Canon 7D Mark II Review

Overview

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Review update:
Winner of our pick as Best Enthusiast DSLR in our 2014 Camera of the Year Awards, the 7D Mark II remains Canon's current top choice for an enthusiast-grade APS-C DSLR suited for a variety of subjects, especially sports, wildlife and action. Since its debut, other high-performance options have been announced, including the flagship EOS camera, the 1D X Mark II, as well as the more price-appropriate option, the Nikon D500. To see how these camera compare, please click here: Canon 7D Mark II vs. Canon 1D X Mark II or Canon 7D Mark II vs. Nikon D500.

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*Note: A pre-production unit was used for these product images and select screenshots.

Five years after the release of the venerable Canon 7D, the "Mark II" update for Canon's flagship APS-C DSLR is here. In keeping with 7D "tradition," the new Canon 7D Mark II brings professional-level features and specs to an APS-C camera and introduces some new, powerful technology and processing horsepower not seen on other EOS cameras. And with Canon being one of the pioneers of the HD-DSLR revolution, it's not surprising that the new 7D Mark II provides significant new features and enhancements over the original 7D for still photography as well as for cinematography.

If you're a professional photographer in need of a speed-shooting, video-recording secondary camera to your full-frame 5D Mark III or 1D X camera, or if you're an advanced enthusiast photographer looking to step up from a mid-range DSLR, the Canon 7D Mark II is aimed right at your needs.

Place your order with a trusted Imaging Resource affiliate now:

• Canon 7D Mark II body-only: ADORAMA | AMAZON | B&H
• Canon 7D Mark II with EF-S 18-135mm IS STM lens: ADORAMA | AMAZON | B&H

Overview

Specs-wise, the new Canon 7D Mark II is leaps-and-bounds more powerful than the original 7D. The 7D Mark II is all about bigger, better and faster! As Canon's Technical Advisor, Chuck Westfall, puts it, the Canon 7D Mark II is a "fusion camera" -- bringing a lot of technology and features down from the 5D Mark III as well as bringing some up from the 70D.

At the heart of the camera is a newly designed 20.2-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor. While that's the same megapixel count as the sensor on the 70D, according to Canon, the 7D Mark II's sensor is in fact an all-new design, with improved clarity over the 70D's sensor. Fortunately, like the Canon 70D, the new 7D Mark II brings over Canon's Dual Pixel CMOS AF live view focusing system (more on that later).

Coupled with this new higher-resolution sensor is some serious processing horsepower. The original 7D featured dual DIGIC 4 image processors, which was a first for non-1D-series EOS cameras. However, since the camera's debut, Canon has advanced their image processors a bit, with the latest version being the DIGIC 6. The new 7D Mark II features dual DIGIC 6 image processors, giving this cameras more processing performance that any other EOS camera, including the $7,000 1D X and its dual DIGIC 5+ setup! Thanks to the new 20.2-megapixel sensor and the new dual image processors, the default ISO range is now 100-16,000 and expandable up to 25,600 and 51,200.

Dual Pixel focusing is only part of the story for Canon's new APS-C DSLR. For still photographers, and especially those who shoot sports, wildlife and fast-moving action, the 7D Mark II is equipped with an all-new 65-point, all cross-type phase-detect autofocus system.

Not only is the new AF system a significant upgrade over the 7D's 19-point system, the 65 cross-type AF points is superior to the 61-point, 41-cross-type AF system in the 5D Mark III (5D Mark III vs 7D Mark II) and even the 1D X! (However, only the center AF point on the 7D Mk II is f/2.8 dual cross-type, whereas the 5D3 and 1D X have four dual cross-type AF points.) And, in case you're wondering, fans of teleconverters need not worry, as the 7D Mk II includes the ability to focus at f/8 with the center cross-type AF point.

For all your subject tracking needs, be it for football, soccer or birds-in-flight, the 7D Mark II features Canon's AI Servo AF III for the same AF performance as the flagship 1D X. So, not only does the 7D Mark II provide much better autofocus performance over the 7D, it also allows current 5D3 and 1D X owners who are using a 7D Mark II as a secondary or backup camera to have their AF systems "in-sync" so to speak, with the same settings and customizations so it's trivial to switch between the cameras.

And with seven AF area modes, including the new Large Zone AF option, the 7D Mark II is capable for action photography as it is portraiture and wedding photography. The 7D2 also features orientation-sensitive AF point selection, letting the photographer configure different AF point modes in landscape and portrait orientations.

Now, while the 7D Mark II has the autofocus chops to lock onto pretty much anything moving or stationary, being able to fire off a fast burst of shots is crucial for sports and wildlife shooters. Again, the 7D Mark II delivers. While it's not at the 1D X's level of 12-14fps, its up to 10fps burst rate is certainly a nice upgrade from the original 7D's 8fp. There's also a new silent continuous burst mode at 4fps.

Thanks to the significant processing upgrade from the dual DIGIC 6 processors, the 7D Mark II's buffer capacity enjoys a substantial boost from the original 7D. The Mark II is now capable of around 26 continuous shots in RAW (Canon specs claim 31 RAW files) and over 1090 in JPEG, which is a big step up from the 25 RAW/94 JPEG buffer performance of the 7D.

The 7D Mark II gets a big upgrade to its metering system, which puts it ahead of the 7D and the 5D Mark III and 1D X. The new 7D Mk II utilizes a 150,000-pixel RGB and IR metering sensor, up from the approximately 100,000-pixel metering system of the 5D3/1D X. And the new system recognizes 252-zons, whereas the original 7D used a 63-zone system. More importantly, unlike the more primitive sensor of the 7D, which only provided limited compensation for red and green, the exposure sensor on the 7D Mark II is full color, allowing much better automatic exposure.

The 7D Mark II features an ingenious anti-flicker feature to allow for more reliable exposures when shooting under sodium- and mercury-vapor lights found in sports arenas. These lights have rapid on-off cycles that, while imperceptible to the human eye, wreak havoc for exposure at faster shutter speeds. Without the feature, a reliable percentage of your shots will be underexposed. With the anti-flicker option on the 7D Mark II, the camera's exposure sensor detects the flicker of these lights and subtly delays the shutter release to ensure photos are only captured when the lights are at their brightest.

There are other notable improvements and additions to the Mark II, including, for the first time, the inclusion of a built-in intervalometer and bulb timer function -- the first such feature in a Canon camera since the EOS-10s in 1990. Nikon users have long enjoyed this feature, while Canon shooters had to resort to external triggers and timers for their time-lapse needs. This is a welcome change indeed.

Canon 7D Mark II USB/HDMI Cable Protector.

Squarely aimed as a professional video tool, the 7D Mark II includes both a 3.5mm microphone jack and a headphone jack for monitoring audio. There's also HDMI output (more on that further down) and a USB 3.0 connection. For both HDMI and USB ports, Canon will be including a cable protector/cable locking housing to prevent accidental strain to the cables and ports. Canon stressed that this was an essential item particularly when using the USB 3.0 connection, as damage to this port can require an expensive repair.

Like the 6D, there is now a built-in GPS, and Canon also added a compass function. The GPS module itself has been upgraded to add support for the Russian GLONASS system, which improves positioning accuracy. Unfortunately, there's no built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, which struck us as odd in 2014. When asked about this, Canon said the omission owed to interference from the all-metal construction. Cameras like the 70D have a mixture of metal and plastic -- the top face of the 70D being polycarbonate for instance -- so Wi-Fi radio signals are not blocked.

Lastly, storage and batteries have changed for the Mark II as well -- for the better on both fronts. Taking a cue from the 5D3, the new camera has dual card slots -- one UDMA 7 CF slot and one UHS-type SD slot. Users will be able to automatically switch to a second card upon filling the first, as well as record RAW and JPEG files to separate cards. Canon claims there should be no issue with write speed to the SD card when using the dual slots in sequential mode, though no information was available about performance when writing data to both card types simultaneously.

The 7D Mark II uses a new battery pack -- the LP-E6N -- however, before you groan loudly after spending truckloads of cash on multiple LP-E6 batteries for earlier Canon DSLRs, we should mention that the 7D Mark II is fully compatible with older LP-E6 batteries: the new "N" variants are the same shape, but have a higher capacity. They also happen to be compatible with the older LP-E6 chargers.

Build Quality & Design

While the original 7D was not technically a 1D-series camera, in terms of build quality and level of dust- and weather-sealing, it was most certainly a rugged camera with 1D-like construction and a full magnesium alloy chassis. In fact, Canon described the level of dust- and weather-sealing on the 7D as matching that of the EOS-1N film SLR. The 7D was a well-built camera that's been known to take quite a beating -- or even some downright torture* -- and keep on ticking (*Don't try this at home, please).

With the new 7D Mark II, Canon's upped the game with even better construction, and dust- and weather-sealing that's "four times better than the 7D." Now, Canon didn't provide a numerical metric as to what "four times better" constitutes, but given the toughness of the original 7D, the Mark II version is most assuredly up to the challenge of shooting in the field in dusty, rainy and generally terrible conditions.

Special care has also been given to the shutter and mirror mechanisms in the Mark II. The shutter mechanism is now rated up to 200,000 shutter actuations (up from 150K in the 7D), and the mirror mechanism was redesigned to more closely resemble the 1D X's system. Specifically, the Mark II now uses a motor to move the mirror directly, rather than relying on springs like the 7D. That means you can expect reduced vibrations from the mirror.

For the upward movement, Canon even built in a tiny brass, spring-mounted counterweight to help counteract vibration. And on the downward movement, a "bound prevention" mechanism slows the mirror drop as it reaches the end of its movement. This is a critical feature for improving AF performance. In a DSLR, some of the light is reflected down through the primary mirror to hit the AF sensor. For fast and accurate AF performance, you want the mirror drop actuation after taking a shot to be as steady and as quick as possible so the AF cycle can begin again.

Aside from the build quality itself, the new 7D Mark II design is classic Canon DSLR, bringing the styling and button layout of the 5D Mark III, with one new change. The 7D Mark II surrounds the normal multi-directional "joystick" button on the rear of the camera with a new AF area-selection thumb lever. By default, this lever lets you toggle through the various AF area patterns after pressing the AF Point Selection Button at the top right-most corner on the back of the camera. Out of the box, this lever mimics the same behavior as the Multi-function M-Fn button that sits up top behind the shutter release button. Now, Canon gives you another, perhaps more comfortable, option for quickly changing AF point modes without taking the camera down from your eye, while at the same time freeing up the M-Fn button for further functionality.

Of course, buttons are customizable on the 7D Mark II and both the AF area-selection thumb lever and the M-Fn can be programmed for other functions that better suit your shooting style.
The depth-of-field preview button has also been re-positioned from the left side of the lens mount to the right side for easier reach when gripping the camera.

Video Features

While the 7D Mark II will undoubtedly provide image quality and AF performances for still photography, the camera's video enhancement are perhaps the most intriguing and significant upgrade from the original 7D.

With the extra processing horsepower, the 7D Mark II is now able to record in both MOV and MP4 formats and up to 1920 x 1080 resolution at 60p, which is up from the maximum of 30p in the previous model (720/60p is still present). Like Canon introduced on the 5D Mark III, the new 7D Mark II includes both ALL-I intraframe compression for higher quality video and IPB interframe compression for smaller file sizes. However, for the first time Canon is offering a third compression scheme for video recording -- IPB Light -- which is an even more compressed format for those times when sheer length of recording time or memory card capacity is paramount.

Of course, one of the hallmark features for video recording on the 7D Mark II is Canon's Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology, first found on the 70D. The 70D's introduction of Dual Pixel AF was certainly game-changing, and with the 7D Mark II the performance and functionality of this full-time video AF system are expanded further.

Videographers can now adjust the Movie Servo AF Speed, including separate speeds for before and during recording. For example, you can set up the camera to quickly lock focus on a subject prior to recording, and then once you begin capturing video, the speed of focus transitions between subjects could be set slower or faster depending on the look you want in that particular scene. You can also adjust the Movie Servo AF Tracking Sensitivity, similar to how Servo AF can be adjusted for still images. With this setting, you can bias the camera towards maintaining your current focus point, or toward quickly focusing once a new target moves into frame. For instance, similar to the advantage brought on by back-button focusing, by adjusting the sensitivity of Movie Servo AF tracking, you can set the camera to be less likely to re-focus if someone or something moves between the camera and your intended subject.

Also new for the 7D-series, is the option for clean, uncompressed HDMI video output in 8-bit 4:2:2 with variable bit rate quality (internal video is recorded at 8-bit 4:2:0 VBR like previous Canon HD-DSLRs). Users have the option of having viewfinder information mirrored over the HDMI signal for use with larger monitors, or disabled for clean external recording. The camera supports simultaneous internal recording and output of clean HDMI signals, however the cameras rear LCD is disabled in this mode. And for the first time on a Canon HD-DSLR, there's also HDMI audio output, which will help for syncing audio with external recorders or for monitoring camera audio away from the camera itself.

The Canon 7D Mark II has a number of other advanced video features including timecode support, a silent movie mode, and, for the first time, optical distortion correction in movie mode.

Hands-on

We had the opportunity to get some brief hands-on time with a pre-production version of the 7D Mark II, and as expected, it feels very well built and extremely solid, just like the 7D and 5D Mark III before it. The deep, contoured handgrip will feel very familiar to users of the 7D and 5D Mark III, and is covered in Canon's typical rubberized material for a nice, secure hold.

Ergonomically, there's not a drastic difference in button layout, though long-time users of the 7D will undoubtedly notice slight tweaks and additions to rear buttons. Compared to the previous model, the Quick Menu button has been moved from the top left corner down between the rear control dial and the joystick button. Menu and Info buttons are placed now on the upper left side of the LCD. Five buttons left of the LCD follow the layout introduced with the 5D Mark III, with Creative Style, a Rate button, a Zoom button, and finally the Playback and Delete buttons arranged from top to bottom. Rather than silkscreen the logo next to the button, Canon's eliminated the doubt and puts logos right on the buttons.

The 7D Mark II keeps the same photo/movie Live View toggle switch with start/stop button next to the OVF like the original 7D, however the camera can now be configured to use the shutter release button for stopping and starting video recording. This ergonomic decision has a secondary benefit: because the shutter now starts and stops video recording, a simple cable release allows you to start and stop recording. This is great for tripod-based shooting to eliminate any issues with bumping the camera, as well as when shooting on shoulder rigs because you can run the cable release down on to handgrip a la the Canon Cinema EOS cameras.

Like the previous model, the optical viewfinder provides 100 percent coverage, and it felt nice and bright. In the Mark II, the viewfinder has been given an upgrade, though, to the new Intelligent VF II, which provides much more shooting and exposure information around the frame than the older model.

Also new for the 7D-series are interchangeable focusing screens. The default screen is calibrated to display approximately a f/5.6 depth of field, however for precise manual focusing with f/2.8 lenses or faster, a Super Precision Matte screen is available as an optional accessory that will show the true super-thin depths of field through the viewfinder.

Overall, the Canon 7D Mark II feels super-solid and well-built, and based on the specs and claimed performance capabilities, Canon sounds like they have another winner on their hands. If you're ready to upgrade from your 7D or simply need a DSLR with some serious photo and video horsepower, the Canon 7D Mark II should be at the top of your list.

Pricing and Availability

The new Canon 7D Mark II was released in November 2014 and is sold in both a body-only model with a retail price of $1,799 or with the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens for $2,149. The BG-E16 Battery Grip and optional Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E7A Version 2 are also available, with the grip retailing for around $215 and the WFT-E7A Version 2 going for $769. Both the Canon 7D Mark II camera and Battery Grip are backwards-compatible with the current LP-E6 batteries.

Place your order with a trusted Imaging Resource affiliate now:

• Canon 7D Mark II body-only: ADORAMA | AMAZON | B&H
• Canon 7D Mark II with EF-S 18-135mm IS STM lens: ADORAMA | AMAZON | B&H

Optics

The Canon 7D Mark II is available body-only, or bundled with the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens. To see how this lens performs, see our Canon 70D Optics page or our full review of this lens on SLRgear.com.

Below are our Canon 7D II viewfinder accuracy test results.

Viewfinder Test Results

Accuracy
Fair accuracy from the optical viewfinder, though excellent accuracy from the LCD in Live View mode.

We measured the Canon 7D Mark II's optical viewfinder's coverage at just under 98%. This is a somewhat short of Canon's 100% coverage specification. The resulting image was also slightly tilted with respect to the sensor, which is unfortunately quite common with optical SLR viewfinders. Live View mode using the LCD in record mode was much more accurate, resulting in essentially 100% coverage, and of course the image isn't tilted or offset.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Canon EOS 7D Mark II Photo Gallery .

Exposure

Color

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Fairly typical saturation levels with excellent hue accuracy.

ISO Sensitivity
100	200	400
800	1600	3200
6400	12800	25600
51200
In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured. More saturated colors are located toward the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center. Mouse over the links above to compare ISOs, and click to load a larger version.

Saturation. The Canon 7D Mark II produces images with fairly typical saturation levels. Reds, oranges, dark greens and dark blues are pushed small to moderate amounts while cyans are slightly muted. The mean saturation of 108.6% (8.6% oversaturated) at base ISO is close to average, but it gradually increases with ISO (most cameras decrease saturation with ISO), peaking at 114.4% at ISO 25,600, though that's only a moderate boost. Most consumer digital cameras produce color that's more highly saturated (more intense) than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people like their color a bit brighter than life.

Skin tones. The Canon 7D Mark II produces pleasing, natural-looking Caucasian skin tones in our tests when using manual white balance. Darker skin tones show a small nudge toward orange, but lighter tones are more pink. Very good results overall. Where oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it's very easy for these "memory colors" to be seen as too bright, too pink, too yellow, etc.

Hue. As we've come to expect from Canon, the 7D Mark II's hue accuracy is excellent when manual white balance is used (as it is for these results), and is much better than average. There are the usual shifts in cyan toward blue (though actually quite small), red toward orange, orange toward yellow, and yellow toward green, but all are fairly minor. Average "delta-C" color error at base ISO is only 3.45 which is first-rate, one of the better scores we've recorded to date. Delta-C color error increases with ISO, but remains better than average even at the highest ISOs. Hue is "what color" the color is.

Sensor

Exposure and White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lighting
Auto and Incandescent settings both struggled with household incandescent lighting, though Manual white balance worked well. Slightly higher than average exposure compensation required.

Indoors, under incandescent lighting, the Canon 7D Mark II's Auto and Incandescent white balance settings struggled, producing very warm reddish or orange/yellow color casts. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon among cameras we've tested, but disappointing nonetheless for a pro model. The Manual setting produced the most accurate results, though just slightly cool with a small nudge towards green. The Canon 7D Mark II required +0.7 EV exposure compensation for this shot, which is slightly higher than the +0.3 EV average among the cameras we've tested. (Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the U.S.)

Outdoors, daylight
Good color, though a tendency towards slightly cool color balance with somewhat high contrast under harsh lighting. Average exposure accuracy.

Outdoors, the Canon 7D Mark II tended toward a slightly cool color balance with Auto WB, though overall color is generally very good. The Canon 7D Mark II required +0.7 EV exposure compensation to keep the mannequin's face bright, about average for our"Sunlit" portrait shot. The Canon 7D Mark II's default contrast is a little high, producing some washed-out highlights and dark shadows under the deliberately harsh lighting of the shot above left, though the camera's contrast, Auto Lighting Optimizer and Highlight Tone Priority settings help with high contrast scenes like these. See below for examples of this. The Far-field shot (above right) is also a bit cool, but exposure is quite good, with the camera avoiding blown highlights and maintaining good detail in the shadows.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Resolution
Very high resolution, ~2,500 lines of strong detail from JPEGs, about 2,600 from RAW.

Our laboratory resolution chart showed the Canon 7D Mark II's images with sharp, distinct line patterns down to about 2,500 lines per picture height horizontally and to about 2,500 lines vertically. Some may argue for higher numbers, but lines begin to merge or aliasing artifacts start to interfere at this resolution. Extinction of the pattern occurred between 3,000 and 3,200 lines. An Adobe Camera Raw converted .CR2 file shows higher resolution than the in-camera JPEG, perhaps another 100 lines, though complete extinction of the pattern was extended to about 3,600 lines. While ACR was able to extract more detail, it also produced more moiré and false colors. Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sharpness & Detail
Good sharpness and detail with a sharp lens, but with noticeable sharpening artifacts. Minor to moderate detail loss due to noise reduction processing even at low ISOs.

Sharpness. The Canon 7D Mark II's 20-megapixel sensor captures excellent image detail when coupled with a good lens, though as is usually the case with Canons, the 7D Mark II's default sharpening setting generates visible edge-enhancement artifacts in the form of obvious sharpening halos around high-contrast edges, as shown in the crop above left. While JPEG images may look a bit oversharpened on screen at 100% (as do most in-camera JPEGs), they result in crisp-looking prints. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.

Detail. The crop above right shows some detail loss due to noise suppression in darker areas and in areas with low contrast, perhaps just a little more than we're accustomed to seeing from a digital SLR at base ISO. Still, a good performance for a 20-megapixel APS-C model, with very low chroma noise. Noise-suppression systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the individual strands are lost and an almost "watercolor" look appears.

RAW vs In-Camera JPEGs
As noted above the Canon 7D Mark II produces sharp JPEG images with very good detail but with visible sharpening haloes. With a good RAW converter, additional detail can often be extracted with fewer sharpening artifacts. See below:

Base ISO (100)
Camera JPEG, defaults	RAW via Adobe Camera Raw

In the table above, we compare a best quality in-camera JPEG taken at base ISO using default noise reduction and sharpening (on the left) to the matching RAW file converted with Adobe Camera Raw 8.7 using default noise reduction and color profile, with some strong but tight unsharp masking applied in Photoshop (300%, radius of 0.3 pixels, and a threshold of 0).

Looking closely at the images, we can see ACR extracts additional detail that isn't present in the JPEG from the camera, particularly in the red-leaf and pink swatches where the fine thread pattern is likely treated as noise by the JPEG engine. Fine detail in the mosaic crop is also improved, but as is often the case, more noise can be seen in the flatter areas of the bottle crop. You can of course apply stronger noise reduction (default ACR NR used here) to arrive at your ideal noise versus detail tradeoff. And, as expected, sharpening haloes aren't nearly as strong as the default camera output. Still, not bad in-camera default JPEG processing, but as usual you can do noticeably better by shooting in RAW mode and using a good RAW converter.

ISO & Noise Performance
Very good high ISO performance for an APS-C sensor.

Default High ISO Noise Reduction
ISO 100	ISO 200	ISO 400
ISO 800	ISO 1600	ISO 3200
ISO 6400	ISO 12,800	ISO 25,600
ISO 51,200

Images are quite clean at ISOs 100 through 400, with just a tiny amount of luminance noise seen in the shadows, and very little chroma noise. Some blurring of fine low-contrast detail is already visible at base ISO, though, as mentioned previously. Noise "grain" is slightly more evident at ISO 800, but detail remains very strong despite some minor blurring due to noise reduction. ISO 1600 is of course a little noisier, but fine detail is still very good with a noise grain that's quite fine and chroma noise well under control. At ISO 3200 blurring becomes noticeably stronger resulting in a more evident drop in image quality, though a fair amount of fine detail is still left. ISO 6400 is quite grainy with minor chroma noise, but there is still some fine detail left. Noise and the effects of noise reduction working hard to keep it under control really become apparent at ISO 12,800 and above with heavier luminance noise, stronger blurring and more obvious chroma blotching. Still, high ISO performance has been improved over the 7D, and is roughly on par with the best APS-C models with similar resolution currently available.

See the Print Quality section below (when available) for our evaluation of maximum print sizes at each ISO setting.

A note about focus for this shot: We shoot this image at f/4, using one of three very sharp reference lenses (70mm Sigma f/2.8 macro for most cameras, 60mm f/2.8 Nikkor macro for Nikon bodies without a drive motor, and Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/2.0 for Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds bodies). To insure that the hair detail we use for making critical judgements about camera noise processing and detail rendering is in sharp focus at the relatively wide aperture we're shooting at, the focus target at the center of the scene is on a movable stand. This lets us compensate for front- or back-focus by different camera bodies, even those that lack micro-focus adjustments. This does mean, though, that the focus target itself may appear soft or slightly out of focus for bodies that front- or back-focused with the reference lens. If you click to view the full-size image for one of these shots and notice that the focus target is fuzzy, you don't need to email and tell us about it; we already know it. :-) The focus target position will simply have been adjusted to insure that the rest of the scene is focused properly.

Extremes: Sunlit, dynamic range and low light tests
Very high resolution with strong overall detail, but somewhat high default contrast and unremarkable dynamic range. HTP and ALO options do a great job of dealing with tough lighting. Very good low-light performance, but autofocus can struggle in very low light.

The Canon 7D Mark II produced moderately high contrast with some washed-out highlights and deep shadows under the deliberately harsh lighting of the test above. The mannequin's face was too dim at the default and +0.3 EV settings and too many highlights were blown with +1.0 EV, so we preferred the image with +0.7 EV exposure compensation. This resulted in some clipped highlights in the shirt and flowers, a bit more than we're used to seeing from an APS-C sensor lately, indicating mediocre use of available dynamic range compared to the best of recent competitors. Shadow detail was however pretty good, though very deep shadows are a bit noisy and posterized. Bottom line: while dynamic range isn't bad, the Canon 7D Mark II didn't do as well with this difficult shot compared to some recent state-of-the-art peers.

Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light. The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test here. In actual shooting conditions, be sure to use fill flash in situations like the one shown here; it's better to shoot in open shade whenever possible.)

Highlight Tone Priority
The Canon 7D Mark II's Highlight Tone Priority (HTP) option did an excellent job of preserving highlight detail, though shadows were also affected, as shown below. (Mouse over the Off and On links to load the corresponding thumbnail, histogram and crops.)

Highlight Tone Priority (+0.3EV)
HTP Setting: Off On
Highlights
Shadows (Levels boosted to reveal noise.)
Histogram

Both shots above were captured at the same exposure, the only difference being that HTP was enabled for the second shot which necessarily increases the ISO to 200; part of how HTP works. The result is evident in the histograms and thumbnails above, clearly showing the superior highlight preservation when HTP is enabled, though shadow brightness is also affected somewhat. If you look closely at shadows (the levels in shadow crops above are heavily boosted to reveal noise that would be difficult to see otherwise), you'll notice an increase in noise is the price you pay when ISO is boosted from 100 to 200. Except in the very deepest shadows, though, overall noise is low enough at ISO 200 that this is really a negligible trade-off for all but the most critical applications.

Automatic Lighting Optimization
Like previous Canon EOS models, the 7D Mark II offers three selectable levels of Automatic Lighting Optimization (ALO), plus Off. In fully automatic (Scene Intelligent Auto) ALO is automatically enabled and it's available in P, Tv and Av exposure modes. Mouse over the links below to load the associated thumbnail and histogram, and click on the links to load full resolution images.

Automatic Lighting Optimization (+0.3 EV)
ALO Setting: Off Low Standard (default) High

As you can see above, ALO has the effect of shifting shadows and mid-tones in the histograms to the right, brightening shadows and indeed most of the image without shifting the highlights as much, though some additional highlights were clipped. ISO is not boosted for ALO so increased noise is not an issue, though it may be slightly more visible in shadows that have been boosted significantly.

High Dynamic Range
The Canon 7D Mark II's HDR feature takes three continuous shots at different exposures and merges them together to create an image with wider tonal range than would be possible with a single exposure. There are three strength settings available (+/-1EV, +/-2EV,+/-3EV), plus Auto. And there are 5 possible Effect settings: Natural (default), Art Standard, Art Vivid, Art Bold and Art Embossed. The source images captured are not saved, and RAW mode is not supported. (Mouse over the links below to load the corresponding thumbnail.)

Far-field High Dynamic Range
Off	Auto	+/-1EV	+/-2EV	+/-3EV

As you can see, the HDR shots above (Natural effect) have improved dynamic range with preserved highlights and shadows that have been opened up with lower noise. Do however note that a significant part of the image has been cropped away in the alignment process, and that the resulting images aren't quite as detailed overall, because the cropped image is resampled to full 20-megapixel image size. Also be aware that ghosting can occur when elements of the scene move during the sequence capture, as can be seen with the moving flag and leaves in some of these shots.

Dynamic Range Analysis (RAW mode)
While we once performed our own dynamic range measurements based on in-camera JPEGs as well as converted RAW images (when the camera was supported by Adobe Camera Raw), we've switched to using DxO Labs' results from their DxOMark website. As technology advanced, the dynamic range of modern high-end cameras in some cases exceeded the range of the Stouffer T4110 density scale that we used for our own measurements. DxO's approach based on RAW data before demosaicing is also more revealing, because it measures the fundamental dynamic range of the sensor, irrespective of whatever processing is applied to JPEGs, or to RAW data by off-the-shelf conversion software.

In the following, we use DxO's "Print" dynamic range results, which are scaled based on camera resolution. As the name suggests, this scaling corresponds to the situation in which you print at a given size, regardless of how many megapixels the camera might have. (In other words, if you've decided to make a 13x19 inch print, that's the size you're printing, whether the camera's resolution is 16 or 300 megapixels.) For the technically-minded, you can find a discussion of the reasoning behind this here on the DxOMark website. Also note that DxO Labs uses a signal-to-noise (SNR) threshold of 1 when defining the lower boundary of acceptable luminance noise in their dynamic range measurements, which corresponds to the "Low Quality" threshold of the Imatest software we used to use for this measurement.

Here, we decided to compare the Canon 7D II's dynamic range to its predecessor, the 7D, and also to Nikon's top APS-C DSLR at time of writing, the D7100, though the Nikon isn't really in the same pro class as the 7D Mark II (but Nikon's pro-level D300s APS-C DSLR has been discontinued). You can always compare other models on DxOMark.com.

As you can see from the above graph (click for a larger version), the Canon 7D II's dynamic range is practically identical to the 7D's up to the ISO 800 setting with a peak of about 11.8 EV at base ISO, but does significantly better at higher ISOs with over a 3/4 EV advantage at the ISO 12,800 setting. The Nikon D7100 does significantly better at lower ISOs, though, with a peak of about 13.7 EV at base ISO which is almost a whopping 2 EV advantage, but as ISO rises, the gap shrinks and the two cameras perform very similarly at ISO 6400 and above. Click here to visit the DxOMark page for the Canon 7D Mark II for more of their test results and additional comparisons.

	1 fc 11 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux	1/16 fc No NR
ISO 100	2s, f2.8	32s, f2.8	32s, f2.8
ISO 3200	1/16s, f2.8	1s, f2.8	1s, f2.8
ISO 51200	1/256s, f2.8	1/16s, f2.8	1/16s, f2.8

Low Light. The Canon 7D Mark II performed well in our low-light tests, capturing bright images at the lowest light level (1/16 foot-candle), even with the lowest sensitivity setting (ISO 100). As expected, noise increases as ISO goes up and light levels go down, but luminance noise remains fairly low at ISO 3200. Some chroma noise in the form of subtle color blotching in the shadows and dark areas is visible at lower light levels, though it's effectively suppressed by default noise reduction. As you'd expect, noise is quite high at the maximum ISO of 51,200, particularly when noise reduction is minimized (extreme right column in the table above).

We noticed a few hot pixels here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary. We didn't see any signs of heat blooming and banding (pattern noise) appears to be very low.

Color balance was pretty neutral with Canon 7D Mark II's Auto white balance setting (just a touch cool), even at high ISOs, though white balance warmed up a bit at lower light levels.

When using the optical viewfinder and dedicated phase-detect AF, the Canon 7D Mark II's autofocus system was able to focus on the subject down to just above the 1/8 foot-candle light level unassisted with an f/2.8 lens. That's not great for a pro model, and not quite as good as its predecessor, the 7D, even though Canon rates the 7D Mark II's AF down to -3.0 EV versus only -0.5 EV for the 7D. However our AF target for this test is a pattern of grey cross-hatched lines against a white background rather than a target with full black/white transitions in it, so the 7D Mark II is likely still within Canon's spec when shooting a high-contrast target. The Canon 7D Mark II was able to focus on the target in complete darkness with AF assist enabled, though. And in Live View mode with Hybrid AF, the Canon 7D Mark II was able to focus down to below the 1/8 foot-candle light level, which is very good for a DSLR in Live View mode with an f/2.8 lens.

How bright is this? The one foot-candle light level that this test begins at roughly corresponds to the brightness of typical city street-lighting at night. Cameras performing well at that level should be able to snap good-looking photos of street-lit scenes.

NOTE: This low light test is conducted with a stationary subject, and the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most digital cameras will fail miserably when faced with a moving subject in dim lighting. (For example, a child's ballet recital or a holiday pageant in a gymnasium.) Digital SLRs like the Canon 7D Mark II do much better than point & shoots, but you still shouldn't expect a quick autofocus lock with moving subjects.

Output Quality

Print Quality

ISO 100/200/400 images all display excellent detail and vibrant colors, and can be used for prints up to 24 x 36 inches. Thanks to the 20MP sensor, there is no visible pixelation, especially when viewing a relatively close, arm's-length viewing distance. Larger prints, such as 30 x 40 inches are perfectly usable for bigger wall displays.

ISO 800 prints are impressive with very low noise, great detail and pleasing colors all the way up to 20 x 30 inches. ISO 800 prints are just a hair softer than ISO 400 prints, but larger 24 x 36 prints are certainly usable for wall display here.

ISO 1600 images easily produce pleasing 16 x 20 inch prints. Noise, particularly in the shadows, is now more visible, but still well controlled and not strongly detrimental to fine detail and colors.

ISO 3200 prints are very similar to ISO 1600 ones, but ever-so-slightly more noisy, making 13 x 19 inch prints the largest size we're comfortable with. 16 x 20 inch prints could be acceptable for less critical applications, however.

ISO 6400 images display more apparent noise and subsequent softness. Acceptable prints top out at 8 x 10 inches, yet at this size, detail is still very good and colors appear normal and pleasing.

ISO 12,800 prints top out at an acceptable 5 x 7 inches, with noise becoming quite strong and taking its toll on fine detail.

ISO 25,600 images show quite a bit of noise at larger size prints, but still manage a surprisingly acceptable 4 x 6 inch print.

ISO 51,200 prints are too noisy and devoid of enough fine detail to be called acceptable at any size.

As we found in our image quality comparison, the Canon 7D Mark II shows a visible improvement in image quality over its predecessor, and the same can be said for print quality results. Base ISO images still top out at 24 x 36 inch prints, though larger prints are suitable for wall display. This 24 x 36 inch print size remains acceptable up to ISO 400, which trumps the original 7D's ISO 400 print size of 20 x 30. At mid-range ISOs of 800-1600, the 7D Mark II easily prints large images up to 20 x 30 and 16 x 20 inches, respectively. And at the extreme ISOs, the 7D maxed out at a 4 x 6 inch print at ISO 12,800, while the 7D Mark II manages a size larger (5 x 7) at this sensitivity, and even prints an acceptable 4 x 6 inch print at ISO 25,600.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Canon EOS 7D Mark II Photo Gallery .

Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge! Visit our Comparometer(tm) to compare images from the Canon EOS 7D Mark II with those from other cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let your own eyes decide which you like best!

Performance

Image Quality

Below are crops from our laboratory Still Life target comparing the Canon 7D Mark II against the Canon 7D, Nikon D7100, Pentax K-3, Samsung NX1 and Sony A77 II. All of these models sit at relatively similar price points and/or categories in their respective product lineups.

These comparisons were somewhat tricky to write, as the cameras vary a great deal in resolution, so bear that in mind as you're reading and drawing your own conclusions. (We generally try to match cameras in these comparisons based on price, given that most of us work to a budget, rather than setting out to buy a given number of megapixels.)

NOTE: These images are best quality JPEGs straight out of the camera, at default settings including noise reduction and using the camera's actual base ISO (not extended ISO settings). All cameras in this comparison were shot with our very sharp reference lenses. Clicking any crop will take you to a carrier page where you can click once again to access the full resolution image as delivered straight from the camera. For those interested in working with the RAW files involved: click these links to visit each camera's respective sample image thumbnail page: Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 7D, Nikon D7100, Pentax K-3, Samsung NX1 and Sony A77 II -- links to the RAW files appear beneath those for the JPEG images, wherever we have them. And remember, you can always go to our world-renowned Comparometer to compare the Canon 7D Mark II to any camera we've ever tested.

Canon 7D Mark II vs Canon 7D at Base ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 100	Canon 7D at ISO 100
The 7D Mark II provides a slight bump in resolution with a 20.2MP sensor over the 18MP one in the original 7D. Here at base ISO, we can see subtle increases in fine detail from the Mark II, particularly in the mosaic tile detail and, ever-so-slightly, in the pink fabric.

Canon 7D Mark II vs Nikon D7100 at Base ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 100	Nikon D7100 at ISO 100
The Canon does a great job next to the higher-res, OLPF-less Nikon, but the edge goes to the Nikon in this comparison. Especially with the fabric swatches, the fine detail from the D7100 is superior.

Canon 7D Mark II vs Pentax K-3 at Base ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 100	Pentax K-3 at ISO 100
We have another tough comparison here between the the 7D Mark II and K-3. Both display excellent detail resolution at base ISO. Details appear a bit crisper from the K-3 in certain area, but overall, the two cameras are fairly closely matched. The red leaf pattern is more finely detailed from the K-3, however the same camera struggles with the pink fabric, especially with the color being too magenta as is common with many higher-end Pentax models..

Canon 7D Mark II vs Samsung NX1 at Base ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 100	Samsung NX1 at ISO 100
The NX1's 28MP resolution is certainly noticeable here in comparison to the 7D Mark II. Nevertheless, at their respective resolutions, both display very good fine detail at base ISO. The fine detail of the mosaic tile is a little sharper on the NX1, however, as are the fabric swatches -- most notably the pink fabric.

Canon 7D Mark II vs Sony A77 II at Base ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 100	Sony A77 II at ISO 100
We can see in this comparison that the A77 II takes the edge over the 7D Mark II in all three crops. Fine detail is crisper and sharper, especially in the tell-tale areas like the mosaic tile pattern and the fabrics. The difficult leaf patterns are much more detailed from the Sony compared to the Canon.

Canon 7D Mark II vs Canon 7D at 1600 ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 1600	Canon 7D at ISO 1600
Bumping up the ISO to 1600, we can see the 7D Mark II shows noticeable improvement over its predecessor. Noise and grain are less visible and fine details are better preserved (even with the default level of in-camera noise reduction processing) on the new model, especially in the mosaic.

Canon 7D Mark II vs Nikon D7100 at 1600 ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 1600	Nikon D7100 at ISO 1600
Both cameras display good performance at ISO 1600, with a good balance of detail, resolution and noise control. The Nikon displays a bit more grain, but in turn, displays slightly more fine detail in tricky areas like the red fabric.

Canon 7D Mark II vs Pentax K-3 at 1600 ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 1600	Pentax K-3 at ISO 1600
Both the 7D Mark II and K-3 show good control of noise, particularly in the shadow areas, at ISO 1600. Fine detail, especially in the mosaic crop, looks very good from both cameras. However, the K-3 struggles severely with the red fabric detail and the over-saturation of the pink colored fabric is yet again apparent.

Canon 7D Mark II vs Samsung NX1 at 1600 ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 1600	Samsung NX1 at ISO 1600
Both cameras control visible noise very well, but the NX1's default NR processing is quite strong and digital processing artifacts are quite visible. The NR on the NX1 also disrupts and distorts very fine details, such as those on the mosaic tile pattern and even more so on the fabric swatches, in comparison to the 7D II.

Canon 7D Mark II vs Sony A77 II at 1600 ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 1600	Sony A77 II at ISO 1600
Comparing the 7D Mark II and A77 II at ISO 1600 here, we can see very similar image quality performance. Noise is well controlled and fine detail is still good, however, the detail from the Canon appears slightly crisper with less softening from NR processing.

Canon 7D Mark II vs Canon 7D at 3200 ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 3200	Canon 7D at ISO 3200
Again, we can see the image quality improvement of the 7D Mark II over the original 7D. Fine detail is much more visible and noticeably sharper, and noise is much more controlled.

Canon 7D Mark II vs Nikon D7100 at 3200 ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 3200	Nikon D7100 at ISO 3200
We've known about Nikon's penchant for lessening the effect of high ISO noise reduction in favor of better fine detail. However, in the case of comparing it to the 7D Mark II, there is not a clear winner. Noise is more visible, especially in the dark, shadow areas of the D7100, but detail resolution from both cameras is very similar. The D7100 does, however, handle the fabric swatches better here.

Canon 7D Mark II vs Pentax K-3 at 3200 ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 3200	Pentax K-3 at ISO 3200
Noise levels here at ISO 3200 look fairly similar, though the K-3 displays a bit more grain. Fine detail looks very good from both cameras in the bottle and mosaic crops, however, the big difference is in the fabric swatches. Like we saw with the ISO 1600 comparison, the K-3 struggles a lot to resolve detail in this area, and the red fabric in particular is practically devoid of any detail.

Canon 7D Mark II vs Samsung NX1 at 3200 ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 3200	Samsung NX1 at ISO 3200
Like we saw at ISO 1600, the Samsung NX1 displays stronger noise reduction processing (at default levels) than the Canon 7D Mark II, and subsequently, the NX1 shows a disadvantage with fine detail resolution. In a similar effect to that of the Pentax K-3 above, the NX1 struggles with fine detail in the notorious red fabric, which is almost devoid of any detail.

Canon 7D Mark II vs Sony A77 II at 3200 ISO

Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 3200	Sony A77 II at ISO 3200
Similar to the NX1 comparison above, the A77 II displays much stronger default NR processing, with visible artifacts and a resulting loss in fine detail. Overall, the difference here isn't quite as stark as the NX1 comparison (except for the bottle crop, which looks much softer from the A77 II), though the edge still goes to the 7D Mark II.

Canon 7D Mark II vs. Canon 7D, Nikon D7100, Pentax K-3, Samsung NX1, Sony A77 II

Canon 7D Mark II ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Canon 7D ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Nikon D7100 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Pentax K-3 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Samsung NX1 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Sony A77 II ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400
Detail comparison. With high-contrast fine detail, all cameras display impressive results at base ISO, but as the ISO rises differences become more apparent. We can see that the Canon 7D Mark II displays a noticeable improvement compared to its predecessor and to the Pentax K-3. While the contrast in the Nikon D7100 crops is slightly less than that of the Canon 7D Mark II, the Nikon, as well as the Samsung and Sony, all compare similarly to the 7D Mark II at the higher ISOs in this crop comparison.

ISO 100/200/400 images all display excellent detail and vibrant colors, and can be used for prints up to 24 x 36 inches. Thanks to the 20MP sensor, there is no visible pixelation, especially when viewing a relatively close, arm's-length viewing distance. Larger prints, such as 30 x 40 inches are perfectly usable for bigger wall displays.

ISO 800 prints are impressive with very low noise, great detail and pleasing colors all the way up to 20 x 30 inches. ISO 800 prints are just a hair softer than ISO 400 prints, but larger 24 x 36 prints are certainly usable for wall display here.

ISO 1600 images easily produce pleasing 16 x 20 inch prints. Noise, particularly in the shadows, is now more visible, but still well controlled and not strongly detrimental to fine detail and colors.

ISO 3200 prints are very similar to ISO 1600 ones, but ever-so-slightly more noisy, making 13 x 19 inch prints the largest size we're comfortable with. 16 x 20 inch prints could be acceptable for less critical applications, however.

ISO 6400 images display more apparent noise and subsequent softness. Acceptable prints top out at 8 x 10 inches, yet at this size, detail is still very good and colors appear normal and pleasing.

ISO 12,800 prints top out at an acceptable 5 x 7 inches, with noise becoming quite strong and taking its toll on fine detail.

ISO 25,600 images show quite a bit of noise at larger size prints, but still manage a surprisingly acceptable 4 x 6 inch print.

ISO 51,200 prints are too noisy and devoid of enough fine detail to be called acceptable at any size.

As we found in our image quality comparison, the Canon 7D Mark II shows a visible improvement in image quality over its predecessor, and the same can be said for print quality results. Base ISO images still top out at 24 x 36 inch prints, though larger prints are suitable for wall display. This 24 x 36 inch print size remains acceptable up to ISO 400, which trumps the original 7D's ISO 400 print size of 20 x 30. At mid-range ISOs of 800-1600, the 7D Mark II easily prints large images up to 20 x 30 and 16 x 20 inches, respectively. And at the extreme ISOs, the 7D maxed out at a 4 x 6 inch print at ISO 12,800, while the 7D Mark II manages a size larger (5 x 7) at this sensitivity, and even prints an acceptable 4 x 6 inch print at ISO 25,600.

Field Test

Field Test Part II

Comfortable handling, robust controls and great image quality

By Jeremy Gray | Posted: 01/19/2015

Introduction

The 7D Mark II is Canon's newest APS-C DSLR body with the original 7D debuting over five years ago. Featuring a 20.2-megapixel CMOS sensor with embedded Dual Pixel AF, a 65-point all cross-type AF sensor, and dual DIGIC 6 processors, the Canon 7D Mark II improves upon the original 7D in many critical ways and delivers solid performance.

Camera Body and Handling

The Canon 7D Mark II feels great. The body is constructed of durable magnesium alloy and has weather and dust sealing, which is said to be improved over the original. Additionally, the shutter is rated for 200,000 actuations; an improvement over the 150K-rated life of the original 7D's shutter. Build quality is very good and the body has a nice grip that fits naturally in my hand. While ever so slightly larger than the original 7D (though the body-only weight is identical), using the 7D Mark II for extended periods of time is easy. With an acceptable weight and a battery rated for 800 shots (without flash), the camera is well suited for a long day of shooting. The CIPA rating for battery life (50/50 flash/no-flash) is lower than the 7D, though (670 vs 800). The 7D Mark II has both CF and SD card slots, which is a nice usability upgrade over the original which had only one CF slot. The camera also includes a USB 3.0 port for quick file transfers and tethered shooting. The 7D Mark II also features a built-in GPS, which can be enabled through the menu system. Unfortunately, the 7D Mark II does not have built-in Wi-Fi.

The 7D Mark II has a 3-inch LCD monitor with 1,036,800 dots, and while the original 7D also had a 3-inch display, the Mark II switches to a 3:2 aspect ratio screen to match the native sensor resolution, whereas the original used a 4:3 aspect ratio screen. Unlike some of Canon's recent DSLRs, like the 70D, the display on the 7D2 does not tilt nor does it feature touch capabilities, but it does its job well nonetheless. The display is easy to view in bright sunlight and the camera also has an ambient light sensor that assists in automatically adjusting the display for the lighting conditions.

As someone who has never shot with a Canon DSLR before, the controls took getting used to. At first I missed the secondary command dial found above the rear thumb-grip of my Nikon cameras, such as the D800E, but the Quick Control dial on the back of the Canon performs well and felt natural to use after only a short time. The main, top dial is easy to reach and has an excellent and responsive feel to it. Depending on the camera's shooting mode, the different dials serve various functions. These functions are intuitive and took little time to get used to. Near this main dial is a Multi-Function (M-Fn) button, which defaults to toggling through AF point configurations after pressing the rear AF point selection thumb button. This M-Fn button can be customized to other functions though, such as AE lock or Flash Exposure Lock. There is an additional function button on the front of the camera down near the lens mount that is easily reached when gripping the camera. By default, this front function button serves as a Depth of Field Preview button, but its purpose can be customized.

The top of the camera is impressive. The Mode dial has an excellent grip and tactile feedback, and the lock release is easy to press, even while wearing gloves. The shutter release button is small, but works well. The buttons on the top right of the camera are easy to reach when shooting and are clearly labeled. Many buttons on the camera, including all of the buttons on the top of the camera, serve dual functions depending on which control dial you utilize after pressing the button. This allows for many useful controls to remain easily accessible without having too many buttons on the camera. An excellent detail on the camera body is that the top Flash Exposure Compensation/ISO Speed button has a small bump in the center that helped me immediately identify the button when shooting. Another nice usability detail is that there is a dedicated button on the top of the camera for handling the camera's Drive mode selection and Autofocus operation.

On the back of the camera, the control layout is very nice. There are three quick-access buttons just above the thumb grip, for AF operation, AE-lock, and AF point selection. To the left of the thumb grip is a multi-selector and the new AF selection lever. By default, the AF selection lever is only usable after having hit the AF point selection button to toggle between AF modes. However, this button is also customizable and can be used for other quick adjustments, such as ISO sensitivity, exposure compensation, and more. Below that is the Quick Control button, which displays various useful options on the back LCD. These options are navigated using a combination of the multi-selector and the Quick Control dial.

On the left side of the camera back there are standard Playback buttons with a Menu and Info button at the top. There is a Creative Photo button that provides instant access to Picture Style adjustments, a Multiple Exposure option, and HDR Mode controls. The camera's menu system is laid out well and has a customizable My Menu tab. Overall, I got used to the camera quickly and found it easy to operate.

Dual Pixel CMOS AF

Featuring Canon's Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology, the Canon 7D Mark II performs well in Live View mode. With dual-pixel autofocus, the 7D Mark II can use phase detection AF while in Live View, rather than just contrast detection as with the original 7D. This change leads to vastly improved autofocus speed and accuracy when shooting in Live View. I was initially disappointed that continuous autofocus could not be used while shooting in Live View, however, this is merely disabled by default. You can enable continuous AF for Live View operation and the camera will continuously power the lens to maintain coarse focus. This should make it quick to get crisp focus when you half press the shutter, however, with the AF constantly working, Canon does indicate that this will drain the battery quicker. Live View shooting also has separate face and subject tracking capabilities.

While I understand the advantages of a non-tilting screen for a camera like the 7D Mark II, which is meant to withstand harsher conditions, its excellent Live View performance would benefit greatly from a tilting screen, especially when shooting in awkward angles or positions. Live View is easily triggered via a Start/Stop button on the back of the camera and starts up after only a short delay. Using the Info button, Live View can be used with an electronic level, a live histogram, basic shooting information, or with an entirely clear screen. I found the live histogram to be particularly useful, although it can be a bit obtrusive and cannot be used simultaneously with the electronic level. However, Live View is great overall with the 7D Mark II.

Shooting Experience

While APS-C sensors are falling out of favor it seems in the high-end DSLR market, I believe that there remains a place for high-quality camera bodies with APS-C sensors. All else equal, a crop sensor often fails to deliver the same image quality as a full-frame sensor, particularly at higher ISOs. However, there are also positive aspects of a crop sensor. Autofocus sensors can cover a larger portion of the image sensor and crop sensors provide a further FOV "reach" for your lenses. These are two excellent characteristics when taking wildlife or sports images. It is quite a benefit to both your camera bag and your wallet to be able to bring a crop sensor camera like the 7D Mark II with a 70-200mm f/2.8 attached rather than a full frame camera and a 300mm f/2.8 lens.

The 7D Mark II's sensor produces high quality images across a wide range of ISO sensitivities. In part II, I will discuss the camera's high ISO performance in more detail. Featuring a new 20MP sensor, the 7D Mark II provides plenty of resolution and detail for all typical photographic applications. To take better advantage of its new sensor, the 7D Mark II also introduces new in-camera lens distortion correction to help the camera deliver high quality files (applies to JPEG only) and videos when using most EF and EF-S lenses. Additionally, the 7D Mark II also has a new anti-flicker mode that is designed to correct for flickering light sources by synchronizing image capture to peak illumination for more consistent exposure and white balance. This is particularly useful when shooting in arenas where lighting can be inconsistent during high speed burst shooting.

The 7D Mark II features an Intelligent Viewfinder II, which provides approximately 100% coverage according to Canon (but only about 98% in IR's lab test). Overall, the viewfinder is excellent, especially for a crop sensor camera. It provides all the information you'd expect it to have, and the text is easy to read. An electronic level can also be displayed by activating it through the menu to appear at the top of the viewfinder.

With the extra reach that a crop sensor provides, the 7D Mark II is an appealing camera for wildlife photography. While this time of year is difficult for finding large wildlife in my area, there are still birds to be photographed. Birds can be an especially difficult subject because they are often very timid and sensitive to noise. The 7D Mark II offers a silent mode, which is, appropriately, impressively quiet. Unfortunately, silent high speed shooting is limited to only 4fps.

Shooting with the kit Lens

The Canon 7D Mark II can be purchased with an 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM kit lens. This lens is small, light and balances nicely with the 7D Mark II camera body. The lens focuses quickly and also has a decent manual focus ring. Unfortunately, it does not have a focus scale, though. The lens has a switch that you can use to lock the lens' focal length at 18mm so that the lens will not physically extend accidentally when traveling. Overall, the kit lens produces acceptable results and covers a very useful focal length range.

Shooting with other lenses

I was also able to test the 7D Mark II with Canon's EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM lens. This lens is small and lightweight and provides great images for the price. While the maximum aperture is a bit disappointing, the lens does include image stabilization. The focus ring at the front of the lens is narrow but it has nice movement. Unfortunately, like the kit lens, the 10-18mm lens does not have a focus scale. With the 7D Mark II's lens distortion corrections, the lens' distortion at 10mm (16mm equivalent) can be counteracted to some degree. Overall, it's an impressive lens for its size and cost.

I also had an opportunity to use the new Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens. Overall, the lens is fantastic. It autofocuses very quickly and accurately on the 7D Mark II body. Further, it is nearly silent in operation. The 400mm lens is just over 5 inches (128 millimeters) in diameter and 9 inches (233 millimeters) in length (without the hood). Weighing in at 4.63 lbs (2.1 kg), the lens is surprisingly light and is easy to hand hold, compared to the Nikon 400mm f/2.8 I often use. Getting sharp images without a tripod or monopod is easy thanks to the lens' excellent image stabilization.

The lens has superb build quality with a nice finish and responsive switches. The focus ring rotates smoothly, but does require you to rotate a long distance to get through the focus range. The lens' focus scale is good with easy to read numerals. The 400mm has focus preset options that are easy to use. At the end of the barrel, there is a ridged metal ring that you can twist slightly to jump back to a preset focus distance. The lens can close focus to 10.8 feet (3.3 meters). The 400mm f/4 produces excellent images with great edge-to-edge sharpness and contrast. Additionally, the lens handles lens flare very well, allowing one to shoot back-lit subjects without fear of excessive lens flare.

Part I Conclusion

• What I like most so far
  • The build quality is excellent
  • The camera feels great to use out in the field
  • Image quality is impressive
• What I dislike
  • No built-in Wi-Fi
  • Excellent Live View is held back by lack of a tilting, touchscreen LCD

The Canon 7D Mark II has impressed me so far. The camera body itself is sturdy and comfortable to use. By utilizing multi-function buttons, the camera allows quick access to an array of useful controls. The sensor delivers high-quality image files, and the autofocus sensor excels in many difficult shooting situations.

In Part II, I will discuss the performance of the camera out in the field in various lighting conditions. I will further discuss the autofocus system, the camera's metering, low light performance, the camera's speed, and the camera's video capabilities. Stay tuned!

Field Test Part III

Great speed & AF performance make for an excellent sports, wildlife and multimedia camera

By Jeremy Gray · 01/05/2015

Introduction

In Part I of this shooter's report, I discussed how the Canon 7D Mark II handled and performed in general terms. In Part II, I'll further discuss the performance of the Canon 7D Mark II, particularly autofocus performance, high ISO performance, speed and video.

Shooting in Automatic Modes: Metering

With an improved EOS Scene Detection System and a 150,000-pixel RGB+IR metering sensor, the 7D Mark II meters most scenes very well. The 7D Mark II offers spot metering, evaluative metering, partial metering, and center-weighted average metering, all of which work as advertised. When using spot metering, a thin, stationary black circle appears in the middle of the viewfinder. Disappointingly, spot metering is limited only to the center of the sensor and is not tied to a movable AF point, unlike what I'm used to with my Nikon DSLRs.

Auto white balance also works well. While providing all of the typical white balance options and an easily customized Kelvin temperature option, the 7D Mark II's auto white balance setting delivers excellent results. Overall, the 7D Mark II meters both exposure and white balance well. I used the camera in particularly difficult lighting conditions and was impressed with its overall performance.

Scene Intelligent Auto Mode

Scene Intelligent Auto is the 7D Mark II's fully automatic shooting mode. Due to the proficiency of the camera's metering and autofocus sensor, Scene Intelligent Auto consistently delivers great image files. Scene Intelligent Auto mode also applies various picture style settings depending on what sort of scene you are capturing. For example, if you are shooting a landscape image the camera will automatically apply higher saturation and clarity adjustments to the image.  

Autofocus Performance

The Canon 7D Mark II has an excellent autofocus sensor, with 65 cross type AF points, which is a major improvement from the original 7D's 19 cross type AF points. The AF sensor also has a double-cross-type AF point in the center when a supported* f/2.8 or faster lens is attached. The 7D Mark II features Intelligent Tracking and Recognition (iTR) for focus tracking which utilizes the metering sensor to identify the subject and then track that subject through the frame if it is moving or if the image is re-framed. I found iTR works quite well, and it has very useful applications for both sports and wildlife photography. (*Most of Canon's current f/2.8 or brighter lenses are compatible with the 7D Mark II's dual cross-type AF point, however some lenses like the 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro and the 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro for example do not. The instruction manual provides a full list of lens compatibility.)

Autofocus performance is excellent in good light, with the 7D Mark II autofocusing quickly and accurately. Focus acquisition was particularly quick when I was shooting with the new Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM. In lower light, the autofocus still remains impressive. The autofocus sensor can autofocus down to -3 EV at the center AF point. Further, at the center AF point, the 7D Mark II can autofocus down to f/8, which is another important upgrade over the original 7D and an attractive feature for those who shoot with teleconverters.

With the camera's excellent controls, changing autofocus modes while shooting is easy. To make the camera even more versatile, I recommend going into the custom control settings and designating the multi-selector to directly control the movement of an autofocus point so that you don't have to hit the AF Point Selection button every time you want to move the focus point. This simple change makes the camera a lot faster to use out in the field.

The 7D Mark II offers numerous AF area selection modes that make use of the 65-point AF array. There is the standard single-point AF, as well as Spot AF, which provides a reduced sampling area for even more precisely-controlled single-point AF. There is also AF Point Expansion. With the original 7D, AF Expansion provided four "helper AF points" that surround a primary single point. In case the central AF point moves off your subject slightly or there's not enough detail to achieve focus with the single point alone, the helper points will attempt to get things in focus. The 7D Mark II offers this 5-point expansion configurations, but also introduces a larger, 8-point cluster as well (1 + 7 surrounding).

There are multiple zone AF options, including moving focus around nine different zones or a larger three-zone area configuration called Wide Area AF -- a first for a Canon EOS camera. When shooting with fully automatic 65-point autofocus, the camera can either locate and focus your subject in single shot AF mode automatically; or with AI Servo AF mode, you can move a single focus point over your subject so that the camera intelligently tracks the subject throughout the scene using all 65 available points.

The choice of autofocus mode should be made based on the type of photography being done and personal preference. For landscape work in particular, I found that both single-point and single-point spot AF provided quick and accurate focusing. While the autofocus sensor does an excellent job overall, some scenes are complex and warrant the use of a single-point or single-spot AF. Large Zone AF is a good choice for wildlife or sports photography when you are able to keep the subject in a particular third but might be unable to keep the subject within a smaller area such as in Zone AF.

High ISO Performance

I was impressed by the file quality of the camera at ISOs up through 3200. Although there is considerable noise at ISO 3200, it is evenly distributed and the sensor still captures good colors and contrast. Despite utilizing an APS-C sensor, the 7D Mark II's sensor performs reasonably well at high ISOs. When necessary, the 7D Mark II can capture images up to ISO 16,000 at native ISOs.

The 7D Mark II has three levels of noise reduction: low, standard, and high. While I prefer to process RAW images without any noise reduction applied to them and handle noise reduction myself, the 7D Mark II's in-camera noise reduction does a good job of reducing noise without taking too much sharpness out of an image. Particularly, the noise reduction on 'standard' does a good job smoothing out noise and blotchiness without taking away too much detail from the image file. With that said, noise reduction is always a matter of personal preference, and the 7D Mark II has an option for everyone. Additionally, when recording only JPEG files, the 7D Mark II also has a Multi Shot Noise Reduction option that combines four consecutive images to create one composite image with lower noise. This option is only selectable after RAW file recording has first been disabled, rather than giving the option to enable Multi Shot Noise Reduction and subsequently disabling RAW capture in one fell swoop.

Shooting in Difficult Light

With acceptable high ISO performance and great autofocus performance in low light, the 7D Mark II handles low light shooting well overall. Much of my photography is done early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and the 7D Mark II performs well in these more challenging conditions by providing quick and accurate autofocus in low light and having a wide range of usable ISO sensitivities.

For night photography, the 7D Mark II’s sensor is capable of providing consistently good images. In-camera noise reduction smooths the image files out fairly well, but it also takes away some of the detail in the image, particularly in the shadows. With that said, I was impressed with the level of contrast and the deep black tones of shadows in image files at high ISOs. I had no issues with increased noise or hot pixels with consecutive long exposure images, but I was shooting in cold winter conditions so that might have helped to prevent those issues.

The camera itself handles well in the dark. The top LCD has orange back-lighting and is readable from all angles. Importantly, the top buttons are easy to use in the dark and the button that allows for ISO adjustments has a bump in the center of it that distinguishes it from the others. The viewfinder is also easy to use in low light, although in my opinion it would be better if the viewfinder illumination was tied to the top LCD illumination.

In scenes with harsh or uneven lighting, the 7D Mark II has a built-in HDR mode. Enabled by pressing the Picture Style button on the back of the camera, there are five HDR options: natural, art standard, art vivid, art bold, and art embossed. Additionally, there are controls over the dynamic range up to +/- 3 EV. All of the original image files are saved in addition to the final JPEG, which is a nice touch.

Canon 7D Mark II: In-Camera HDR Examples

18-135mm: 18mm, 1/6s, f/8, ISO 100, Manual, AWB, HDR +/- 3, Center-Weighted Average Metering.

18-135mm lens: 74mm, 0.3s, f/8, ISO 100, AWB, HDR +/- 3, Center-Weighted Average Metering

Speed

The 7D Mark II is a very fast camera thanks to its dual DIGIC 6 processors. With this processing power comes the ability to continuously shoot at 10fps, making the 7D Mark II one of the fastest DSLR cameras on the market. The original 7D could shoot continuously at 8fps. Another important performance upgrade is the 7D Mark II's buffer depth of 1,090 JPEG files or 31 RAW files, compared to 130 JPEG and 25 RAW files with the 7D, though IR lab tests managed 26 RAW frames for the 7D2 and 16 for the original 7D. It doesn't match Canon's claimed specs in this area, (the lab's target is designed to be difficult to compress so tested buffer depths are often less than claimed) but the Mark II displays a notable improvement over the original, nonetheless. The 7D Mark II does everything quickly, such as turning on, navigating menus, and processing images. This speed allowed me to concentrate on my shooting out in the field, rather than be waiting for the camera.

However, continuous shooting and processing power is only significant if the camera's autofocus can perform well, and the 7D Mark II's AF doesn't disappoint. The 7D Mark II's ability to continuously autofocus accurately, even at 10fps, is impressive. In most instances, the camera was able to successfully keep track of the subject and maintain focus throughout the entire burst. With the autofocus points covering a large portion of the frame, fast-moving subjects are handled very well by the 7D Mark II because there is more area of the frame that can track the subject.

Impressively, the 7D Mark II was able to acquire and maintain focus of a Snowy Owl moving through a white and gray scene. 1/3200, f/4.0, ISO 800, Manual, Auto WB, Evaluative Metering This photo has been edited slightly. Click image to view the original.

Video

The 7D Mark II captures excellent video up to 1080p and 60fps and includes many interesting features. The camera's dual-pixel AF sensor allows for smoother autofocus when shooting video. Movie Servo AF on the 7D Mark II performs well, as is to be expected considering the camera's excellent autofocusing ability for still photography. Movie Servo AF allows the camera to continuously focus without having to press the shutter. With compatible lenses, speed and sensitivity of Movie Servo AF can also be customized. However, Movie Servo AF is not available at 1080/60p (or 50fps PAL), so you're left with manual focus or AF by half-pressing the shutter button.

All-Intra (ALL-I) recording is a compression option available on each resolution except for 1080p and 60/50fps on the 7D Mark II, which should please most videographers. The camera also includes a headphone jack for monitoring, a stereo microphone jack (the built-in mic is mono), and an HDMI output which allows for uncompressed video recording. Recording video is as simple as rotating the Live View shooting/Movie shooting switch to the left and then pressing the Start/Stop button.

The 7D Mark II let's you adjust exposure settings as well as audio levels for both the mic and headphones during recording. While the camera's controls are faily quiet, they aren't truly silent and camera operation could disrupt the camera's audio recording. Thankfully, Canon included touch-sensitive controls for the rear sub-command control dial. With this enabled, simply tap up, down, left or right on the inner ring around the SET button for truly silent settings and audio adjusts during live recording.

Built-in GPS

The 7D Mark II has built-in GPS, which is easily enabled through the camera's setup menu. When GPS is enabled there is an indicator on the top LCD. When the 'GPS' indicator is blinking, the camera is searching for a signal, and when solid, the camera has acquired a signal. A signal is acquired quickly once you stay relatively still for a few moments and GPS reception is maintained even after the camera is turned off, which reduces battery life some, but allows for optional GPS logging to keep track of your journey. The built-in GPS provided quick and accurate latitude and longitude data for images. However, the camera struggled with elevation data, though I think this is quite normal. When taking consecutive images from the exact same location on a tripod, the camera recorded a change in elevation of over 10 meters during a series of four images. The location data for image files can be viewed through supplied software or by toggling through information during image playback. There are various options associated with the GPS, such as how often the GPS updates your positioning. There is also an option to turn on a useful digital compass when GPS is enabled, which is easy to calibrate by following an illustrated guide on the display.

Conclusion

• What I like most
  • Autofocus performance is excellent
  • High ISO performance is better than expected
  • The camera has incredibly fast performance
  • Dual-pixel AF results in smooth focusing during video recording
• What I dislike
  • Spot Metering is restricted to the center of the AF sensor
  • No Movie Servo AF at 60p/50p

The Canon 7D Mark II matches its excellent handling with excellent performance. It meters exposure and white balance consistently well, and its autofocus sensor is superb, proving to be quick and accurate across many shooting conditions. High ISO performance is surprisingly good with the 20-megapixel APS-C sensor. With high-end video features, the 7D Mark II captures great video as well.

Overall, the Canon 7D Mark II is an excellent camera. With great handling and controls, a high-quality APS-C sensor, fantastic autofocus performance, and 10 fps high-speed shooting, it's a great choice for wildlife and sports photographers. The Canon 7D Mark II not only performs very well out in the field, but it stands as a statement that high-end APS-C cameras continue to be a good choice for many photographers.

Flash

Canon 7D Mark II Flash

Built-in Flash Test Results

Coverage and Range
Good flash range, though with somewhat narrow and uneven coverage. Less than average positive exposure compensation required.

Coverage. Canon rates the EOS 7D Mark II's internal flash coverage at approximately 15mm, though as you can see in the above shot taken at 18mm, we've found manufacturers' coverage ratings are usually quite optimistic. Peripheral Illumination Correction was on (by default) for this shots, so the fall-off seen here in the corners and vertical edges is mostly from the flash. Coverage is also little uneven vertically, with a couple of dimmer horizontal bands. We doubt you'd notice this in most read-world flash shots, though.

Exposure. Indoors, under incandescent background lighting, the Canon 7D Mark II's flash performed very well, requiring less than the typical +0.7 EV positive exposure compensation needed for this test scene with a shutter speed of 1/60s. The camera's slow-sync flash mode didn't require exposure compensation for a good exposure, though the longer exposure (1/20s) resulted in a warmer orange/yellow cast from the ambient background lighting.

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range
10.3 feet ISO 100

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Canon 7D Mark II's built in flash has a rated Guide Number of 11 meters or 36.1 feet at ISO 100. That works out to about 10.3 feet at f/3.5, the maximum apertures of the 18-135mm lens at full wide angle. In the shot above at those settings, we can see that the Canon 7D Mark II's flash did not quite perform to specification, producing a slightly dim target at the rated distance. It's not too far off the mark, though, just about 1/4 EV underexposed.

High ISO Noise Reduction

Canon 7D Mark II High ISO Noise Reduction

The Canon 7D Mark II's four High ISO Noise Reduction settings ("High, "Standard", "Low" and "Off") provide good flexibility in choosing how you want to make the trade-off between subject detail and noise levels. The camera also offers a Multi Shot Noise Reduction option which takes 4 shots, and then aligns and merges them into one image to average out noise. 

See for yourself how the Canon 7D Mark II's "Standard" and "Off" High ISO NR settings compare to RAW without noise reduction under daylight-balanced lighting. (Note that these RAW images also have no sharpening applied, so they're a little softer than camera JPEGs at low ISOs.) Click on any of the crops below to see the corresponding full-sized image. Since the Canon 7D Mark II user manual states noise reduction is applied at all ISOs, we've included crops from the base ISO on up.

High ISO Noise Reduction Comparison Daylight-balanced illumination
	"Standard"	"Off"	RAW (no NR)
I S O 1 0 0
	"Standard"	"Off"	RAW (no NR)
I S O 2 0 0
	"Standard"	"Off"	RAW (no NR)
I S O 4 0 0
	"Standard"	"Off"	RAW (no NR)
I S O 8 0 0
	"Standard"	"Off"	RAW (no NR)
I S O 1 6 0 0
	"Standard"	"Off"	RAW (no NR)
I S O 3 2 0 0
	"Standard"	"Off"	RAW (no NR)
I S O 6 4 0 0
	"Standard"	"Off"	RAW (no NR)
I S O 1 2 8 0 0
	"Standard"	"Off"	RAW (no NR)
I S O 2 5 6 0 0
	"Standard"	"Off"	RAW (no NR)
I S O 5 1 2 0 0

The Canon 7D Mark II's default "Standard" High ISO NR setting provides a good tradeoff between noise and detail at low to moderate ISOs, but it struggles to maintain the contrast detail at higher ISOs, especially in our red-leaf fabric (as many cameras do). We'd probably shoot with lower settings at higher ISOs and reduce noise ourselves with post-processing (or just shoot RAW). Note how the "Off" setting doesn't disable noise reduction entirely even at low ISOs.

Conclusion

The Canon 7D Mark II arrives as a long-awaited update to the popular original model. The Canon 7D was a unique camera, a bridge between an enthusiast camera and a professional one. It brought down many high-end features from their top-tier EOS cameras, such as dual image processors, powerful autofocus, rugged build quality and just overall speedy performance. It was a hit with sports, action and wildlife photographers, and now five years later, the Mark II version is here and with a host of performance and feature upgrades.

Among the notable new features and upgrades, the Canon 7D Mark II sports Dual DIGIC 6 image processors capable of firing off a 9-10fps continuous burst (depending on settings) and chewing through over 100 JPEGs or around 26 RAW files until the buffer fills. Autofocus gets a notable upgrade to a 65-point, all cross-type AF system, including f/8 AF compatibility on the center AF point, which is great news for teleconverter users. The new 20.2-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor provides a minor increase in image resolution, but also features Dual Pixel CMOS AF for quick and smooth live view focusing for stills and video.

In both our lab testing and real-world Field Test, the Canon 7D Mark II performed very well. Image quality from the new 20.2MP sensor was very good, producing images with excellent detail, accurate colors and very good high ISO performance for an APS-C sensor. The 7D Mark II produced sharp JPEG images with very good detail, but with a good RAW converter, additional detail can often be extracted from the files. At higher ISOs, the 7D Mark II is not class-leading compared to other enthusiast and semi-pro APS-C DSLRs, but nonetheless very good and a noticeable improvement over the original 7D.

In terms of speed performance, the 7D Mark II is a solid performer. Shutter lag, cycle times and burst speeds are all very good based on our lab tests, and the generous buffer depth is also very welcomed. However, autofocus performance was not a clear-cut improvement over the original 7D. With the new iTR AF (Intelligent Tracking and Recognition) feature, which utilizes color information, face detection and other info from the metering sensor, the 7D Mark II provides greater focus accuracy, however that does slow down sheer AF speed (and burst rate slightly, too). Nevertheless, even in single-shot AF mode, which doesn't use the optional iTR mode, we found the AF lag speed to be slower than the 7D and 70D.

All in all, the Canon 7D Mark II is a much needed and much welcomed upgrade to the venerable EOS 7D. A popular model for sports, action and wildlife photographers, the 7D was a camera that provided performance and specs similar to that on their 1D-series models, but at a more affordable price. The Canon 7D Mark II looks to continue this heritage with an even more flexible and powerful AF system, sheer processing performance that surpasses the 1D X, improved build quality and more advanced video features, and therefore gets our top marks as a Dave's Pick.

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