Take two: Canon EOS 7D Mark II Review

Worried about autofocus tracking issues? Found this comment on Amazon: "It isn't a mater of just putting the camera in AI Servo, and shooting away. There are a bunch of case modes that you can tweak for the type of action you're shooting. What I would also recommend is turning on all 65-points for your AI Servo needs. You can customize the camera to only show the center point. When you do that, whatever you initially focus on with the center point, will be tracked with the other 64 points as it moves across the frame. Once I did that, my keeper rate skyrocketed. Before this, I would use the single point expanded with four points around it, or the 15 cluster points. The focus in both of these cases was erratic, especially when shooting with a fast aperture where depth of field is razor thin to begin with."

I have mixed feelings about the 7D II having used one a lot alongside a MkIV and 1DX.

- The AF is quick I'll give it that - easily on a par with the 1DX and slightly better in low light - but I've found in servo (AI) mode it doesn't lock on as well as either of the 1 series bodies I use, even when set to it's slowest point for tracking. In part I think this is down to it needing a degree of MFA on the 600mm lens I use, something the 1 series bodies have not needed, but I want to be confident in what I use and out of the box I just don't have that confidence with this body.

- The ISO noise is little better than the Mk IV.

- For resolving things at distance the MkIV is much better (as is the 1DX).

Your mileage may vary and I may have received a copy that needs some tweaking. I'm not saying the 7DII is a bad camera and it is an improvement on the original 7D, but I'm sticking with the MkIV and 1DX.

the review lost me here a bit.

1) Where the real potential of the AF Area Selection Lever is realized, however, is the ability to assign one of a handful of custom functions to it, including AE lock, ISO setting, and exposure compensation.

2)Another way I frequently used the lever was to assign it to toggle between whatever AF area was selected and the center (or other pre-selected) AF point.

how did you assign the lever to go to pre-selected AF point
when the options were:
AE lock
ISO
exp compensation

?

I have had my 7D Mark II for exactly one year now and I absolutely love it!! I shoot a lot of Track & Field, Cross Country, and misc College sports. This camera is lighting fast and produces amazing images, so capturing sports is NO problem for good ole' Mark ;-) Lens I shoot with are the 70-200 f/2.8 II IS and 85 f/1.8 and it's like a marriage made in Heaven. If you're looking to shoot wildlife or sports this camera is the one for you! Buy it, you won't regret it

Just bought the 7Dk2..I have the original 7d and a 6D.. I use the 7D for nature and do a lot of BiF. Something that I think is significant but didn't notice in any reviews is the meter in manual mode is off to the right side of the screen instead of in the center as in the 6D and original 7D.. If you wear glasses as I do it's very difficult to see the meter and even without glasses you have to take your eyes off the subject to ensure your meter is correct. When the action happens fast this is a problem..

Just confirmed that the autofocus in movie mode is disabled when shotting at 59.94 frames per second. A bummer, and I can find no mention of it anywhere online. Yes, you can press the AF ON button to focus while shooting, but you're not getting the tracking AF that this review touts so highly when shooting at the faster frame rate. I'm sure there are technical reasons for it, but it's a bummer for my style of video shooting.

I'm quite happy with my newly bought 7DMKII. I know it's not the latest on the line, but had to wait a year for the price to drop down a bit.

I love the 7DMK ii. I just upgraded from the 7D. I was thinking of buying the 5DMK iii but it's still expensive for me and I don't even have an L lens yet. So, for the price of the 5DMK iii I was able to get a 7DMK ii + battery grip and my first L lens, 24-70 f4 IS USM. Awesome combo.

I've been using my 7DMkii alongside my 5DMkiii for the last 10 months. I take both bodies on most expeditions, and use with 100mm IS macro mostly. I'm a pro wildlife photographer, and I typically shoot about 30,000 images per year.

My experience is that 5DMkiii has bigger brighter viewfinder which makes depth of field and manual focus assessment much easier. 7DMkii however is much faster and more accurate in autofocus mode.

The greater reach of the crop sensor is valuable for much of the subject matter I shoot, and its a lot cheaper and weighs a lot less than using an equivalent angle-of-view lens on a full frame body.

I still use the 5DMkiii in very poor light when it has an ISO vs noise advantage, but for 95% of my photography I find myself picking up the 7DMkii instead.

It may be marginally inferior in some ways to certain Nikon or Sony cameras, but overall the 7DMkii is a fantastic camera and I can't think of any other model from any maker that I would use in preference.

Thanks for your thoughts. I actually made a typo - I currently have a 70D (not 7D) but I suspect that doesn't make much of a difference in relation to your response.

I have had the 7D MKII for about 5 months. I use it mostly for PRCA rodeo's. It is a great camera. but not as a 2nd to the 7D though... it is much closer to a 1Dx than a 7D in most aspects. I think it depends on how large a print and or the cropping that you do. The 6D is much cleaner in low light but then again, the 6D only has 11 focus points compared to the 7D MKII's 65 all cross types. The focusing cant compare. I miss very few shots and that counts for a lot. I now use my 1Ds MKII and 1D MKII as backups. The 5D MKIII has better focusing than the 6D if you can afford one.

While a bit over-priced, quality is not questionable - I've seen pretty good photos from it. But honestly I would personally go for 6D.

I shoot with a Mark III and now a new 7D Mark II. I love it! Have had it for two weeks and am so looking forward to football season. Great all the way around from cost to sharpness. Buy this camera!

I've been using the 7dii since launch and also own a 6d and x100s. The 7dii image quality is outstanding, and the raw files have huge latitude for editing.....if needed. If you can't take a decent photo with this camera for sports, wildlife....even portraits and landscape, then different brands with different sensors won't be your answer.

One thing I think people perhaps forget about is the cost, I was going to buy a 5D3 this year and realised for similar money I was able to have a 6D and 7D2, now the 6D has as good image quailty and low light capability as the 5D3 and the 7D2 has the speed and dynamics almost as good as a 1DX, so now I can do fantastic landscapes and architecture and then change to the 7D2 and take mind blowing sports and wildlife, all with the same glass. Fantastic !!
In regard to Image quailty, the 7D2 is noticably less than the 6D, may be as much as 20% less, but for wildlife and sport its focus and exposure system is just incredible, but you do need a 1066x CF card to get the most out of it!

No touch screen is a con? ! Did my 12 year old nephew have a say in this review :)

Yeah i agree with Photo Nest.
I have four Canon DSLR'S ,two being 5D3 and 7D2.
I also find touch screens awful there just a toy an add on you really don't need
and something to easily break.
Do yourselves a favor, grab a 7D2 and a good lens get off your butts
go outside learn to use it and it will blow you away.
This is one awesome camera and does not deserve to be picked to pieces by
people who most likely have never used one.

Everybody has the right to their own opinion, I've read some reviews here and honestly let me share something with you, take it from a pro with 28 years in the industry and an active portrait photographer still, what's not to like about this camera??

Those who are writing awful things about the 7DII must be Nikon, Sony or some other brand's shooter and want to make the 7DII look bad for no reason.

"If" and again "if" you know what you are doing this camera with the proper
L Series lens will provide you with excellent image quality and satisfaction.

Some people even complaint about the 7DII not having touch screen, hey I don't even like touch screen.

It's a beautiful piece of equipment, I am very happy with mine, but yes gotta have the glass guys, if not you'll never find out what this camera can give you!!

This camera is a complete flop in my opinion. I'm really disappointed with Canon's IQ as of late. Nikon/Sony have completely changed the game with respects to IQ. Nikon was cranking out images that looked this good or better almost 10 years ago. However, I Can't wait to see the image quality from the 5DS! If it surpasses the D800 series we are all winners!

I know any forum on any subject is bound to have users debating the finer points of the latest technology and whether it executes well, has evolved and trumps the competition.

I can't help but wonder if all that discourse misses the point, of in this case, does it take great stills and videos?

I have yet to be proven that a $$$$ camera makes you a better photographer that puts out superior pictures than a competent amateur with a 50D.

I know this won't, and is not intended to, stop the technology pit talk, but just show me the pics.

Best selling camera at B&H

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Digital-Cameras/ci/9811/N/4288586282

I finally realise what a lot of friends are telling is to believe in what you try, been a Nikon user for 6 years I rented the 7D MKii for 2 days and end up selling all of my nikon glasses and buying this camera. (user of d750,d810,d7100)
whatever they are saying and I am pointing to DXO Mark don't believe it I did a direct compare to d7100 and IQ in 7D MK ii beats the nikon by a big margin, I encourage everyone to do it and see how quality, IQ, ergonomics and Focusing in Canon is way ahead of Nikon.
That said, now I have a question for Dpreview, why the video quality is not compare to other SLR (d750,d810....ex) but instead its compared to GH4 and A7S which meant for video? GH4 almost the same price but its get the gold award where 7D mk ii way ahead in image quality and silver award if we don't add the focussing, build quality,......ex? and really metering and focusing quality in D7100 better? you joking ? Even the 90% d750 can't match the 7D MKii in this area!!

WOW, the 7D Mark II is really a niche product! For the average photographer, can't think of one good reason to go for the Mark II. I have noticed on the DPREVIEW traffic meter that it is generating very little interest, this is a half baked offering. Not interested at all.

As I said before, to bad Canon didn't use a Sony/Toshiba sensor in this camera. IMO the D7100 has better IQ then the 7DMKll. With that said, if I didn't have so much Nikon glass, I would have jumped ship to this camera in a heart beat as I only shoot wildlife photos.

Video-wise it would seem that its another triumph for Panasonic.

I spent 8 hours hiking Illinois' Shawnee National Forest for snakes in Oct '14, with both a Canon 70D and a Sony a7R swinging around my neck as I both photographed and dodged dozens of cottonmouth moccasins and a few copperheads. With appropriate lenses on both, the image quality from the Canon sensor suffered so badly from the comparison I have subsequently unloaded all my Canon gear. EVF is a revelation. Those not using an EVF are using a pre-WYSIWYG computer. The Sony sensor is a revelation (think vastly superior DR).
This comment is likely to evoke unparalleled abuse from Canon fanbois, but if anyone is capable of critical thinking, I hope it will help someone else get the images to which they aspire.

#NoFlare

Canon 7DMkii cheated of Gold Award!

Can someone explain why, in 2014, a score of only 82% resulted in DPR Gold Awards for the Panasonic FZ1000, Sony RX10, Sony RX100 iii and Olympus OMD-EM10?

The Panasonic DMC-GMI even managed to get a Gold Award with just 78%

Why was the Canon 7DMkii only given a Silver Award, despite achieving a score of 84% in your own review????

Surely the level of award should be directly linked to the percentage score.

Hey DPR, how about a few no recall bonus points?

Oops... My fingers slipped... I appear to have bought one....

The 7D Mark II is not full frame, but seems to come close.

I am pleased with my new 7D II. Most of the improvements, over the 7D, may be incremental, but they seem to exceed their sum total, in my opinion. There is nothing incremental about a second card slot, or being able to AF with my EF400/5.6L + Extender 1.4X III. Previously, the cost of the latter was the price, weight, and bulk of a 1D/1Ds-series body.

I am not anti-Sony, and perhaps a Sony can beat the 7D II in some ways, while costing less, but can a Sony readily accept, and fully function with, my primary work-horse lens, the EF 100mm 2.8L Macro IS, Canon Macro Ringlite, 580EX II, and 600EX-RT? Buying a Sony is easy, but building a new selection of lenses, flash, and accessories can be quite a task.

For what is is worth, the P&S camera that preceded my DSLRs was a quite like-able Sony. Had Sony offered a more-complete, mature DSLR system at the time, I might have followed the Sony path.

The 7D II is a good addition to my "team," priced right, the same as the 7D in 2009.

Please check the Chasseur d'Images review of the 7DII (January 2015 issue) - and the conclusions. And the add-on with real life shooting experience (in the same January 2015 issue).