. It’s been a while, but one or more of those (maybe all three?) held the two batteries transversely (front-to-back) on a ‘sled’, so the camera width would not be an issue. It meant the grip protruded both in front of and behind the body, and that’s why I find my 1D X and R3 far more comfortable to hold (the portrait grip only protrudes forward just like the main/landscape grip).

A non-removable battery door is the real issue, and that pretty much seals the deal that there won’t be a grip for the R7.

 

[thatguywitha.camera]

I had battery gripe for the T1i, 7D and 5DII. It’s been a while, but one or more of those (maybe all three?) held the two batteries transversely (front-to-back) on a ‘sled’, so the camera width would not be an issue. It meant the grip protruded both in front of and behind the body, and that’s why I find my 1D X and R3 far more comfortable to hold (the portrait grip only protrudes forward just like the main/landscape grip).

A non-removable battery door is the real issue, and that pretty much seals the deal that there won’t be a grip for the R7.

Battery grips still hold the batteries next to each other on a sled for the cameras that don't use the big LP-E4/E19 batteries. And yes some older models were pretty beefy and uncomfortable to hold in the vertical orientation.
The R7 is quite a bit smaller than the R5 body, two LP-E6NH next to each other are almost the same width as the body itself, so adding a grip around those two would've certainly added a lot of bulk to the camera. So I totally see why Canon doesn't offer one.

 

[Michael Clark]

I had battery gripe for the T1i, 7D and 5DII. It’s been a while, but one or more of those (maybe all three?) held the two batteries transversely (front-to-back) on a ‘sled’, so the camera width would not be an issue. It meant the grip protruded both in front of and behind the body, and that’s why I find my 1D X and R3 far more comfortable to hold (the portrait grip only protrudes forward just like the main/landscape grip).

A non-removable battery door is the real issue, and that pretty much seals the deal that there won’t be a grip for the R7.

If one is willing to make the grip a more or less a permanent fixture, even the hard to detach battery door is less of an impediment to third party grips than the lack of an interface on the camera bottom or in the camera's battery well for controls in such a grip. The only control that can be easily accommodated by a third party grip for a camera without such an interface is the shutter button, but to do that one must open the rubber flap to use the wired remote port and in so doing compromise dust/moisture resistance.

A battery only grip is useless to me. The reason I use grips is for the vertical controls. For that, even a single battery grip would be acceptable to me. At a minimum I'd need a fully functional shutter button, main control wheel, and AF-ON button. That can't happen without a data interface.

 

[Michael Clark]

Battery grips still hold the batteries next to each other on a sled for the cameras that don't use the big LP-E4/E19 batteries. And yes some older models were pretty beefy and uncomfortable to hold in the vertical orientation.
The R7 is quite a bit smaller than the R5 body, two LP-E6NH next to each other are almost the same width as the body itself, so adding a grip around those two would've certainly added a lot of bulk to the camera. So I totally see why Canon doesn't offer one.

Adding the control wheel + joystick combo to a grip for the R7 would be even more difficult than accommodating two LP-E6 sized batteries.

On previous bodies the 'Quick Control Dial' on the main body was just barely reachable using the thumb even in vertical orientation with a grip. Now that the 'QCD' has been moved to the top of the back to surround the joystick, that is no longer the case. They'd need to add a QCD to any grip, as well as another joystick , main dial, AE-L and AF-ON buttons, etc.

 

[Michael Clark]

Battery grips still hold the batteries next to each other on a sled for the cameras that don't use the big LP-E4/E19 batteries. And yes some older models were pretty beefy and uncomfortable to hold in the vertical orientation.
The R7 is quite a bit smaller than the R5 body, two LP-E6NH next to each other are almost the same width as the body itself, so adding a grip around those two would've certainly added a lot of bulk to the camera. So I totally see why Canon doesn't offer one.

The 5D Mark II and 7D did not use a sled. They had a door on the back that flipped down and the batteries were inserted directly into the grip with the contacts facing forward. Instead of front-to-rear, they sat in tandem next to one another.

Grips for the 60D, 50D, 40D, etc. were similar.

 

[neuroanatomist]

The 5D Mark II and 7D did not use a sled. They had a door on the back that flipped down and the batteries were inserted directly into the grip with the contacts facing forward. Instead of front-to-rear, they sat in tandem next to one another.

Grips for the 60D, 50D, 40D, etc. were similar.

Thanks. It was the grip for the T1i that had the sleds. One for two of the camera’s dedicated batteries, and one for AA batteries.

 

[neuroanatomist]

On previous bodies the 'Quick Control Dial' on the main body was just barely reachable using the thumb even in vertical orientation with a grip. Now that the 'QCD' has been moved to the top of the back to surround the joystick, that is no longer the case. They'd need to add a QCD to any grip, as well as another joystick , main dial, AE-L and AF-ON buttons, etc.

That’s one of the advantages on the 1-series and R3 – the controls in both orientations are a very close match, much more so than with an accessory battery grip (although I think some recent models came much closer).

 

[thatguywitha.camera]

The 5D Mark II and 7D did not use a sled. They had a door on the back that flipped down and the batteries were inserted directly into the grip with the contacts facing forward. Instead of front-to-rear, they sat in tandem next to one another.

Grips for the 60D, 50D, 40D, etc. were similar.

The 60D's BG-E9 had the sled, owned it myself. And like neuroanatomist posted, it also came with the AA battery sled as an option. But yes, I totally forgot about that design. With the mirror housing gone, I personally doubt that any manufacturer will bring it back though, as the grip's depth could get bulky quick with the batteries in that orientation.

But all we are writing here about is the history of battery grips. The R7 will sadly not get one. The battery door is fixed, and the location holes are missing.

 

[fredtuck]

New canon cameras including the R7 have Bluetooth connectivity with the new BR-E1 Bluetooth remote control. It would seem to be very simple to build an external vertical grip just connected to the tripod connector with the BR-E1 remote functionality built in. Adding additional controls to the grip would only require a firmware update to the camera to connect the additional functionality. What functionality would you like to see on such a grip? I'll start with a short list.

Shutter release
Aperture control
IOS control
Shutter speed control
auto focus
programable buttons

Are you listening Canon?