Canon EOS 7D digital camera review

Canon’s EOS 7D has been around since September so time for a belated hands-on test of its abilities. We got hold of the EOS 7D along with the EFS 18-135mm lens and put it through its paces at Rickmansworth Aquadrome and Oxhey Woods.

The EOS 7D slots between the EOS 50D and the EOS 5D MkII in terms of price and features. In fact, its very similar to the 5D MkII on features except that it uses a smaller sensor (5184 x 3456 against 5616 x 3744). The EOS 7D is priced at up to $1700 while the 50D is around $1000 and the 5D MkII: $2700.

The main features of the EOS 7d are:

• 18MP APS-C crop sensor (new design)
• Continuous shooting at up to 8 fps
• Multi-axis cross-type 19-point AF grid
• 100% viewfinder with 1x magnification
• Environmental sealing
• LP-E6 battery (same as EOS 5D MkII)
• HD video at 1920 x 1080 pixels with frame rates of 24, 25 and 30 fps
• Dual Axis Electronic Level
• Integrated wireless speedlite control
• Manual control of aperture in HD movie mode.
• ISO 100-6400 plus “H” (12800)
• iFCL metering includes a 63-zone dual-layer metering sensor that reads both illumination and color

Controls

The top screen and dials are in a layout familiar to most Canon camera users and consists of a 10-position dial with the following modes:

• C1, C2, C3 – Custom modes allow registration of most of the camera functions, so, for example, you can set C1 to Aperture Priority, ISO 800, Highlight Tone Priority on, Spot metering and Single Shot AF
• B – Bulb
• M – manual
• Av – Aperture Priority
• Tv – Shutter Priority
• P – Auto (intelligent) program mode sets aperture and shutter speed, but leaves all other camera settings up to the user
• CA – creative auto is similar to the green square mode (in fact it defaults to it), but you can bias exposure towards larger or smaller apertures, darker or lighter images
• [] = Green Square -  is basically a “point and shoot” mode where the camera sets everything for you

On the right of the camera is the monochrome LCD (which can be illuminated), along with buttons for:

• ISO selection/FEC (flash exposure compensation)
• AF/Drive mode setting and metering mode/white balance setting.

With any one button the main control dial (near the shutter release) sets one parameter while the rear QCD (Quick control dial) sets the other.

Most of the rear of the camera is taken up by the three-inch LCD screen as well as the QCD (the large dial to the right). The button above the QCD acts like a miniature joystick and is used to navigate through the various menus. Near the view-finder is a start/stop button which in camera mode starts and stops LiveView mode (the ability to use the LCD screen as a viewfinder) and in video mode starts and stops recording and playback.

Five buttons down the left hand side of the camera back are:

• Menu – this brings up the camera control menus
• Picture Style – This allows selection of a picture style setting
• Info – This cycles through various information displays which can overlay or replace an image
• Playback – used to recall and image or movie
• Delete – used to delete files

Autofocus

Canon has introduced a completely new AF system for the EOS 7D. Its a 19-zone system divided into three regions the centre of which is a high precision sensor based on the AF system of the EOS 5D which can also detect horizontal and vertical lines. The basic AF system requires lenses of f5.6 and faster and the high-precision system requires f2.8 or faster.

In auto mode the EOS 7D can either select from all 19 AF zones or the user can restrict the camera to one or more of the regions (right, left, top, bottom, centre). Using the custom function III-12 different region selections can be used for different camera orientations.

the EOS 7D introduces “Spot AF Mode” which allows the user to select any of the 19 zones and reduce the size down to a smaller area to further restrict the autofocus area. The 7D also has focus point expansion previously only available on 45-point models such as the 1D. This allows one point to be the primary autofocus point but surrounding points are also used.

Resolution

The EOS 7D has the highest pixel density of ant APS-C DSLR, which is to say it has the highest pixel count (18MP) and the smallest pixels (4.3 micron pixel pitch). This is theoretically great for cropping but may result in more noise. The images below show an example of tight  cropping (click on any of the images below for the full-size version)

In use

In general landscape or portrait images the EOS 7D had no trouble making sense of the scene and focussing accordingly.

Zooming in on the higher branches in this image we can see that the autofocus seems to have compromised between some of the nearest objects as the primary focus point as none are particularly sharp.

Conclusions

The most significant feature of the EOS 7D is the autofocus system although our tree photo seems to have caught it out. The new 19-point system incorporates features that will appeal to those doing action or macro-photography. The 7D also features upgrades to the metering, processing, optical viewfinder, and flash system.

The new 18 megapixel CMOS sensor and expanded ISO range produce virtually no visible noise at all from ISO 100 all the way up to ISO 1600 so Canon has managed to increase image quality despite the relatively small sensor.

For the ‘prosumer’ camera buyer the Canon EOS 7D probably has every feature you would want for the next few years and even that wouldn’t be enough to discover everything it can do. The EOS 7D occupies a slot between the EOS 50D and the EOS 5D MkII but given the feature advantage over the MkII and the likely lowering of the price in the near future the Canon EOS 7D is going to be a ‘must buy’.

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