Over the past couple of years Canon, once the undisputed market leader, has lost ground in the mid range Digital SLR area to Nikon. Up until the introduction of the Canon EOS 7D the Nikon D300 had held an advantage in this field over Canon models such as the EOS 50D. Now that Sony has also become a leading player in this market Canon has taken action. With the EOS 7D we can see Canon has started to fight back. In an effort to regain it's mid rang crown Canon has included a number of innovations with this camera.
Before I get into these enhancements and innovations lets look at the basic specification. Canon has opted to go down the route of plenty of megapixels. 17.92 megapixels have been crammed onto the sensor. It has a top shooting speed of 8 frames per second. This gives it an advantage over the recently introduced Nikon D300 which can manage 6 frames per second or 7 frames per second with an optional battery pack. Another area where the EOS 7D has an edge is with a higher resolution movie mode. This camera is capable of shooting High Definition video footage at 1080p. It is important to point out that unlike the Canon EOS 5D, the EOS 7D is not a full frame model.
Live View operates at 30 frames per second. It includes 5x and 10x zoom settings. There are three Auto Focus settings, but it is worth noting none of these offer continuous focus. Live View is displayed through a 3 inch LCD screen.
Moving on to the innovations we start off with the introduction of a new image sensor. Also new are the metering system, wireless TTL controller, viewfinder display technology, AF system and electronic level. The viewfinder is the first from Canon to offer 100% coverage and 1x magnification. So there are quite a number of new or upgraded features built into the camera as Canon attempt to catch up and move beyond the latest offering from Nikon.
With a near 18 megapixel sensor Canon has opted to go down the route of packing in a high number of pixels to a relative small space. They have changed the way the internal workings of the camera are set up in an effort to keep noise levels under control.
Focusing options include a 19 point cross-type AF sensor. The AF system is one of the areas to have been overhauled by Canon and there are a range of manual and automatic settings available to you. These include Zone and Spot AF. The Auto Focus settings have a number of customisable options. Different AF points can also be set for horizontal or vertical orientation. The benefit of this is that it allows you to switch between landscape and portrait shots without the need to touch any buttons.
The body is made out of a magnesium alloy. This helps to keep the weight of the camera down and helps to protect against any dust or moisture.
The EOS 7D is compatible with all EF and EF-S lenses as well as Canon EX Speedlites. The Canon EOS 7D can also be used with the battery BG-E7, and remote controllers and switches such as the remote Controller RC-1/RC-5. You can also add the Wireless File Transmitter (WFT-E5). This allows camera control via a web browser - allowing photographers to control the camera using a web-enabled mobile device.
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