Canon EOS 7D Digital SLR Camera Review

[Bryan Carnathan]

Discuss theCanon EOS 7D Digital SLR Camera Review (http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EOS-7D-Digital-SLR-Camera-Review.aspx]<span style="color: #003399;)- Tell us what you think of theCanon EOS 7D Digital SLR Camera.

[musickna]

As usual, another informative and insightful review, Bryan - thank you very much. My own copy of the 7D should be arriving today, that'll give me a chance to look at it firsthand. As you might expect, I'm excited. [:)]

[DavidEccleston]

Not far into the review yet, but I appreciate the noise charts requiring a click. It was always a pain to compare two non-adjacent options before, forcing you to attempt to weave in and out of the links. I hope you keep the click format for future reviews.

[Sean Setters]

Not far into the review yet, but I appreciate the noise charts requiring a click. It was always a pain to compare two non-adjacent options before, forcing you to attempt to weave in and out of the links. I hope you keep the click format for future reviews.
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I agree with the usefulness of click navigation. Much easier to use.

[vitomalpi]

I've had my 7D copy for several weeks now and i can't seem to put it down. Coming from a 40D one of the most noticeable improvements to me is the Auto White Balance and how well built this body is. I will be going to Paris for my honeymoon next week so that will be my biggest test. I will try to post some pics up.

[mattsartin]

I'm so glad i chose Canon, where do Nikon people go for reviews like these? I've yet to find anywhere on the web that has reviews even close to as in-depth and accurate as yours Bryan, thanks!!!!

[stephen]

great review. I've been holding off upgrading for some time now. Still using a Rebel XT and a borrowed 5D. I really wanted this to be the camera to upgrade from the XT but with image quality, it's a tough choice between the 7D and 50D considering the price difference. I also feel that the majority of these improvements will probably end up in the 60D at a lower price point in a couple months.


One has to wonder what the 7D could have been like with 10-14mp and the noise control of the 5D.

[jimgarvie]

The 5D's "noise control" is primarily a larger sensor which is inherently less noisy. In a crop body, to get 18 mpx and comparatively low noise is quite an achievement. Plus, what the review points out is that the 7D outresolves the 50D but needs a bit more sharpening to produce an image that looks as sharp. Most people have no clue about the difference between resolution and sharpness. If the resolution is there, I can sharpen anything to taste.


Beyond the IQ, the 7D has much more features and much more sophisticated capabilities in terms of Auto ISO, Auto White Balance, AF, AE, viewfinder, fps, etc. The 7D is much more like a baby 1D series than a more capable XXD.





Jim

[Daniel Browning]

Excellent review. They just keep getting better.


I admit, I looked up "Horizon-Level Deficiency" to see if it was a real medical problem. :)

[Daniel Browning]

One has to wonder what the 7D could have been like with 10-14mp and the noise control of the 5D.


But the 7D does have have the noise control of the 5D2. Try this: crop the 5D2 down to the same size as the 7D (1.6X), then compare noise with the 7D. You'll find they are the same. The only difference is that the 7D provides 18 MP whereas the cropped-5D2 only gives you 8 MP. The only advantage of the 5D2 is that it is larger. If the 7D were full frame (46 MP), it would have the same noise control as the 5D2.


So not only did Canon deliver the same performance as the 5D2, but they did it with pixels that have over two times less area.

[Jon Ruyle]

Thank you, Bryan! That review (like your others) obviously took a lot of time, but there are a lot of us out here who appreciate your work.

[btaylor]

Yep agreed - great review and highly detailed once again. I'm slightly concerned about its softness compared to the 50D but I think the loooooong list of features quickly outweighs that phenomenon.

[Daniel Browning]

I think the reason why DPP is turning out soft 7D files is because of a manufacturing defect: in each GRGB group of pixels, the gain and offset between the two green pixels is slightly mismatched, from 1% to 3%. This is enough to cause mazing artifacts in the demosaic algorithm. The way Canon is correcting it is probably to average the green pixel values together, so they lose their resolution. I haven't had much time to research it; hopefully Canon will come up with some sort of fix (firmware, ideally).


Some of the 5D2 cameras had this problem too, but it was only a small percentage.

[ShutterbugJohan]

Great review!











Not far into the review yet, but I appreciate the noise charts requiring a click. It was always a pain to compare two non-adjacent options before, forcing you to attempt to weave in and out of the links. I hope you keep the click format for future reviews.
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I agree with the usefulness of click navigation. Much easier to use.





I agree. Much nicer, and harder to make slow computers jam up. [;)]

[bob williams]

Again, Thanks for the great review Bryan---your research and informative observations are of great value. I do have to admit that as a 50D user I have been seriously considering upgrading, but without significant IQ improvements, the bells and whistles of the 7D aren't enough to convince me to give up my down payment on my 500L. I was so excited when Canon's anouncement came out, the 7D had so many featuresthat I really wanted but ultimately it lacks the IQ I was looking for.The 5DII had the IQ, but lacked some of the features I was hoping for.---Now, I am expecting the 1D4 to be the best of both worlds, but at a healthy price tag--guessI will have to wait for that review to come out---before considering a X4 priceupgrade. In the mean time I will continue to learn more from this forum and others as well as hone my skills with the 50D------The 500L F 4is the next target on my horizon, I have a trip to the Tetons and Yellowstone planned for the spring---and the Lens is what is most important at this point.


Thanks again Bryan, Your review, once again, kept me ontarget.


Bob

[bob williams]

By the way---The "Click navigation" is great---much prefer that to the mouse over.

[musickna]

One day of ownership is little enough time to give anything approaching a definitive review of the 7D, but what I can say is that ergonomically this is great improvement over all Canon EOS cameras I've previously owned (these being the Rebel XT, 30D, 40D and 5D II).


For the first time in my experience, every feature of importance when taking a shot (and what you consider of importance is highly customizable) can be assigned to an easily activated button. Before there always seemed to be something that required a menu screen or a tricky multi-button combination. Now there are enough well-placed buttons to do the job easily. For me, that's a big improvement.


I haven't used the new focusing features enough to give an opinion, but I can say that the on-screen grid is invaluable (and no longer do I have to buy a grid focusing screen to get this effect) and also invaluable is the LCD leveling feature that allows me to level the camera with a flash attached to the hot shoe. ( I use a hot shoe mounted spirit level, but, of course, you can't mount that with an external flash in place.)


The 100% viewfinder is also a lot more significant that I first imagined it would be (having only used reduced-view viewfinders in the past). It makes a tangible difference to see all that the camera sees and records when composing a shot. Going back to a cropped viewfinder is quite a letdown after this.


That's it for the first impressions.

[Johnny Rasmussen]

Thanks for the review, Bryan.


It&acute;s a very nice camera indeed. I&acute;m sure it will deliver great prints. For me, the only reason I can think of that can justify an upgrade is the viewfinder with 100% coverage and better ergonomics. I am not a fan of DSLR/Video combo, but I know many others are.


Thanks for the new "click" navigation. The mouse-over was a bit tricky.





- Johnny

[Alan KE]

good review, as always. well thought out and written.


i was a little concerned that the introduction of the 7D would give me buyers remorse after getting the 5D2. But after your review i feel happy i made the right choice still.

[piiooo]

Hereis a nice video review of the 7D by cameralabs.com that I think nicely complements Brian's review:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYXlsAUXYus ("http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYXlsAUXYus)

[Alan]

Thanks, Bryan. Very informative review.


Would you conclude that the 7D is more for sports, action shots, whereas for landscapes, the DLA would be a factor to consider?


That is, the 5D Mk 2 would be preferred for landscapes/portraits?

[Bryan Carnathan]

Thanks for the comments everyone ...


I'm glad the mouseclick feature is a welcome upgrade - It's one of those not-sure-why-I-didn't-think-of-that-sooner changes. I'll continue to use mouseovers for the small comparisons, but will use mouseclicks for the larger ones.


Daniel - LOL - I probably have some undiagnosed mental disorders, but HLD is indeeda made-up one.


BTaylor - I've been liking the 7D's image quality a lot - just need to turn up the sharpness setting to at least 2.


Bob - That will be a great trip. The 500 L will be very useful there - especially in YNP.


Alan - The 7D will work well for landscapes as well.


Diffraction will start affecting pixel sharpness at narrower apertures than the other current DSLRs, but the higher resolution sensor is still capturing more detail at f/8 and beyond (until Diffraction Cutoff Frequency is reached several stops later). When output to a print, the additional resolution is useful.


A full frame body such as the 5D II has a larger and less-dense sensor, but requires a longer focal length to achieve the same framing. The longer focal length means ashallower DOF which means a narrower aperture is required - which brings the 5D II closer to its DLA. In my opinion, the 5D II has better image quality, but the 7D is still a good landscape camera.


Hope that makes sense - I'm sure Daniel will remove the ambiguities for me. :)





Thanks again for the comments everyone!

[Sean Setters]

Hope that makes sense - I'm sure Daniel will remove the ambiguities for me. :)


That made me laugh (because it was so accurate).

[apersson850]

It will be interesting to see if your 7D has the same wireless flash control problem as several other cameras have.


Bryan already has a copy, but the rest of you can read about the test to determine it here ("http://sites.google.com/site/apersson850/7d-flash-problem).

[Manofmayo]

I had a chance today to play with the 50d &amp; the 7D. I am in love....with the 7D. I really thought I would be buying the 50D soon, but I guess I will be saving my money for another few months to get the 7D. My HLD problem will be solved with this camera.....

[musickna]

A few more thoughts on the 7D now I've had it for 3 weeks or so.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2674/4153699631_3434fb1054_o.jpg


I think this a fabulous camera. I've already described how much I like the ergonomics, but the image quality is really impressive. I have a 5D II so I can compare the two and there is very little difference in real-world overall IQ to my eye. I took this shot of a Mississippi River barge from a high bluff, a distance of about half a mile, using the 100-400L at 400mm, f/9.0, 1/1000, ISO 200 with the 7D. It's a 2933 x 1955 crop out of the original image that has been downsized to 1024 x 683 and converted to '8' compressed jpg for web display (open it for ful size). The original sharpness in DPP was set to 4, and I applied a luminance noise reduction of 2, chrominance of 3 (not really necessary). Apart from the need to sharpen less, I would not be able to realistically claim to get a better image from my 5D II.

Of course, the larger pixel size and larger sensor of the 5D II give it some inherent advantage in terms of diffraction limiting and depth of field, but in (my) actual use it's not going to make much difference. The focusing advantages of the 7D over the 5D II are clear to me - you simply have that much more control over where you want to pin your image. I love having the full-frame capability of my 5D II, but I can't say that I would have done much worse if I had the 7D instead. Anyway, I hope this helps anyone who is agonizing over which of these two great cameras to buy.