OFFICIAL: CANON EOS 7D Mark II - User Thread

[Turbonetics]

I intend to use it for birding, sports and events photography as well as a back-up to my 5D3. The photos of the birds you took look reasonably sharp. It looks like the softness issues I've read elsewhere may be due to user error.

U may be right about user error..but i had so many shots and none(seldom or never had such incident) are TACK sharp and Iam not sure if it could be focusing issue. I just did another test for both 1D4 and 7D2 on 85mm using MF and heavy cropped. This time I feel the 7D2 looks ok with better details due to crop sensor,I guess.

1D4

7D2

Would appreciate if more users could share your photos and your feedbacks..
In our birding community already have quite a number of people owning it and I believe more sports photographers have it out there.
Anyone out there can advise me if its focusing issue?
I called up Canon and the CSO said can't be not sharp...must be either camera or lens need calibrate. What's your take?

 

[doodah]

First you need to carefully carry out AF microadjustment.

Then, you fire 20 shots at a high contrast subject. Remember to defocus between shots. Count number of shots that are sharp.

If you have more than 30% shots that are inexplicably blurred out, it's a bad AF sensor.

That was my conclusion with the 7D and 70D 19 point AF sensor. Even elementary Rebel AF sensors perform better.

 

[Kenneth83]

Remember to take into consideration how close will u be with the subjects and how much u need to crop later on.
Base on the ONE FC shots,he was shooting as an official photographer right on top of the rink and with 70-200mm + APSC cropped,i guess the photos are cropped minimally.

Hi Turbonetics

Just to clarify. Yes as cage photographer but not from the top but thru the cage
It's minimal crop as I used 70-200
I would like to have this 7D2 for sports. Great camera if cannot afford 1Dx

Thanks for clarifying. I am thinking of using the 7D2 with my 120-300 to shoot sports and of course with my 70-200 to compliment my 5D3 on the 24-70 for events and stage.

 

[raydio]

U may be right about user error..but i had so many shots and none(seldom or never had such incident) are TACK sharp and Iam not sure if it could be focusing issue. I just did another test for both 1D4 and 7D2 on 85mm using MF and heavy cropped. This time I feel the 7D2 looks ok with better details due to crop sensor,I guess.

1D4

7D2

Would appreciate if more users could share your photos and your feedbacks..
In our birding community already have quite a number of people owning it and I believe more sports photographers have it out there.
Anyone out there can advise me if its focusing issue?
I called up Canon and the CSO said can't be not sharp...must be either camera or lens need calibrate. What's your take?

Yes! the focus on your 7D2 photo above looks to be spot on!... even better than the 1D4 photo!

I'm wondering if people are reporting difficulty with consistent focus with this camera because of the higher resolution of the sensor coupled with the crop factor. I've read that people were having issues with the Nikon D800 because of these factors but I don't know of any testing was done in this area and question the validity of these conjectures. Certainly the theory bears some rationality and if it is true, would necessitate a higher skill level on the photographer. Would anyone with a Nikon D800 or those with experience in this area be able to comment?

 

[Turbonetics]

Yes! the focus on your 7D2 photo above looks to be spot on!... even better than the 1D4 photo!

I'm wondering if people are reporting difficulty with consistent focus with this camera because of the higher resolution of the sensor coupled with the crop factor. I've read that people were having issues with the Nikon D800 because of these factors but I don't know of any testing was done in this area and question the validity of these conjectures. Certainly the theory bears some rationality and if it is true, would necessitate a higher skill level on the photographer. Would anyone with a Nikon D800 or those with experience in this area be able to comment?

Not that the focus was spot on but I was using manual focus..haha
The focus was on the creature rear(last) leg.

 

[Turbonetics]

Did some shootings on the Subaru Challenge with 200mm lens under the rain,no complains on its weather proof so far.
AF was still pretty fast and accurate for centre AF point.
Outer points could feel abit of sluggish especially those by the perimeter.
Sometimes had difficulty locking focus on participants' face especially those with darker skin tone,but this is pretty common for most cameras and 7D2 can do it better IMO.

There is something that I note of which is the AF point. When I select a AF point using ONE SHOT,the AF point only comes out when I half press then went off thereafter and when I Switched to AI SERVO,I can't even see my AF point after half press and had to estimate where it was or keep half pressing to "wake it up".
Anybody knows if these are settings or just can't be set?

Thanks.

Here is one of the shots to share taken @ ISO 400

 

[fatbike]

Just tried, for mine is like
One shot & AI focus are the same, as I'm using "area af", it dose only show the 5 af points light up in red with the focus lock beep sound,
For my AI servo, nothing lights up nor is there any beep,
This is pretty much the same as my 7D classic, didn't know if there's a setting, hope to know too

 

[SilentSeth]

IIRC, that's Canon's AF points behaviour. They simply don't light up on AI Servo mode (except on 1DX with firmware upgrade)

Here are some info I found on the net:
- http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00ZJgj?start=10
- http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3480566

 

[Turbonetics]

IIRC, that's Canon's AF points behaviour. They simply don't light up on AI Servo mode (except on 1DX with firmware upgrade)

Here are some info I found on the net:
- http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00ZJgj?start=10
- http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3480566

non-illumination is fine for me but I would like to see my AF point(usually I use single AF) to make sure iam tracking at the right place on AI SERVO mode.

 

[swordy84]

For One Shot, the AF lights up red when focus is in place but you can still see the AF point/AF area in black in the viewfinder.
For AI servo, nothing will light up in red, just the AF point in black.

 

[Turbonetics]

For One Shot, the AF lights up red when focus is in place but you can still see the AF point/AF area in black in the viewfinder. For AI servo, nothing will light up in red, just the AF point in black.

Ok,I went to meddle with it and found the settings to be under "AF" --> "AF POINT DISPLAY DURING FOCUS"
I set it to "ALL CONSTANT" which is more comfortable for me.

 

[doodah]

So, owners of 7D2, what do think of its AF accuracy?

 

[Turbonetics]

So, owners of 7D2, what do think of its AF accuracy?

Focus accuracy is depending on the calibration between lenses and cameras,all cameras can have accurate focus if the calibration is right IMO

 

[sgrunway]

How is the body size?

Is the body size the same as 5DMK3 or smaller?

 

[SkyStrike]

How is the body size?

Is the body size the same as 5DMK3 or smaller?

It's a tiny bit smaller than the 5d3 in height comparison when I last held it. Let's say, maybe ~1cm shorter

 

[tenth4]

Hi guys i need some help with 7Dii LCD Display, does it not support eye-proximity? or do i have to turn off LCD using INFO button when i'm shooting? It's causing a lot of distraction for me.

 

[G-man]

Hi guys i need some help with 7Dii LCD Display, does it not support eye-proximity? or do i have to turn off LCD using INFO button when i'm shooting? It's causing a lot of distraction for me.

I could be wrong but i don't think any Canon DSLRs have eye sensors. Then again I have only used the 5D3 and earlier on 350D.

 

[tenth4]

I could be wrong but i don't think any Canon DSLRs have eye sensors. Then again I have only used the 5D3 and earlier on 350D.

That's weird cause 650D have it, when my eye is near the eyepiece the LCD will turn off.

Did 5D3 not have this function G-Man, and thanks for helping out.

 

[Turbonetics]

That's weird cause 650D have it, when my eye is near the eyepiece the LCD will turn off.

Did 5D3 not have this function G-Man, and thanks for helping out.

I didn't know Canon DSLR has such features.

 

[G-man]

That's weird cause 650D have it, when my eye is near the eyepiece the LCD will turn off.

Did 5D3 not have this function G-Man, and thanks for helping out.

Nope. i half press shutter and the LCD goes off if i am not in live view mode. If in live view mode i press the LV button and it goes off