Question for 7D owners

Rocketdun wrote in post #12834406
You are welcome. Sometimes if you think to long you think wrong. If you get caught up in the just merely reading the tech specs of a camera, which by the way many who use a 7D are of the opinion that the 7D incorporated more or a great many features that are found on the later ID Mark ii series of cameras.

What?

^ I will try to translate to what I think was meant, but it is a guess.

"Sometimes you can overthink a decision, especially if you just read the technical specifications supplied by the manufacturer of a camera. By the way, many people who own or use a 7D are of the opinion that various aspects and features of the 1D2 or later series were incorporated into the 7D."

What do you think?

Upgraded my good ol' 40D for the 7D. Could not be happier.
The AF system is top notch.

I am glad that the 7D, like the 40D, offers the options of saving three user settings to C1, C2, and C3. The burst speed is amazing, too. And yes, the AF is a lot better than the one of the 40D. In reality it should not take very long to learn the buttons layout and functions of the 7D after the 40D. Yes, the AF choices are numerous, but the "Quick something button" (the one with the "Q" in the middle, whatever it's called), is quite useful. Like the 40D one can adjust most of the default settings. But a feature I haven't tried, one that's not available on the 40D, is the DOF adjustment. I will have to wait a little before I try that one, as well as lens micro-adjustment. First I will try all the lenses and see how things look.

The 40D was my first dSLR - moving away from film and (what I considered a better build on my film equipment) was a tough move to make, but the 40D seemed to put what I was interested in all in one package - things like sensor cleaning and "live view" and whatever else seemed to "trickle up" from the Rebel line - (I found I almost never use "live view" - and probably wouldn't at all if not for using my manual focus lenses). But I knew so little about dSLRs at the time.

I recently added a 7D and I am amazed how many people seem to think the focusing system has a steep learning curve - it's logical and it's not complex. But it is a far superior system compared to the system on the 40D. But only if you can make use of it - for most situations a single focus point is more than adequate. I would certainly strongly suggest NOT "upgrading" from a 40D to a 7D for the focusing system unless you thoroughly understand how it works and what the benefits are - and if you need them.


As for the ability to customize the settings for a bunch of the camera's buttons, it too is really rather simple and straight-forward. In fact when in the mode to make the changes, the menu could not be more intuitive.

The "flash commander" seems to work well, but since I use it indoors I continue to use my 25' long E-TTL cord since it allows me to have my "master" flash closer to the "slaves" (by ...here it comes....25 feet) which may or may not be in the reach of the pop-up flash, I just haven't really done a side by side comparison - as someone said, old habits die hard.

The "confusing" possibilities that let you "reprogram" several buttons is so simple as to not even require a glance at the owner's manual - the menu is so user friendly that a 6 year old would be able to make the changes in one attempt. And if you don't like what you did, there's a "restore defaults" button that starts you back where the factory settings are - Chances are most people will either leave them at "default" or possibly change one or two buttons - since the 'set" button has no second function, I use it to change "image quality" (file size and RAW or Jpeg or both).

I checked my 4 Canon lenses and MFA was not needed on any of them - if it were, I'd send the lenses with the camera to Canon while under warranty and have the camera calibrated rather than mess with the MFA - I guess it's better to have it than not, but we all lived without it for over 150 years.

Peace,
D.

I haven't lived that long, so I have not been without it for that long.

The complexity of the 7D's AF system is mainly noticeable when you configure it for demanding Servo AF applications. As long as you do One Shot AF on things that don't move, it's not so much beyond the other, simpler cameras.

I started using my 7D in the default focus settings and it was very good. I have now customized my focus settings and registered them on the User Selected Modes 1-3 and just love the 7D focus capability.

BTW: I still have not reached the ultimate in 7D focus capabilty but, I am getting there.

I also just love the viewfinder of the 7D...

As far as the "wireless" flash trigger. It is O.K. but, I find that it can be a bit hit and miss shooting outdoors in bright sun when my flash is on my Stroboframe bracket. It works a goodly portion of the time and doesn't work at other times.

It seems like the angle and brightmness of the sun and the distance to the subject indluences whether the "wireless" trigger will work. NOT A PROBLEM! I use an off camera cord when I am shooting with the flash on my Storboframe bracket.

It is certainly a camera you have to use and learn, in order to respect what it can do, as long as you have a good copy!