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With a host of features designed to enhance every facet of the photographic process, from still images to video, the EOS 7D represents a whole new class of camera.Made to be the tool of choice for serious photographers and semi-professionals, the EOS 7D features an 18.0 megapixels APS-C size CMOS sensor and dual DIGIC 4 image processors, capturing tremendous images at up to ISO 12800 and speeds of up to 8 fps. The EOS 7D has a cross-type 19-point AF system with improved AI Servo AF subject tracking and user-selectable AF area selection modes for sharp focus no matter the situation. The EOS 7D's Intelligent Viewfinder provides 100% coverage and displays user-selected AF modes as well as a spot metering circle and on demand grid lines. iFCL metering with 63-zone dual-layer metering system uses both focus and color information to provide accurate exposure even in difficult lighting. The EOS 7D also captures Full HD video at 30p, 24p and 25p with an array of manual controls, including manual exposure during movie shooting and ISO speed selection. The EOS 7D features a magnesium alloy body that is dust- and weather-resistant and shutter durability of up to 150,000 cycles.
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Technical Details
- 18.0-megapixel CMOS Sensor and Dual DIGIC 4 Image Processors for high image quality and speed- Body only; lenses sold separately
- Advanced HD movie mode with manual exposure control and selectable frame rates
- Intelligent Viewfinder with 100 percent field of view; 19-point, all cross-type AF system equipped with dual diagonal cross-type sensors
- Capture images to CF Card Type I and II, UDMA-compliant CF cards (not included)
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By Jose E. Hernandez (Virginia)
Autofocus choices are various but yet accuracy has a way to go even when using center point autofocus. With my previous Canons, I had an 80% rate of autofocus failures for flying birds. With my 7D the autofocus failure rate has been reduced to about 60%. Image quality quite superior to that of the 40D and the 50D at ISO 400. The 8 frames speed is great. The menu is easy to use and allows for lots of choices, yet, no single push button for mirror lock-up and autofocus point selection now requires to push two buttons rather than one in the previous cameras.
A smart choice for nature photography due to its 1.6X sensor, weight and size.
By xxxx (xxxxxxx)
This Price is jumping all over the place...at least it is back down to 1900 now. Buy quick. Actually, with this price war it might go down further.
I assume this post will be deleted as it is not really a review....
By Richard Cabrera (Los Angeles)
I have a 50D and jumped at the opportunity to pick up the 7D. The 50D is by no means a slouch. The simple reason for going with the 7D is that it's feature set offers a marked improvement and not just for its price point.
Although the 7D is not a follow up model to the xxD line, I make some comparisons to the 50D where warranted and because that's the camera I've been using.
Battery Life
Battery life bests that of the 50D. So in straight photography, battery life does last longer. Where battery life is shortened comes in the use of the 7D's video function. The camera defaults to "Live View" for composing and shooting.
This added video function will wear through a battery life at an increased pace making having an added battery pack essential. Note the 7D uses the same battery as the 5D Mark II
Controls and Button Layout
The control/button layout is well though out. The left rear border gives quick access to the most important features with the press of the thumb. No need to reposition the camera in the hands to review/delete images or access menus.
There is also the option to customize button functions to simplify feature access just as one can do with the 50D. The 7D has a dedicated Live View button incorporated with Video switch. This eliminates menu access and make transitions while shooting almost effortless.
LCD Screen
The LCD screen when compared to the 50D appears a bit dimmer. To its benefit the 50d is equipped with more anti-reflective coatings whereas the 7D appears devoid of any. In bright lights or sunlight, the default luminance of the 7D can make it a task to judge images taken or evaluate/compose your shots in Live Mode. The only way to counter this is to increase the brightness in the menu system - of course the hit on battery life.
AF Points
Although the 19 point system is a nice added addition. Much of the options appear better used in staged/static/studio environments. However the Spot AF, Single Point AF, and AF Point Expansion offer a wider range of options for catching subjects in motion or picking subjects out from foreground/background.
Autofocus Speed
The AF is measurably quicker than the 50D. Having used the 7D in the same environments as the 50D, the 7D easily locks in the AF solution faster
Shutter Speed
Shutter speed is phenomenal. It is very welcome when taking shots in action environments wildlife/sports. When taking pictures with long lenses on the fly without a tripod, having the extra frames captured really makes the difference.
Image Quality
When compared to the 50D - the increase in image quality is questionable at best. This almost feels like deja-vu, when the image quality of the 50D was questioned whether it was actually better than the 40D.
I've since read in reviews that the soft focus effect can be attributable to the 7D's higher quality Antialias feature. That sounds like a quite a reach for an excuse as the result is counter productive given the cameras specs. If the AA is the problem, there should be a User selectable option to kill it.
It appears Canon seems to be on the road to higher megapixel counts without working on tightening up the sharpness and detail in captured images. Canon is on a campaign for increased resolution at the deference of detail and definition which defeats the purpose of increased MP.
Using the 100-400mm L f4.5-5.6 Lens, images are no sharper than those taken with a 50D at any given setting. Given the 3MP count advantage to the 7D there is virtually no visible gain. One could upscale the image size from a 50D camera in Photoshop to compensate the additional MP. In doing so you wont see much if any quality difference between the 50D and 7D.
Using the EF 16-35mm L f2.8 in low light scenarios, the camera performs admirably. Very sharp vibrant color pictures. Used for both pictures and video the 7D and this lens were well suited for the task. As with the 50D, it is advisable to go with higher quality glass (L lenses) to make up for diminished returns in the megapixel increase. If there are any similarities with the 50D and 7D it is on the marked lapse of gains with increased megapixels. If high ISO settings are your target, the 7D offers a bit better performance @ 2400 and above.
HD Video
The added benefit of high quality video is very welcome option. Being that it's less than elegant to operate various function on a DSLR is almost a given.
The video output from the 7D is very solid. Very sharp, color depth, and great contrast at various ISO ranges. In real low light anything above 3200 will result in grainy and other unwanted artifacts.
In Manual mode having access to Shutter, Aperture, and ISO really give the user allot of control over the subject. No frames dropped means nice content from which to edit. The downside of doing video with the 7D or possibly any DSLR is the awkward control placement. Any adjustments after the start of video taping means pressing and rotating of dials or adjusting zoom or focus. All this means is the camera will jostle about. Adjusting the shutter or ISO via the dial and you will hear the click of the dial in the video which is not subtle in the least.
Also composing and manual focusing through live view will present its own challenges. Holding the camera at a distance to see Live View and making adjustments isn't practical. Video on the 7D lends itself better to planned shots or minimal variance from the primary subject. Getting zoom, focus, and other essential settings in place is almost imperative before beginning to shoot.
In Summary
Many of the 7D's features really are nice advancements for any Canon line. Given the price point and the Nikon 300 market it's designed to compete with, it's a competent build. The features aren't just bullet points and most work well in practice. Where the 7D fumbles is overall image quality. The bump to 18MP really feels much less justified. It really is disappointing to have so much going for it just to come short on something as critical as image quality.
By Young parent (Dallas, TX United States)
Overall, a very well designed and manufactured precision photographic instrument that meets the needs of advanced amateurs and semi-pros (maybe even a great backup for pros.) You can't beat the new autofocus settings, speed, low-light capabilities, 3" high quality LCD, 100% viewfinder w/ all your essential info available at this mid-range pricepoint. After several long days of testing, I am quite satisfied with my decision. Canon has shown again that they can introduce a high quality cutting edge product at an "affordable" price that Nikon and the rest can't match currently. Best value for the money. Add a few L lenses and you'll be set for pretty much the next 5 years or more. On the downside, it is not full frame (you'll have to pay a lot for that), the camera strap is so-so, and the camera is hefty - easy to hold for most of the day due to great hand ergonomic design, but probably not something you'll shoot with one hand for more than a few minutes at a time.
By Kirk Lawler (Chicago)
This camera looks great on paper, but....
The good news: the 7D packs lots of pro features you'll love, like a big and bright viewfinder and LCD screen, weather seals, a dampened mirror box so that the noise from the slap doesn't startle wildlife, automatic sensor cleaning on startup and shut down, micro adjustment for optimizing the performance of lenses, minimal shutter lag and fast AF. I bought my 7D with the incomparable Canon 70-200mm F/4L IS and the combined responsiveness is amazing.
The bad news: my sample constantly over exposes and blows highlights when used outdoors in bright light, the auto white balance is the least reliable of any digital camera that I have ever used (sometimes the color rendition is downright odd#, and images above ISO 800 are dotted with little white speckles that standard noise reduction software settings don't eliminate. My 7D delivers such inconsistent image quality that shooting in the RAW file format is essential. To top it off, the 18MP sensor creates large, memory intensive files, but delivers only slightly more visible resolution than the 12MP sensors of my Nikon D90 & D700. If you are camera shopping because you want to boost detail and overall IQ beyond the output of your Canon T1i or Nikon D90, you might get better results by spending $1700 on a high-grade lens instead of this camera.
There are also some design glitches that may or may not matter to you: mirror-lockup is buried in a custom menu folder, the IR remote shutter release can only be used with a delay which makes it useless for wildlife and portraiture, the tiny buttons around the shutter release button are difficult to use when you are in a hurry or are wearing gloves, the toggle control is temperamental and will frequently dump you into the wrong menu folder, and the focus controls are needlessly complicated. A camera that is being marketed for shooting sports should make it easy to change settings and operate quickly, buy I frequently find that I have to stop and fiddle with both hands in order to make a simple adjustment. Furthermore, it is not possible to set a ceiling when using auto ISO, and Highlight Tone Priority helps to reduce blown highlights but changes the base ISO from 100 to 200, so noise also increases.
In order to produce usable results in direct sun, I have settled on -2/3rds EV as a standard setting with Highlight Tone Priority enabled and contrast at the default (zero) point. Whenever possible I stop down and always use a super multi-coated polarizer on the lens. I also turned off the automatic LCD brightness feature, which made it impossible to correctly judge exposures by checking images in playback.
Editing outdoor shots taken with the 7D almost always involves a levels adjustment to reclaim highlight detail: Adobe Elements and Photoshop do a much better job of this than the supplied Canon Digital Photo Professional software. BTW, the default Adobe settings produce brighter, more saturated colors than Canon's software (see page 14 of the 7D write up at [...] for a demonstration of the differences). Whether or not this is preferable is a matter of taste, but it is something to watch out for if you are switching from Adobe Camera RAW to DPP. Also, I had consistently poor quality output from DPP RAW conversion: fine detail was obliterated and images were overlaid with a sprinkling of pixel-size artifacts. Open the same file in Adobe Camera RAW and you will see all of the detail and micro contrast that the 18MP sensor can deliver.
Is the 7D worth the price tag and considerable heft? Only if you need the rich feature set, shooting speed and durable build, and want to be able to use outstanding Canon lenses like the 70-200mm f/4L IS on a small sensor, cropped view dSLR. Canon should be able to improve the 7D's IQ with firmware updates. Until then, the bottom line is this: you can produce great images with this camera, but expect to do a lot of extra exposure bracketing and post processing.
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Buy Canon EOS 7D 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-inch LCD (Body Only) Now
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