Canon EOS 7D Mark II Digital SLR Camera with 18-135mm IS STM Lens

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I wanted to wait until I have been shooting with this camera at least a month to write a review. I am a semi-pro / advanced amateur shooter. I primarily shoot landscapes with the Canon 6D, but I wanted a faster camera for my sons sports games. First impressions of this camera are excellent! It is super fast, and feels great in the hand. I highly recommend you watch some videos online about the autofocus system, if this is an upgrade from a consumer Rebel line. There are so many different customizable things you can do with the focus system, and the buttons that control it. Shooting my first soccer game, I was blown away. I used the center cluster of focus points, and it was tack sharp on almost every shot. The rate of keepers skyrocketed from trying to do the same thing with a 6D. The 10 frames a second burst is also handy. You will get a very gentle trigger finger, because the shutter button is very sensitive. If you have a heavy finger, youll be shooting 10-frame bursts for every shot :). Just turn the high speed burst rate down. It will give you a much slower burst rate if youre not shooting fast moving objects. Image Quality: This camera takes incredibly clear images. I find myself second guessing whether it was a crop body, or a full frame that took the images. When I am post-processing images, I usually batch the 7Ds and the 6Ds RAW images together. The dual processors, and improved technology makes this crop body deliver extremely crisp and clear images. See the attached images, and judge for yourself! ISO Performance: For a crop body, this is a huge selling point for me. As I said earlier, I mainly use the full-frame 6D. That camera takes incredible images, and the high noise performance is top notch - like any full frame. But, this camera is on par, or just barely below the 6D up through ISO 1,200. No kidding, I cant believe how great the ISO handling is. I shoot a lot of macro with the 7D now, and I can very comfortably up the ISO to 1,000 if I need to. The three attached images all were shot with an between 800 - 1,000. Battery Life: I cant lie, the battery life isnt the best. If youre lucky, you can get 1,000 - 1,100 shots per battery charge. Just carry an extra battery with you, and you should be good to go! I am eventually going to get the battery grip for the body. Getting the Most of out the Camera: If you really want this camera to deliver the best possible images, you should really pair it with some high quality glass. The camera will come with the 18-135 EF-S kit lens. If youre going to spend $1,800 for the camera, do it some justice and purchase some of Canons signature L glass to go with it. The red ring lenses are pricey, but they are worth every single penny. Browse my images that I have attached to see the quality of the images, and then click on "Add to Cart!"

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Shooting with the 7D MKII was immediately intuitive and natural: operation, balance and appearance are similar to my old 7D. While it felt like an old friend in my hands, the 65-point AF array is what got me to lay down my hard earned cash. Here are my impressions about the 7D MKII after a month of shooting. CONSTRUCTION is superb: magnesium body, matte black paint and heavy duty weather seals. Appearance is nearly identical to the old 7D save for the small plastic bump topside for the GPS antenna. In hand it feels confident and solid. The thick textured rubber and finger groove make for a secure grip. The 3.0" 1,040,000 dot LCD is vivid and clear in most light--save for direct sunlight--but only a minor improvement over the old 7D. Its disappointing Canon didnt bump it up to a larger size or add touch screen ability. The shutter sound is softer than the original 7D but louder than a 6D. Silent drive mode fades operation to pianissimo, but with slower performance, making it ideal for ceremonies. CONTROLS: Most controls are the same as the old 7D but with some reshuffling and additions. The biggies are a dedicated "Rate" button, a larger and repositioned DOF button and a programable "spring" lever around the joystick. Controls feel solid and can be operated by feel while looking through the viewfinder. The lever is the most useful new control. At default programming, it cycles through the six AF area modes. Its placement next to the joystick makes switching AF modes and subsequent selection of AF points faster and more intuitive than the 7D and 70D. Like the 7D before it, my preferences are user selected single point or zone focus. Trusting a computer to pick the subject is often iffy. The 7D2 offers another first: the ability to set up both the AF-On and * buttons so one activates Servo AF and the other One-Shot. Ideal for subjects that move but suddenly stay still, e.g., tracking a bird in flight that lands. This setting is under C.Fn3: Disp/Operation => Custom Controls. Select the buttons you wish to customize, press "Info," and, finally, make your selection in the "AF Operation" detail. Many other custom AF options are valuable as well. AUTOFOCUS: The all cross-type, 65-point AF is the headline feature. Frame coverage is huge, besting any EOS before it. Off-center subjects are a snap: pick any AF point and focus is blazing fast and accurate. Low light AF is also vastly improved: locks in murky light the old 7D struggled in, e.g., dim night club and theatre stages. It drove my EF 300 4L USM and EF 70-200 4L IS USM lickety-split. AI servo and iTR effortlessly tracked brides, runners and bikers across the 65 AF points. Metering is tied to the active AF point and effortlessly adjusts to changing subject light. The keeper rate of moving subjects is nearly double that of my old 7D. And with buffering enough for 30 RAW images (fast CF card), thats a lot of keepers! The only AF nitpick thus far is my existing lenses needed micro adjustment (calibration) for optimal sharpness. Oddly, most of these same lenses were fine at default on my old 7D. IMAGE QUALITY: I processed RAW images in DPP 4.1 and was pleased with detail, color rendition and noise control. There is little difference in low ISO noise compared to the 7D. In fact, image quality is very similar to the 7D from ISO 100 to 800, i.e., excellent. At ISO 1600+ the 7D MKII pulls away from the 7D: a level less noise, but that noise is devoid of banding and more grain-like. This type of noise is easier to control with noise reduction plug-ins. I was able to easily squeeze out another stop of acceptable high ISO over my 7D. VIDEO: Contrast detection AF during video and LiveView is a mammoth improvement over the 7D: responsive, accurate and a camcorder-like movie servo mode. Wish it had a touch screen for focus-pulls. That said, the improved contrast detection AF is a great feature. VIEWFINDER: The 100% coverage and 1.0x magnification are the same spec as the old 7D but with improved clarity and brightness. Even with a F4 zoom the viewfinder is a joy to use: bright, smooth and vivid. Like an EVF, the transmissive LCD display--transparent LCD over the focusing screen--can display icons, AF patterns, metering patterns, grid and plain matte screens and an electronic level. You can choose not to display most of it. I stick with just the grid and active AF points. FLASH: The popup flash is fine for fill and snapshots, and functions as a wireless E-TTL master. My 430EX II worked well as a slave bounced off walls and ceilings. Both bounce and direct flash images were well exposed. FEC was rarely needed. GOTCHAS: Not many nitpicks but battery life is 300 or 400 images less than my old 7D, even with GPS disabled. I assume the upgrades to 65-AF point array and Dual DIGIC 6 image processors demand more power. Carry a spare LP-E6 or two. FINAL BURB: The 7D MKII is a marriage of "classic" 7D form factor with a tweaked 70D CMOS and cutting edge 65-point AF array. Toss in GPS, Movie Servo, a large buffer and thats the 7D MKII in a nutshell. Its a pleasure to use and difficult to make it miss focus or get a bad exposure. While the 7D MKII is more like the 7D than different, its a significant upgrade over the original 7D in AF performance, noise control at high ISO and weather sealing. Its the real deal for sports, BIF and adverse weather shooting.

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I have been using this camera for 10 months after buying it to replace a 7D. I use it primarily to shoot equestrian events with a 300mm prime lens. The crop factor puts it over 400mm for field of view, and it was very useful for that purpose. Focus is very fast, consistent, and accurate after calibrating to the lens in use. The shutter speed is perfect for the purpose I used it for, the buffer is large enough and the processing in camera fast enough to record many shots in succession in RAW format. With a battery grip installed, shooting all day long, several thousand shots, is entirely possible, even when using auto focus and the rear screen nearly constantly during the day. It is a very serviceable camera for sporting events, has acceptable noise reduction for low light shooting, and in my opinion is the best value in the Canon line up for such purposes.

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3/29/2015 – The GPS function has been an invaluable tool in helping me identify towns, areas, restaurants and attractions that I have been to. When the metadata of each picture is combined with Lightroom 5 ‘Map Mode’, tracking down locations is a joy to find places that I may have forgotten about along my journeys. Within the last two months, I travelled to a few international locations and I did not realize how fast and accurate the GPS can be when pictures are downloaded to Lightroom 5. ------ 3//29/2015 – In my original post, I made a comment about the strength of the 7D Mark II ISO that I have to make a correction to help other customers get the most accurate information. Originally, I stated “Honestly, this camera can shoot excellent shots even at 6,400 and above, and in order to see noise, you would have to blow up the picture on a computer or a very large print by zooming in at every single detail. Compared to most DSLRs on the market except the 1D-X (or Mark Five for those counting), the ISO performance on this camera is first class.” After over 1500 shots later, my experience is telling me that the high ISO function of 16,000 is a ‘strength’ to help the 7D Mark II shoot in low light situations much easier than a DSLR that can only typically produce 6,400, but it does not really improve the noise issue. When I made my original post, I was using the Canon’s ‘Digital Photo Professional’ (DPP) software which I believe masks a lot of the noise by default settings, but now that I upgraded to Lightroom 5 (LR5), I can see much more detail (noise) with the same pictures in RAW. There were shots that I have taken at 320 or 800 ISO now in daylight or slightly indoor settings that had significant noise issues, which are much lower than 6,400. While the higher ISO in the 7D Mark II helps the photographer take shots in low light situations with ease, I think the high ISO of 16,000 is considered an ‘overcompensation factor’ probably needed to help the APS-C sensor shoot pictures on 7D Mark II easier than say a full frame 5D Mark III or 6D DSLR. I have actually seen other photography videos run test on this sensor and ISO issue, and I believe that there is truth to this issue. The 7D Mark II is a great all around fast and powerful camera for the money. (My favorite at the moment) While every camera has noise issues, don’t expect this model to have the best sensor and noise functions compared to full-frame cameras. Regardless, with Lightroom 5, you can clean it up anyway, problem solved! ------- Update 2/1/2015 - One negative thing I noticed about the 7D Mark II is the GPS function. I love it, but I have been observing for the past few weeks how if you enable the GPS, and turn off the camera, the GPS is still on and drains the batteries fairly quickly in a matter of days. Canon should have made this function turn off when the camera is turned off, not the same as camera on, but in sleep mode. Ever since, I disabled the GPS with the camera turned off, the batteries maintains its energy. Strange that this GPS function can be still use power even when you shut off the camera. Update 1/19/2015 - Just learned that the 7D Mark comes with a built in intervalometer for long term continuous shooting for photography like star trailing. This camera is getting better by the day. --------- My review and proud new owner of the Canon 7D Mark II. I graduated from the Rebel T5 and I must say up front that this camera is by far quite possibly the fastest and most advanced APS-C 1.6x (60% more zoom with any lens) crop factor body on the market! This camera is already becoming the envy from other photographers and my review will be updated periodically to provide deeper insights of this valuable piece of technology. One of the main inspirations for purchasing the 7D Mark II is because I kept coming across features that I wanted to use, but could not on my lower end model such as built in transmitter for wireless flash, IR sensor for wireless shutter, GPS for location stats for pictures taken and a slew of other internal functions. I wanted a camera that I did not have to worry about lacking features that only the top tier Canon body lineup had for the next 5 years, so I made the jump. With that said, the 7D Mark II has an astronomical and dizzying amount of awesome features, so my review is based on a hands on experience and focused on the major highlights. So here goes something! 1) The first observation I immediately noticed is how heavy and solidly built the 7D Mark II is. At 820 grams or 1.80 lbs., this camera weighs like a beefy beast. This body contains magnesium alloy and you can tell immediately. My other cameras feel like a feather weight compared to this. This weight does not count adding a pro standard or telephoto lens, flash and battery grip. In the end, it may add up to be nearly 4 - 10 lbs. depending on your setup. All the buttons are placed in the right spots, the LCD screen is surprisingly smaller at 3 inches instead of the standard 3.2 inches like my Rebel T5 and other DSLR bodies. I could not reuse my extra screen protectors. You notice a cool eight way directional `joystick with a lever right above the `Q button to operate on board controls such as the highly anticipated 65 AF All Cross Point System , which will be discussed later. 2) Second, at 10 FPS High Continuous shutter speed, the 7D Mark II is a rapid fire beast! Let me explain, on most cameras, you can hear the shutter close and release making a sound like `Chit...Cher. (Sounds like Transformers, Dont laugh, lol) On the 7D Mark II, you just hear "Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick". The sound of the shutter is so fast, it literally moves faster than the blink of an eye, a heartbeat, or maybe close to the speed of light. (No exaggeration). Although you can use this camera for any type of photography, this body is most certainly made for sports, wildlife and anything that moves fast. I even love how you can set the shutter to shoot photos from ranges such as 1/1,000 to 1/8,000 of a second, preventing the camera from falling below a certain shutter threshold if the subject moves very fast. Also, you can decrease shutter speeds in High Mode from 5 to 10 FPS, Low Mode from 1-9 FPS and even switch to a Silent Mode from 1-4 FPS. Interestingly, many other high speed shutter functions on other camera sound like rockets at war, whereas the 7D Mark II sounds fairly quiet even in High Mode at 10 FPS. (No joke) The buffer on the camera also does a great job loading the multitude of all the recently taken pictures very quickly to the SD or CF cards, which you have the option of adding both at the same time and changing which one you want to use for pictures and video (I only use SD Cards for now) 3) The 65 All Cross Point AF is a masterpiece of the smartest Canon technology. The ability to switch on the AF Points while looking through the viewfinder and A) Increase the size of the AF Points, B) Move the AF Points to different subjects in the view, C) See clearly with a red lit VF Display, and D) Allow the AI Servo Mode to perform an extra six `Cases to track your subjects with the AF mode.....insane computer camera technology! My words cannot do justice for the function alone, I hear that this mode alone surpasses anything on the market right now. I will admit that the 65 All Cross Point works like 99 % of the time for that tact sharpness of your intended subject demanded by the most professional photographers. I would prefer 100% of the time, because of the cost and value of this product along with an expensive Canon lens. In addition, the Viewfinder is so intelligent that it allows the user to add or remove certain icons to be displayed through the viewfinder itself such as AF Mode, Shoot Mode, White Balance, Drive Mode, Metering, Image Quality and even Anti-Flicker Mode. Amazing! Other than that, the 65 All Cross Point system works excellently. 4) ISO, ISO, ISO. Concerning ISO, if you use a 7D Mark II, you really do not need to worry about noise and grain on most shots. Even in low lit environments, the 7D Mark II performs exceedingly well with a healthy range of 23 ISO increments from 100 - 16,000. If you want more, you can go to 25,600 or the max 51,200. Honestly, this camera can shoot excellent shots even at 6,400 and above, and in order to see noise, you would have to blow up the picture on a computer or a very large print by zooming in at every single detail. Compared to most DSLRs on the market except the 1D-X (or Mark Five for those counting), the ISO performance on this camera is first class. 5) Another function that I thought I should add to my review is on exposure. This may seem insignificant to some, but I thought this was awesome. On my older models including the Rebel T5, I had trouble in Shutter and Aperture Priority Modes where the use of a Speedlite Flash would cause over exposure. (I tried adjusting my settings to no avail) However, on the 7D Mark II, there is a function that allows the user to command the computer to correct and over and under exposure specifically in those modes mentioned prior. Now when I use my Speedlite Flash in Shutter and Aperture Priority, I dont have that over exposure problem anymore. The only negative thing I noticed about the 7D Mark II is the battery life. I dont think it is the battery itself, but I believe this body juices so much battery power with the high speed 10 FPS. The shutter speed is absolutely insane and the camera by design encourages you to switch from One Shot Mode to High Speed Continuous Mode; it is that addictive to shoot shots so fast during live action events that you do not want to miss a beat. So there you have it, I really wish I could write more because there really is a lot to talk about this particular camera. It is a first class DSLR that outshines some of the many other Canon and other competitor cameras on the market. When you compare the specs and hands on experience, the 7D Mark is (IMO) the 1D-Xs `little BIG brother" for much lower, but still price tag. Believe me, I did thought about getting the 5D Mark III, but I extremely satisfied and overwhelmed with prideful ownership for the 7D Mark II because it is really a stellar DSLR camera. I strongly believe this camera will retain of its value for photography professionals and enthusiast for years to come.

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On Sunday I had my 7DII for two full days. I got one day shipping. The 7D replaces my 60D. I found the photos from the 7D are sharper then the same scene shot with the 60D. (I mounted my 70-300 mm L lens on a tripod, then switched cameras to shot the same scene.) The viewfinder is brighter and has more contrast. One of the first thing I found was that the controls for navigating the various menus are very different between the 60D and 7DII. The menus are very similar but the means of navigation are different. The 7DII is not a point and shot camera. I spent considerable time going through the 550 pages full instruction guide. Since I shoot landscapes I could skip much of the manual. That is the pdf version that comes on the CD. Not the 180 page BASIC instruction guide. How someone could spend 45 minutes in a store during which he bought a card and battery then gain command of this camera indicates the quality of his effort. The auto focus is very complex since it supports still and moving subjects. It is easy to see why the camera would not focus well right out of the box. The problem is not the camera but rather the operator. The 7DII is a very customizable camera. It can be tuned to the particular type of shooting a user does - wildlife, landscape, etc. But a very tunable camera requires study. However, the basic 180 page manual shows you how to simply take pictures The 7DII is so customizable that Canon has prepared 6 tutorials to explain these capabilities: http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/galleries/galleries/tutorials/eos7dmarkii_tutorials.shtml. If you are really into photography and want to create your own camera, the 7DII is the way to go. The customization is really oriented toward fast action shooting. Practically every setting is viewable in the viewfinder and can be changed with a push of a customized button. It seems to be junior version 1DX. All in all I found the 7DII to be a substantial upgrade from my 60D. One difficulty with this camera is that Adobe does not yet support it. (Canon may have been unwilling to pay Adobe enough.) I shoot RAW. To post a picture here I must first process the photo using DPP, etc. Just not worth the effort. However, I could compare the CR2 images using Windows Photo Viewer. I could examine the comparable photos at 200% in DPP.

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I LOVE this camera ! I bought this as a back up camera to my 5d Mark ii for a big shoot I do every year for Veterans Day. I decided it was time to retire the Canon XSI that I was using as my back-up and after much deliberation decided to go with the 7d Mark ii rather than the cheaper 70d or the earlier model 7d also much cheaper. I didnt get to play with it much before the shoot but from what I could see it has a lot of menu customizations. The AF is also far superior in my opinion with 64 point AF and many settings for how they work. I read other reviews that state the video is also superior but I havent tested that myself yet. SO I put my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens on this and threw it in my camera bag. I planned on just shooting some secondary pictures with it during the 5 day events- UNTIL I pulled it out at the Rodeo and I was blown away after just a few shots. I didnt even touch my 5d again until the very end for the posed shots. The 7d mark ii captured the action like a pro. The camera performed flawlessly in low dusty light, yes of course the good lens is important but the camera certainly held its own . I am very happy with pictures ! The only thing this camera doesnt bring is the full sensor of the 5d. Maybe I will find other flaws as time goes on but for now I can see me reaching for this one just as often as my 5d. If the full sensor is not a big thing for you then you will LOVE this camera and with the money you save you can buy a good lens ! I posted a few photos from the shoot - I did reduce size and resolution for this site so quality is slightly less than out of camera.

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This camera has issues with focusing. I’ve had ~30% of my shots to be of NO use because the camera didn’t focus properly. The weren’t rushed shots. I’ve taken extra time to make that I’m very still before pressing the shutter, proper lighting and with L-lens, and some of the shots were still blurry. I’ve had the camera for about a month now. I’ve searched Canon website looking for firmware and/or software upgrades that might address the issue but I can’t find any purposed solutions. Last, I’ve taken the extra time to read blogs, watch webinars/YouTube and reviews regarding camera settings; in order to find a potential fix but nothing definitive yet. I’ll continue to tweak the camera the best that I can but if I’m not successful within the the next thirty days, I will exercise my warranty and/or return the camera for a refund. Regards, JKL

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After years of use from my Canon EOS 7D, I started to look to the enhanced AF wonders of the higher-end Canon EOS 5D MK III. The 7D gave this amateur bird and micro guy a fine education, but of course one always wants more. (Though I know perfectly well, through hard experience, that pro-technique will prevail over the amateur in possession of all the bells and whistles available at hand.) But the pricey 5D MK III was simply more camera than I could justifiably afford, even to myself. So imagine my delight when I heard of the new 7D MK II. Ive never felt I needed the full-frame body, but here was a camera with the enhanced AF, at a price comparable to my original 7D. Of course I purchased it as soon as I could. I should probably wait a year to review it; theres a learning curve here that Im just beginning to climb. (The full manual, included on disk in PDF format, is more than 500 pages, nearly twice the length of the original 7Ds manual) -- there is much to learn. But Im delighted by this camera and its design. On the low-hanging fruit portion of the bells and whistles -- you can dial in a grid to sight through the view-finder,so your vertical subject is vertical and the horizon is level, not at the 15% slant I usually attain. So a happy and confident five stars from me. Im going to have years of fun and growth from this camera. I couldnt ask for more. But I got more. . . I purchased this camera through The Photo Center, via Amazon fulfillment. A day or so after receipt I noticed the price had dropped $200. I was still very happy with the camera, the price had been stated, and I paid it happily. But on Saturday I emailed The Photo Center and told them that while I was delighted by my purchase, I wondered if there was something they might do for me on the price end of things. A couple of hours later, Brendan, at The Photo Center, contacted me saying he was sure that there was something that could be done for me, but that hed have to work through Amazon on Monday to get it done. By dinner time on Monday, Amazon had placed $200 back on my card. It doesnt get better than that. A great camera. And fast, responsive, five-star customer service. And one delighted customer.

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EDIT: Just spoke with Canon, the camera is from the US, but Shutter Stop is not an authorized Canon dealer, so there is no warranty. Camera appears to be new, but there was no warranty card included, no software CD, and the box indicates that it should include the wifi/SD card, but was not included (which wasnt the model I purchased, so not a big deal). All of this makes me question this purchase, but I was able to register the serial number, so I now I dont know what to think.

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Pros: Fast Shutter speed on Continuous High Speed (10+ fps) Dynamic Range, Excellent Price, Excellent Design, Flawless Cons: Battery drain when off, ( 2 or 3 times Ive had a full or half full battery in and a day or two later i turn on the camera and battery low icon was blinking) No real issues since I have several backups but its worrying if Im doing a long day of shooting Aperture change seems to cause mirror lockup, in the middle of a shoot on the first week I had the mirror lock up twice, (once during an important part of the session), I solved this by ejecting the lens the lens and replacing it, that cleared up the issue, but again a worrying problem for a brand new camera. AF hit or miss in high speed situations, could be the lens, but I have had no issues with it on my 60D, I will test with others but Im nitpicking here other than these issues it is a solid camera and a great complement to my 60D which i now use as my portrait shooter, Withouth these issues I would have definitely given it 5 stars

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