7D available for order at B&H now

[arash_hazeghi]

You can place an order for 7D at BH (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/646908-REG/Canon_3814B004_EOS_7D_SLR_Digital.html) website now, hope mine arrives before a workshop and lives up to the AF expectations!

[Charlie Woodrich]

Given Canon's track record on first releases, it may be prudent to wait for the reviews.

[arash_hazeghi]

Oh well, in this case I will be one of the guinea pigs.

[Michael Pancier]

mine is shipping from Hunt's today .... I'll see how it is on Friday.

[Jay Gould]

I will have it in my hands tomorrow night!!

It will be a virgin when James and I break it in on Friday morning during my workshop.

[Doug Brown]

Mine is arriving on Friday!

[Don Saunders]

Friday is going to be a great day for many. Mine arrives that day as well!

[arash_hazeghi]

I will have it tomorrow, I am going on a 3-day raptor shoot on Friday, I will post my findings here.

[arash_hazeghi]

My camera just arrived, the first thing I noticed is that build quality is substantially better than both 50D and 5DMKII, it's like a compact 1 series. I will report my findings about AF after this weekend's shoot. It pairs quite nicely with the 400 f/5.6, it's a chunkier body with better grip and therefore more comfortable to hand hold with long lenses, here's a pic.

[Michael Pancier]

**** Fedex guy isn't here yet ....:(

[Axel Hildebrandt]

My camera just arrived, the first thing I noticed is that build quality is substantially better than both 50D and 5DMKII, it's like a compact 1 series. I will report my findings about AF after this weekend's shoot. It pairs quite nicely with the 400 f/5.6, it's a chunkier body with better grip and therefore more comfortable to hand hold with long lenses, here's a pic.

I look forward to your findings regarding AF and noise performance. If you get a chance could you post some 100% crops at ISO 400 and 800?

[arash_hazeghi]

I look forward to your findings regarding AF and noise performance. If you get a chance could you post some 100% crops at ISO 400 and 800?

Ok Axel, I will post 100% crops at high ISO. There will be plenty of mixed lightning situation on the Pacific coast this weekend so it will get a fair test!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

There will be plenty of mixed lightning situation on the Pacific coast this weekend!

Thanks and be careful. :)

[Michael Pancier]

got mine and have it charged. thus far, granted I'm in an office, I like what I see. It's definitely much sturdier build. And finally, it has what I wish the 5d Mark II had .... AEB from -3 - + 3. Makes a difference for HDR.

I also love the electronic grid in the viewfinder and the 19 points. In AI Servo, and granted, I was just tracking cars from my window, with all points active, the points that are actively following the object light up. Now there are a gazillion settings in the camera for lens pairing and whatnot which I will have to study. Hopefully one of the guys here will eventually have the optimal settings for wildlife/bif shots.

it definitely has a lot of new features which will require learning and experiment. I just have a 17-85 USM IS lens with me, but I'll try it out tomorrow with a telephoto lens.

I'll take it to happy hour and try shooting some high ISO shots later and see how it does.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

got mine and have it charged. thus far, granted I'm in an office, I like what I see. It's definitely much sturdier build. And finally, it has what I wish the 5d Mark II had .... AEB from -3 - + 3. Makes a difference for HDR.

I also love the electronic grid in the viewfinder and the 19 points. In AI Servo, and granted, I was just tracking cars from my window, with all points active, the points that are actively following the object light up. Now there are a gazillion settings in the camera for lens pairing and whatnot which I will have to study. Hopefully one of the guys here will eventually have the optimal settings for wildlife/bif shots.

it definitely has a lot of new features which will require learning and experiment. I just have a 17-85 USM IS lens with me, but I'll try it out tomorrow with a telephoto lens.

I'll take it to happy hour and try shooting some high ISO shots later and see how it does.

Thanks for your first impressions and please keep us posted!

[Doug Brown]

Still waiting for mine. Should be here within the hour. I'll be doing some testing this weekend and then in California next week. I may be doing a field review for OutdoorPhotoGear.com, but at the very least I'll be posting images and impressions on my website and of course BPN.

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Mine still in Japan

[arash_hazeghi]

I recommend using AF expansion with center point, C.fn III-1 set to -1 or -2 (slow) C.fn III-2 set to 0 or 3, C.fn III-3 set to 1

[Michael Pancier]

I recommend using AF expansion with center point, C.fn III-1 set to -1 or -2 (slow) C.fn III-2 set to 0 or 3, C.fn III-3 set to 1

Did you try it out with BIF yet?

[Doug Brown]

I got to use it for about 20 minutes this afternoon. Haven't had a chance to look at any images though. But I'm going out tomorrow morning for some more testing. It feels more substantial than a 50D, but it's no 1-series body. The shutter has a nice sound to it. More to come.....

[Michael Pancier]

I took night shots on Las Olas Blvd. mainly at high ISO's. Downloading images now.

[Doug Brown]

Hi Axel. Here's an ISO 800 image. Lightroom processing only; no sharpening or NR.

[Michael Pancier]

I just did a post with a bunch of really high ISO samples

here's ISO 3200
1/30
f/4
@ 17mm
(17-85 EFS IS)

[arash_hazeghi]

I shot several hundred frames to practice for tomorrow's shoot. Sample space is not large enough for a definitive conclusion yet but I noticed a few things (disclaimer :D these are my opinion only others may agree or disagree)

1) The spot AF area (smaller square) is actually very similar to the standard AF area of the previous cameras 40D/50D/5DMKII/1DMKII (That I have shot with). The normal AF frame (large square) is wider, so if you were used to put the normal AF point on a relatively small bird or a small feature (beak, tail etc.) camera might lock on BG. for small and far subjects pick spot AF which is only available in the form of single points.

2) The best results for tracking are achieved with wither single spot AF point (all the AF points are equal in performance so it doesn't matter which one you pick, naturally the center is easier for tracking while hand holding the lens) or normal AF point with expansion (+4 peripheral points). The latter still has a tendency to lock on BG depending on CF-III 1 and CF-III 3 values as well as the relative distances and contrast of different objects near the AF group. With the earlier, the AF point needs be kept on the bird at all times, although setting CF-III 1 to slow while tracking a bird at relatively constant range will help.

3) Zone AF area is only usable for bird against sky, in other situations it behaves erratically randomly picking any object it likes!

4) All-point AF is somewhat similar, the rapid movements of the AF point in the finder are distracting and at the same time you have no control over where the point will end up, so I do not recommend it.

5) Overall performance seems promising, but I definitely need more trials for a better conclusion, there are still cases where you get soft or even full-blown AF for no apparent reason.

6) If you want the best IQ from 7D CR2 files forget about LR, use DPP 3.7 that comes with the camera.

Here is a quick sample, it's not a good photograph just a sample. I took some better ones that I will process and post next week.

Egret ISO 400 (NR has been applied)

http://www.stanford.edu/~ahazeghi/Photos/birds/egret.jpg

100% crop from DPP with chroma NR only, sharpening 3

http://www.stanford.edu/~ahazeghi/Photos/birds/egret_crop.jpg

Pelican ISO 400, 100% crop from DPP chroma NR only, sharpening 4

http://www.stanford.edu/~ahazeghi/Photos/birds/pelican%20crop.jpg

More to come soon!

[Doug Brown]

Here's a 100% crop of the Mallard image. Lightroom adjustments only. No NR or sharpening.

[arash_hazeghi]

I forgot this one, 100% crop stationary bird ISO 800 with DPP.


http://www.stanford.edu/~ahazeghi/Photos/birds/iso800.jpg



Light was pretty good today there will be more challenging conditions tomorrow.

[Andrew McCullough]

Thanks for the reports!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Hi Axel. Here's an ISO 800 image. Lightroom processing only; no sharpening or NR.

Thanks, Doug! It looks quite good.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Thanks, Doug and Arash! Is the noise in your experience comparable to the 50D?

[Doug Brown]

My initial impression is that the noise is much more 'fixable' than with the 50D. The RAW files look much better too; more detail and the noise has a finer grain to it. I've still got a lot of testing to do though.

[Ivo Damianov]

Please folks, give some information about the quality of the picture, especially the fine detail.

[Andrew McCullough]

Ivo

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