Canon 7D. 21 days in. Rerereview.

I've reread my initial "review", if you can call it that, of the 7D a few times, and I've come to the conclusion that the post really didn't do justice to the camera. Note, probably no review I can provide can be fully counted on, but I feel as though maybe I should tell a little bit more than what was said in the beginning. Now that I've really had the time to shoot with the camera I can provide a more "mature" depiction of the camera, rather than the "Oh I just got it now I want to talk about it" state of mind I may have been guilty of earlier.

As stated before, the camera feels very good in hand. The body is designed quite well, and it feels snug and not as bulky as it could. The buttons on the back of the body have nothing to hide, and everything is well placed. A couple of the most useful physical features of the camera are the Quick menu and the One-touch RAW + Jpeg buttons. The quick menu is essentially what the name sounds like...its a quick menu. Press the button and you'll see your settings neatly displayed on the LCD which can be easily navigated through and changed, you guessed it, quickly. The instant RAW + Jpeg button is useful if you're shooting Jpegs just for the fun of it, and then you see something really cool so you need to quickly record a RAW image as well. I do not find much use for this feature, however, considering I shoot entirely in RAW. I would also imagine that most people using the 7D would be doing likewise. Of course the feature works both ways, so If you're shooting RAW and you also want to record a Jpeg you can do that as well, but I can't really think of a practical application where you would be unable to make a jpeg from the RAW image later... Lets not go there.

Also as as stated previously, the menu controls are logical, but some features can be a little buried. The 7D also has a feature which allows the photographer to write his or her copyright information into the metadata which is just super. Since I'm upgrading from the XT I'm not used to this feature and I'm so glad its there. Something else great about the menu is that you can customize pretty much every button on the back of the camera. Very very cool. I've found that having image quality assigned to the SET button in the middle of the dial is the most useful for me.

The custom functions are easily utilized, and can be very useful in the right situation . Just simply begin in manual mode, choose the functions and settings you would use to shoot in that given situation, and then assign them to C1, C2, or C3. I use C1 for standard daylight shooting, C2 for night shooting, and C3 for video.

Another great feature is the electronic level. Just hit info a couple times while your shooting and the level will come up on the LCD. You can also have it appear in the viewfinder through the activated AF points, but I haven't spent the energy to figure out how to do it. When I first read about the level, I thought it was cool, but I didn't think I would use it. Wrong. I've already used it several times in practical applications and its oh so useful, and in all my experiences, accurate.

I don't shoot a lot of fast moving subjects, but today I decided to go out and shoot my dogs just to play around with the all new AF. Love it. Its deadly. The 7D tracked my running dogs with ease, even when they were running towards me. The 8fps was also a very useful tool and a pleasure to listen to. Oh, the power.  The low-light AF also greatly outperforms the XT, but I'm not too sure how it racks up against direct competitors. Again, the 100% viewfinder is a blessing.

I've looked at the noise on the 7D SEVERAL times. Yes, I've been pixel peeping. What I've found is that the noise at high ISOs isn't as bad as I thought it was. I was actually just looking at a few JPEGS I took indoors in low light at 5000 ISO and I found the noise levels to be surprisingly manageable. Here are a couple screenshots of an image I shot in the middle of the night at 4000 iso. The Raw files were opened in DPP and then brought into Lightroom as Tiffs. NR tools were used in both programs. Taken with a Canon 50mm 1.8 II at 1.8 for 1/40 sec at ISO 4000.  The second image is at 100%.



Another point of interest is the apparent softness in the images viewed on the LCD screen. To some people, like me, this may cause some stress early on in the game. Its important to remember, however, that we're dealing with 18 megapixels, the image we're viewing on the LCD is a Jpeg rendition (even in RAW), and that every sensor depicts a RAW file differently, and that each RAW file put out any given camera needs a given amount of editing.

As far as video goes, I'm not going to pretend like I know stuff, 'cause I don't. After doing some research I've realized that in order to really fully get into video one has to invest in a plethora of other expensive gear that I'm just not ready to commit to by any stretch of the imagination. I'll dabble with what I've got and edit with iMovie. You can find a lot of other reviews raving about the 7Ds video capabilities.

A feature that I'm excited about, but haven't been able to test yet, is the ability to trigger multiple speedlights via the pop up flash. I haven't been able to play yet because as of right now I don't have any speedlights. Maybe soon? Should be very useful.

And I guess that'll wrap up my 3rd edition of the Canon 7D "review". Thanks for reading. Here are some sample photos taken with a similar workflow as mentioned above.