Home   Intro   About   Gallery   Updates   Reviews   Trips   Tips   Price Reference   Links   Contact


Canon 7D Test Drive
18 Megapixels
APS-C CMOS 1.6x

Disclaimer:
The following review is not suppose to be some kind of a professional review. If you are looking for such reviews you will not find it in my homepage. I just plan to write a simple review with my thoughts to assist my friends with the camera they want to buy since most of the time the guy at the electronics department doesn't know much about the camera apart from the price of it by scanning the barcode. If you found my website from the internet then good for you! The reviews are just my thoughts and I am happy to share with anyone. It is possible I will make the occasional mistakes and if I do please let me know about it!

 



Introduction

Today was my second day with the Canon EOS 7D. Before I go on I want to apologize for the slow speed of my website. I heard from some that the website wouldn't load and others that said the links were dead. The problem with the dead links was that my grandfather was waiting for me at a Chinese restaurant for lunch and....long story short I wanted to post Day 1 asap but did not had the time to chk the links and therefore the dead links. its fixed now if you want to go back to look (day1). As for the slow speed or website not loading...my homepage is not dead. its just ran out of bandwidth so pls refresh a couple more times and hopefully it will load. Pls support my website by ordering through the links of my sponsors from my website so that I could afford to get more bandwidth to solve this issue...

I love to use camera flash and highly recommend off camera flash to all my friends. In the past I had to use the Canon ST-E2 wireless trigger to control my speedlites. Some people, including me, prefer to use the Pocket Wizard but what sux for me is that its illegal to use the Pocket Wizard in Hong Kong. A special feature of the 7D is built-in wireless trigger. I was pretty excited about this function cuz I don't like using the 2CR5 batteries for the ST-E2. Many of us are wondering what built-in wireless trigger means so I have it all summed up for you in a nutshell...


Day 2: Built-in Speedlite Trigger. Bye Bye Pocketwizard?

ISO 100
1/125s
f/3.2
28mm
580EX II

 


 I used the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens for this photo shoot. I shot this photo at 28mm but with the 1.6x crop factor it becomes 44.8mm (your nifty-fifty lens). This lens is tack sharp and it's my Numéro one choice for portrait photography. In Hong Kong we love the sea and back light photography cannot be avoided. To prevent dark faces or shadows casting over the subject I prefer to use fill light. Fill light is when you use a flash when there is sunlight.

 

 

 
 

ISO 200
1/125s
f/4.0
15mm
580EX

 

 EF-s lenses can be quite a problem for most people. Lenses can never be wide enough with the 1.6x crop. I was on a narrow balcony but I wanted to use the house on the roof as the background. I don't have the very well known ef-s 10-22mm lens so I went for my 15mm Fisheye lens. I like to call this my 24mm prime lens on crop cameras. The distortion is really not that bad when cropped and the small distortion usually has an interesting appeal.

Some friends suggested that I test the 7D and see if it is fit for a portrait photography camera. It was not a problem at all to test the camera but finding a building or a boat or Mr. Burce Lee was way easier than finding a person. I have no budget for a model and the last time I approached someone and ask I was asked back who do I work for....quite intimidating!
As you can see from both photos you see the small flash reflections off the glass. This is my Speedlite 580EX II and 7D wireless trigger at work. I would say that the wireless trigger is very convenient but not too professional. It can be improved by changing the flash signal to the red infrared light (or whatever the red light is). You can control flash power ratio as well as flash priority but no matter what you do the 7D needs to flash. With the ST-E2 and Pocket wizard there is no flash pulse firing off your camera and its much better in controlling the lighting (so I will still need my ST-E2). The flash issue may not work out too well for the photographer at a photo shoot (the flash blinds the model) but people who use it to take product photos should not have that big of a problem with it at all.


Most people who are upgrading probably already have an old 430EX or 580EX. I used my older 580Ex flash on purpose in the second sample photo so that you know you do not need the newest equipment to take great photos. There are some flaws in this photo but I choose to share this one because you can see how I composed and setup the shot. Everyone knows how to click and shoot. It’s the composition that takes longer to learn. You can see I have the 580EX flash on a stand linked to the 7d through the wireless sync (the hot shoe accessory and light stand are on links to the righ).  Make sure you raise the flash so that its level with the subjects face. As for the photographer (myself) I went way down so that I can capture the corner of the rooftop to see that it’s a house. When you are ready…SNAP!


The viewfinder experience on the 7D is interesting. With my Rebel I always take the shot and get a lot extra afterwards. I find the 7D 100% viewfinder very helpful in framing the shot. Last but not least…the model. She’s actually my girlfriend Phoebe, so, bravo to her for being to brave to be both my flash assistant and model. She did not want to be my model at first but I said a lot of people will benefit from this photo shoot and I am sure they will all thank her in my facebook group. So guys….help me out, join my facebook grp, and write a short note to her so that we will have a model for my upcoming photo shoot about 7D and the soft light box =)
Thx for reading and remember…if the photos look bad it’s either my fault or a faulty 7D ok?

If you decide to buy the Canon EOS 7D or its accessories you can get it them at B&H or Amazon by clicking on the links. It shows your support for my website so that I can keep adding to this site!

If you are still deciding but still want to show support for my website you can join my facebook group so that I know there are actually people who benefit from my homepage!

Click here and join my group!

 
This is the end of Day 2 Test drive. Please check back again tomorrow for day 3 test drive and I will replace this line with the new link. Feel free to suggest some test situations in my facebook group wall.

Day 3: Old Hong Kong. DLA of the 18MP CMOS... click here to see Day 3
 

myspace web counter

© 2009 Andrew Chan. All rights reserved

Home   Intro   About   Gallery   Updates   Reviews   Trips   Tips   Price Reference   Links   Contact