Canon?s New 18 Megapixel Monster, The EOS 7D

canon 7d

True to form, yesterday’s Chinese forum leak was swiftly followed by an official announcement from Canon, just as hunger comes a few hours after eating Chinese takeaway.

The camera is of course the brand new 7D, a crop-sensor (1.6x) body set square against Nikon’s D300s, and in the Canon line the 7D sits above the to-be-continued 5D. In fact, it is so closely pitched at the D300s that we put together a comparison table:

	7D	D300s
Sensor (MP)	18	12.3
ISO	100-6400	200-3200
Video	1080p MOV, 24fps	720p AVI, Motion jpg, 24 fps
Shooting speed (fps)	8	8
Focus	19 points (all cross)	51 points (15 cross)
Viewfinder	100%, 1.0x	100%, 0.94x
Processor	Dual DIGIC 4, 14bit A/D	EXPEED, 14bit A/D
Remote flash	Yes, E-TTL II	Yes, i-TTL
Price	$1700	$1800

Other differences are the dual card slots of the D300s (one each of CF and SD) and an optional Wi-Fi adapter for the Canon which fixes to the base and also acts as a vertical grip. On its own this looks rather limited in use, especially as it won’t fit on any other camera, but in addition to slow old 802.11 a,b and g it has an Ethernet port and USB capability for hooking up to, say, a GPS unit.

This is a strong-looking camera, and we’ll have one soon to test. We don’t expect anything other than excellent: at this level, both Canon and Nikon are playing an good game, and it doesn’t look like either of them is going to slip first.

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Lenses

Also from Canon today are a clutch of new lenses. The first are for the crop-sensor cameras, and, as ever, the names tell you all you need to know. The EF-S 15-85mm ?3.5-5.6 IS USM ($800) and the EF-S 18-135mm ?3.5-5.6 IS USM ($500), both have four stop image stabilization and both have small, dark maximum apertures, worsening as you zoom. This is the reason I hardly ever use zooms: for a depth-of-field limiting aperture of, say, ?2.8 throughout the range, you’ll pay a fortune. Sure, carrying a couple of primes with you is less convenient, but its a lot cheaper, too. Especially if you buy second-hand.

The new EF 100mm ?2.8L IS USM is such a lens, and is the first to feature Canon’s brand new Hybrid IS stabilization, giving four more stops on an already wide-open lens, and up to two stops when shooting in macro mode. The price is $1050.

Canon EOS 7D Preview [DP Review]

Press release [Canon]

Lens press release [Canon]