Who has a 7D and how do you rate it

[mikew09]

Well, have been on and off buying a 50D for months but keep getting the itch to hold out until I have the cash for a 7D. As the 50D is about to drop of the market I have to ask this question.

APers, who of you have the 7D and how do you rate it? etc, much better that my 40D / 50D etc, better noise control, sharpness and focus etc. Maybe any key features that are of real value.

I have heard some rumours of poor noise control with the 7D but yet to see someone actually cann the camera as a dud. Only seen one review (a good one too) done by Allann and co but would like to hear from a body of 7D users to get a more cross sectioned apraisal.

Very interested to hear what you have to say. Back too you...........

Back you team.

[stevemack]

you might get a few extra things in the menu but as far as image quality goes from reviews ive read up on the 450D produces just the same.

steve.

[mikew09]

you might get a few extra things in the menu but as far as image quality goes from reviews ive read up on the 450D produces just the same.

steve.

Thanx Steve, yep I have read similiar. I am hoping for the reality of a 60D release but still very unstanciated. The 50D suply is almost wiped out in Aus already but don't want to rush in just because that model is finishing up. Don't really want to buy until about Sept / Oct anyway so I can bargain in a 24-105 L lens at the same time.

[Scotty72]

Hey, I'm only a week or two off a purchase of a 7d after holding off from the 50d

Stop adding to my indecision :)

Scotty

[SimonKH]

I have 50D and I love it. For me the 7D was not out. I wish it was when I was getting in to the the SLR Digital. from what I have seen.
but I think I will get the 2D if that ever comes out... speaking of witch has any on heard if canon is going to up the 1D to 2D?

[mikew09]

Hey, I'm only a week or two off a purchase of a 7d after holding off from the 50d

Stop adding to my indecision :)

Scotty

Hi Scotty, yep we spoke about this in another thread. Like before, I am interested in a review of what you think of the 7D mate.
I have read the dpreview on the 7D a number of times and it has some really nice features - truth be told, if I was cashed up now I would go and buy one but I want to bargain a 24-105L into the deal and with the extra of a 7D need some more savings.

[mikew09]

I have 50D and I love it. For me the 7D was not out. I wish it was when I was getting in to the the SLR Digital. from what I have seen.
but I think I will get the 2D if that ever comes out... speaking of witch has any on heard if canon is going to up the 1D to 2D?

The 50D is a great camera, I just can't seem to make up my mind on what to do.

[Scotty72]

hehe

what, if any, lens I can add into the bargain depends on the exact size of my tax cheque..

I have also read that review and it is a rather glowing one.

I, too, would like to hear the 1st hand experiences from APers

Scotty

[Schmenz]

im having the 5d /7d debate.

going on previous years, and the lack of 50d availability, the price drop, and the fact it just went "quit" at work, i think the 60d would be out september. (sept is usually the time of XXd canons (and ipods for those that care)).

[Flash Hit]

I've had the 7D since Nov 2009. I think it's great! Easy to operate, great in low light with a semi decent lens. It's got 8fps burst and I've just started doing HDR (3 frames only at this stage). The large LCD is excellent quality for quick viewing your shots, giving a pretty good idea whether your on song with the shot. Video quality is excellent! $1570 through DWI. Alloy body is tough. It's great to use the regular on body flash and set up remote control of another flash off the camera. good for different lighting effects.
DWI web site is: https://www.dwidigitalcameras.com.au/store/product.asp?idProduct=2364

[Art Vandelay]

A few things sold me on the 7D over the 50D

Better weatherproofing (as I'm often out in open boats in all sorts of weather).

Inbuilt off camera flash capability.

More selection of AF point modes & newer, better tracking AF system suits as I'm more into moving subjects than stationary ones.

Very happy with it so far.

[Philr]

I had one Mike, but sold it. I already had a 5dmkii and thought by all the reviews it would be a great companion to it. I was quite dissapointed, noise over iso200 was quite noticeable, and I have read and heard this alot. Maybe a dud camera, but who knows? I am sure they have probably fixed any issues with the camera by now. Still better than the 50d's.

[Analog6]

When I was in NZ at the course I wnt to, the leaders had 7Ds for some of the people who came cameraless. It did appear to have good features, the Live View is far more useful than I had previously realised, allowing you to szoom in to check focus etc. The images produced that I saw on the course seemed of very good quality. Some were taken in low light but as we were all using tripods the ISO may have been set low.

It really comes down to you and your photography. If you plan to do a lot of low light work it might not be for you. But if not, and if your low light work can be done on a tripod (eg dawn/dusk/night shots) then it may not be an issue.

Have you though about hiring one and giving it a good test drive? That may answer all your questions.

[Dylan & Marianne]

here's my take on it ( compared to 5dmkII and 40D)

1. 7d feels like the 5dmkII, build wise, solid - apparently better weatherproofing
2. Ergonomics : still have to get used to the on off switch on the 7d but most people say this is a plus.
3. AF : certainly feels better than the 40D or 5d though I don't use the feature much
4. HD video : once again, you can shoot in full manual but now you can with the 5dmkII firmware upgrade too
5. ISO: way ahead of the 40D especially if not underexposed - miles behind the 5dmkII at 1600 - unless I really want noise in the image , I don't go over 800 if I Can avoid it even indoors at weddings.
6. Image quality : I don't know who's comparing it with the 450D but I took a bunch of shots with the 10-20 with the exact same settings at various isos and the picture's turned out much sharper than the same shots with the 40D (at 100% crop) and I have noticed the same with results on the field. for much of the landscape work, the sharpness is nearly as good as the 5dmkII. Though as phil mentioned, there are often dark areas in landscapes shots which are quite prone to noise.
7. Off camera flash is a feature but utilises IR not radio- so you need line of sight - not that well thought out to me.

So the choice for us in getting the 7d over the 5dmkII:
- Crop factor of 1.6 with 18mp finally overrode just shooting long with the 5dmkII and cropping (ie with detail shots etc)
- Weatherproofing was a biggie for us - the 5dmkII died in iceland last year so we wanted something that was theoretically tougher (without having to fork out for a 1dsmkIII)
- We already had a bunch of EFS lenses.
- Combination with the canon 70-200 has been awesome for the rare times we take pictures of moving subjects!

that's my perspective and I'm sure there will be areas of contention so take it as a review in isolation.
I think if I weren't so paranoid about camera break downs and if I already owned a 17-40 wide angle , i'd probably just have bought another 5dmkII

[mikew09]

hehe

what, if any, lens I can add into the bargain depends on the exact size of my tax cheque..

I have also read that review and it is a rather glowing one.

I, too, would like to hear the 1st hand experiences from APers

Scotty

I think bonus time will be the clincher for my lens. hopefully :-)

[mikew09]

When I was in NZ at the course I wnt to, the leaders had 7Ds for some of the people who came cameraless. It did appear to have good features, the Live View is far more useful than I had previously realised, allowing you to szoom in to check focus etc. The images produced that I saw on the course seemed of very good quality. Some were taken in low light but as we were all using tripods the ISO may have been set low.

It really comes down to you and your photography. If you plan to do a lot of low light work it might not be for you. But if not, and if your low light work can be done on a tripod (eg dawn/dusk/night shots) then it may not be an issue.

Have you though about hiring one and giving it a good test drive? That may answer all your questions.

Thanks for the comments. Yep for sure, I have heard a lot of great comments and a few not so great but all around the noise side of things. Though the 400D is a far lesser camera, the noise over 400 iso drives me insane on low light shots. Go advise to rent I think and as the 7D is a tad more expensive I will be hiring one for a few days to see for myslef.

Thanks,

Mike

[mikew09]

I had one Mike, but sold it. I already had a 5dmkii and thought by all the reviews it would be a great companion to it. I was quite dissapointed, noise over iso200 was quite noticeable, and I have read and heard this alot. Maybe a dud camera, but who knows? I am sure they have probably fixed any issues with the camera by now. Still better than the 50d's.

Hmm, thanks Phil. Seems the comment around noise is the only real downside I have seen about the 7D, drives me crazy on the 400D once over 400 iso. I assume it would be much better noise wise on the 7D but I still need to tick this one off - looks like I will need to hire one.

Maybe the 5D mkII will come to $2500 in the mean time - ooopps, was that a pig flying buy. :-)

Thanks Phil,

Mike

[mikew09]

here's my take on it ( compared to 5dmkII and 40D)

1. 7d feels like the 5dmkII, build wise, solid - apparently better weatherproofing
2. Ergonomics : still have to get used to the on off switch on the 7d but most people say this is a plus.
3. AF : certainly feels better than the 40D or 5d though I don't use the feature much
4. HD video : once again, you can shoot in full manual but now you can with the 5dmkII firmware upgrade too
5. ISO: way ahead of the 40D especially if not underexposed - miles behind the 5dmkII at 1600 - unless I really want noise in the image , I don't go over 800 if I Can avoid it even indoors at weddings.
6. Image quality : I don't know who's comparing it with the 450D but I took a bunch of shots with the 10-20 with the exact same settings at various isos and the picture's turned out much sharper than the same shots with the 40D (at 100% crop) and I have noticed the same with results on the field. for much of the landscape work, the sharpness is nearly as good as the 5dmkII. Though as phil mentioned, there are often dark areas in landscapes shots which are quite prone to noise.
7. Off camera flash is a feature but utilises IR not radio- so you need line of sight - not that well thought out to me.

So the choice for us in getting the 7d over the 5dmkII:
- Crop factor of 1.6 with 18mp finally overrode just shooting long with the 5dmkII and cropping (ie with detail shots etc)
- Weatherproofing was a biggie for us - the 5dmkII died in iceland last year so we wanted something that was theoretically tougher (without having to fork out for a 1dsmkIII)
- We already had a bunch of EFS lenses.
- Combination with the canon 70-200 has been awesome for the rare times we take pictures of moving subjects!

that's my perspective and I'm sure there will be areas of contention so take it as a review in isolation.
I think if I weren't so paranoid about camera break downs and if I already owned a 17-40 wide angle , i'd probably just have bought another 5dmkII

Thanks for these comments, this helps me a lot. With the comments so far I am definately getting a feel for what I need to look for when hiring one for some testing. Thanks very much for the comparison details - great.

Mike

[etherial]

Well I'll through in my 2 cents worth. I went from the 450D to the 7D early this year. To set the baseline I found the 450D image quality to be great and a big step up from the 400D.

If you are expecting a giant leap in terms of IQ then you may be disappointed if you compare straight from the camera, BUT it is better than the 450D by some margin once you understand it. I would never take my 450D over ISO800, but I am quite comfortable to take the 7D up to ISO3200. Yes the 7D has noise that I think is noticeable from around ISO400 but it reacts very well to noise reduction. There is a thread here on dog agility from a couple of days ago which shows the noise at ISO800 which is quite typical out of the camera, but would be easily cleaned up in PP.

So I had to adjust my expectations and my PP technique to suit. Once I got my presets in Lightroom sorted for me the 7D is now miles ahead. Lightroom 3 is also much better than version 2 was which needed me to alter my presets again. LR3 gives me plenty of scope now in that department and it is simply not an issue for me anymore; I can shoot up to ISO6400 without fear, and tell me where you can get a lens that offers 2-3 stops improvement in speed for a few hundred dollars!

One of the reasons I went for the 7D was I shoot dogs and dog movement so I wanted the speed of the burst mode. I also wanted the crop factor of the 7D to improve the reach of my lenses, and the 18MP sensor is plenty if you want to crop a little to get in nice and close. I find it brilliant for action photography but I can get carried away on high speed continuous (what I call machine gun mode!).

I find the layout of the controls much better than the 450D. The wheel controls are great and I can get to most things without looking now as they are within easy reach and the buttons are a good size and can be used with gloves on. The way you can customise what each button does means you can set it up to suit you and makes it feel natural whatever your preferred method. The LCD display on top is useful and the 'Q' button for main screen adjustment of just about everything is brilliant.

It feels nice and natural in the hands, sturdy and well balanced but not too heavy. The shutter button on the battery grip is very light and takes some getting used to though, I would have preferred it had the feel of the main shutter button.

The off camera flash control is great (and I'm not sure it is via IR, as it does work without line of site. My understanding is it uses the cameras flash to transmit too the remote flash unit). That saved me a few hundred dollars by not having to buy a transmitter.

The focus system is great, but it does take some learning to get the most from it, but it is very versatile and will cover every situation. Further to that the microadjust function is very useful (I've posted at length of that before).

Live view is well set out and easy to use. The main view finder is a big step up from the lower ranges giving just about 100% view. It is bright and easy to see all the internal displays.

The video was not a factor for me when buying, but I have found I use it more than I thought I would and have been pleasantly surprised.

The auto ISO is great, and for sporting events I often now shoot in Manual mode, set my aperture and shutter speed and let the Auto ISO do the control should the light change a little at the event I'm shooting.

Battery life is brilliant, I get anything up to 1200 shots from a battery.

In summary, it is a different camera to the xxxD series (and probably the xxD series). You will find it natural and typical Canon in terms of menu set up and general use, but you need to learn its tricks. I've found that I now use a different metering mode, different focus settings, different base settings to what I was with the 450D. I also have to process differently in terms of noise control, sharpening and colour control. Once you learn the cameras strengths and adapt to them you will find you will love it.

Hope that helps. I'd offer you a meet and play with it but you're a little far away!

[Dylan & Marianne]

The off camera flash control is great (and I'm not sure it is via IR, as it does work without line of site. My understanding is it uses the cameras flash to transmit too the remote flash unit). That saved me a few hundred dollars by not having to buy a transmitter.

Battery life is brilliant, I get anything up to 1200 shots from a battery.



agree with the battery (uses LPE6 which is the 5dmkII battery)

as for line of sight - for example, I have tried using it to take a bride and groom with the 580EXII in their lap while sitting in a car. it did not trigger until my wife got in there in the front seat and lifted it up above the window line of the car. I'm not sure how you got it to work out of line of sight but we've tried a few different scenarios like this which exposed its limitations and hence we're getting some yong nuo's for off camera flash.

[kevinj]

I think everything has been said,I stepped up from a 450D and the difference is "Chalk and Cheese",the 7D is a huge leap forward.If you feel like meeting up at say Oxley Creek Common one weekend,you can have a play with mine and my 100-400mmL and 24-105mmL,see how they feel on the camera.

[mikew09]

Thanks etherial,
Ha, can't say I will be anyway close anytime soon. So the feel I am getting is that I will not have the frustration of the noise I experience with the 400D (which has taken some great shots I might add) and in comparison will be qhite happy. However; if I am thinkin 5D quality noise reduction I would be mistaken. I have played quite a bit with the 50D so for a starting reference for me.

Would it be fair to say the noise of the 7D falls between the 50D and 5D, even if marginaly?

[mikew09]

I think everything has been said,I stepped up from a 450D and the difference is "Chalk and Cheese",the 7D is a huge leap forward.If you feel like meeting up at say Oxley Creek Common one weekend,you can have a play with mine and my 100-400mmL and 24-105mmL,see how they feel on the camera.

Hi Kevin, hey mate thanks for the offer. I am looking at a perchuse with a 24-105mm L to compliment the other end of my 70-200L. I would say I will purchase around Sept once I have saved a little more to cover the lens.
At this stage I think I will hire one for a couple of days closer to the purchase just to give me comfort. I would like to take you up on your offer closer to the purchase when I hire the sucker. It would be great to meet up and have you run me through the usage, say best practices of the 7D, compare same shots with both cameras and then I could come away and give it a run with this knowledge.

Thanks Kev, will PM you closer to the date so we can arrange a meetup. Horse event season is basically over after the EKKA so I start getting some free time on my hands by then :-).

Thanks again,

Mike

[kevinj]

Not a problem Mike,happy to be of service,let me know when.:th3:The 24-105mmL balances beautifully on the 7D,but so does all my lenses.:lol:

[etherial]

Thanks etherial,
Ha, can't say I will be anyway close anytime soon. So the feel I am getting is that I will not have the frustration of the noise I experience with the 400D (which has taken some great shots I might add) and in comparison will be qhite happy. However; if I am thinkin 5D quality noise reduction I would be mistaken. I have played quite a bit with the 50D so for a starting reference for me.

Would it be fair to say the noise of the 7D falls between the 50D and 5D, even if marginaly?

I don't have any first hand experience with the 50D or the 5D so it is hard for me to comment on that. From what I have seen online in reviews etc and from when I was researching I think that is a fair call though.

I think compared to the 400D though, you will love it!

[mikew09]

For anyone that is interested I have found what appears to be a reliable non-biased and makes the 7D favourable.
Does comment in view of noise against the 5DMkII but from what I see it is pretty good.

http://www.photographybay.com/2009/12/29/canon-eos-7d-review/

[mikew09]

I don't have any first hand experience with the 50D or the 5D so it is hard for me to comment on that. From what I have seen online in reviews etc and from when I was researching I think that is a fair call though.

I think compared to the 400D though, you will love it!

Again, thanks etherial, I am really glad I started this thread as I did have a rather dim view of the 7D but from what I am hearing and seeing in this thread I think I may have had the wrong impression.

[Damien23]

I have recently bought a 7D (upgrade from my 40D) Im buy no means a good photographer, but i can (now) see the difference, at the start I was thinking it was no different, but I was wrong.

The 7D feels a lot better in my hands, I have really big hands and thats what put me off the 450D and so on plastic bodied cameras.

Like other have said, I myself looked at reviews after reviews on it, and by the end it was a no brainer to get the 7D. It has a lot of great features and thought this is a camera I can hold on too for a while and produce some great shots.

From the reviews I have read the 7D sits between the 50D and 5D mkII. I have also seen shots taken with the 7D and 5D and some or most of the shots looks better on the 7D than 5D for the low capabillities.

Im sure you will be happy with the 7D as I am too.

Damo

[dulvariprestige]

I, like a couple of the others, stepped up from the 450d also, and my main reason was also fps and the focus abilities as I was really getting into shooting my kids playing league, while the 50d would've been plenty for me, I thought what the hell, why not get the latest and greatest while I can afford it.

The first thing I really noticed was that I was getting a lot of shots OOF when shooting fast moving subjects, in the end it was my lenses couldn't keep up,(sigma 17-70, tamron 28-300 and 50 1.8) as all these lenses didn't have USM or HSM focusing, but now that all my lenses are either USM or HSM all is good.

Noise performance is better than my 5d classic and miles ahead of the 450, but nowhere as good as the higher end Canon or Nikon's, from what I've learnt, if they'd have kept the resolution lower, it would probably have been better, but in saying that, 19mp is great when you need to do some heavy cropping.

Another thing I've noticed since getting the 5d, is that I seem to be able to capture a wider dynamic range on the 7d than the 5d.

I haven't really played that much with the video, but when that time comes, it's there.

[dulvariprestige]

Oops, just noticed that you've got yourself a 50d, I really should look harder before i post things lol

[mikew09]

LOL, thanks Damo & Jayde for your comments. Yep at the price I couldn't pass it up and now I have a few more dollars to put to another L lens with a bit more saving. The 7D would have been great too but I am so very happy with the 50D. Will take me a while to get around the camera but I can see the potential for where this will take me.

Thanks again,

Mike

[Regnis]

I am just wondering about file sizes when in video mode..... how long could you shoot for with say a 8gb flash card?

[Regnis]

dont worry, found the info I was looking for.....

"The 7D captures video in .MOV file format. Video recording is limited to 4 GB per clip. While that sounds like a lot of space, when you consider that HD files cover roughly 330 MB per minute, you end up with about 12 minutes recording time in 4 GB of space. If you’re using a 16 GB card, that means you can get about 48 minutes total on the card. Even if you’re shooting in SD mode at 640 x 480 resolution, the 7D will chew up 165 MB per minute. So, if you’re doing some serious video shooting, bring plenty of CF cards."