Official: Canon EOS 7D Mark II

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Time for a dedicated video camera I guess,....

An interesting question.

Has the technology for both evolved to a point where it is becoming impractical for one body to be able to offer both photographers and videographers all the capability they want?

Could a business case be made to Canon to make a camera that focuses (pun) on giving the customer the best technology for photographs and make a recorder that does the same thing for videographers?

Each product optimized for its specific customer base.

I think there will always be a desire for a single system that does both. But for those customers who want optimized performance, would two systems be a viable solution?

In my case, I have no interest in video. I don't mind my camera having video capability as long as the photographic capability (image, body design, controls) are not compromised.

My fear is that camera manufacturers, in their desire to be all things to all customers, may start making cameras that do both, but neither as well as it could be done.

Plenty of the stuff could be done fully well in DSLRs, Canon just wants to reserve it for the ultra-premium Cxx lines.

 

[NancyP]

Hey! I shoot a lot of these! ;D (slclick says "This is a niche product. It's only for shooting an Animal Wedding at a Motorsports event in Moab.")

 

[StudentOfLight]

Fact is Canon could have included better features into the cam.
Give it more than a great AF.

Such as a 150,000-pixel RGB+IR metering sensor, perhaps? :

well that´s again great help for tracking AF i guess.

as far as metering goes, i never had metering problems with my canons.
so it´s a solution for a problem i don´t have.

canon is perfecting features that are in the cameras already and that´s ok.
but there are things that could have made it into the camera.
focus peaking, zebras, 4k, wifi, RT controller etc.

that´s mostly stuff cheaper cameras offfer. :-\

I'm just wondering at what occasion would a sport/wildlife photographer needed focus peaking, zebras or 4K video. I get that it should be included "just because the other ones do", but in reality, would those features mean anything to the main target group this camera is intended for?

Come on wildlife photographer... zebras ... isn't it obvious?

 

[Khalai]

Come on wildlife photographer... zebras ... isn't it obvious?

In that case, I despise Canon for not including also elephants, giraffes and most importantly all the feline beasts

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Taking a hurried peak at a 7D2 RAW file, it seems like the gain vertical banding issue of the 7D may be entirely gone. Only took a very harried look though. It's hard to tell because the 7D2 has such a small black outer frame area in the RAW and I didn't have the program to check for the gain type in the mids and brights but it seems like it might be gone, none of the shots are close to lens cap shots, but there is a chance they got rid of all or nearly all of the offset banding at low ISO all together. So that is the very good and impressive news with possible both the 7D's weird vertical gain banding and the typical Canon offset dark shadow banding very low or gone, maybe.

The bad is that the random read noise still shows no improvements since 2007 whatsoever, as far as I can tell. It seems like it will be extremely close to the exact same DR as the 7D. The read noise might even be a touch higher than on the 7D. Not quite sure yet, didn't locate quite the proper 7D file or my old numbers. Without the banding, the effective usable DR should be higher though even though it seems like the engineering measured DR might be anywhere from a bit worse than the 7D to a trace better.

 

[geonix]

I was at photokina today and could play around with the 7d2 a bit. I have to say I'm impressd. The IQ I could not really test, but the sample images of Matt Granger and Canon look very good to me concerning high ISO performance.
What I liked very much, are the 10fps and the silent shutter mode. In normal shutter mode the 7D2 is already less loud than the 7D and in silent mode it was quite impressive. Although one should test this again under not-photokina conditions with less then hundreds of people around. The framrate in silent mode was still around 4-5 fps, the canon staff there couldn't make any specific statements on that.

For the IQ, I'm sure we will not have to wait long for some detailed testing and an DXOMark score of around 69

 

[gcookie]

I pre-ordered one today, on paper this doesn't seem like a big improvement. I hope I won't be disappointed. LCD size and no wifi are a poor start. The high ISO shots seem impressive. I hope it controls noise better than the 7D....Shutter noise is better; yea! My 7D sounds like a 1950 washing machine next to a Nikon.

 

[dufflover]

For the IQ, I'm sure we will not have to wait long for some detailed testing and an DXOMark score of around 69

I reckon it'll only score marginally better than the current 70D and lack behind the usual Sonikon comparisons on DXO. My 2c wager is a score of 70, and "Sports ISO" or whatever they call it, of ~950.
That's not me trying to be a smartass knocking the camera (considering I like my 70D lol) but my honest prediction. Happy if it shows improvements more than that.

 

[Mark D5 TEAM II]

ZOMG, I see very obvious horizontal banding on the Image #5 [Portrait], look at the pretty model's sleeveless shirt! Ankortwatt was right, Canon suX0rs canal water!!11 Teh Lulz.

http://canon-premium.webcdn.stream.ne.jp/www09/canon-premium/eosd/samples/eos7dmk2/downloads/05.jpg

 

[Mark D5 TEAM II]

BTW, there is a slight limitation with the 10FPS shooting rate and iTR AF tracking:

10 Figures quoted are when used with UDMA7 class cards and with iTR AF feature disabled. When iTR AF is enabled, continuous shooting has a maximum rate of approx. 9.5fps

 

[Mark D5 TEAM II]

Are there some japan speaking (reading) people there?

There is a japan AF guide for the 7D Mark II
http://cweb.canon.jp/eos/lineup/7dmk2/img/pdf/af-guide.pdf

The English version of that AF configuration guide is here:

http://www.brochures.canon-europe.com/getFile.php?productid=9090&languageid=-1

Judging from that AF guide, the 7D2 AF configuration options are as numerous and flexible as the ones on the 1DX, maybe even a bit more so.

 

[Steve]

Cool, it has Spot AF. I loved Spot AF on my 7D and miss it dearly on my 1DIV.

 

[ajfotofilmagem]

ZOMG, I see very obvious horizontal banding on the Image #5 [Portrait], look at the pretty model's sleeveless shirt! Ankortwatt was right, Canon suX0rs canal water!!11 Teh Lulz.
http://canon-premium.webcdn.stream.ne.jp/www09/canon-premium/eosd/samples/eos7dmk2/downloads/05.jpg

I see beautiful breasts. ;D Oops!
I see horizontal stripes of fabric, but perhaps "one who can not say the name" could see bands of noise.
Each sees what they want to see. :

 

[2n10]

ZOMG, I see very obvious horizontal banding on the Image #5 [Portrait], look at the pretty model's sleeveless shirt! Ankortwatt was right, Canon suX0rs canal water!!11 Teh Lulz.

http://canon-premium.webcdn.stream.ne.jp/www09/canon-premium/eosd/samples/eos7dmk2/downloads/05.jpg

Very pronounced and so sharp. Unbelievable. :

 

[jrista]

ZOMG, I see very obvious horizontal banding on the Image #5 [Portrait], look at the pretty model's sleeveless shirt! Ankortwatt was right, Canon suX0rs canal water!!11 Teh Lulz.

http://canon-premium.webcdn.stream.ne.jp/www09/canon-premium/eosd/samples/eos7dmk2/downloads/05.jpg

Very pronounced and so sharp. Unbelievable. :

They seem to have improved color fidelity. I don't see much of the classic "Canon Waxworks" muddy base colors in that shot.

 

[Aglet]

Taking a hurried peak at a 7D2 RAW file, it seems like the gain vertical banding issue of the 7D may be entirely gone. Only took a very harried look though. It's hard to tell because the 7D2 has such a small black outer frame area in the RAW and I didn't have the program to check for the gain type in the mids and brights but it seems like it might be gone, none of the shots are close to lens cap shots, but there is a chance they got rid of all or nearly all of the offset banding at low ISO all together. So that is the very good and impressive news with possible both the 7D's weird vertical gain banding and the typical Canon offset dark shadow banding very low or gone, maybe.

The bad is that the random read noise still shows no improvements since 2007 whatsoever, as far as I can tell. It seems like it will be extremely close to the exact same DR as the 7D. The read noise might even be a touch higher than on the 7D. Not quite sure yet, didn't locate quite the proper 7D file or my old numbers. Without the banding, the effective usable DR should be higher though even though it seems like the engineering measured DR might be anywhere from a bit worse than the 7D to a trace better.

Holy cow, we're hoping!
at least we can deal with random-ish noise

This might be the first Canon crop body to break 70 on DxOmark score.

EDIT: tho as a counterpoint, I've just been somewhat impressed with the tiny pixels in my Oly EM10 at iso 25600... score 72

 

[2n10]

ZOMG, I see very obvious horizontal banding on the Image #5 [Portrait], look at the pretty model's sleeveless shirt! Ankortwatt was right, Canon suX0rs canal water!!11 Teh Lulz.

http://canon-premium.webcdn.stream.ne.jp/www09/canon-premium/eosd/samples/eos7dmk2/downloads/05.jpg

Very pronounced and so sharp. Unbelievable. :

They seem to have improved color fidelity. I don't see much of the classic "Canon Waxworks" muddy base colors in that shot.

I agree, it did look quite nice and clean.

 

[unfocused]

Currently #1 on Amazon's best sellers list.

 

[daniela]

We have been on the photokina yesterday. Maybe not the best idea to go there on the first day. But I got some interesting impressions about what to come and how big you can advertise products with small improvements.
The evening was much more impressive, I was able to talk to product specialists.

They think that the 7DII will be the same big seller like the 7D was: Because the product got better, and there are no competitors on the market. Nikon will not bring out an D400 or an better D7100 in the near future. And the mirrorless cameras are getting better too, but the whole concept has still some weaknesses. To fix this, it will still take 2-3 years. Then the first mirrorless cameras will be able to beat current SLRs. Sony is hurrying to invent 24MP chips with the same low light features as their current 12MPs. And they will have enough money to do so, as some companies are interested in their sensors. They rumores that Canon is not hurrying to create an ground-breaking new mirrorless cam, there are exact plans existing when Canon will repond to the threat.
I asked if the sensor is really so much better, but I just got some meaningless marketing statements, as they do not know it either. It is improved, but how much, just e few persons know. But they told me that there were a few different bodies in practical testing and the 20MP sensor had the best over all results.
Information about the 5DIV and 1DX successors are under NDA, no comments on those products. "Canon is improving their products periodically".

The shows are well organisated, but overall it is not as impressive as it was some years ago, when each brand was advertising much more new products. But it is clear that there will be an end on the product inflation.

Who will be on the show today?

 

[alistairm1]

Not sure what impact this will have on EXMOOR availability in the future.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29233644