Canon 7D Mk II is announced and available for pre-order (1 Viewer)

[redeyedvideo]

Just had this email from WEX.

The good news is that we have been advised that we should be receiving stock this coming Wednesday 29th October 2014. Providing stock arrives as expected, we will dispatch your order on Wednesday 29th October for next working day delivery.

B

It would be great to get some unbiased hands-on reports from the early adopters. A few like myself are waiting before jumping in. One horrible thought I did have though - what are the chances of the price going UP and not down as most are expecting.

 

[johnf3f]

Slightly off topic but picture a scenario here in hampshire where a guy still using film cameras trips the shutter using a cable release.instead of the machine gun rattle of dslr's we have the clonk bang,clonk bang vibrating the hide floor.

Cheers.

Steve.B

Sounds like me just before the stopped processing Kodachrome 64!
DSLR left at home and the EOS3 came out. Got some lovely shots of Herons with my (then) 600 F4, the only problem was the 36 frame memory cards.
How come my keeper rate was nearly 100% - I never get that with digital!

 

[johnf3f]

Just had this email from WEX.

The good news is that we have been advised that we should be receiving stock this coming Wednesday 29th October 2014. Providing stock arrives as expected, we will dispatch your order on Wednesday 29th October for next working day delivery.

B

Happy new camera!
Please let us know how you get on.

 

[graham catley]

Art Morris has been posting images from a beta version on his blog and the performance looks pretty damn impressive to me at ISO 1600, certainly well ahead of the old 7D.

Of course that particular camera is bound to get the amazing results in his hands, but it does show what's possible, even if us mortals will struggle to get ours so well exposed!

There is a vast difference in quality at high ISOs when you actually need to use it on a grey December day in Britain and using it just to test on a bright sunny day in Florida with enough light to shoot at 50 ISO: I note that none of the testers as yet seem to have tried the AF on birds in flight in difficult conditions, not pelicans at 20m in the sun with a sky background so there is a real opening for an early purchaser to do some proper testing for bird photographers unless of course you just want to take portraits of big birds.

 

[lewis20126]

There is a vast difference in quality at high ISOs when you actually need to use it on a grey December day in Britain and using it just to test on a bright sunny day in Florida with enough light to shoot at 50 ISO: I note that none of the testers as yet seem to have tried the AF on birds in flight in difficult conditions, not pelicans at 20m in the sun with a sky background so there is a real opening for an early purchaser to do some proper testing for bird photographers unless of course you just want to take portraits of big birds.

Graham

Good points. A bit like testing scopes on dull days and poor light. The best test of its performance will be in difficult conditions, not on bright days which are ideal for photography.

cheers, alan

 

[Colin]

So, having read good reports on this camera and lots of interest shown in it, what lenses and/or TCs would be recommended for bird photography? I am specifically talking about ranges up to 50m and also it would be used to photographic Bewick's Swans bill patterns (all different) over that sort of range. Whether I can get the pennies together is another matter?

 

[Telephoto Paul]

If you're sufficiently pennied, you won't go wrong with the 500mm f4, 600mm f4 or 800mm f/5.6. For the more budget conscious, the Canon 400mm f/5.6, Canon 100-400, Tamron 150-600 or Sigma 150-600 will all get suggested by somebody. As for extenders, stick to x1.4.

 

[Dave Williams]

The 300mm f2.8 with both 1.4 and 2.0 x TC's is an excellent set up that is portable and flexible and doesn't need to be tripod mounted and is/was offered for sale at around £3k on here . Together with a 7D2 you are looking at nearly £5K but you have a very,very good set up and was my preference over buying a 5 or 600mm even though I could have at that time
No doubt you'll still wish for more reach though (I did) but you probably would even when you got it (I did, 500mm in my case) but I always said...when I had a cropped camera... if one lens had to go it would have been my 500 as the 300mm for action shots is brilliant.
I don't know much about third party lenses but certainly the Sigma and Tamron ones are a very good price, as is the 400mm f4.6. and you are then talking a far more reasonable outlay.
Remember though that the Tamron and Sigma lenses are both new, as of course is the 7D2. You won't find a used one easily yet. In my mind buying a good example used makes far more sense.
Just to throw the cat amongst the pigeons I'd like to see a comparison between the 7D2 and the 1DMk1V because the prices are not that far apart now. I doubt many ID1V users will be rushing to swop theirs for a 7D2.
Tell us if I'm wrong !

 

[Colin]

Dave and Paul. Thanks for your advice. I was thinking along the same lines of a 300/400 and a 1.4 converter rather than a 'big' lens. I think my limiting factor is finding the cash. I think I will wait a while and see if the body price goes down, maybe next year.

 

[dandsblair]

Any deals on UK stock

Is anyone aware of any good deals from a UK supplier?
I've seen cheap price from a few Hong Companies such as DigitalRev but on a new camera would prefer a UK model that is under Canon warranty even if I could trust the company.

 

[the black fox]

i,m rather hoping that the 7d2 is a winner and the s/h price of a 1Dmkiv falls through the floor ,in the rush for more reach and more technology approaches i also think that the s/h price of 1.4 t.c will rise dramatically in the coming weeks as the first responders that also have a 400mm f5.6 or 100-400 will be seeking out that magical 560mm focal length .i,m sticking with my tried and tested 1D3 for the time being ,but the options are always open ,just not rushing in as i got my fingers badly burned by nikons latest tech last year .
my next large purchase will more than likely be a sigma 150-600 if they prove to be as good as they appear

 

[Barred Wobbler]

As of 15 minutes ago I possess a 7D Mk II.

It'll be tomorrow before I get to use it (light fading already in a heavy autumn overcast), but two things stand out immediately.

1. The computer USB connection cable doesn't have the standard connection at the camera end - it's a sort of double plug, so no more just leaving a standard USB cable plugged into the computer to plug into any camera that I happen to be using. The 7D II is fussy in that respect.

2. To avoid waiting to charge the battery I took the charged battery out of my 7D (which happened to be a generic battery) . I got the message that the camera couldn't communicate with the battery and a OK/Cancel window popped up to ask if I wanted to continue with the battery anyway. I switched off, took out the generic battery and inserted my old Canon 7D battery instead.

The generic battery issue will need further examination once I'm up and running.

 

[Dave Williams]

Try the generic again... just click OK when it says it can't communicate. The battery still works but you may not get a % charged reading.

 

[Barred Wobbler]

Try the generic again... just click OK when it says it can't communicate. The battery still works but you may not get a % charged reading.

That was my plan Dave.

I've just found out how to set up the rear focussing on he AF-On and * buttons with focus on the shutter release disabled. It took some finding (Bottom of the orange section, tucked away under 'custom controls').

I'll have to start reading the manual if I'm not careful.

Time for a coffee.

 

[HokkaidoStu]

Mine will be here on Saturday..................and the weather forecast for Sunday/Monday isn't good so let's see how it fares with high ISO.

Bit narked to hear 3rd party batteries aren't recognized. Mind you we have enough OEM ones lying around the house (I have my original 7D one plus a spare and the ones that came with my wifes's 60D and 6D).

Not so bothered about the USB connection as I usually use a card reader................

 

[Dave Williams]

I find the battery issue unimportant, when it's flat I change it, always carry a spare and always recharge my batteries after use except when they are brand new then I drain them.
Odd though,Canon obviously decided to be awkward about 3rd party batteries for more recent bodies. The one I use with the 1DX communicated with the 1D1V perfectly.

 

[Barred Wobbler]

I use Photoshop Elements 11 for editing and normally there's no trouble with CR2 Raw files.

I took a test image and transferred it to the computer, clicked on the CR2 file and expected it to open in PS.

No luck. I got a message saying that the file is from a camera model not supported by the installed version of Camera Raw. I updated my Elements and got the same result.

I opened in in DPP, edited it to a TIFF and it opened in Elements, but that's a hideous waste of effort. Hoping for some response from Adobe with a solution.

Regarding the generic battery problem, it seems that there is no problem. It's just the camera having a laugh.

I put the generic in, told it to continue, fired off a couple of shots and went to Battery Info.

It tells me I'm using an unknown battery with a remaining capacity of 53%, a shutter count of 2 and a recharge performance of three green squares. My proper old 7D battery, on the other hand is 83% charged with a recharge performance of one red square. Not so good.

 

[frinky]

No luck. I got a message saying that the file is from a camera model not supported by the installed version of Camera Raw. I updated my Elements and got the same result.

I opened in in DPP, edited it to a TIFF and it opened in Elements, but that's a hideous waste of effort. Hoping for some response from Adobe with a solution.

One of the joys of being an early adopter! The RAW processor has to know the details of the sensor to process it properly. As the production model has only just been released it will take a little while to develop it. Canon, of course, have access to their own technology so can update DPP before shipping with the camera.

I haven't seen an Apple update for the 7D2 yet either, so it's not just Adobe. DxO claim support will come out in December, but they tend to have to do a lot of sensor correction testing as well.

 

[Telephoto Paul]

1. The computer USB connection cable doesn't have the standard connection at the camera end - it's a sort of double plug, so no more just leaving a standard USB cable plugged into the computer to plug into any camera that I happen to be using. The 7D II is fussy in that respect.

That'll be the USB3. You can use a USB2 cable, it'll just mean you won't enjoy the benefits of quicker transfers (and if your PC doesn't have USB3, then you've not lost anything). The comlication comes from the fact that for USB2, the mini-b is the historically common plug for cameras, whereas with usb3, the micro-b is the small plug (there is no Mini-b in the USB3 spec).

 

[tdodd]

Might interest some....

http://panamoz.com/index.php/digital-cameras/canon/canon-eos-7d-mark-ii-dslr-camera-body-only.html

I bought a tilt-shift lens from Panamoz recently, with the BACS discount, and was very happy with the service. Most people seem to concur.