After about a year of going DSLR-less, the wife caved in and agreed to let me buy a proper DSLR. By proper she probably thought it’s the camera that comes with the giga-price tag. She’s half correct though, as this thing costs around AED8K ($2k) for the kit that comes with the 18-135mm lens. I did a bit of research though before I emptied my pockets so I managed to get a discount of roughly AED2k which brought the final price to around AED6k – not a bad price at all as this is usually just the price for the 7D’s body alone.
Why not a Nikon?
Good question. I am (or was) admittedly a Nikon loyalist. The brand just grew up with me – it was my first in all respects when it came to photography. My first SLR, the first lens, the DSLR… my whole collection revolves on Nikon and to make the jump to Canon was a big leap of faith. There was nothing wrong with Nikon mind you, I still think its the best there is when it cam to stills. But there’s another side of me which ached for a refresh and that was film-making. I spent hours just watching great videos get churned out of DIY 35mm lens adapters from prosumer video camcorders like the Sony HVR-A1U. Even non-sensical clips look magical when combined with depth of field and some random soothing music. The rise of HD along with the integration of video recording on DSLRs tipped the scales in favor of Canon.
Heck, the 7D clips make some RED video shots look silly.
I have waited long enough for Nikon to come up with a worthy still/video hybrid of a cam. The D90 was a joke, the D300s was a dud and the others are not even worth mentioning. The 5D Mark II came out and blew all of them out of the water.
Why not a 5D Mark II?
When the Canon 7D came out, it was the first to have native 1080p on 24fps full manual video mode. The 5D MII did not have that before (all of which had been fixed with a firmware update). For the non-geeks, it means it has a natural way of shooting film-like video in HD, not the usual home video look you get from normal camcorders. Also, for a fraction of the 5D MII’s cost you get almost all of the features with the 7D plus a few extra bonuses like faster shooting for sports, a new 19-point autofocus and metering system, a better viewfinder and a dedicated live view video mode.
Stills
I have always been intrigued at how Canon users seemingly have that painless way of getting natural, vivid colors and the 7D did not disappoint. Its stupidly easy to get the proper white balance every time without burning up or losing much of the details. For some reason, I felt more comfortable with Canon’s settings although I have spent years using a Nikon. But what blew me away was the 7D’s performance in high ISO settings. You can check out more of the 7D’s still capabilities on Gizmodo’s 7D gallery here.
Video
The video that comes out from this thing is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. The folks who thought of using a DSLR to shoot video are geniuses. My only drawback from this right now is severe limitation on lenses (as I have a Nikon lens collection.) Seriously I really can’t wait to start shooting a documentary with this and I have already began assembling my video rig. For those who have questions about this, I suggest googling Philip Bloom and Vincent Laforet – one of the best DSLR video shooters out there right now and start reading about their work. There’s a lot of ways to set up a rig but it all boils down to your capabilities and your shooting goals. You could easily burn $3000 for a pro rig that may probably end up being useless for you.
The video below sums up all of what I aspire to create with this baby:
Pretty sweet huh?
Bottomline
The Canon 7D is a sweet deal and it was worth every penny. You get all the still features of a pro DSLR with the video capabilities of a prosumer camcorder. There are a few hiccups like the 1.6x crop factor (as compared to the full frame 5D MII) and the crappy built-in mic (with no pro mic input) but all in all, its the game-changer among DSLRs. Nikon should start looking at themselves in the mirror and consider producing a worthy adversary for this little monster of a cam. Any aspiring digital film-maker should take a long, good look at the 7D, get their piggy banks and bust it open.
3 Responses to “Early Review: Canon 7D”
Great review, thinking about buying one of these because I love the look of the mark ii but don’t have that much many to spend. Thanks for reviewing it.
i just found this blog. good article. how long have you been writing? this is excellent. are you a journalist aswell? anyway, thanks again. subscribing to the rss
Hi Florencia, thanks for the comments. No I am not a journalist but its a hobby of mine to review new gadgets from time to time. Hope you enjoy the posts.