Canon 7D users, this one's for you!

[Nigel C]

I'm after some opinions here guys, and be as honest or critical as you like!

How does the 7D perform at the higher ISO levels? When does noticable graininess appear in photos?

Pros and cons of the camera? I rarely do any aviation photography, so if you've used one for 'everyday' type stuff (including using a flash with it), that would be useful.

I've currently got a 400D, but am looking to upgrade. The ISO performance is one area I'm keen to hear opinions on.

Cheers

[John Arena]

Nigel, i bought a 7D and took it on a 4 week family holiday, it worked astonishingly well everywhere from Hong Kong to Rome, and ol' London town, and in just about ll circumstances.

with the flash, just dont use it with a long lens, other wise the lens itself will cast a shadow, i have the 18-200, and at anything too far from 18, the flash was un-usable (i suppose this goes for all cameras though). The flash did work well, unfortunately all of the pics i have with it involve people who dont want their pics on the web (my family)

ive just included 8 pics to show the camera in low-light conditions, and a few others i threw in.










pics 1-4 + 6-7 were taken in at least ISO4000

John

[Nigel C]

Thanks John. I trust the flash you were using was the in-built flash and not a Speedlite?

[Beau Chenery]

I've had discussions with some people who say at high ISO the noise is intense. But it is high ISO (I'm talking 1600+) like what do you expect. For me I don't bother shooting with high ISO, use a tripod or make use of something around you so you can use a lower ISO.

By far the best Canon I have ever owned. 1080p video rocks as well just for taking short snippets when you are away travelling, few quick videos here and there to post up on youtube.

Mine gets more non aviation use now days and I can't fault it.

[John Arena]

Affirmative Nigel, but none of the photos above was with the flash

[Nigel C]

After the replies both here and in other places, it looks like I'll be getting a 7D, but now the next question...who does the best deals on them, and who is willing to negotiate the price when extras are thrown in?

[Greg McDonald]

I found Ted's will negotiate well and match prices even on internet shops but Paxtons won't at all.

[David Knudsen]

To be honest, the 7D does generate a fair bit of noise at anything over ISO 400, but no worse than any other modern DSLR in the same price bracket that I come across in my day to day. It will be certainly better than the 400D. But as Beau said it's just best to try avoid shooting at high ISO's where possible. Overall the 7D is a great camera and if you are forced to shoot at 800 or 1600, a bit of post processing in photoshop and you can still print a decent 6x4 out of them.

Here are some examples of the noise, I've just cropped these out of the originals, so there is no resizing at work here to hide the grain. The blurriness is just down to a plain old lack of talent

ISO1600

ISO800

ISO400


Hope that helps Nige.

[John Arena]

Found em cheap in HK, well not a 7D exactly, but everything else was 30% cheaper there incl. 60D, 550D, 600D etc...

In aus, your looking around 2500AUD

John

[SteveW]

It might be worth looking at BH Photo Video - I've used them for IT gear before.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...gital_SLR.html