R7 - Shipping Notice vs Backorder - first impressions from the lucky few (1 Viewer)

[Farnboro John]

One word of caution for those who are moving on to the R7 from full frame, such as R5. (I'm still patiently waiting for my order).

18 months ago, when I went out for the first time with my new R5 to a local beach, I thought I'd give the in-body 1.6 crop function a try to see how the 17.5 MP compared to the 7D image. I was photographing rock pipits as they fed amongst the weed, sanderlings and turnstones dashing about and the odd redshank flying by. I quickly reverted back to full frame, because it made life so much easier in acquiring the moving target, not just because it gave the eye detection longer to lock on, but because it was so much easier to track the quicky-moving erratic targets in the wider view. When I was only using my 7Dii this never occurred to me because I was just getting on with what I knew.

The R7 APS-C sensor obviously gives more reach and with more pixels on the target than an R5, but at the cost of a much narrower view that makes tracking just that bit harder.

Teaching my granny to suck eggs, maybe, but just a thought that came to mind.

This is 65% of one of those R5 1.6 in body crop photos, 4114 pixels across the top, reduced from 5087, taken in the low sun three days before Christmas, one of the ones I caught of a rock pipit on the trot before I went back to full frame for an easier life.

1/800 sec, F8, ISO 3200. Eos R5 + Sigma 150-600 Sport at 600mm.

I found this yesterday (but forgot in dealing with other stuff). You do need to be quite accurate because the view is narrower than you will be used to with the same lens, but the AF is so good and quick to pick up that with close-ish subjects you actually feel you have more time and can concentrate more easily on centreing the subject. More distant and against the sky seems a bit more difficult partly because of picking up something that may not be clearly viewable as it's well out of focus. I think that may be easier with the viewfinder brightened but haven't changed it yet.

John

 

[Barred Wobbler]

I find that prefocusing on the ground at a similar distance to your flying subject helps in finding the bird in the sky, but I have an annoying habit that I find hard to shake, of pressing the damned rear focus button as I lift the lens to the sky, trying to 'save time', making everything focus on infinity, just when I shouldn't. I know I shouldn't do it, but it's hard to shake.

One of the great things about eye detection is that it doesn't matter if the eye of the subject is nowhere near the centre of the viewfinder to start with, you can concentrate on composing the shot immediately and the focus point usually gets on with its job of finding the eye.

 

[Farnboro John]

I find that prefocusing on the ground at a similar distance to your flying subject helps in finding the bird in the sky, but I have an annoying habit that I find hard to shake, of pressing the damned rear focus button as I lift the lens to the sky, trying to 'save time', making everything focus on infinity, just when I shouldn't. I know I shouldn't do it, but it's hard to shake.

One of the great things about eye detection is that it doesn't matter if the eye of the subject is nowhere near the centre of the viewfinder to start with, you can concentrate on composing the shot immediately and the focus point usually gets on with its job of finding the eye.

This! Doubly an issue in that if you leave the viewfinder for any length of time it switches off - guess which button I use to get it back up. Have you changed the length of time yours stays active? This I think is going to be the single (/most) annoying thing about an EV instead of optical.

John

 

[Barred Wobbler]

I just left the viewfinder timing as it was. If I'm expecting something to happen soon, I've got into the habit of lifting the camera to my eye every so often to wake the viewfinder up. I've read about some users putting a strip of black tape over the viewfinder sensor to fool it into thinking that it's against their eye, so that it doesn't go to sleep, but if I'm going to be out all day I don't want to be doing that to hammer the battery. The lag in the viewfinder waking up when it's lifted to the eye can be an annoyance if a flying bird suddenly appears.

 

[Barred Wobbler]

I must admit that the Camera is driving me nuts lol. I configure the AF settings like AV with one point focus for basic macro stuff and then assign things like eye focus to a button so I can just press or hold the button when I want eye focus for birds and stuff that works ok but every time I try to go back to single point without eye focus I end up with the single AF point being stuck in the top left part of the screen - only way I seem to be able move the af point back to normal is to 'reset the camera' and start again. The 7d2 will not be put out to grass yet LOL

For some reason the single focus point on my R5, which usually resides in the centre, sometimes takes it on itself to hide in a corner. I don't know why, but pressing the centre of the paddle button inward resets it to the middle. Has the R7 a similar button/ switch. I found this last night on Youtube. Might be useful until Jan Wegener gets his R7 and posts a vid for settings.

 

[Roy C]

Deleted my previous post . I must admit the Camera is driving me nuts. I have set-up all the various shooting modes ok and tried out in the garden but what I am struggling with is quickly changing things. I have tried customising various buttons but always end up resetting the Camera and starting again. Several times I have ended up with a single focus point stuck in the top left of the screen so have to do a Camera reset. With my DSLR Cameras I am use to quickly being able to quickly change things - many of them on the fly while looking through the view finder. Don't think my 7d2 will be put out to grass any time soon LOL.

 

[Roy C]

For some reason the single focus point on my R5, which usually resides in the centre, sometimes takes it on itself to hide in a corner. I don't know why, but pressing the centre of the paddle button inward resets it to the middle. Has the R7 a similar button/ switch. I found this last night on Youtube. Might be useful until Jan Wegener gets his R7 and posts a vid for settings.

Thanks for that BW just had a look and that is exactly what I was looking for.

 

[Farnboro John]

Deleted my previous post . I must admit the Camera is driving me nuts. I have set-up all the various shooting modes ok and tried out in the garden but what I am struggling with is quickly changing things. I have tried customising various buttons but always end up resetting the Camera and starting again. Several times I have ended up with a single focus point stuck in the top left of the screen so have to do a Camera reset. With my DSLR Cameras I am use to quickly being able to quickly change things - many of them on the fly while looking through the view finder. Don't think my 7d2 will be put out to grass any time soon LOL.

This. But I'm assuming at present that things will get better as I find out more.

I've already decided to stick with the 7Dii for night work (e.g. my foxes outside the house) as the camera itself is more than up to it.

John

 

[Farnboro John]

A few pictures from the R7. Downloaded via Windows in the absence of EOS Utility for the R7 and processed via Elements in the absence of DPP for the R7.... made easier by being unware that I had the camera set for JPEG instead of the RAW I usually shoot.

Bee-eater almost straight into the sun



Red-legged Partridge



Avocet



Great White Egret - my 7Dii would have struggled to lock onto this in a cluttered background, no problem at all for the R7



GWE again, in clear air this time.



Cheers

John

 

[Farnboro John]

Just in case any other R7newbie is as dense as I seem to be, downloading via cable from camera using Windows works fine, and updating DPP 4 to version 4.16.10 ("check for updates" in Help menu) enables processing of CR3 images.

So I think I'm at business as usual with the new camera.

Canon told me they don't have a release date for EOS Utility for R7, they are still working on it. So I guess don't hold your breath.

Cheers

John

 

[connorco]

A few pictures from the R7. Downloaded via Windows in the absence of EOS Utility for the R7 and processed via Elements in the absence of DPP for the R7.... made easier by being unware that I had the camera set for JPEG instead of the RAW I usually shoot.

Bee-eater almost straight into the sun

View attachment 1455228

Red-legged Partridge

View attachment 1455230

Avocet

View attachment 1455231

Great White Egret - my 7Dii would have struggled to lock onto this in a cluttered background, no problem at all for the R7

View attachment 1455232

GWE again, in clear air this time.

View attachment 1455233

Cheers

John

What lens were these photos taken with?

 

[Farnboro John]

What lens were these photos taken with?

EF100-400 Mk ii.

John

 

[Frank Anderson]

I've been happier than expected by the low level noise capabilities of the R7. It's not a low light camera, but can do ok in the right circumstances.

This was taken very early morning at ISO 12800

 

[Farnboro John]

I think I'd be happy with that too!

Speaking of which, my boy Patch visited for breakfast this morning at about 0630 so I tried the camera on him. He noted that the shutter sounded different from the 7Dii but was unflustered. The quality of the picture was well up on the 7Dii under similar lighting conditions - nice! Now if I can just master depth of field....

John

 

[connorco]

EF100-400 Mk ii.

John

Thanks. That’s the lens I’m going to be using with mine once it arrives.

 

[AlphaFan]

So far, my overall impression of the R7 = very pleased, at least equal to or exceeding expectations. After just a few outings my overall experiences have matched almost identically to those posted here by others - I can really relate to the mystery phenom of the focus box relocating to the corner of the frame.

New to Canon, so I'm learning the focus (and overall) menus and playing around to see which settings work best for differing conditions.

First impression likes:

• Overall weight, handling and ergonomics are simply splendid. I coupled it with the RF100-500 lens, feels great and an easy all-day carry.
• Eye detection and tracking are amazing for robin-sized or larger birds, easily grabs birds in the open or close by
• Battery life and buffer are both better than initially anticipated by many on-line reviewers, I find no issues
• The crop-sensor offers plenty of reach
• Images taken in favorable light have been very sharp and satisfying

First impression, challenges and disappointments:

• The spot-focus is a bit too course - would have liked a more precise spot-focus for small birds in trees or busy backgrounds (sometimes still needed)
• Back buttons and dials not as intuitive as previous Canon designs - finding quick field adjustments a bit challenging (hoping familiarity changes this)
• Definitely seeing a bit more noise with birds in shadows as compared to full frame (hopefully, familiarity with settings and processing may improve this)
• Struggling with eye auto focus to grab small birds - warblers or other small/twitchy species

Like many others I find some YouTube University tutorials on camera settings and field tips very informative - also really looking forward to Jan Wegener's review of the R7. So far, I'm enjoying the R7 and find it offers a superb feature set for the price.

 

[AlphaFan]

Found this video very helpful - WEX Staffer goes over all of the menu settings on the R7/

 

[Singlereed]

I got my R7 on release day. I’ve had a couple of outings with it so far and very happy with its handling and the output. I’ve mainly used it on the RF 100-500 and RF 800 including with the 1.4 TC. I also have the R6 but wanted more reach with less cropping and this fits the bill. Images so far have been very good, I did use it up to 6400 iso where there was some noise but nice sharp images. The AF is awesome. I haven’t pushed it to see what it can really do and I’m a bit stuck with processing as I use DXO and Deep Prime for processing so I won’t be able to see its full potential until that software processes the R7 RAW files. But, so far so good.

 

[connorco]

I just got the email notification that my R7 is shipping, hopefully I'll have within a week or so.

 

[Farnboro John]

Took mine to RIAT yesterday and shot 5071 images without any issues (what you expect but still nice to hear!) I did hit the buffer once on about a three-second burst, which I guess is my own fault.

AF tracking is astonishing, point the camera in the right direction and it lays the square on the target before you even press the AF-on button. AF itself from a certain amount of chimping looks amazing too.

I'm now much more used to the handling and I think my set-up is now more or less what I want. I've never had the courage to adjust either exposure or exposure comp in the viewfinder and yesterday I was doing both. The advantage of the electronic viewfinder is that it shows you the effect of the exposure comp in the image, which is better than an optical viewfinder.

One slight downside was that I found a few times I'd lost part of an aircraft out one side or other - I'd blame myself except that I've very rarely done it in the last twenty years, there's nothing wrong with my aim or panning, so I think it must be either the EV update rate or a blindness caused by some other aspect of mirrorless shooting. Shorter bursts are probably the answer, though that's not how you capture opposition cross-overs.

Anyway, basically happy bunny after a great day out.

John