Camera Labs

First of all I would like to mention that this is review will concentrate about things I especially liked/disliked about the 7D.
For a closer look on the 7D, specially the image quality, etc I recommend you to check out Gordons Review:

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Canon_EOS_7D/



As I had a 40D for two years before I upgraded to the 7D - I will compare those two DSLRs.

The first thing I noticed when handling the 7D was that the buttons on top of the DSLR felt actually smaller, harder to feel especially when wearing gloves.
Also, the Button to enlighten the LCD screen got moved. Which for me is not a good thing, since the old button was easier to be distinguished.

Compare the top of the 40D



with the top of the 7D




After all, I liked the layout of the 40D´s buttons better.



Another thing thats minor but still bothering me is that when you are in the AV mode - the front wheel will controll the aperture.
But when moving to the M mode, the front wheel will actually control the shutter.
Now I am not 100% sure about this, but I think to remember that for the 40D the front wheel did always control the aperture - and I liked that.

Another thing is, that even though the 7D is quite an expensive camera.
The buttons on it are not enlighted. Thats too bad, seeing as cheap notebooks and cellphones got enlighted buttons. This would make work at dark a lot easier.

I also noticed that the shutter release button feels different than the one on the 40D. It no longer has this "click" feeling on it. Which I do actually like, since it feels I can hold the camera more steady when taking a picture.


What I really like about the 7D is the autofocus. Its not just a lot better than the auto focus on the 40D, its also easier to use.
You can actually use the multicontroll stick to choose the AF point you want. And that works within seconds.

I dont like though, that while you can assign your favorite autofocus point to the AF-ON button, this will work in eiter just Horizontal or Vertical position. Meaning you cant assign one for both positions.



Another thing I really like about this camera, that it no longer uses interchangeable focus screens like the 40D.
This decreases the amount of dust that can get inside of the viewfinder by a lot.

For some reason I feel that the CA - mode on the 7D is somewhat useless, and I dont think I will ever use it. I would have preferred
a few more C modes on the 7D though, since they let you save pretty much all settings on the 7D, you can swtich between HighISO 12800 and all Autofocus points - One shot, And Iso 200 - high tone priority - focus point in the middle and Ai Focus within one second.




So besides the few things I noticed within a few months of using the 7D,
I must say that its a great camera. Probably a lot better than my skills in Photography - and it will take me a while, if not forever to outgrow my 7D.

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5D Mark II
Canon 50mm 1.2 L
Canon 24-70 2.8 L
Canon Speedlight 430 EXII
Manfrotto 055 XPROB BLACK
Crumpler 750

My Flickr

I went through a similar process when I went 50D to 7D. The top button arrangement change did seem weird, but the 7D layout is the same as the 5D family layout. Why all these can't be the same, I don't know.

Also the soft shutter took some getting used to initially, but I don't think about it now. Some claim it helps reduce shock when taking a photo but I'm not sure it makes much difference to me.

I don't miss having non-lit buttons since it doesn't take long to memorise the positions. There is one exception - the mode dial. Other than putting going in the Q-menu, I'm not aware of a quicker way to check which mode you're in if its too dark to see the mode dial.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Perhaps, but I would have still liked Canon to have used at least luminous paint on their buttons, I dont think that would be that expensive to be added anways.

_________________
5D Mark II
Canon 50mm 1.2 L
Canon 24-70 2.8 L
Canon Speedlight 430 EXII
Manfrotto 055 XPROB BLACK
Crumpler 750

My Flickr