Just bought a Canon 7D, the original mk1 in excellent condition for £235…and
it is in excellent condition!, in fact it’s like a new camera! Can’t even see
any dust in the button recesses! With less than 2k shutter actuations! I have
been after one for a while but the ones I have seen thus far have been quite
battered, it puzzles me how they get so, unless its been used in a war zone? Its
rare I buy camera gear new, I did buy a new lens one time, oh and a battery
grip, that’s about it.
The main thing that attracted me to the 7D is the 100% viewfinder, I often find I get more than I wanted when using the 40D, at one time I was well into cropping images but I have done a complete U turn, and now prefer to get it how I want it at the point of taking. The 7D has a few more pixels which is of no consequence to me, the rear LCD screen is a lot better, though I turn the review off and use it like a film camera, If I have been out of town I will start going through my images on the way back while sat on the train, that’s when my editing begins, deleting some, sorting out the wheat from the chaff, less is the new more. Also I don’t want to waste time working on images I won’t use.
I think the focus system is a bit overkill, though I can appreciate how sports photographers will like it, it has a great movie mode too, though I am more into still photography. I have disabled the live view mode, an optical viewfinder is all the live view I need. Not had chance to use it properly yet, but I’m already loving the feel of it, and that larger viewfinder, reminds me of the Canon EOS 1N film camera. Its substantial like a real camera should be, feels good in the hands. The pop up flash is impressive... for a pop up flash! I sometimes like a bit of flash for street portraits to make the colours pop.
I have handled/used a few mirrorless full frame cameras (mostly
Sony) I just don’t like them, don’t like the look and feel of them. It’s neither
a compact nor an SLR, but somewhere in-between. I do have a mirrorless compact, a
Lumix LX100, which I like and is a very capable camera, but it’s a compact, and
I know it’s a compact, it will go in my jacket pocket. I considered getting one of the
Digital rev put a 7D through some challenges click here
Yes… full frame may have the "edge" on IQ over the crop sensor,
but I refer you to my previous points, and it may be better on low light
performance but the 7D is no slouch in that respect, and there is always those things called
tripods. Also I have some great lenses designed for the crop sensor which I
like. All this obsession with resolution and pixel count, full frame etc bores
me to death! Especially when most hardly ever make any prints, but just share
online, also when it comes to printing we are limited by the printers ability itself.
Even my 4/3rds sensor LX100 compact is capable of printing great looking LARGE
prints! If I do get a full frame DSLR It will be a Canon 5D
mk3 or the 6D, the 6D is like a cheaper incarnation of the 5D mk3.
"The photographer is the instrument not the camera" - Eve Arnold