The 7D was the first Canon DLSR to include a Speedlite commander mode in its built-in flash, a feature that captured my attention very quickly.  For years now, Nikon users have has commander capabilities built into their DSLRs, SB-800 Speedlights, and dedicated commander units.  Canon shooters, on the other hand, have had…well, very little.

Very little, that is, if you’re looking for TTL control.  If you’re shooting Strobist-style, with manual flash settings, then any “dumb” radio triggers will work (although all units except the Canon 580EX lack PC ports, so you’re left at the mercy of hotshoe adapters).  So long as you don’t mind running from flash to flash to change the output, this works okay.

But for TTL flash, there were exactly two options: the antiquated ST-E2 Speedlite Transmitter, or a 550EX/580EX flash hotshoe-mounted in master mode.  The ST-E2 only shoots forward along the lens axis and only triggers groups A & B; if you want to use group C, you’re out of luck.  That leaves a 550/580EX, and personally I’ve always found the idea of using a $500+ 580EX on-camera as a master unit incredibly annoying; it’s large and somewhat unwieldy, and it seems like a very poor utilization of an expensive flash.

Canon ST-E2 Speedlite Transmitter

The 7D stood to correct this with a built-in master capability; suddenly your Canon Speedlites can be controlled from the camera’s menu system.  Set your groups, ratios, manual output – no more running between flashes, it’s a whole new level of control in the camera, where it should be.

Problem is, it doesn’t work very well.  Consider the physics: the 7D’s flash measures 1″x.25″ in size.  That’s a hugely unimpressive .25 square inches total.  And because of the pop-up mechanism, the flash head will only face forward; there’s no bounce or swivel.  It’s underpowered, tiny, and restricted – puny is the word that comes to mind.

After having used it in a range of situations, I’ve become disenchanted – while it was a good idea, and a noble try at matching the Nikon system, I have to say that it is ultimately of little use.  If your Speedlites are in front of the camera, with no obstruction between them and the built-in flash, then it’ll work pretty darn well.  But start adding in any variables – the sort of variables and setups that you’ll actually find in the real world – and the whole thing falls apart.

Half way through my last studio shoot, with half the Speedlites failing to fire simply because of their physical placement, I broke down and threw the 580EX on the hotshoe and flipped it to master mode.

Whoa.

Instant change.  Immediate improvement.  Suddenly I’m blasting commands out of a flash with a 2.75″x1.5″ emitter (that’s 4.125 square inches).  An emitter that can be tilted and swiveled around a complete hemisphere, with enough power to bounce it off a ceiling.  Where before I was working in a corner with only partial success, I was able to blanket an entire room with command signals.

Overlay of Canon 7D built-in flash vs. 580EX Speedlite flash.

Sadly, there’s just no way around it.  For dependable communication coverage and command capabilities, you need a master-capable Speedlight on-camera.  The built-in mode is more gimmick than useful tool, and frankly I believe that it should be relegated to the Rebel series, as it’s more likely to fit the needs of a hobbyist/advanced amateur with a single off-camera Speedlite than it is a professional with a full setup.

What Canon needs is a whole new unit.  There are faint rumors of a new Canon Speedlite coming soon.  My guess is that it will be a unit designed to challenge Nikon’s SB-900 (which is a very impressive Speedlight).  It will certainly retain a master mode, and will likely interface its menus with the newest EOS cameras.  But in my opinion, this is still a stopgap measure.

I return to what I said before – using a $500 Speedlite solely as a commander, adding little or no actual light to a scene, is like buying a BMW and using it only to run for groceries.  A flash with the power of a 580EX is meant to be used to light a scene!

Canon needs to go back to the drawing board and design a brand new commander unit, one that will bury the pathetic ST-E2 and give professional photographers a real option when it comes to commanding their Speedlites, which they’d then be free to use off-camera as lights.  This new unit would need tilt/swivel capability, and whether it uses visible or IR light pulses would depend on the engineers, but it should be designed to throw an aimable, powerful command pulse, with no option whatsoever for actually adding light to the exposure.

Let us use our commanders to command and our Speedlites to light!

ISO 100

ISO 200

ISO 400

ISO 800

ISO 1600

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 12800

Unlike the indoor scene, which was fairly evenly lit, this scene suffers from the reality of shooting outdoors; the sun is setting and some elements are still in the direct light while others have fallen into shadow.  It’s a full dynamic range and as such, the noise starts appearing somewhat earlier.  As before, these images are straight from the camera, except for being resized to 72 dpi and run through Save For Web, so I could upload them here.  No tonal adjustments whatsoever have been applied, and in-camera noise reduction is disabled.  All were shot with the Canon 7D + 28-135mm @ f/8.

ISO 100 – 200 are beautiful; the colors are clean and rich and there’s good detail visible.  Since landscape photographers have the luxury of fairly stable subjects, there’s little reason you’d ever need a higher ISO, so long as you have a tripod with you.

At ISO 400 there is some noise starting to creep into the darker shadow areas along the grass and in the trees, but it is subtle and does not detract from the image.  At ISO 800 there is noise appearing more or less throughout the image, even in the sky.  By ISO 1600 there’s even more throughout the image, but it still isn’t a photo-killer.  Since it is fine-grained noise, it isn’t as ugly as the noise on other cameras, like the 50D.  I’d still say that 1600 is usable, although it certainly wouldn’t be my first choice.

ISO 3200 shows moderate levels of noise throughout the image and would definitely benefit from noise reduction software.  Even after reduction, it might not be usable for high-end commercial work.  Likewise, ISO 6400 is simply bad; the noise is very visible and detracts from the image.

ISO 12800, as should be expected, is terrible.  Frankly, at this point this level of sensitivity is something of a marketing gimmick – there’s no real practical use for this setting, it just sounds cool on the spec list.  You may not want to even turn the ISO expansion on and if you do, reserve ISO 12800 for sightings of Bigfoot and UFOs.  And even then, expect people to be suspicious of the poor quality.

I’ll reiterate what I said in the rest of the review: I am very impressed with the EOS 7D and absolutely love shooting with it.  There is a marked difference from the 50D series cameras and the combination of new features and performance makes it well worth the investment for any serious photographer.  This one was designed for us.

ISO 100

ISO 200

ISO 400

ISO 800

ISO 1600

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 12800

It is my personal opinion that the ISO performance of the 7D is the best of any of the Canon’s I’ve owned.  It is certainly an improvement over the 50D.  In a properly exposed scene, I would have no reservations about shooting up to ISO 1600 while still receiving perfectly usable results.

Even ISO 3200 is acceptable; ISO 6400 is there if needed, while ISO 12800 should be reserved for times when a photo is necessary and there are no other options.  In the case of all ISO speeds, I further believe that when present, the visible noise has a much more appealing look than in the past.  As other users have noted, noise generated by the 7D has a look reminiscent of  film grain – so even when noise is present, it is easier to use artistically.

As you might expect with an 18 megapixel camera, the file sizes have grown, easily reaching between 20-25 MB.  And since Canon has continued with its policy of altering the specifications of the CR2 files, the RAW images are currently unreadable by all Adobe products.  Canon would prefer that you use their horrid Digital Photography Professional software to work with the files (see my post with full details on DPP).  However, until Adobe releases an update the CameraRAW in Photoshop CS4, there is Adobe DNG Converter 5.5, which includes a Beta profile for the 7D, which allows to to covert the RAW files to DNG files, which AdobeCameraRAW will then read and process like normal.

The beta profile appears to be working well, however it’s advisable to hold on to and RAW files for any shots you are particularly fond of, in case the official conversion software release does a better job.

Overall, based on the image quality and the combination of features present, I am thrilled to be using the 7D.  I love the look of the photos, and the overall performance of the camera.  For the first time while shooting digital, I feel I can finally say that this is truly a photographer’s camera.

The weather began clearing at the same time that we started down the trail. The elevation of Ricketts Glen meant that there was snow at the top of the trail, which provided us with some of those iconic snow & foliage images that happen all to rarely. However, by the time we really started down the gorge, most of the snow had melted off, or never managed to collect at all. Still, a dozen waterfalls and brightly colored leaves are a combination that’s hard to beat, and I ended up with several shots I am very pleased with.

The combination of the new 7D and Slik tripod worked out very, very well. The Slik is all the tripod I’ll ever need and does its job very well. The legs are tight and don’t flop open or closed and it is rock solid. I used it extensively, since most of my exposures were a second or more in length. Had I been willing to lay down on the wet rocks, I could have gotten even lower than I did.

The 7D also met all my expectations. Aside from some quick shots I posted earlier, this was its first “trial by fire.” I used the 28-135mm IS & 17-40mm lenses throughout the day, and since I was working with waterfalls, nearly all my exposures were taken at ISO 100\ and f/8 – f/16. A combination of a polarizer and ND filters helped extend the exposures past 1 second.

Focus, metering, and performance were all excellent. (There were only a few occasions when the auto-focus selection didn’t get the spot I wanted, in which case I switched to manual point selection.) I started out using my wireless remote, but soon found it difficult to juggle the remote, tripod, and camera between locations, so I switched to just using the 2-second timer, along with the mirror lock up. (If I was going to be more stationary, I’d have stuck with the remote, which worked fine.)

The only problem I encountered came when I attempted to used a second ND filter in conjunction with the other two. The combination of all three filters threw off the white balance and resulted in a strong red color cast throughout the entire image. Attempting to correct for this with a user-defined Kelvin setting was only partially successful. Taking a custom white balance might have worked as well, but instead I just removed the second ND filter, since it wasn’t having that much of an effect on the exposure time anyway. Once removed, the default Cloudy white balance once more worked correctly.

Battery life during the day was excellent – four hours of shooting – most of them long exposures with mirror lock-up – still left me with over 75% battery power, according to the battery info screen. While I initially lamented the change to the new battery pack, I have to say, it really does seem to be an improvement in terms of power capacity and usage.

Since all of the day’s shooting took place at ISO 100 or 200, I can’t report on noise performance. At the settings I used, noise wasn’t an issue, which is what we’d all expect. I can say that I very much like the look of the images capture with the camera, and I do feel that they are an improvement over previous models.

On a final note, the increased megapixel count does eat into storage space. If you haven’t guessed it yet, 18mp reduces your shot count per memory card; my 8GB card now yields about 300 shots, depending on the circumstances. The greater implication here is that any card under 4GB in size becomes almost useless in any sort of serious shooting situation. I’d say that 4GB is the smallest size you should buy; if you plan to do wedding or commercial work, don’t bother with anything smaller than 8GB, with 16GB being an even better choice.

One of the things that excited me most about the 7D was the built-in flash commander mode. Canon has been way behind Nikon in terms of flash system performance for some time now, and it’s satisfying to see that they’re finally catching up. Now, like it’s Nikon counterparts, the 7D’s built-in flash has the ability to communicate with multiple Speedlite flashes, all wirelessly. This communication covers all manner of uses – it transmits E-TTL II data, controls flash groups & power ratios, and can even control manual flash output. It can also be adjusted so that in addition to being the commander, the built-in flash provides working light as well.

Right now I only have one Canon Speedlite, but even so I’ve been able to use it wirelessly with success. Setting up the system is very easy, and once you start working with it, it’s addictive. For starters, there’s no more running between flash units to change settings. “Flash Control” is the top option on the My Menu screen (for me, at least), and all I have to do is go into the menu to change whatever settings I want. In the near future I’ll be adding two more Canon 430EX IIs to my kit, completely replacing my previous manual flash system.

With the advent of Strobist, there’s been a lot of talk about E-TTL flash vs. manual flash, and folks on both sides are quick to criticize the other. E-TTL fans don’t see the point in wasting the computing power in the equipment they’ve spent so much money on, and manual fans don’t like letting the computers do the thinking for them. Personally, I think that the answer lies in the middle – knowing now to shoot full-manual flash is a good skill to have, and will save the day sometime. But by the same token, we have E-TTL ability and we should use it. Not using it is like saying that we should us IS.

Next on the list is the fix of all bad attitude – the electronic dual-axis level display. Displaying on both the LCD and through the viewfinder, the attitude indicator shows pitch (up/down orientation) and roll (side to side orientation) to help ensure that the camera is truly level. This is probably not a feature you’re going to use very much when hand-holding the camera; even through the viewfinder, it would be somewhat cumbersome, and definitely distracting. But when the camera is tripod mounted, things really come into play. No longer do you need all sorts of bubble levels, now the attitude display does it all right in-camera.

The display really looks like an attitude indicator from the cockpit of an airplane, complete with gradation markings, for when you want one axis level but not the other. Any time that either axis achieves perfect level, the indicator bar turns green to notify you. Mounted to a tripod, this makes it very easy to quickly level out the camera – with practice, you could do it in under 15 seconds. The only down side to the system is that it’s touchy – you have to learn how much motion it takes to effect a smooth change in the readout, otherwise it can be jerky and a little frustrating. Canon warns in the manual that the readout is not absolute – an indication of level may still be slightly off, which is to be expected.

Finally, all you need to do is look through the viewfinder to recognize the vast improvements there. The new viewfinder shows 100% of the lens’ view, as opposed to the 95% of less views on past models. Five percent may not sound like much, but the difference is noticeable – the viewfinder is larger and brighter, both of which help make composition easier. The only trouble is, after years of being used to reduced coverage, you get used to the idea that there’ll be a little space beyond what you see in the viewfinder, leading you to compose your shots accordingly. You’ll have to retrain yourself for the 100% coverage, remembering that there is no buffer – what you see is exactly what you get in the final image.

Canon 7D + 17-40mm / 28-135mm; ISO 100; f/8; 5″ – 15″.

All of the following were shot RAW and processed to DNG using Adobe DNG Converter 5.5, which is currently the only third-party way of working with the 7D files. Since these are all shots I had an interest in keeping, they have been edited in Adobe Camera Raw, and again in Photoshop – but those edits are restricted to exposure, cropping, etc. There has been no cloning or noise reduction applied.

The first series continues my growing love for bird photography. These were taken through a kitchen window as songbirds visited the feeder outside – given the situation, I was even more impressed with how well they turned out. Photographed with the 7D + 70-300mm IS @ f/8, ISO 1250.

The second series comes from Salt Springs State Park, where we stopped to visit the llamas. Same post processing steps, same camera setup, except these were shot at f/5.6, ISO 400.

I am very pleased with these preliminary results. ISO 1250 is somewhere I’d rarely venture on the old 50D (and pretty much never on the 30D), yet on the 7D it looks very good. There is a low level of noise in the image, but as early reports stated, it looks more like fine film grain than digital noise. The level of feather detail that remains is even a bit of a surprise to me. Naturally, I’d expect the performance to decrease somewhat in a scene with deep shadows, but here in a well exposed image, I feel I can safely say that ISO 1250 is perfectly usable.

Out of the box, it initially looks similar to the 50D, but a closer examination shows several physical changes in the design and layout. And it is definitely a little bigger, a little heavier – but it’s a good, solid sort of weight. Anyone who has used the X0D series in the past will be able to quickly find the controls on the 7D, and basic shooting procedure hasn’t changed.

Rear view of Canon 7D

Initial setup of the camera is very easy, and in some ways I feel that it was even less complex than when I setup my 50D. With the 50D, I seem to recall spending a lot of time mucking around in the Custom Functions menus; this time the whole process took less than 10 minutes, and at the end the camera was customized to my liking, complete with a full “My Menu” page, filled with the features I use most (the My Menu was a stroke of brilliance on Canon’s part).

There was enough charge in the included battery to let me play around with the setup while my 2nd battery charged. Charging took about 90 minutes, and was free of surprises, save the size of the charger itself – the thing is a brick! It’s got to be twice the size of the 400D’s tiny little charger. Not that this is a critical issue or anything, I just found it surprising that it would be so large in a time so focused in miniaturization and limited camera bag space. The only real issue I have with the power system is Canon’s decision to chip the batteries. I’ve mentioned this before – it’s a pet peeve of mine. With the chips, you’re able to register a number of batteries to the camera. By doing so, you get to see some performance info, such as the recharge health of the battery, as well as the serial number (Canon makes the serial number out to be a big deal, although I cannot fathom why). Registered or un-registered, the batteries info display still shows the % of life remaining and the number of shots taken with the current battery. At $70 each, I guess they should tell us at least that much.

Let’s talk more pros: for starters, the new viewfinder is pretty sweet. With 100% coverage, it is noticeably larger than previous models, and the information within is presented in a logical fashion. By default it doesn’t light up the way I’m used to, with the red highlights on the active focus point. Out of the box, it only lights up when it feels the light is low enough to require it, although you can change that feature to have it light up all the time. Shifting focus points is easy, although there’s an extra button press required to shift through the point selection modes. Overall, the increase from 9 to 19 focus points is amazing, and combined with the customizable options, makes precision focusing much easier.

If you purchased the kit version, as I did, you’re in for a real treat. The included 28-135mm IS lens may not be L-series glass, but it is an excellent lens. I purchased the kit version even though I already own the 28-135mm; after testing both and finding them equally as good, I’m keeping the new one and selling my older copy. For someone looking for an excellent walk-around lens, the 28-135mm is a great choice. While it may not be very wide, it covers a very useful focal range. Both my copies have been very sharp, and the Image Stabilization system works very well, making handheld shots at 1/15 and lower easily attainable. For someone who already has this lens – or one in the same range – buying the kit still makes sense. Consider this: the kit version is $200 more expensive than the body-only version, yet a new 28-135mm lens by itself runs close to $400. So if the lens I’m selling on eBay fetches $300, I’m still coming out ahead. (Of course if you all start doing this, the market will be glutted with 28-135mm lenses, and nobody will want one.)

Now some cons – and yes, there are a few. Forefront in my mind is my disappointment with Canon’s decisions regarding the added buttons on the 7D. If you look at the back of the body, you’ll see three new buttons, plus one on top near the shutter. Most of these – and several of the other buttons – are customizable through the Custom Functions menu. But there’s the kicker – they’re not all customizable in the same way. For example, the new M-Fn button (located near the shutter button) can be customized to perform one of four functions – but not any of the other functions that some of the other buttons can do. This is a programming choice Canon made, and in my opinion, not a good one. Take the AF button on the back, which as present on the 50D as well – this is a button I really do not use (since pressing the shutter down half-way does the same thing). But I would if I could program it to active a lens’ IS. However, that’s not an option for the AF button, although it is an option for the Depth of Field Preview button. But since I don’t want to lose my Depth of Field Preview, I’m out out luck.

New "M-Fn" button on Canon 7D

To make matters worse, two of the new buttons – one labeled “Q” that brings up some sort of graphical menu showing shooting settings, and the RAW+JPEG button, are not customizable at all. They only do one thing, and in both cases, what they do is not something I ever need. In fact, I completely fail to see the point of the Q button, since all that information is easily displayed in at least three other places. And since I never shoot JPEG – and certainly don’t want to shoot RAW+JPEG at the same time, I’ll never even press that button. (I’m not sure why anyone would want to shoot both at the same time, since chances are you’ll adjust the RAW file anyway, and from there’s it’s easy to simply save it as a JPEG. What would you do with the JPEG copy? I – like many photogs – don’t give unedited photos to anyone, so what’s the point?)

New "Q" & "RAW+JPEG" buttons on Canon 7D

My only other con is the movie mode. I think this is a marketing feature, I think it is a waste of space and function on a DSLR, and I think that it should be removed. I strictly maintain that if I wanted a movie camera, I’d go buy a movie camera. Instead, I want a digital still camera – and frankly I’d like it better if they’d stop cramming it full of crap that doesn’t apply.  But I also recognize that I may be in the minority here.

In the long run, I consider both of my cons to be minor. I’ll get over the button issue, and I simply won’t use the movie mode, so life will be good. Overall, the 7D is physically a great camera, and anyone who has used a 5D or X0D series camera in the past will adapt to it quickly, as much is familiar. Users upgrading from the Digital Rebel series will find it a bit more challenging, although ultimately very rewarding.

In Part 2, I’ll talk about some of the more advanced features, and in Part 3 we’ll look at some actual images from the camera.

The setup I have now lets me light pretty much anything I want. I can setup a studio in my living room and create complex light, or I can walk into a college gym and pump out enough light to shoot sports. I’m comfortable enough with the gear now that I can usually nail down the correct ratios within a few shots. And the whole thing cost me less than a single 580 EX II.

Yet I’m still thinking about changing systems. I’ve flirted with the Canon Speedlite system off and on for a while. I even have a 430 Ex that I use on-camera when the situation requires it. But up to now, using several Canon Speedlites off-camera required either a ST-E2 Speedlite Controller ($200) or a 580 EX II ($450). The ST-E2 uses IR signals to control remote Speedlites, so line-of-sight is essential. Based on its reviews, it works well – when it works. Just don’t try to shoot from too far away, or without good line-of-sight. The 580 EX II communicates through flash pulses; it still needs a line-of-sight, but there’s more flexibility (you can bounce the pulses, etc). But it seems slightly ridiculous to me to buy an expensive Speedlite flash just to use as a controller for other expensive Speedlites.

Enter the Canon 7D, the first Canon camera to finally step up to the plate and match Nikon’s Creative Lighting System by including a commander mode in the built-in flash. For anyone who’s gone Strobist, the built-in flash is just about worthless. But now that it can be repurposed, a whole new set of possibilities open up. Now you can control up to three groups of Speedlites – with several Speedlites to a group – all from the camera. With full use of E-TTL II. With full remote control over the Speedlite settings.

Cool.

Very cool.

There are two gripes with my current setup: 1.) To adjust a strobe, I have to physically change its settings. This may sound petty, but when your strobes are spread out over a large room and you have to go to each, lower the lightstand, change the setting, & raise the lightstand back, you’ve just sucked up several minutes of time. Time when you model is standing there tapping her foot; time your subject may not have.

Gripe 2.) There is no flash exposure metering. No E-anything. Any time I shoot a scene, I have to judge the light, decide on the proper flash exposure, dial it in, and test it.

A switch to the Canon Speedlites would change both of these issues. As I mentioned before, using the built-in commander mode I could change the settings on any of my flashes from the camera itself. And since all the wireless communication is between Canon units, they all speak the language – E-TTL is back in play, auto exposure metering works, and I can let the camera calculate lighting ratios. Which means that when I do have to adjust the Speedlight settings, it won’t necessarily mean dialing in a new manual level, but simply dialing in a -2 FEV value. And now that value will change with the overall exposure – so when I’m working outside and a cloud passes over the sun, the entire system will dial down. When the cloud passes, the entire system dials back up.

There are the pros. But there are still cons; for starters, there’s still a line-of-sight restriction, especially when working at distances outdoors. And there’s the obvious expense: 430 EXs run $250 each.

I haven’t made a decision yet, but this is definitely something I’ll be thinking about. Got an opinion? Hit me up in the comments.

AF micro-adjustment allows you to “fine tune” your lenses individually for maximum performance. Virtually no lens out there is tuned perfectly; each one suffers from some level of front or back focus. usually it’s such a small amount that you’d hardly notice it (although sometimes you’d be surprised). The AP micro-adjustment feature lets you log each lens (up to a limit of, I think, 20). Then, through the use of a target image on an LCD screen, you perform a sequence of checks to determine the amount of micro-adjustment necessary for optimum performance.

The directions that I use are a modified version of the ones posted by on the Will Shoot Photography blog. The target images come from Open Photography Forums.

Click here for a PDF of directions.

Do not be discouraged! The directions look somewhat drawn out and complicated, but once you’ve done a lens or two, you start to figure out how it all works and then it goes quickly. I can do a lens in about 15 minutes, including setup and cleanup times.

The real trick is patience. Repeat the focus analysis steps as many times as you need to be sure that an adjustment is needed. There is no good scale for how much adjustment is needed, so go with the obvious – it there is only a little focus discrepancy, adjust by only a click or two; if there is a large discrepancy, adjust by more. Then re-test the lens with the micro-adjustment applied to see if you’ve eliminated the issue.

Back when we were all comparing the 40D and 50D, this was one of the few features that really set them apart (at least in my opinion). Frankly, there are a lot of features appearing on DSLRs these days that I couldn’t care less about (like, HD movie mode, for example), but this is one of the good ones. If you’ve got it, be sure to use it. It’d be foolish not to.

On my 50D, my best lens was my Canon 28-135mm IS, which didn’t require any adjustment – it was spot-on in focus. My Sigma 70-200 needed 2 points alone; with the dreaded teleconverter mounted, it needed about 5 points. The Tokina 12-24, Canon 17-40, and cheap Canon wide angle all needed between 1 and 3. (Looking at the figures other photogs have published online, I guess mine are really good – looks like 4-7 is a common range, even for good lenses!)

Granted, with a 1 point adjustment, I’m not sure I can really see a difference. But I’m willing to trust that there is one. And since it takes 15 minutes and doesn’t cost anything extra, I figure that any improvement is good.