Official: Canon EOS 7D Mark II

[Lee Jay]

I'm concerned that they have dropped the 70D's highly-useful 3x "digital zoom" mode for video. It doesn't appear in the menu shown on the B&H preview. That feature needs not only to be included, but improved.

 

[ajfotofilmagem]

If I only user center-point for photographing birds, is this really worth the upgrade over the T2i I've been lugging around for several years? I'm thinking of just getting a 6D or 5Diii, as I can get pretty close to my subjects, and I'm using a 400mm lens. From the specs of the 7Dii it looks more like a 'side-grade' to the T2i than an actual upgrade, for the type of photography I do. My main limiting factor right now is iso performance; anything above 400 on the T2i is pretty much useless, and I'm not getting the sense the 7Dii will be any better. Anyone that shoots similar subject matter have any thoughts on this?

Each person has different levels of tolerance to image noise. If you consider the pictures of T2i above ISO400 as useless, 7D Mark ii probably should do the same above ISO800. If someone has the habit of looking at your photos on the computer, viewing at 100% magnification, will always find noise in images from any camera.

I think you should reconsider your method of image processing, for more efficient noise reduction.

 

[Khnnielsen]

Anyway the speed and AF and all sounds like out of the park, awesome.

The sensor is what it is. It would be DOA for a 5D4, but it's probably OK for a 7D2 (although not ideal and I certainly feel for the one body shooters who'd use this as their main landscape cam too).

The video looks pretty punted though in terms of quality.

If you don't hit DR-limited scenes much and never shoot video it's a total home run. Grand slam even (assuming it lives up to the words).

If you were looking to it for video it's a D+.

If you wanted an action cam plus great all around aps-c sensor it's mixed, great on the one hand and stuck in 2007 on the other.

I'll preface this by saying I don't really shoot video but that said, I think it will hold it's own pretty well considering the smooth AF it appears to have from the Canon promo "Cello" and the "Making of Cello" I think will be a hit with the entry level video guys especially when coupled with the lens system Canon has. Granted, it's not a nice as the 5d3 video, but that wasn't to be expected. Physics. However, that short they made at 3200 ISO looked pretty darn good and the focus racking looked darn good to me. Put that little camera with a Ninja and it's a good little set up I'm betting.

I haven't really seen the video quality of the 7d mark ii because the cello video on Canon's site doesn't allow me to change the resolution or even full screen it but if you're saying the video is worse than the 5D3 then that is pretty sad. The 5D3 is pretty S___ now for video. So if this new cam is worse, then oh wow am I laughing now.

Clearly worse than 5D3 WITH Magic Lantern RAW. With ML RAW the 5D3 produces very good 1080p video, the best of any regular line DSLR by anyone (well, maybe, I haven't seen the 4k A7S footage yet).

Not sure about how it will compared to native, SOOC 5D3 video. SOOC 5D3 video is kinda waxy and squishy. The one clip with the skiers from the 7D2 made it look maybe a bit worse than 5D3 but probably better than the 7D (it's hard to tell from that, not even sure what mode it was in, maybe 720p for all I know, etc. who knows maybe it's even better (other than the impossibility of beating FF SNR) than 5D3 SOOC. But no way it could ever beat 5D3 with Magic Lantern RAW.

Coming from a profesional broadcast television background I don't care about 4k or raw video.
If Canon made a DSLR that used the same MPEG2( 1080i 50Mbps 4:2:2)codec that you find in the C300 then it would make huge impact. Why? Because some broadcasters won't accept material shoot with a DSLR because of the codec. That is the sole reason why I have to use a rental camera this week.

 

[BLFPhoto]

If I only user center-point for photographing birds, is this really worth the upgrade over the T2i I've been lugging around for several years? I'm thinking of just getting a 6D or 5Diii, as I can get pretty close to my subjects, and I'm using a 400mm lens. From the specs of the 7Dii it looks more like a 'side-grade' to the T2i than an actual upgrade, for the type of photography I do. My main limiting factor right now is iso performance; anything above 400 on the T2i is pretty much useless, and I'm not getting the sense the 7Dii will be any better. Anyone that shoots similar subject matter have any thoughts on this?

Oh my! Even the current 7D would be better for your purposes. This new one, with the 65 f/2.8 focus points will be miles better. You will be able to actually compose a proper picture instead of shooting dead center and cropping. AI Servo will be miles better than with your T4i. And 10fps frame rate will shoot circles around what you currently do, giving you the ability to track and shoot, choosing the peak action in post. You'll get images you can't imagine getting on a regular basis.

It's seriously not even a reasonable question unless you simply don't have the $. In fact, for your purposes, I'll bet I'd almost rather have this 7D Mk II than a 5D Mk III.

 

[Quest for Light]

Coming from a profesional broadcast television background I don't care about 4k or raw video.
If Canon made a DSLR that used the same MPEG2( 1080i 50Mbps 4:2:2)codec that you find in the C300 then it would make huge impact. Why? Because some broadcasters won't accept material shoot with a DSLR because of the codec. That is the sole reason why I have to use a rental camera this week.

but as one man videographer you edit your footage anyway and you can convert it.
4K downsampled gives better quality then native 1080.
i guess it depends on what you do.

but the more formats the cameras offer the better.

 

[RichM]

It's seriously not even a reasonable question unless you simply don't have the $. In fact, for your purposes, I'll bet I'd almost rather have this 7D Mk II than a 5D Mk III.

I've been waiting for a while for the 7d2. I have a 7d and 5d3, and prefer the 7d for outdoor, well lit sports. I like the extra reach, and "feel" it tracks slightly better. I have pre-ordered a 7d2, but won't sell my 7d until it arrives. I'm very excited about the features, and hope low light performance is improved. The "anti-flicker" feature will be great for indoor sports (thinking hockey and basketball) and if it is even slightly better in low light it will be a winner. Most of all I'm excited that the price is somewhat reasonable and lower than many had anticipated!!

 

[Khnnielsen]

Coming from a profesional broadcast television background I don't care about 4k or raw video.
If Canon made a DSLR that used the same MPEG2( 1080i 50Mbps 4:2:2)codec that you find in the C300 then it would make huge impact. Why? Because some broadcasters won't accept material shoot with a DSLR because of the codec. That is the sole reason why I have to use a rental camera this week.

but as one man videographer you edit your footage anyway and you can convert it.
4K downsampled gives better quality then native 1080.
i guess it depends on what you do.

but the more formats the cameras offer the better.

I shoot the footage as a one man band and deliver the files but with big productions there isn't always time or money to convert the files. When you have 250+ hours of footage and a short time frame to complete post production, then the production company don't want to see your 4k files and fancy picture profiles.

 

[Don Haines]

I want to know why the 7D2 does not have a little laser light that shines where the camera is aimed? Everyone knows that the only use of APS-C cameras is to take pictures and videos of cats to put on the internet.... and the videos would be so much better if the cats were chasing that little red dot....

Come on Canon! This is a make or break feature! Why don't you have it!

 

[Quest for Light]

I want to know why the 7D2 does not have a little laser light that shines where the camera is aimed? Everyone knows that the only use of APS-C cameras is to take pictures and videos of cats to put on the internet.... and the videos would be so much better if the cats were chasing that little red dot....

Come on Canon! This is a make or break feature! Why don't you have it!

you can add an accessory to the hotshoe.
like the battery grip it comes for a mere 300$

 

[kphoto99]

I'm concerned that they have dropped the 70D's highly-useful 3x "digital zoom" mode for video. It doesn't appear in the menu shown on the B&H preview. That feature needs not only to be included, but improved.

Don't count on it. The t3i has digital zoom in video, but it is not in t4i and t5i. So Canon does remove features instead of adding them.

 

[ajfotofilmagem]

I want to know why the 7D2 does not have a little laser light that shines where the camera is aimed? Everyone knows that the only use of APS-C cameras is to take pictures and videos of cats to put on the internet.... and the videos would be so much better if the cats were chasing that little red dot....
Come on Canon! This is a make or break feature! Why don't you have it!

Yes. but the red laser need to have 14 points of DR.

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Anyway the speed and AF and all sounds like out of the park, awesome.

The sensor is what it is. It would be DOA for a 5D4, but it's probably OK for a 7D2 (although not ideal and I certainly feel for the one body shooters who'd use this as their main landscape cam too).

The video looks pretty punted though in terms of quality.

If you don't hit DR-limited scenes much and never shoot video it's a total home run. Grand slam even (assuming it lives up to the words).

If you were looking to it for video it's a D+.

If you wanted an action cam plus great all around aps-c sensor it's mixed, great on the one hand and stuck in 2007 on the other.

I'll preface this by saying I don't really shoot video but that said, I think it will hold it's own pretty well considering the smooth AF it appears to have from the Canon promo "Cello" and the "Making of Cello" I think will be a hit with the entry level video guys especially when coupled with the lens system Canon has. Granted, it's not a nice as the 5d3 video, but that wasn't to be expected. Physics. However, that short they made at 3200 ISO looked pretty darn good and the focus racking looked darn good to me. Put that little camera with a Ninja and it's a good little set up I'm betting.

I haven't really seen the video quality of the 7d mark ii because the cello video on Canon's site doesn't allow me to change the resolution or even full screen it but if you're saying the video is worse than the 5D3 then that is pretty sad. The 5D3 is pretty S___ now for video. So if this new cam is worse, then oh wow am I laughing now.

Clearly worse than 5D3 WITH Magic Lantern RAW. With ML RAW the 5D3 produces very good 1080p video, the best of any regular line DSLR by anyone (well, maybe, I haven't seen the 4k A7S footage yet).

Not sure about how it will compared to native, SOOC 5D3 video. SOOC 5D3 video is kinda waxy and squishy. The one clip with the skiers from the 7D2 made it look maybe a bit worse than 5D3 but probably better than the 7D (it's hard to tell from that, not even sure what mode it was in, maybe 720p for all I know, etc. who knows maybe it's even better (other than the impossibility of beating FF SNR) than 5D3 SOOC. But no way it could ever beat 5D3 with Magic Lantern RAW.

Coming from a profesional broadcast television background I don't care about 4k or raw video.
If Canon made a DSLR that used the same MPEG2( 1080i 50Mbps 4:2:2)codec that you find in the C300 then it would make huge impact. Why? Because some broadcasters won't accept material shoot with a DSLR because of the codec. That is the sole reason why I have to use a rental camera this week.

If RAW was too unwieldy you could shoot 5D3 RAW and then put it into whatever format you desired, MPEG2 1080i 50Mbs 4:2:2 or whatever.

Anyway yeah if it simply output in cam video of C300 quality that would help a lot, since you'd get decent quality when you didn't want to mess with RAW.

It's not the codec that is crippling the in-cam Canon video though (5D3 got clean HDMI out and it was the same waxy mush) so the damage is done in an earlier stage.

Anyway if you don;t mind the mush (assuming they didn't fix that), the 7D2 has clean HDMI 1080 4:2:2 out so you could send that into a NINJA or whatnot.

If it had 4k you could simple downsample and re-compress to 1080i 4:2:2 MPEG2 and use that without even needing a NINJA (and get better quality too).

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

If I only user center-point for photographing birds, is this really worth the upgrade over the T2i I've been lugging around for several years? I'm thinking of just getting a 6D or 5Diii, as I can get pretty close to my subjects, and I'm using a 400mm lens. From the specs of the 7Dii it looks more like a 'side-grade' to the T2i than an actual upgrade, for the type of photography I do. My main limiting factor right now is iso performance; anything above 400 on the T2i is pretty much useless, and I'm not getting the sense the 7Dii will be any better. Anyone that shoots similar subject matter have any thoughts on this?

Oh my! Even the current 7D would be better for your purposes. This new one, with the 65 f/2.8 focus points will be miles better. You will be able to actually compose a proper picture instead of shooting dead center and cropping. AI Servo will be miles better than with your T4i. And 10fps frame rate will shoot circles around what you currently do, giving you the ability to track and shoot, choosing the peak action in post. You'll get images you can't imagine getting on a regular basis.

It's seriously not even a reasonable question unless you simply don't have the $. In fact, for your purposes, I'll bet I'd almost rather have this 7D Mk II than a 5D Mk III.

If wildlife stills were the only goal I'd definitely rather have the 7D2 over the 5D3.

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

I'm concerned that they have dropped the 70D's highly-useful 3x "digital zoom" mode for video. It doesn't appear in the menu shown on the B&H preview. That feature needs not only to be included, but improved.

Don't count on it. The t3i has digital zoom in video, but it is not in t4i and t5i. So Canon does remove features instead of adding them.

So bizarre, no 4k and no zoom either for video, when the 7D series is supposed to be the reach/wildlife cam and that;s when zoom modes would matter most of all.

 

[peederj]

Those digital zoom things on the rebels had simply dreadful false color artifacting/moire. Do it optically, why are we shooting Canon if not the big whites?

 

[PureClassA]

Sneak peak at the 7D3. Complete with articulating iPhone 8 and Don's cat laser pointer hotshoe attachment

 

[Lee Jay]

Those digital zoom things on the rebels had simply dreadful false color artifacting/moire.

Baloney. It's just a 1:1 pixel crop - almost no moire at all, and in fact much less than in regular video modes.

The 70D has it, and no moire is one advantage often sited.

One thing I'd really love is the ability to smoothly zoom from 1x to 3x "digital zoom" which would greatly increase the zoom range of a zoom lens, or add a usable zoom range to a prime. The 18-135STM, for example, would go from 29-216 to 29-621.

 

[peederj]

Those digital zoom things on the rebels had simply dreadful false color artifacting/moire.

Baloney. It's just a 1:1 pixel crop - almost no moire at all, and in fact much less than in regular video modes.

The 70D has it, and no moire is one advantage often sited.

One thing I'd really love is the ability to smoothly zoom from 1x to 3x "digital zoom" which would greatly increase the zoom range of a zoom lens, or add a usable zoom range to a prime. The 18-135STM, for example, would go from 29-216 to 29-621.

The false color artifacting comes from debayering, not downsampling. And it's very hard to suppress in the absence of downsampling. This (along with dynamic range extension) is why 1:1 pixel video cameras are rare. It was awful on the Rebels, I imagine it's also awful on the 70D, but everyone studiously avoids running chart tests on video cameras because the news is usually so grim.

 

[V8Beast]

And motherf*ckers, $1800 in US and 2000EURO ($2587) in Europe.

Yeah, but your history is so much more diverse and interesting than it is here in America ;D We don't even have any real castles

 

[cnardo]

when/where should l look for a link to a Users Manual for the 7Dii ???????