New Canon 7D for Christmas

TheRightMoments

TheRightMoments

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Helen
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Hi All, hope you have had a great Christmas :)

I was very lucky and I got a new Canon EOS 7D from my husband which im so excited and happy about.
I thought it would be similar to use as my 500D but has I have been having a little play with it, it appears not to be :thinking:
I have tried it on the same setting that I would use with my 500D and im not getting the same results - is it completely different and im doing it wrong for this camera?
I wondered if there was a better user guide available than the manual that comes with it in the box?
I find the manuals very basic and I always like to learn from examples (something that shows a picture taken and explains what settings have been used)
Any helps would be much appreciated :)

Many thanks
Hels
 
Its a big step up for sure but the 7D is a cracking camera and its worth the effort to learn it. The learning curve is steep to start with, but then it all falls into place. The 7D owners thread on here is full of useful advice, but the best I can offer other than what has already said, is to use it, play with it, experiment, and enjoy it, that way you will learn all its nooks and crannies.
Good luck and congrats on your pressie.
 
helen i have no end of cameras from both canon and nikon and would class myself as a fairly well experienced digital photographer ,and even i'm having problems with the 7d ,its starting to fall into place now but has really taken some time .very frustrating i know full well .it might help if you gave some other info i.e your subject matter and lenses used then perhaps the answers could be more specific to your interests
 
I had a similar experience. I got a 7d a few months back having used a 40d for years.

It only took me a couple of weeks to get used to what I think is a great camera. I found one of the David Busch books to be a great learning tool. David Busch's Canon eos 7d.
 
To add to my previous comment, and the others that have followed, especially Jeff's, you really must take it a step at a time, you certainly wont learn it all in one go, and trying to read everything about it at once then attempting to apply it wont work. Take it slowly and you'll get there, I'm looking forward to seeing some of your results.
 
I made the same jump some time back and also found it very different. I bought David Busch's Book on the 7D and read it on from cover to cover learnt a great deal. After a month I found it hard to use the 500D so gave it to my father.

Top tips on the auto focus

Use the toggle on the back for selecting focus point I rarely use one shot now
Custom functions
C.Fniii. 7 set to continous
C.Fniii. 12 set to different

Upload latest firmware and update DPP if you use it.

Enjoy
 
TheRightMoments said:
Hi All, hope you have had a great Christmas :)

I was very lucky and I got a new Canon EOS 7D from my husband which im so excited and happy about.
I thought it would be similar to use as my 500D but has I have been having a little play with it, it appears not to be :thinking:
I have tried it on the same setting that I would use with my 500D and im not getting the same results - is it completely different and im doing it wrong for this camera?
I wondered if there was a better user guide available than the manual that comes with it in the box?
I find the manuals very basic and I always like to learn from examples (something that shows a picture taken and explains what settings have been used)
Any helps would be much appreciated :)

Many thanks
Hels
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You are a lucky lady and what a good husband.:)

I had David Busch's 7D book for Christmas and have found it brilliant, also have a look at the link below, that guy knows all there is to know about the 7D.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=768556
 
TheRightMoments said:
I just didn't expect it to be so different in the settings to my 500D!!
Click to expand...

You've upgraded your hatchback run-about to a firebreathing sports car! Once you get used to it you'll never want to go back to anything less!
 
the black fox said:
helen i have no end of cameras from both canon and nikon and would class myself as a fairly well experienced digital photographer ,and even i'm having problems with the 7d ,its starting to fall into place now but has really taken some time .very frustrating i know full well .it might help if you gave some other info i.e your subject matter and lenses used then perhaps the answers could be more specific to your interests
Click to expand...

Hi,
My subjects are mainly weddings, portraits and sport (dogs and horses).
I currently use a canon nifty fifty f1.8, sigma 10 - 20mm, sigma 24 - 70mm F2.8 and I hire a canon 70 - 200mm f2.8 (as I cant afford to buy one!)
Im very excited to start using it properly and I have my first wedding of the year at the end of Jan (but a bit nervous to be honest about using it :exit::exit:)
 
minnnt said:
yep, the 500d will be good as a back up, but you need to shoot ALOT of pics between now and the wedding so you are familiar with it.
Click to expand...

Yes I do need to and luckily its my friends wedding so I can still use the 500D as my main camera but have a practice with the 7D too:-)
 
Hi Helen

Welcome to the 7D club. I too like many others on here had a bit of a love/hate relationship with my 7D. But despite it's shortcomings I think it is a brilliant camera that will reward in spades some efforts to master it.

I would say that generally it punishes poor technique like nothing else I had used before and if there was a poor image on the screen in front of me it was mostly (probably 90%+) due to poor technique.

Best pieces of advice,

1. chase that focus point round the screen like your life depends on it, do not trust any of the "area" focus modes until you are very familiar with the camera.
2. Do not under any circumstances underexpose with this camera, shoot RAW and use it to pull back any slightly blown highlights, but always expose to the right.

HTH

David
 
Willid1 said:
1. chase that focus point round the screen like your life depends on it, do not trust any of the "area" focus modes until you are very familiar with the camera.
Click to expand...

One funky feature over your 500D which you may find useful for weddings (I do) is different focus points for portrait and landscape mode. I find this a godsend.

2. Do not under any circumstances underexpose with this camera, shoot RAW and use it to pull back any slightly blown highlights, but always expose to the right.
Click to expand...

This! Always over-expose with this camera.
 
Some of the very useful AF modes are turned off by default so worth checking in the menus to see

Also a good idea to set up some of the custom modes as general starting points of your choice.

I never had much luck using the spot focus point, found it a bit too precise and hard to keep on target hand held
 
I've used the 7D since launch week and like everyone else found it a cause of frustration. Enable expanded single focus point and expose slightly to the right, slow down the af switch speed by one notch, keep ISO sensible and shoot raw, hopefully set of tweaks this will improve your keepers a lot and get you on the right path.
 
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I recently moved from the 7D to the 5D Mklll, for no other reason than I wanted to go full-frame, and still have a mag-alloy bodied camera.

You'll love the 7D Helen, it is a very capable camera, and once you find your way around it, you'll love it even more.

Enjoy!!

Dave
 
Wow I have so much more to learn!! Thank you everyone for your help its great to read and learn from you all :-)
Please keep your help and advice coming :-)
 
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