Canon 7D Mark II Sample Gallery: The speed demon DSLR flies sky high with 10fps (UPDATED)
posted Tuesday, September 16, 2014 at 4:16 PM EDT
[UPDATE: RAW files are now available for download]
At Canon's press launch for the Canon 7D Mark II at photokina today -- Not seen the announcement? Read it here -- I had the opportunity to shoot with Canon's new high-speed APS-C flagship camera. Presented with an action sports demonstration of trampoline acrobats, the most obvious thing to experiment with first was the new 10fps continuous burst shooting.
While on paper a jump from the 8fps of the original 7D to 10fps doesn't seem all that impressive, when you're shooting with it the 7D Mark II feels strikingly fast. Using the bundled 18-135mm kit lens, the camera was very fast to acquire focus. And the continuous AF burst of 10fps coupled with the AF Servo kept subjects in crisp focus… as long as I could keep the fast-moving acrobats behind the AF point, or AF point groupings.
I was able to test the new Large Zone AF mode, and with the three large zones (left, right and center) you have more flexibility in framing your shots and keeping a fast-moving subject in focus. Over all it worked well with the pre-production 7D Mark II I was using, though there were a few instances where the focus point moved off the subject -- granted they were moving up and down quite rapidly.
Testing the new Dual Pixel CMOS AF, the 7D Mark II felt very much like the 70D, only faster. Live View focusing felt nearly instantaneous to acquire focus in relatively bright yet indoor lighting. For Movie Mode, focus was unsurprisingly very smooth with controlled-looking transitions between subjects. While it lacks a touch screen, which makes tap-to-focus an unavailable option for live view movie focusing, you can still adjust the focus point during recording with the rear joystick control button, enabling precise focus adjustments, though it is slightly slower than a simple tap on the screen would be.
For a first look, the 7D Mark II is an impressive camera. It feels very close to a 1D-series camera that's been crammed into the body of a mid-sized DSLR. For stills shooting, the camera feels remarkably fast, and the 10fps burst is an excellent upgrade for sports shooters and other photographers who capture fast-moving action -- and it felt just as speedy when shooting RAW+JPEG as it did with JPEG-only. For videographers, the addition of a touchscreen would be nice, but the Dual Pixel CMOS AF is a welcome addition to the 7D-series cameras, as well as the inclusion of ALL-I and 1080/60p (though, the 60p framerate is only available in IPB mode, which is a bit of downside for those looking for ultimate picture quality).
Check ou the Canon 7D Mark II Sample Gallery for more images at full-resolution, with corresponding RAWs for most samples following shortly. (UPDATE, 09/16/2014: RAW files are uploaded and available for download)
[Please note: All images were shot on pre-production Canon beta sample models. Final image quality may vary.]