Some actual first impression of the R7 (with first images)

I got my R7 today, and spent an hour or two customizing it to my initial liking. I'm sure I'll continue to tweak my settings as I get to know it. I have my four directional buttons set up the same as on my R: up switches between screen and EVF (I don't like to rely on the sensor to do that automatically); left switches between one shot and servo; right brightens the screen; down turns the screen off. I have also set my AF-ON button to toggle tracking on and off (and turned off tracking as the default). My movie shooting button does direct AF area selection (and I've narrowed down the available options somewhat--will probably continue to tweak that). My ISO button toggles silent shooting mode (which automatically engages e-shutter). The star button gives me direct access to drive mode. My AF point button engages auto level, which, interestingly, only works with e-shutter or full mechanical, and not EFCS. If you are in EFCS, which I am by default, turning on auto level puts you into full mechanical. If you are in e-shutter, perhaps by engaging silent mode, it stays there. My DOF preview button is set for eye detection AF. This is an interesting feature. If you are in one of the AF area modes that's not full screen, engaging tracking gives you eye detect (assuming you have that enabled), but it only looks for eyes within the area that you are currently using (makes sense). But, if you hold down the button for eye detection AF while in one of these restricted modes, it will look for eyes anywhere in the whole frame, while you have the button held down. This could be very useful if you are using one of the restricted modes when an eye appears at the edge of the frame, and you want to grab it quickly. From my initial testing, it works very well.

So, first impressions. This is a very well thought-out camera. The level of customization is great, and some of the options available have clearly been designed with real photographers in mind. The camera is a little smaller and lighter than my R. Enough to be noticeable (in a good way), but not a lot. Although the EVF is lower resolution than the R, I can't honestly tell the difference. I can tell that the EVF is miles ahead of the detachable EVF for my M6II, which has the same resolution. What that tells me is that screen resolution itself is not the most important feature of an EVF, by a long way, and people who whined about the lower resolution without ever trying it out need to try it for themselves. It's actually a great EVF. I do have it set to smooth and suppress low frame rate, which probably improves how it looks. No freezing, stuttering, or anything like that yet. It probably takes more battery power, but I have plenty of spares, so I'm not worried about that.

Ergonomically, I like it a lot. I actually love the new placement of the joystick inside the dial. It feels very natural, and I very much doubt whether I will have a problem with accidental changes. I also love the three position on-off switch. I guess that really shows that ergonomics are very personal. Jordan Drake didn't seem to like either of those things. But then he is pretty much a video-centric guy. I'm approaching this camera from the point of view of a photographer, who pretty much ignores the video side of things.

I've taken a few test shots so far, just the usual cats, wife, and squirrel that was tormenting one of our cats. I've used it with the 18-150 kit lens, the RF 85 F2, and the RF 24-105L. All seem to perform well with it. DXO now supports the R7, which is great, but they don't yet have a module for the RF 18-150. Deep Prime seems to work with that lens, but not the lens corrections. Everything works with the other two. Here are some samples, mostly crops, resized to 2000 pixels on the longest side. I'm not interested in giving scientific lab tests for this camera. Just in using it, and giving an idea of what kind of results someone like me can get on the first day with it:

Not bad for ISO 12,800 (the highest I currently have auto ISO set to) with the kit lens, given that DXO doesn't have a module for this lens yet.

The next three are with the RF 85 F2 wide open at more moderate ISO levels:

And finally some outdoor shots with the RF 24-105L:

I was impressed with how quickly and easily the camera grabbed the eye on this squirrel. These are pretty heavy crops:

I should have set a faster shutter speed here. He was moving.

I'd changed the minimum shutter speed to 1/500, but the squirrel had gone, and my cat was his usual lazy self.

One more absurdly high ISO shot, and quite a crop too.

This is my first camera with animal eye AF, and it's quite a revelation. Not only that, but the human eye detect seems to work better than both my R and my M6II. I love the feature that lets you switch quickly between detected eyes using the joystick. I haven't done any fast burst shooting with it yet. I've kept it in 3fps for e-shutter and EFCS. I'll be testing out the fast sports tracking soon, I hope (that's the main reason I bought it).

So far, so good.

Looks pretty good for a first day. Nice portraits.

I'm still waiting for mine up in Fort Collins. It may arrive too late for the moose season.

The high ISO looks pretty good. My 90D was decent at high ISO ratings too.

Hope you find it to be to your taste.

Congratulations on getting the new R7!

On that 18-150 lens, it is optically the same as the "M" version, so if your software lets you choose a lens to correct, that would be the one.

I think you'll enjoy it.

Alastair Norcross wrote:

I got my R7 today, and spent an hour or two customizing it to my initial liking. I'm sure I'll continue to tweak my settings as I get to know it. I have my four directional buttons set up the same as on my R: up switches between screen and EVF (I don't like to rely on the sensor to do that automatically); left switches between one shot and servo; right brightens the screen; down turns the screen off. I have also set my AF-ON button to toggle tracking on and off (and turned off tracking as the default). My movie shooting button does direct AF area selection (and I've narrowed down the available options somewhat--will probably continue to tweak that). My ISO button toggles silent shooting mode (which automatically engages e-shutter). The star button gives me direct access to drive mode. My AF point button engages auto level, which, interestingly, only works with e-shutter or full mechanical, and not EFCS. If you are in EFCS, which I am by default, turning on auto level puts you into full mechanical. If you are in e-shutter, perhaps by engaging silent mode, it stays there. My DOF preview button is set for eye detection AF. This is an interesting feature. If you are in one of the AF area modes that's not full screen, engaging tracking gives you eye detect (assuming you have that enabled), but it only looks for eyes within the area that you are currently using (makes sense). But, if you hold down the button for eye detection AF while in one of these restricted modes, it will look for eyes anywhere in the whole frame, while you have the button held down. This could be very useful if you are using one of the restricted modes when an eye appears at the edge of the frame, and you want to grab it quickly. From my initial testing, it works very well.

Thanks for outlining what your preferences are, will give me some thought when I begin to try different setups.

So, first impressions. This is a very well thought-out camera. The level of customization is great, and some of the options available have clearly been designed with real photographers in mind. The camera is a little smaller and lighter than my R.

I've unboxed and mounted my control ring EF to RF adaptor, but otherwise not powered it on yet.  Size wise its a bit larger than my RP with Canon's extension grip - all in good ways but smaller than my 90D without negatively effecting the ability to hold.

The grip rubber is a bit more soft like my RP and not as rough as my 90D...will see if that matters.  I must say I always like the way the 90D felt in my hand.

....

Not bad for ISO 12,800 (the highest I currently have auto ISO set to) with the kit lens, given that DXO doesn't have a module for this lens yet.

IMO that does look good indeed.

....
This is my first camera with animal eye AF, and it's quite a revelation. Not only that, but the human eye detect seems to work better than both my R and my M6II. I love the feature that lets you switch quickly between detected eyes using the joystick. I haven't done any fast burst shooting with it yet. I've kept it in 3fps for e-shutter and EFCS. I'll be testing out the fast sports tracking soon, I hope (that's the main reason I bought it).

So far, so good.

Great to year, I never use the tracking on my 90D, not the type of shooting I use it for.  Excided to have the various detection/tracking modes and the high FPS.

kikimora wrote:

Alastair Norcross wrote:

I also love the three position on-off switch. I guess that really shows that ergonomics are very personal. Jordan Drake didn't seem to like either of those things. But then he is pretty much a video-centric guy. I'm approaching this camera from the point of view of a photographer, who pretty much ignores the video side of things.

I find it odd. I deeply dislike the three-position on-off switch exactly because I don't do video. If you're switching the camera on in a hurry you're very likely to flip the switch to video…

Seems a like it or dislike it 50:50 - hopefully better than the 95:5 dislike ratio on the R's touchbar!  Chris in dpreview was OK with it.

Main issue I have is Canon is that its so different an approach from other Canon's - if one only owns R7's then I'm sure its great.

KevinRA wrote:

kikimora wrote:

Alastair Norcross wrote:

I also love the three position on-off switch. I guess that really shows that ergonomics are very personal. Jordan Drake didn't seem to like either of those things. But then he is pretty much a video-centric guy. I'm approaching this camera from the point of view of a photographer, who pretty much ignores the video side of things.

I find it odd. I deeply dislike the three-position on-off switch exactly because I don't do video. If you're switching the camera on in a hurry you're very likely to flip the switch to video…

Seems a like it or dislike it 50:50 - hopefully better than the 95:5 dislike ratio on the R's touchbar!

I love the touchbar on my R.

Chris in dpreview was OK with it.

Main issue I have is Canon is that its so different an approach from other Canon's - if one only owns R7's then I'm sure its great.

Yes, it takes a bit of getting used to. I've owned many different Canons over the years, so I'm used to having to get used to different configurations. I like the fact that Canon aren't afraid to try different designs, probably knowing that they will be blasted for it by a lot of users. The main thing is that they aren't just trying something different for the sake of being different. Everything they do has a reason, and it's often a good one (at least from my perspective).

kikimora wrote:

Alastair Norcross wrote:

I also love the three position on-off switch. I guess that really shows that ergonomics are very personal. Jordan Drake didn't seem to like either of those things. But then he is pretty much a video-centric guy. I'm approaching this camera from the point of view of a photographer, who pretty much ignores the video side of things.

I find it odd. I deeply dislike the three-position on-off switch exactly because I don't do video. If you're switching the camera on in a hurry you're very likely to flip the switch to video…

Well, I guess I'm never in that much of a hurry then. We'll see, but I suspect that I'm at most ever so slightly likely to flip the switch to video, and certainly not very likely.

This is my first camera with animal eye AF, and it's quite a revelation.

It's good, but it's not perfect. My first test shots were withe the easiest subject possible (an owl) and first thing the camera did was not finding eyes… On the other hand it sometimes finds eyes with ease when I can't see them (obviously I know where they are, but being black on a black background they are hard to see with bad light).

Distinctly Average wrote:

Glad to see you have done the job correctly with som cat photo and what lovely cats they are. Wish mine were still around.

Interesting setup you have. Mine is a bit different. Starting with the DOF button I have that configured for ratings. By default ratings is one star or off but I configured it to give 1-5 stars.

I have never rated shots in camera. Only ever in Lightroom or Photolab. The only things I do to shots in camera are keep or delete. If I'm going to be putting something on a hard drive, I figure it's easier to rate it on the computer, with a bigger view.

The back button AF I have for eye control animal af. To go with it I have the magnify/ar select button configured to direct af area control with only full, wide/short zone and single point. These work as a starting point and tracking continues full area. The * button is configured for singe point old skool AF.

The D pad I have up set to start exposure compensation, on click and I can adjust with the top dial. I wish it was just a hold and turn rather than a hold, release and turn.

Down I have set to switch on burst pre capture as I have begun to experiment with it.

Whether these settings will change I don’t know, probably will as I use the camera more.

Yes, I'm sure mine will too. In fact, I've already changed the AF select button back to its default, because I needed it like that to customize the AF area for the flexible zones. And I have the auto level on one of my quick menu screens, so it's quickly enough accessible. I figure that I will use auto level for landscape shots, and I won't be in a tearing hurry for them, so an extra second or too won't matter.

I too find the EVF fine. Works really well for shooting but not as good as the R5 for reviewing fine detail after a shot is taken. I do use it set to high speed too and it seems to have negligible effect on battery life.

I find the three way power switch great in use, canon have got the pressure spot on for me.

Ive customised a lot and am currently pleased with how it is setup.

kikimora wrote:

Alastair Norcross wrote:

I also love the three position on-off switch. I guess that really shows that ergonomics are very personal. Jordan Drake didn't seem to like either of those things. But then he is pretty much a video-centric guy. I'm approaching this camera from the point of view of a photographer, who pretty much ignores the video side of things.

I find it odd. I deeply dislike the three-position on-off switch exactly because I don't do video. If you're switching the camera on in a hurry you're very likely to flip the switch to video…

In your usage, why do you elect to power off vs allowing camera to power down based on the integrated timer?

I find myself turning the camera on when I start shooting and off when I get back home, but come from a mostly 90D (DSLR background), though I really cannot complain with my RP's battery usage either.  If I'm able to keep my more typical usage I suspect the three position power switch will be irrelevant.

Johnnyxbow wrote:

Yes so far so good, have you used DXO Pure Raw on these shots. I have started using it on R5 and now R7, it is amazing software.

I agree. I've been using it since last November, when I got it at the Black Friday discount. All these shots used DXO PL5, which includes Deep Prime (which is the same as Pure Raw).

Nature Lover 2018 wrote:

Could you help me with this?

I am planning to upgrade my canon D80 camera to the R7. My only use is for wildlife photography, mainly birds. Questions

1. I heard the mechanical shutter is unusually noisy (audible), so it may scare the birds (that sometimes came close enough and present unique opportunities for great photos). Is the mechanical shutter noisy, like a machine gun? Canon EOS R7 Shutter sound check (mechanical) - YouTube

Very loud.

2. Also, I have reports that the shutter button is mushy, and it is difficult to sense the midway to activate the autofocus, and ones ends up taking the photo before ready. What is your experience with this? Usually I focus on a bird, and I have to stay on it while gyrates to a better position for the photo. During that time, I keep the shutter button halfway (while balancing in one leg at the edge of a deep creek)

It's more like the shutter on "Pro" models. There is a pretty hard stop before full press.

3. Any feeling yet if using the electronic shutter reduces the battery life. I spend long days in the field, carry two batteries, and I do not want to run out of juice far from my base.

Just the opposite. It takes more energy to move the mechanical shutter.

4. Finally, any experience using the adaptors for EF lenses? I have zoom lenses that are all for the D80, which are EF lenses.

No problems with adapters. The usefulness will depend on the lens used.

It seems that the autofocus capabilities of the R7 are superior to the 80 and 90D. I wander if they can be useful to focus on birds in the grass, obstructed by thin grass (or small leaves, thin straw, etc.).

Very much so.

Sorry so brief, gotta run...

R2

Click on "original size"

I liked it better when it started to snow later in the afternoon...

Click on "original size"