If you have been following news about the 7D recently, it is impossible that you missed all the 7D reviews and comparison with the 5DMrkII. I wont even link to them, there are too many! The two most popular comparison points being the rolling shutter and the noise.

As shown in the Neutral Day post, the 7D is noisier than the 5dMrkII. Of course, everyone expected that. Still, it performed quite well as long as it stayed away from the top ISO levels. At least, that is what I thought after reading the post (and looking at pictures taken with my friend 7D).

Now, Karel Donk posted an inflammatory post against the 7D on his blog. Calling the 7D noisier than the 40D (we all know why he skipped the 50D!) and flaming Canon for its quality control. The read is interesting and offers a counter point to all the positive reviews we usually read.

While I disagree with some of the content (like why we need more megapixel), I think it is a must read for anyone thinking about buying a 7D.

That being said, should you still buy a 7D? Of course! It might not be perfect, but no camera offers so much value in the HDSLR world.

Patrick, from the NeutralDay blog did a nice test between the 7D and the 5DMrkII regarding noise in normal and low light.

What I like about these two tests is how rigorous he was and how he removed every noise reduction factor from the equation to only keep the bare performance of the sensor and how he tried to get both camera at the same effective focal length. Something too many people neglect.

I have been thinking about doing such a test for a while and never spent the time so I am happy someone else did!

The results? What you could expect: the 5DMrkII is a little better in every low ISO setting and much better above ISO 1600. The article is well illustrated and it is easy to spot the differences between the two.

I just wish Patrick would have taken the extra time to take the same subject but this time with the noise reduction features on. It would have been a better test of the overall noise management performance of the camera.

Some people might disagree with the selected lenses. Saying that it is not fair to compare a prime to a kit lens. While this is true for image quality test, I doubt the quality of the glass has a lot of impact on the overall noise. Also, at the given f stop setting, both lenses are past their sharpest point and should perform about the same.

Finally, dont forget that while the 7D is not as good as the 5DMrkII, it is still performing very well!

Stu, from Pro Lost fame, just published a list of gear under the 7D Cine Kit label. Go and take a look. Nothing new for the regular visitors of this site or Canon5DTips, but it is good to know that Stu endorses my gear selection.

My only complain is the presence of the 24-70L2.8 in the list. The 7D, as a EF-S body is able to use the incredible Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS. While this lens is not as good as the 24-70L2.8, it is still regarded as one of the best lenses one can get. It has about the same focal range as the 24-70 on a full frame, same aperture and adds IS!

My other suggestion would be to replace the hoodman with a real view finder, either the LCDVF or the Z-finder from Zacuto.

I am also working on a gear list for 7D users but it is taking a bit more time than expected due to some side projects.

Last weekend, I did a few test shots on a new location I was exploring with my friend Robert and we took the time to do some 7D vs 5D tests. Most of our conclusions can be read in the previous post on the subject.

Here is the video of the moire pattern test we did. Most camera would have had some issues with all the overlapping vertical bars but the 7D handled it surprisingly well.

Note: this was our first test with the 7D on the Glidecam and, while it was balanced, it was not heavy enough. We have corrected the issue since by adding some serious weigth.

I have a 5D vs 7D clip coming soon. Both taken at the same EFL, something no one seem to have done yet!

An anonymous donor gave Hudson (they guy who created Magic Lantern, the 5dMrkII firmware hack) a 7D (source: Twitter).

What can we expect? My guess is a port of the current features (audio gain, rack focus, etc) to the 7D, which would turn it into an even better camera.

With some luck, Hudson might be able to figure out how to add 24p to the 5DMrkII, which would qualify him for a Nobel prize.

We shot a few clips yesterday with a 16-35L mounted on a 7D to compare it with the 5DMrkII with a 24-70L. I dont have the clip in my hands yet (will get them tomorrow), but from our initial tests, it seems like the 7D low light capabilities at higher ISO is about 1 1/3-1 2/3 stop lower than the 5D. Basically, ISO 1250 on the 7D looks about the same as 3200 on the 5D.

The increase of noise is not linear. By that I mean that ISO 800 on both camera is about the same, it is only above 1250 that we can see a difference.

Scott Boune who did his own mini review of the video of the 7D does not seem to notice the difference between the two. It is probably because he did not go high enough in the ISO chart.

Is this something you should worry about? No. Unless you are shooting in very dark places (or at night @ f2.8 and smaller), ISO 640 should be enough for most shots. Also, to correct Scott, the 5DMrkII also has the auto focus feature for video and it works the same way as with the 7D: it only works in live view: while you are not recording.

Our tests also show something very interesting: the 7D seems to process moire pattern much better than the 5D and the jelly effect is much less noticeable. This is probably thanks to the 7D smaller sensor, being smaller, it takes less time to fully scan it. What ever the reason, it makes the 7D much more desirable for fast moving subjects.

As I said above, I will get the footage from this weekend tomorrow and should be able to put it online soon.

We also did some steadicam shots at 60p, I am very curious to see how these will turn out, especially since I am the model walking around like an idiot…

If you are planning to buy a 7D on Amazon US, please use this link. All profits made by affiliates links are reinvested in the site to add content.

I will have access to a 7D this weekend. I already planned a few tests to compare it to the 5DMrkII. Anyone has an idea of a specific test you want me to perform?

If you are in Canada! Seems like all the big photo stores in Montreal have stacks of 7D waiting to be sold. A few of the people I know who ordered one online have canceled their initial order and picked one in the store.

While I was expecting a shortage, it seems like Canon did not want to repeat the events of last year with the 5dMarkII where people had to wait for weeks to get their camera (like I did!).

Now that you have your cameras, go out and shoot something original!

Here is a quick summary of 7D related news from last week.

First the good news: according to Rob Galbraith, the 7D should start shipping next week. Many other sources have confirmed the information. As soon as my contacts receive an email update about their order changing status, I will post about it.

DigitalRev as posted the hands on review you see below. Quite a good review and they even splashed the camera with water to test its sealing.

Dont know which camera to pick between the 7D and the 5D? You are not alone and Philipe Bloon advices wont really help you. He loves them both. Interesting read that really outlines the differences between the two camera from a cinephotographer perspective.

Philippe also posted a timelapse he did with the 7D using the over priced Canon TC80N3 remote. Nothing special for someone who has seen the work from Timescapes. But he does have the merit of being the first to do so with the 7D.

Dan Chung released the first video from a production line 7D on his blog. You can summarize his impression as: feels great, good image quality in low light (a bit under the 5D) and great build quality.

Now talking about me… You might think not much is happening right now but I am in fact shooting like crazy and if the 7D are delivered next week as planned, expect a very high quality video to be shot by Robert and me next weekend! If you think the M+C clip was cool, expect more!

Canon has release some new official sample of 7D pictures. You can look at the here. All of these shots highlight the ability of the 7D to shoot action scenes using the AI Servo mode.

Lets just say that I am impressed. In none of the picture the AF seemed to get lost or focus on something else than the subject. Of course, if it happened, Canon would have probably just taken another shot… But still, the focus seems to be right on the action which is a nice change compared to my 5DMrk II which always always seem to focus on the wrong element, no matter how small it could be as you can see below.