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Today, I received my Canon EOS 7D from Adorama. Props to them for shipping it so quickly and having it in my hands before the weekend! With all the buzz with this camera and the weeklong Jewish holiday, I honestly did not think I would receive it for another couple of weeks, which was just fine with me. But after playing with it for a couple hours, it's pretty neat and I'm glad I have it. The only thing is, I don't have a lens of my own yet to put on it. Luckily, my friend Mark was kind enough to let me borrow an extra lens he had (an EF 28-90mm F/4-5.6. I should have my 24-105mm F/4L IS lens tomorrow. ;)

edit: USPS "attempted" delivery this morning but did not bother knocking on the door or ringing the door bell. So obviously I didn't even know it came and couldn't sign for it. Guess I'll have to line up Monday morning :\.

Unboxing Gallery and Initial Thoughts After The Break

Initial Thoughts

First, the camera is much larger than I have grown accustomed to with my Sony Alpha a300. The shipping weight on this thing was 5.1 pounds and the camera itself is 820 grams! When I mount the 24-105mm, it's going to be really heavy! Besides the sheer size, the camera feels like it is built very well. It feels more solid than the Sony A700 and obviously the A300. The slightly rough rubberized textured finish is a nice touch. The body also is very sturdy and does not flex. Along with the impressive build are the weather seals and guards to keep out water, moisture, and dust.

The redesigned Canon layout is a major improvement from the previous generation of cameras. The button layout is more user-friendly (one of the things I hated about the EOS DSLRs was the button placement). The power button is in a convenient, yet out of the way spot in the upper left corner on the back and the live view/movie mode switches are near your right thumb and thus easily accessible. No more fumbling through menus to record a movie!

The LP-E6 battery that came with the camera charged in about 2 hours and when I popped it in and turned it on for the first time, it hit me that I was entering a whole new world with Canon. Everything was different and it took some getting used to. For example, the two wheels were awkward (still are) in navigating the menus. Why can't I just use the joystick for everything on screen? Sony's smart nav system is magnificent in this regard. It's easy to change things like ISO, WB, AF Drive, etc...

At first, the shutter button felt a little bit mushy. There's no click sound when it's all the way in, it just kind of settles at the bottom. With the Sony's, you can feel two distinct levels. Here, there's only one, half way, and then somewhere in the end where you hit the bottom. Another thing that felt really awkward was the aperture control wheel (index finger wheel) is placed above (behind) the shutter release button. After a year with Sony, it's probably going to take another year to undo the awkwardness at having to fumble around to find this wheel in its new position. Having to lift your index finger higher is not as easy to access and change shutter speeds/apertures in a hurry. It's just not very ergonomic. Speaking of ergonomics, my hand fits much better on the 7D than the a300. To be fair, the a300 is small and the a700 fit better. This feels comparable to the a700.

The menu system was relatively easy to figure out as a new Canon user. Without reading the manual, I was able to set up the camera in a way I was accustomed to. There are still plenty of settings I have not touched (mainly custom settings) since I just got it.

The shutter noise is pretty quiet using the viewfinder. It's a muffled clicking sound (maybe I'll do a recording some day). On liveview (LV), it's even quieter since the mirror is already up to capture light onto the sensor) but still has a shorter (in duration) muffled clicking noise. It's quite pleasant. It's definitely quieter than the Sony A300 and less annoying than the Sony A700 which was quite high pitched and electronic sounding (like electrical whizzing).

The auto focus system is quite impressive. It's got several settings including center AF point focus, local focus (you choose one of the 19 cross type AF sensor points), group focus (4 groups, left, top, bottom, right), or wide (camera chooses one or more for you). I wish I had a USM lens to test it, but to test the AF (continuous servo mode), I took some test shots in my fish tank. Out of all my neon tetra shots, it nailed the focus very well, especially for an older lens and low light (@ 6400 ISO). It was fun tracking the fish and watching the AF point keep in contact perfectly. For sports or any wildlife photography, this camera is a dream come true, especially for those on a budget.

Hmmmm, what else? How about movie mode. 1280x720 at 60 frames per second is amazing. 1920 x 1080 at 24 fps is equally as amazing for double the resolution. At the slower framerates, there will be some rolling shutter artifacts, but not nearly as noticeable as Nikon's jellowy D90 and D300s. The video even at a high ISO looks sweet. It's nice and smooth, sharp, and so professional looking. One thing I noticed with some of my fish tank aquarium shots at 3200ISO, was a certain pattern banding noise in the video that was in the same arrangement throughout the video. It was a weird effect. I hope this gets fixed soon. It was like a pattern of noise was overlayed across the video.

Impressed (based off of initial impressions):

• Movie mode! (1080p at 24 and 30 fps and 720p at 60/24fps!)
• Nice shutter sound
• Solid build
• Top LCD is nice and easy to read (I still rely on the info display on the back of the camera). I can see the top LCD to be handy in the dark when doing astrophotography under the stars where you wouldn't want to kill your night vision.
  ISO up to 12,800 and relatively clean images up to 6400ISO (JPEG out of camera).
• The screen at 920K Pixels is very vivid, sharp, and bright. It also has an excellent viewing angle!

Not So Impressed:

• The camera/movie toggle switch is sticky and clumsy. It sometimes doesn't want to go back to the camera after being in movie mode. Not sure if this is because the camera is new, but it doesn't feel right at all.
• To engage the popup flash, you have to press a button which cranks some motor (it's quite loud) to release the flash. The engaging mechanism of the flash is probably the LOUDEST thing of the camera. Why can't they just make a simple lever to release the flash or have it where you could open it up by hand?
• Managing the quick control dial (big wheel), main dial (index finger wheel), and the joystick is slow. Maybe it's just me?
• Contrast detect AF works OK some of the time, but usually is pretty slow. It's too bad you can't use phase detect AF in LV like the Sony a300/a350. In Sony's LV, AF is just as fast whether using the viewfinder or LCD.

What Could Be Added/Improved:

In addition to the things above, it would be nice to see:

• A dual memory slot for SD + CF cards. One for RAW, the other for JPEG and the larger one perhaps for storing videos (or the faster one) like the Nikon D300s.
• Articulating screen, handy for some compositions and recording movies.
• AF assist lamp, why did they take this away?
• Eye sensor to turn off the LCD (and or start auto focusing) when putting your eye up to the viewfinder (a Sony feature which I took for granted).

What's Bugging Me?

• Needs a thumb wheel and main dial in front of the shutter release to be more ergonomic and have the controls closer at hand.
• The movie/camera toggle switch is insanely sticky.
• Popping up the popup flash (PUF) is loud as hell. (but it can act as a master flash!)
• Needs an AF Assist Lamp

Canon 7D Unboxing Gallery