Canon 7D: My First Impressions

So I pre-ordered the Canon 7D quite awhile ago from Amazon.com but after I was tipped off that a local camera shop had them in stock I immediately cancelled my pre-order because I wanted and needed it NOW!!! My partner-in-crime @cristinavaldivi already owns the Canon 5D MKII so this was an affordable second camera at worst. Now take note that this is just my general first impressions without really getting to put it through a thorough field test. It seems Canon has gotten a few things right here right off the bat. The dedicated record button is a small but nice touch I found shooting with it to be much more intuitive and the button layout to be Much more optimal for shooting video. One thing from a technical aspect I realized after some trial and error, make sure you go into the menu and disable the Auto Lighting Optimizer in the Menu settings. Not sure what the thinking was with this one but all it does is adds noise to shadows, where you don't see them with it turned off. It came with an 18-135 3.5-5.8 Lens which i didn't really need but it also came with an extra battery and a lens filter so it was a no brainer for me at a cost of an extra $200 as the lens retails on Amazon.com by itself for $499. Should you throw out your 5d MKII ? No. Should you run out and get a 7D? I can't answer that yet. However I have a shoot tomorrow and a shoot on Tuesday where I will be using the 5D MKII but will be using the 7D for both as the workhorse. We'll be flying it on the glidecam as well as shooting 60p and then downconverting to 30p for some shots for a true slow motion. Stay Tuned as I will be sure to have some clips up and keep you posted on any further developements. Oh and did I mention I already love this thing? Look at me!! @JohnjMoon said it best, " He looks like a kid in a candy store!" True.Only the kid's growing up and the candy's getting more expensive.

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