Canon EOS 7D Owners Thread

Yay, I upgraded from the 450D too. Oh I found the manual pretty useless, I ended up buying an independent user guide more aimed at 'how' to use the camera rather than this button does this and so on!


Also a 450D upgrader. Very excited, my 7D will arrive in 2 days! I'll be having a look at the various guide suggestions.

Need some help re. CF cards, if anyone can offer advice: thread
 
Last edited:
Also a 450D upgrader. Very excited, my 7D will arrive in 2 days! I'll be having a look at the various guide suggestions.

Need some help re. CF cards, if anyone can offer advice: thread
Link not working....
 
Just getting used to mine, its a brilliant camera:clap:
I had a 40D then got a 550D great camera but did not like the controls so ended up getting the 7D, like the 40D but even better
Just one question out of interest is the metering sytem different to the one on the 550D?
I do find that shots on the 7D come out a little bit darker than on the 550D which was a surprise as the sensor is the same
not a problem as I,m exposing to the right anyway dead easy to do on the 7D:)
 
LCPete said:
I,m exposing to the right anyway dead easy to do on the 7D:)

I've heard about exposing to the right quite a few times but never known how to do it. Is it as easy as adding third/half/full stop of over exposure on the dial?
 
Hi all, can anyone help with a technical question regarding the 7d, i have only had this camera for a week and i have set it up for birding (bif) etc under (C.FN 111. Autofocus drive)
Question is; After setting this up for the above if i then want to say go take some Landscape shots i will have to change some of the settings and then go back and re-set them? Would it be possible to save them on say C1 C2 OR C3 and just quickly dial back to those saved settings????????? But if i turn the dial to say C1 how then can i use AV or TV without moving the dial back away from C1???????? Hope i have explained it clearly, thanks. Tony.
 
Any settings made and saved to C1 etc can be changed whilst active, however after the camera goes into standby or you change the mode dial, on going back to C1 etc it will be at whatver setting it was set to when it was saved. Though if you stored AV as part of the C1 setup you would have to change the mode dial to get to Tv in any case.

Suppose you had C1 set as back button focus, Av, ISO 800, you can change the aperture by using the top dial but the predetermined aperture when saved will reappear after sleep mode, as would any change made to ISO
 
Last edited:
So if it is set to c1 i can still dial in new shutter speeds and apertures etc and adjust as neccesary? but it will revert to c1 settings when in sleep mode. Instructions read like you are stuck with the settings in C1 and can not adjust them. Many Thanks for your reply Ken.
 
So if it is set to c1 i can still dial in new shutter speeds and apertures etc and adjust as neccesary?

Yes, that's right

but it will revert to c1 settings when in sleep mode.

The will revert back to the original settings if you change modes or turn off the camera.

Instructions read like you are stuck with the settings in C1 and can not adjust them. Many Thanks for your reply Ken

Not stuck with them in the sense of being unable to alter them on the fly, you can still change aperture, speed iso etc but it makes it easier to revert to your original settings should you wish. For instance C1 set for av high iso, spot meter, used indoors, C2 set av, low iso, evaluative meter as soon as you move outside, C3 set for tv, servo etc.

See them as self customised starting points.

Mike
 
Cheers Mike thats cleared that up, just was'nt sure how it worked. Tony.
 
I shoot mostly in Av but have my C1 set up for video so it automatically goes into 1/50 f11 Auto ISO and a user defined Picture Profile. So if I want to quicly shoot video just a quick twist and away I go. C3 is set up for Birds in Flight so different focus mode higher shutter speed, so if presented with a quick situation can grab a shot.
 
Sorry to but in! I've recently decided 'upgrade' to a 7D, moving from a 60D. I want something a little more rugged to go travelling, a better AF system and higher continuous burst (I often photograph gigs and sports). Question is, where is THE cheapest place to me to get my hands on a 7D body only? I don't mind ordering from abroad as long as I get a warranty! :)
 
Eddzz!! said:
Sorry to but in! I've recently decided 'upgrade' to a 7D, moving from a 60D. I want something a little more rugged to go travelling, a better AF system and higher continuous burst (I often photograph gigs and sports). Question is, where is THE cheapest place to me to get my hands on a 7D body only? I don't mind ordering from abroad as long as I get a warranty! :)

(Ian) Kerso (on this forum) tends to be very competitive. I bought mine from him last year. His cameras are imported from the US but are warranted by Canon here in the UK because he pays the VAT.

HDEW are also worth a look online. Their bodies are imported from HK but they provide a 3 year UK warranty at UK Canon service centres.
 
Last edited:
danski said:
(Ian) Kerso (on this forum) tends to be very competitive. I bought mine from him last year. His cameras are imported from the US but are warranted by Canon here in the UK because he pays the VAT.

HDEW are also worth a look online. Their bodies are imported from HK but they provide a 3 year UK warranty at UK Canon service centres.

What sort of prices are we considering 'competitive' ? :)
 
I think I'm right in saying that won't have a Canon UK warranty, which you will have from Kerso or HDEW.

As quoted in another thread discussing Panamoz:

The warranty should it ever have to be used is via a UK address, there is also an optional warranty you can pay for whereby you receive a direct replacement rather than wait for one to be repaired. Full details are on the site.
 
7D, grip and 2nd battery ordered from DigitalRev for £1,040 (OTA).
I'll be slapping my 500 f4 on it as soon as it arrives.
 
not happy have to send my camera and lenses to be calibrated ive only had it 3 and a bit months
should i ask for a refund then buy second hand or keep the new one
if they refunded me id have a few extra pounds to buy new stuff
 
not happy have to send my camera and lenses to be calibrated ive only had it 3 and a bit months
should i ask for a refund then buy second hand or keep the new one
if they refunded me id have a few extra pounds to buy new stuff

Read this - http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2008/12/this-lens-is-soft-and-other-myths - and once you understand about engineering tolerances and manufacturing things to a price then consider your way forward. It could be the camera is off, or the lenses, or both, or neither, but that the combination of lenses and camera as calibrated currently don't fit well together.

If the camera is miles off then it might be a dud. If it is a little off then you have the option to use AF microadjustment to correct any small calibration errors. Whilst it's under warranty you can send it to Canon to have them re-calibrate for free, although sending in just the body might not fix the issue if the problem is the body/lens combination. If you want them to calibrate the camera and lenses together they will do that for free too, so long as the lenses are also covered by warranty. If not, maybe there will be some goodwill extended your way, but you might have to pay for items not still under warranty.
 
I found it nesessary to calibrate for each lens. 2 required +9. One did not require any adjustment. It is easy to calibrate useing micro adjust on the 7D
 
Is there a simple way of testing if a lens needs calibrating?
 
do most of your shots look out of focus. If so it may need calibrating. But may sure you under stand exactly how the AF works first.
 
First you Need to understand exactly how AF works. You can the use a some thing with a regular set of lines( rule, railings, Newspaper ect) Select manuel focus point. have the target at an angle to the lens. At a distence a few cm ferther than minimum focus.At max apature. Take shot check where camera is focusing. Then use focus micro adjust n camera look up in camera manuel. Hope this helps
 
Last edited:
dougan said:
Is there a simple way of testing if a lens needs calibrating?

There are easy tests (e.g. ruler against a cereal box) but you might want to try out FoCal (http://www.reikan.co.uk/focal) - I've used it on my 7D and 5D II and it works a treat! As easy as a mouse click once set up!!
 
Is there a simple way of testing if a lens needs calibrating?

  • Set your camera up on a tripod aimed at a large, flat object that is parallel to the plane of the sensor and fills the frame. A cereal box, or similar works well.
  • Make sure the target is well lit and put the camera into Av mode. Choose the widest aperture for your lens and set the ISO to 100.
  • You should have a fast shutter speed (better than 1/200). If its slow then increase the light on the target. If that's not possible increase the ISO.
  • Go into LiveView and take a shot using the default 'Live Mode' AF.
  • Switch to 'Quick Mode' (p.142 of the manual) and take another shot.

The Quick Mode image will have used the normal Phase Difference (PD) AF sensor, the Live Mode image will have used the Contrast Detect (CD) method of AF. CD is more accurate than PD. If the Quick Mode image is a lot blurrier than the Live Mode image then you may need to MA your system
 
ive read most of the forums about self calibration and stuff
and also tried to micro ajust how they say do it with no luck

so i think the easiest way is to send it off and get it done profesionally
not saying your tips arnt worth trying though :)
 
hi guys this has probably been asked hundreds of trimes before but is there a way to get an accurate shutter count?
 
Does anyone ever find much need for MF adjustment? Just had a play-around with my 24-105mm and didn't see much difference whether I tweaked either side of zero. It's never really occurred to me that a lens wouldn't be functioning as it was intended to. Love my new 7D, though it is a heavy beast!
 
First real practical use of my new7D today at the local creature park. Using my non IS 70-200mm F2.8L, I took 153 sots of various beasties including big cats, meerkats and swimming ducks, swans and the like. Only two, yes really, only two shots were binned due to focus not being spot on! I am totally amazed with this camera. On a previous trip there using my 550D and 5DII, I was deleting at least 50%.

I think I'm in love again :love:
 
Last edited:
First real practical use of my new7D today at the local creature park. Using my non IS 70-200mm F2.8L, I took 153 sots of various beasties including big cats, meerkats and swimming ducks, swans and the like. Only two, yes really, only two shots were binned due to focus not being spot on! I am totally amazed with this camera. On a previous trip there using my 550D and 5DII, I was deleting at least 50%.

I think I'm in love again :love:
I know what you mean... I have recently got the non IS 2.8, a fantastic combo :thumbs:
 
Back
Top