Evolution from 7Dii

I'm contemplating the condition of my 7Dii. It has seen it's share of hard knocks, the most serious being tumbling over a leaf-covered curb on my bicycle while covering a marathon in a gale. The camera came through it better than I did. Given what seems to be the immanent demise of the SLR platform and doubt about how long Canon will service the 7Dii, I'm looking at mirrorless. Note that I am seeking a replacement; I'm not on a "take my photography to the next step" sort of quest. I'm not interested in a 135 sensor as I'm happy with the APS-C format and I don't see a crying need for a 35mm sensor. I also have a suite if EF-S lenses and Canon speedlites. I'm also not looking to switch brands, to, you know, "take it to the next step".

The R7 seems closest to the 7Dii. Has it been dumbed down in any way, like what was done with mid-range xxD models? (I also have a 40D and resisted the transition to other xxDs for this reason.)

Having experienced shutter lag and view-finder lag in early mirrorless cameras that I happened to borrow, this is a concern, as timing is often 99% of what I view as contributing to a successful photograph. I don't as a rule pray and spray. I'm also concerned about battery drain, as I sometimes venture into areas with no electrical service available for recharging. (I turned off GPS in my 7Dii to address this issue.) I have shot video on rare occasions, but this is not an important factor.

I would appreciate any useful perspectives.

There is an active R7 thread going that will give you a glimpse of how it's being received. I'm not jazzed at the idea of mirrorless but if you want to purchase new the R7 is really the only game in town unless you want to adapt your lenses to Sony.

While there are some issues with the R7 (weather sealing, no battery grip) my shooting buddy just got one as an upgrade from his 90D and he's enthusiastic about it

It sounds like your gear gets knocked around quite a bit. Some have questioned the ruggedness of the R7 compared to the 7DII (as well as the dust/moisture sealing), but time will tell if those concerns are warranted or not. Other than that, the R7 would be an obvious choice.

If you have FF-compatible lenses, the R6 might be worth a look too. It's rugged, dual cards, fast AF, similar (maybe the same?) image size as the 7DII. The downside is that you lose the crop factor. And it becomes a 7.8 MP camera if you use crop lenses.

It seems that Canon intended the R7 to be closer to a '90D replacement' than it would be to a 'prosumer body 7DII replacement'

I went from the 7D to the 1DX, but considering what's available today, the R3 I'd say. Will use the EF-S lenses too.

You can always rent a R7 and adapter to give it a try.

I started in digital with Canon APS-C, and even after I went FF, I've always kept a crop body that still gets plenty of use. Never owned a 7 series, but I've owned all the xxD bodies from 50D to 90D. The 80D was a game changer and the 90D is spectacular with its 32.5 mp sensor. Your old 40D isn't in the same class.

The 7Dii was a bit of a unicorn, with its 65-point, cross-type, spread-wide autofocus points. That seems to be why people covet them. Canon never offered it in any other crop body. If that's a big deal to you, there are a lot of used ones floating around.

I'd go with the R7. Everything, from now on, is going to be mirrorless. It just opens up so many things that can't be done on top of plain-old optics. IBIS, full-frame autofocus with eye detection and no minimum aperture restrictions, EVF/dashboard. Plus, their core components -- sensors, processors, shutters -- are just more modern. No turning back.

And at $1500, the R7 is a pretty reasonable toe-dip into mirrorless. I'm not in the market at the moment, but I'm tempted. From what I understand, you can't even buy one right now, but that will ease up.

I hear you about batteries. That scares me too. With a DSLR, I can go all day without changing batteries, and I like it that way.

I've been assured that an R-type EVF is better than the one in the M50 I had for a couple of weeks. That one was unusable. And the battery life made me feel like I was shooting film again. 36 exposures then swap cassettes. I couldn't sell that camera fast enough.

Still, my next camera will be an R-something. Just a matter of when and which one.

Here's a good feature-by-feature comparison of the R7 and 7Dii.
https://www.the-digital-picture.com …-R7-to-the-EOS-7D-Mark-II

drsilver wrote in post #19420975
Here's a good feature-by-feature comparison of the R7 and 7Dii.
https://www.the-digital-picture.com …-R7-to-the-EOS-7D-Mark-II

Interesting comparison. yet that article does not strike at what is missing in a 90D and R7, which causes both to not have the 'prosumer' designation afforded to the 7DII.

On two points of what the R7 has which the 7DII does not

• 1/8000 shutter..I can't think of a time when I needed 1/4000, much less 1/8000 I never said to myself "I wish I had a faster shutter"
  
• metering to -2EV (vs 0EV)...I have to sit still for 20 minutes simply to see where to point my camera in that very dim light at 0EV, and you need a shutter speed so slow that your shooting is limited to not-moving things
  

Wilt wrote in post #19421042
On two points of what the R7 has which the 7DII does not

• 1/8000 shutter..I can't think of a time when I needed 1/4000, much less 1/8000 I never said to myself "I wish I had a faster shutter"
  

Really? Already my now pretty old 7D have 1/8000. I have to go back to my first digital EOS, the 400D, to be "limited" to 1/4000. The 40D had 1/8000 too.

apersson850 wrote in post #19421073
Really? Already my now pretty old 7D have 1/8000. I have to go back to my first digital EOS, the 400D, to be "limited" to 1/4000. The 40D had 1/8000 too.

I mis-stated what the article posted...R7 max 1/16000 vs. 7DII max 1/8000...and I never needed 1/8000 (so I never used it and never realized my camera had it!)

OK, then I get it. The R3 supports down to 1/64000 s. I'll let you know when I "need" that.

"Being forced to power down the body in order to change lenses while shooting outdoors when the wind is gusty is a real problem!"

I do not understand the issue with powering off the camera body to change a lens, I always have done this. What exactly is the issue with doing that? Is waiting one or two seconds for the camera to turn back on (while you are bringing it back into position to shoot) really an issue?


I have been following the R7 thread as well, and unfortunately it does not seem to be a direct replacement of the 7DMII as others have stated. I think that is really unfortunate as a lot of people have been waiting for an update, to include myself!!! It does seem to be close and it does look very promising as well.

I never power down just to change lenses.

If your number one priority is uber-rugged, built like a tank, then an R3 or a 1-series DSLR might be a good choice. Or wait and see what the R1 is when it comes out (it's been "next year" for at least the past two years). Just realize that going from a 7DII to an R3, you're losing about half the pixel density you're used to. Only you know if that will be acceptable for the photography you do.

At a lower budget, will an R5 or R6 work for you? I don't know how they compare with the R7 in terms of ruggedness, but they seem to have more 7DII-like construction. The R6 has the same pixel density down-side as the R3 compared to the 7DII. The R5 has less of a hit in pixel density but that comes at a price.

I don't believe the R7 is really as delicate as a lot of folks around here are making it out to be. I'm planning to use it as my main rig for the next few years (got two kids in college so this was my last big upgrade for a while), but I'm usually not that hard on my gear.

Also, don't hesitate to take a serious look at Sony or Nikon. You won't have to buy all new lenses because there are adapters available that work really well for EF and EF-S lenses to Sony and Nikon mirrorless systems. I used a Sony a6400 for about 1-1/2 years before getting my R7, and my EF lenses worked great with an adapter.

mcoren wrote in post #19421275
If your number one priority is uber-rugged, built like a tank, then an R3 or a 1-series DSLR might be a good choice. Or wait and see what the R1 is when it comes out (it's been "next year" for at least the past two years). Just realize that going from a 7DII to an R3, you're losing about half the pixel density you're used to. Only you know if that will be acceptable for the photography you do.

You have to adjust which lens you use for the same task, sometimes.