Canon EOS R7
Verified1 review
- +7
This camera is genius for its price and offers a photography enthusiast much of what the top end Canon cameras offer professionals for a fraction of the price.. BREAKING NEWS**** I HAVE READ THAT AN EOS R7 mark ii MIGHT BE DUE FOR RELEASE**** THIS REVIEW WONT APPLY TO THAT NEW MODEL
There is a compromise with this camera. It uses a cropped sensor which gives a 1.6 times increase in focal length for a standard RF Canon lens and might give rise to visual "noise" in some images. A 100mm RF lens has the effective focal length of a 160mm lens on this camera. The supplied lens is a kit lens which is an "STM" lens. It is an 18mm to 150mm zoom which is almost as sharp as a full frame RF lens. Canon makes a 25mm-105 RF lens which does not offer the same wide angle or zoom. There is a different RF zoom lens made for this camera by Sigma that is 16mm - 300 mm and from reviews it is as good as the Kit lens. Both lenses are far more practical than the full frame Canon lenses. I have purchased this Sigma lens and I find it better than the reviews say it is. I use it in the range of f7.1 to f14 with a minimum exposure of 1/500 and AUTO ISO up to 6400.
Some critics say that cropped sensors contribute to "noise" or speckling and discoloration of images taken at high speed and high ISO settings. I am finding little evidence of such issues. See the attached photos.
I have a powerful earlier generation 600RT flash plus an EF 70mm-200mm lens which can both be used on my new camera. This lens needs an adaptor and it works on this camera.
The camera body itself works exceptionally well. It is in the area of new features that I am coming to terms with this camera. It uses web-enabled wi-fi with printers and smartphones. It chews up battery power to connect to these and a day's photography takes the full charge of a battery. However, I can switch the camera to aircraft mode turning off wi-fi and that makes it very efficient in its battery life.
It is possible to print directly from the camera with a wi-fi connection. This takes time and practice. Powerful autofocus functions which have a tracking capability for moving targets, work well, but they take a bit of getting used to.
I have taken a short course from a company called Widescenes Photography to learn how to get the most benefit out of this camera. I have given it 4 stars for its technical perfection When Canon improves its useability with Wi fi it will get 5 stars.
Follow-up · I have taken over 100 photos now. I have also purchased a 50mm f1.8 STM prime lens. The camera is better than I thought. I have found none of the criticisms I read in internet reviews to be justified. Only one problem. I found that the 300mm zoom is too fine in contrast for the single point AF to work. I have to zoom back a bit and lock AF then zoom back to 300. Alternatively, I switch to "Zone 1 AF" and it works just fine. For complex focusing on plants, particularly Kangaroo Paw, grevillias and daisies, getting depth of field right with auto exposure and auto focus is too challenging for me. Choosing depth of field is essential at 200 to 300 zoom. On advice from the Widescene photographers, I set the aperture and then use manual focus for depth of field and it works. I am still trying to work out how to photograph the kangaroo paw to make it look sharp up close. I am going to use my tripod to go to smaller aperture and keep the camera still while focusing. The "camera to printer" function works fine. I called Canon for advice on how to set up the Canon Connect app. and printing and they set me right. It is just that the wi-fi dialogue between app and the camera is not as intuitive as it could be. Lastly, I am making short movie segments but my hands aren't steady enough for high zoom video shot hand-held. I have to zoom out or have a tripod on hand for that. For still photography, the new 16-300 zoom lens is good enough to use on its own, so I take that and my flash gun with me in the bag. When I am indoors at lunches or in restaurants, I only need my 50mm lens - easier to carry with flash. Battery life is also excellent when having wi-fi turned off. The guy who sold me this camera actually gave me a spare battery. I have tried 15 and 30 fps bursts with rapid panning of the camera. Don't know about so-called rolling shutter. But I would say anyone who wants very high speed shooting might consider a different camera. Photo download by Wi-Fi and via USB connection, as well as direct transfer from the SD cards, are all fine. Widescenes photography were really helpful in guiding me through use of this camera. Since my doubts and criticisms have been addressed, I am going to upgrade my rating to 5.
Purchased in at Ted's Cameras for $2,499.
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