By Jay Holben, June 23, 2010
This is perhaps one of the most perplexing reviews I have written.
I take great pains to be thorough in my reviews, to consider all the angles and put the tools through real, practical testing. I had the chance to do all of this with the Canon EOS 7D hybrid DSLR/HD camera—and more. Due to Canon's generosity, I've had the camera in my hands for much longer than most reviews would ever merit and I've had the opportunity to do several tests, both still shoots and a short film for director Jamie Neese. (Read about that project here: "When Daylight Fades.")
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As with all reviews, there are aspects of the Canon EOS 7D that I am critical about; no product is perfect and no single product can do everything that everyone would possibly want. My biggest conundrum here is that my most significant issues with the Canon 7D arise because I am trying to use the camera for what it was not designed to do! Although the 7D has HD video capabilities—1920x1080 MPEG-4 H.264 AVC format with a Super 35mm-sized (APS-C) sensor—this is not a digital video camera. This is a still camera, and as a still camera, it's fantastic. I have been very happy with the quality, features and performance of the 7D as a still camera. The sensitivity of the chip is rather astounding, even with the slow 28-135mm or 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 package lenses.
My critical comments come from the camera's shortcomings when shooting HD video in a production environment. In short, when you use the camera for what it's not really meant to be used for, you have problems. Go figure.
The problems, however, are not insurmountable—and considering the cost of the camera and the quality of images it is capable of, in addition to the third-party tools and accessories coming to market for DSLR hybrid cameras, most of my issues quickly become moot.
So, with all that in mind, I'll dive into my thoughts on the 7D. An HD digital video camera with a full Super 35mm-sized sensor (22.3mm x 14.9mm) and 6400 ISO sensitivity for $1,700 is truly remarkable. The image quality is astounding—even though it's H.264 MPEG-4 4:2:0 video. Color representation and latitude are fantastic. The 7D shoots 1920x1080, 1280x720 or 640x480 video at 29.97, 25, 23.976, 59.94 or 50fps. Both 1920x1080 and 1280x720 are recorded at 330 MB/min (44 Mb/s).
The camera's sensitivity is stunning, and noise levels remain very low:
Although I wish it could go lower than 100 ISO, the image is really clean all the way up to 1600 ISO, where you start to see some noise—but even at 3200 ISO, the noise was not objectionable to me for most situations. 6400 is pretty noisy, but still better than +9db gain on many other cameras. If you're shooting with the less-expensive EF lenses, which are typically in the f/3.5-5.6 range, you're going to need this extra sensitivity for sure.
As this is a still camera, not a video camera, there are things that are missing that videographers have typically taken for granted. One of the first things I encountered with the 7D was the lack of built-in ND filters. My first time shooting with the 7D was at a San Diego Chargers game at Qualcomm Stadium. Canon invited me down to test out the 7D on the field, and I was excited to try out the 24p and creamy depth of field with some good sports action. Nope! Sorry, Charlie. With broad daylight and 100 ISO being the lowest I could go, I was shooting 24p video (at 1/30 sec) at an f/22 to try and get a clean exposure. Bye-bye creamy depth of field. Had I known, I would have brought some NDs with me, but at that rate, I'd be stacking two ND 1.2s and God only knows what I would have seen in the viewfinder!
The ergonomics of the camera are also very rough. Although it's well designed as a still camera, though maybe a tad bit small, it's horribly designed as a video camera. Handholding the camera while shooting video is atrocious! You absolutely have to have some third-party accessories for handholding, such as Redrock Micro or Zacuto accessories.
When mounted on a tripod, you quickly see flaws in the design: the battery compartment is at the base of the camera, and the camera has to be removed from the tripod to exchange the battery. Further, in movie mode, the batteries just get devoured. You'll get an hour and a half per battery in movie mode at best.
One of the biggest issues with the 7D—and it's a significant one—is focus. Focus is extremely difficult in many respects. Videographers may not be used to the limited depth of field of the larger sensor—where focus is even more critical. The EF lenses, even the professional "L" series, are designed primarily for autofocus, and their manual focus abilities leave much to be desired. The focus scales on these lenses are compressed, not expanded (as on cine-style lenses). They're typically in small little windows on the top of the lens that are impossible for an operator to see and extremely difficult for a camera assistant to see. The best solution is to utilize an external monitor—both as a viewfinder and as a focus assist. Fortunately, the signal coming out of the 7D's HDMI port is true 1080i (unlike with the 5D), so you can use an external monitor for focus.
One of the many nifty features of the 7D is Dual-Axis Electronic Level display. In Live View mode, the leveling feature looks much like an airplane's attitude indicator, with an artificial horizon line. The lines light up green when your pitch and roll have settled into a nice, even state.
I did not want to give this camera up. Despite the ergonomic shortcomings of using a DSLR as an HD camera, the 7D is a phenomenal tool. The images are beautiful, they integrate easily into Final Cut Pro, and the price is unbeatable. Yes, you need an external sound recorder. No, there is no timecode in the 7D footage. This is like going back to shooting film—with a 12-minute load (max file size in HD is 4GB regardless of your CF card size)—and dual-system sound. You're going to need slates, you're going to need to sync the audio in post. For many, this will seem like a backwards step; for others, it'll be business as usual.
The 7D represents a giant step forward in inexpensive, high-quality, film-like HD video. Be cautioned, however: you're likely to spend four to five times the cost of the camera in accessories to make it production friendly.
If you're a serious owner/operator, you'll want to look into Zeiss' or Schneider's new prime lenses with EF mounts. These will not only provide beautiful pictures, but will be much more production friendly, while still being compact and useable.
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