Canon T7i Performance

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Canon T7i Performance

Timing and Performance

Very good performance for a consumer DSLR.

Startup/Play to Record
Power on to first shot	~0.5 second	Time it takes to turn on and capture a shot.
Play to Record, first shot	~0.2 second	Time until first shot is captured.

Powering on and taking a shot was quite good for a DSLR at about 0.5 second and a noticeable improvement over the T6i's 0.9 second. Switching from Play to Record mode and taking a shot was very fast, at about 0.2 second.

Shutter Response (Lag Time)
Full Autofocus Single-point (center) AF	0.092 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture. (All AF timing tested with the Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM kit lens at ~50mm.)
Full Autofocus Single-point AF TTL flash enabled	0.259 second	Time to capture while forcing flash to fire. Preflash metering pulses from flash often slow shutter response.
Manual Focus	0.079 second	For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "prefocused".
Prefocused	0.068 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.
Prefocused Live View	0.069 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

In terms of the Canon T7i's ability to determine that it's properly focused when shooting the same target multiple times using the optical viewfinder and the 18-55mm IS STM kit lens, its full autofocus shutter response was very fast for a consumer DSLR. We measured only 0.092 second for full AF lag using single point (center) AF, which is close to pro DSLR speeds. Enabling the flash added considerable delay for the pre-flash metering, though, resulting in a capture lag of about 0.26 second, though that's still pretty fast.

Shutter lag with manual focus was good at 0.079 second. "Prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure resulted in a lag time of only 0.068 second, also good for a consumer DSLR.

The Canon T7i's prefocused shutter lag time in Live View mode was almost as fast as using the optical viewfinder, measured at 0.069 second, which is excellent. Note that we no longer test full AF lag in Live View mode for DSLRs, because the lens used makes such a huge difference that comparing is pointless. We'll try to comment on real-world Live View AF performance in our field tests.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Cycle Time (shot to shot)
Single Shot mode Large/Fine JPEG	< 0.3 second	Time per shot, averaged over a few frames.
Single Shot mode RAW + L/F JPEG	< 0.3 second	Time per shot, averaged over a few frames.
Early shutter penalty?	No	Some cameras don't snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.
Continuous High Large/Fine JPEG	0.17 second (5.99 fps); 148 frames; 2 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 148 shot buffer capacity, then slowed to an average of 0.19s or 5.15 fps when buffer was full.
Continuous High RAW	0.17 second (5.99 fps); 24 frames total; 7 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 24 shot buffer capacity, then slowed to an average of 0.42s or 2.37 fps when buffer was full.
Continuous High RAW + Large/Fine JPEG	0.17 second (5.99 fps); 21 frames total; 10 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 21 shot buffer capacity, then slowed to an average of 0.60s or 1.66 fps when buffer was full.
Flash recycling	3.0 seconds	Flash at maximum output.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s UHS-I SDHC card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity and noise reduction settings can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance.

Single-shot cycle times were so fast that they were difficult to accurately measure as they depend on the tester's nimbleness and ability to maintain an optimum rhythm. (Note that we no longer test single-shot mode with just RAW files, as the results are usually somewhere in between JPEG and RAW+JPEG modes.)

Full-resolution continuous high mode speeds were quite good the class and resolution, at about 6.0 frames-per-second, no matter the file type. That's above average for a consumer-level 24-megapixel APS-C DSLR. The Canon T7i also has a low-speed continuous mode rated at 3.0 fps, however we did not test that mode.

Buffer depth for best quality JPEGs was excellent 148 frames before slowing down to a still-good 5.2 frames per second. When shooting RAW files, buffer depths pretty good for its class at 24 frames for RAW and 21 frames for RAW+JPEG. This is a massive improvement over the T6i's 6 frames.

Buffer clearing times were quite good considering the resolution, ranging from 2 seconds after a long burst of best quality JPEGs, to 10 seconds after a max length burst of RAW+JPEG frames.

The Canon T7i's flash took an average of 3.0 seconds to recharge after a full-power discharge, which is good.

Bottom line, the Canon T7i offers very good performance for its class, with a noticeable improvement in power-up to first shot, burst speed and RAW mode buffer depth over its predecessor.

Battery

Battery Life
About average battery life for a consumer DSLR.

Operating Mode	Number of Shots
Still Capture, Optical Viewfinder, CIPA standard	600
Still Capture, Live View LCD, CIPA standard	270

The Canon T7i uses a custom LP-E17 rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a dedicated battery charger. Battery life is about average for a consumer DSLR using the optical viewfinder, rated at 600 shots with 50% using flash, and of course live view mode draws more power reducing battery life considerably. While this is much improved over the T6i's 440 and 180 shot ratings with the same battery, we still recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for longer outings or if you plan on using Live View mode or shoot movies a lot.

The table above shows the number of shots the Canon T7i is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))