7D initial findings..

[minky_monkey]

Firstly, it`s a weighty old beast.  Definitely feels heavier than my 40D.

Now, I`ve not tried it out in anger yet but intend to this weekend.  First impressions that hit you are the quality, brightness and size of the viewfinder. It`s certainly the best I seen.  That along with the screen quality (one of my pet dislikes about the 40D I`ve upgraded from) have made me a very happy bunny.

There`s a few choices of AF. Spot AF (which focuses on a tiny area), Single Point AF 19 points individually selectable, AF point expansion (you chose the point, and the adjacent points are also used to track moving subjects, Zone AF where the points are made into 5 selectable groups and a 19 point automatic AF selection.

It took me a good while to work out how to use the AF, and TBH I don`t think I`ve got there yet. As I say, I`ve not used it properly so can`t say yet how well it tracks a moving subject.

One thing to note, for someone like me this camera is going to represent a large learning curve, so don`t take my word as gospel I`m learning as I`m going along and writing as I see it at the time! This thread should be seen as a work in progress..

One thing I do love is just how customisable the camera is, there seems to be an option for just about everything.  And I`m going to have to upgrade my CF cards, 140 shots on a 4gig isn`t enough!

There`s a few neat touches, I like the ability to overlay a grid in the viewfinder without having to change a focussing screen. Whether the electronic level proves to be more than a gimic I don`t know, but it could certainly prove useful.

I`ve also yet to try out triggering flashes yet, that`s next on the agenda.

To be continued...

[minky_monkey]

Took the 7D out to Margate yesterday to see my local team, Kingstonian.

I think I`m officially in love with this camera! The high resolution allows for much harsher cropping without losing detail.





Both images have had a marginal amount of sharpening, and the contrast has been up`d a little.

The screen instantly allows you to see whether the shot is sharp enough.

In terms of tracking and AF, footy isn`t really going to test the camera like wildlife, but it worked fine for me.  I initially used an individual focus point, but found that spot AF (which locks onto a much smaller area) worked much better.

One issue has come up though, this camera really shows up poorer quality glass!  I`ve got a tamron 28-70 2.8 and the difference in quality of the shots between that, and my 70-200 F4 L IS is enormous. So it looks like I`m going to have to upgrade my walkabout lens soon.

[minky_monkey]

Oh yup, the ISO perfomance is excellent.  I was shooting quite happily at 1000-1600 when the light dropped off in the second half with no issues.

[oRGie]

Thanks for doing this thread, I must admit I am impressed with what I've seen of the camera in reviews and youtube bits. Some good vids about setting up the wireless flash functions if your interested mm.

I know quite a lot of 5D users never bother with vid, but I think if I had the option there are times when short vids would make a great addition to the photo record of days out, events etc.

Interesting what you say about the glass issue, I havent noticed that said in reviews yet, I wonder if all the ef-s lenses will suffer on the 7D, not because of fov/sensor size, but the glass used to a budget on the cheaper ef-s range... hmm, I am hoping the 18-200ef-s I have will be ok lol, not that I plan to buy a 7D just now, but I have a feeling the desire is going to nag and grow on me 

I would really like a ff cam, but the 5D was a bit specific in its design for an everyday camera for me, the 7D really hits the buttons. I am thinking now that a second hand 5D mark1 would fill that desire later on.

[oRGie]

I am forgetting a basic principle about lenses, of course an L series is going to give a better image, it would on a 350D, a 50D and no doubt on a 7D   so I expect I will be happy with the 18-200ef-s as my walkaround lens, untill ! I get an L series lol

[minky_monkey]

Of course an L will give a better quality image than a cheaper lens, but I`ve used this lens on a 40D and the difference was less noticable.

On the 7, there`s a world of difference.

It was the same story on the 50D, because of the higher MP a lot of people found that you really needed decent glass on it. Mind you, it`s a waste spending all this dosh on a body and using cheap lenses.

[anglefire]

There are a few Ef-s lenses that would be good enough - the 60mm macro is L in every way apart from the red ring - and the 17-55 (Think thats the one!) gets exceptional reviews, so that should be good too.

Mind you, neither are budget lenses either!

I did notice the shot posted was ISO1000 - certainly can't complain! Looks very similar to my MkIII, which is very useable upto 2500 and with some help way beyond that!

Its not a body on my radar, but it does fill a hole for many!

Look forward to reading some more!

[minky_monkey]

I decided to  push the ISO as the light started to drop to see how well it coped, I`ve not used any NR software on it at all. It`s certainly all I could`ve wanted.

The 17-55mm would be the one on my radar, although I might pick up a Canon 24-70 2.8 they`ve dropped a little in price so I might keep an eye out for a good used one in a few months.

[oRGie]

Like you MM coming from a 40D it does feel hefty,the 15-85 is also quite a best, I had no idea how heavy that would be, expecting ef-s lightness, this lens is a different animal altogether. havent had a chance to see what it does, so will post over the days with some samples. Initial reaction is that its not as well designed as the 40D in terms of handling !!   I now its heavier and new to me, but after 10 minutes holding it going through the menu's and settings I allready felt the effect of the new grip erganomics..  They have made the grip a bit thinner to make it feel more secure in your fingers, they certainly got that right as even with my fingers relaxed it doesnt want to drop from my hand, very clever, but! its got sharper edges + the extra weight actually makes it a lot less comfortable than the 40D grip. Still I am sure I will get used to it.

Also, I would say that in terms of build quality it is a shade behind that of the 40D!  Its just little things, the cf card slot door feels more plasticy than the door on the 40d and the edge of it is a little sharp, a bit like the mouldings you find on toys..  how can I put it, its allmost like I can feel its been made in china instead of japan! even though it is made in japan, well maybe the door isnt Apart from that the coatings and finish on the rest of the body is superb, very nice tactile feel.

The menus and stuff all seem very nice, look fantastic on the screen, logical etc..

The Af squares are a bit ott, very large boxes and they obscure the view much more than i would like, mind thats using it in dim indoor light, perhaps it will make more sense in the daylight. I hope they offer a firmware to enable one to choose af box sizes at some point

Played with the video for a few minutes, (didnt bother with wb as you can see) here's a sample, 3200 iso, having a usm lens is very handy as you can manual focus which is much faster than the camera will..   worth watching in HD and full screen, this is going to fun I think, not like making video's, more like beautiful moving photographs if that makes sense..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7zpfb8Fw1k

Looking forward to the weekend.....  now, blot on the landscape, hmmm  

hehe, just playing around, under desk lamp..  I think I am going to like this lens



Handheld at 1/25 iso800 f5 50mm no flash

[picsfor]

interesting video, dog was most patient - although appeared to be questioning your sanity.

Then i spotted all the the 'scrubs' video clips and i was gone.... (sorry)

[Forseti]

Keep the updates coming oRGie as I too am leaning towards the 7D. The only trouble is I am more than satisfied with my current 40D and am not usually one who purchases on impulse. It's the video feature that attracts me - not everyone's cup of tea I know but since owning the SX1 I am now able to produce DVD's of special events that contain not only images but short clips as well.

A couple of questions   (1) did you upload the original camera recorded file to YouTube or did you convert it to an AVI file first?  (2) if you did convert it to AVI (or any other format) what converter are you using? (3) well there isn't a question 3 really but any additional info would be appreciated as recent searches on the web indicate that there is an awful lot of confusion/methods used etc which is to be expected as DSLR's with video capability are still relatively new.

Just for info, I use Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum in the production of DVD's (comprising still images and movie clips) which accepts the strange H.264 codecs used by Canon (and others) which is further wrapped in a QT container. I also use Any Video Converter' for converting these H.264 files to AVI format accepting the drop in final quality for non important clips but with the advantage of much smaller file sizes It's all extremely confusing to a non video expert - and neither do I want to be - but believe you me, this movie capability can be somewhat addictive.  

[Oldboy]

I don't think the dog is impressed oRGie! 

[oRGie]

Lil Bonnie isnt one for modelling duties, soon as my eye goes behind the viewfinder she goes all shy, looks away or slinks away lol...  She does that head tilting thing when you speak to her and she doesnt recognise the words as commands, it is particularly cute

What are Scrubs videos ?

Forseti, I know what you mean, I am the same, have an interest in making short clips but it is a very complicated process. I have premiere and have downloaded loads of different converters over time and must admit I havent really worked out a great workflow. I see some great quality clips on youtube, but I'll be damned if I can work out how to get the compression right to achieve good quality and small file sizes. So many options for rates, size, compression codecs etc..

So you can upload the .MOV to youtube and the site does a great job reducing the size, but for this clip I was testing out zoombrowser, I havent played long enough to work out the editing functions, but I used it to kill the sound and it let me save the project as an avi. The avi it produced was compressed, went from 130mb .MOV to 80mb avi and looking at the 2 files I dont see very much loss of quality.

I am quite happy that canon supply a software solution in the box that lets you use the clips and for me it will probably be enough of a tool for simple editing and adding soundtracks once I work out the controls. Once I master that hopefully I will have learned enough to let me use premiere. I can use premiere for editing and such, but it makes the final saving and compression choices etc very complex and thats where I can undone with premiere.

I've read quite a few comments saying vegas is a good powerfull editor, yet more simple to use than premiere, I plan to give that a try when I get round to getting an evaluation copy.

[Forseti]

I've read quite a few comments saying vegas is a good powerfull editor, yet more simple to use than premiere, I plan to give that a try when I get round to getting an evaluation copy.

Well I haven't tried Premiere so can't make the comparison but will say this: if Vegas is more simple than Premiere, then Premiere must be one hell of a complicated programme. The pdf help file with Vegas is as clear as mud and true to form written in a style only understood by the orientals themselves lol.

However, Vegas is available on trial and once mastered is very good. Here's the link:  http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiope and far more beneficial than the pdf help file is this series of short videos which I stumbled across by accident. Best to choose the Download option under the viewing window so that you can refer to them as and when necessary:  http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/support/trainingvids.asp?prod=moviestudio

[picsfor]

What are Scrubs videos ?

Scrubs is an American comedy series based on the lives of medical staff at the Scared Heart hospital.
It provides me with some light relief when i need to chill out.

When i viewed your clip, next to it were a bunch of clips from the various members of the cast of 'Scrubs' so i digressed for a bit!

At some point i may have to give the HD Video a look on my 5D MkII - but i'll need to some good reason other than weddings to conjure up the interest!