I have been traveling the last two weeks, and returning this weekend I was somehow disappointed that no big Canon news had occurred while I was gone. I mean, at least rumor sites had expected a new camera (1Ds Mark IV) announced together with a new lens or two. But no such thing happened. All we got in this round was announcements of a few new printers and compacts, a firmware upgrade for the 5D Mark II and a small update of DPP and other Canon EOS software. The new 5D firmware is a bit interesting for 7D owners though. Through the firmware update Canon adds manual sound level control, increased audio sampling frequency and other improvements to the video part of 5D Mark II. If Canon can do it on 5DII, they can probably do it on 7D too. But do they want to?...
While I was gone Benoit Millot also sent Planet 7D the above nice video combining 7D footage with 3D animation. It is not completely new, so some might have seen it already. But if not, check it out in HD on Vimeo...
]]>Mark mungkey Vicente sent Planet 7D this nice atmospheric video from Abu Dhabi. It is his first personal video project and it's a very cool start I would say. Watch it in HD on Vimeo.
Tech info:
Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM and Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 D.
Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, Adobe After Effects CS4 and MPEG Streamclip for Windows.
Canon has announced a new "Rebel" today, the EOS 550D (Rebel T2i). The most interesting thing for 7D owners would probably have been if Canon had announced a lens or two together with the new body. But they didn't...
A week ago nature photographer Ole Jørgen Liodden posted fourth part of his 7D reviews series on Canon Field Reviews. This time looking at the cameras image quality.
The "rumor" (apparently there has been an "announcement" somewhere, but I can't find it?) says that Canon is releasing a plug-in called "EOS E1 plug-in" for Apple's Final Cut Pro, which should allow "simple and easy transfer of video content from Canon's EOS DSLR cameras directly into Final Cut Pro". When available it should be downloadable at http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/finalcutstudio/. Update: A beta-version of the plug-in will be available for download in March 2010. I found a press release at http://www.canon-europe.com/About_Us/Press_Centre/Press_Releases/Consumer_News/News/EOS_MOVIE_Plugin_Pro_Media_Alert.asp.
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Ever thought about taking a Canon EOS 7D underwater? Berkley White from Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo did.
The Canon 7D is quite possibly the best of both worlds for underwater photographers with an interest in video
...
Read the full review:
]]>Jean-michel Tari sent Planet 7D a tip about this nice short movie he has made. Shot with a Canon EOS 7D in one day.
Max is an unbearable and totally egocentric person. But when his girl friend asks him to pick some photos in a small shop lost in Paris, he is far from suspecting what is going to happen.
It is a very cool short movie which you should go and watch in HD on Vimeo.
Technical specs:
Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Rig: Shoulder rig, matte box and follow focus from Redrockmicro
Lenses: Canon EF 24mm USM II 1.4 / Zeiss ZE 50mm 1.4 / Zeiss ZE 85mm 1.4
Monitoring: Marshall V-LCD70P-HDMI
Editing Codec: Cineform Prospect HD
Canon HD video contest
And talking about cool videos... Are you a talented filmmaker? Check out Canon and Vimeo's new big HD video competition, "The Story Behind the Still".
]]>http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E7D/E7DA.HTM
Be sure not to overlook all the tabs and "sub-tabs" if you want to read the full review. Though just the content of the first "overview" tab could have been a full review on other sites.
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Canon has a announced a new lens, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM. A new version of their fastest 70-200mm lens with image stabilization. It has revised optical design, 4-stop IS and reduced minimum focusing distance. Canon Europe press release at:
PS/Update 9th Jan 2010: Third part of Ole Jørgen Lioddens 7D review is out. This time he takes a closer look at the cameras AF performance.
]]>Canon 7D winter test from Ole Jørgen Liodden on Vimeo.
Second part of Ole Jørgen Lioddens 7D review is up, and I like this video from it:-) Watch the video on Vimeo for best quality and read the review at Canon Field Reviews.
Oh, and in the "internal news", Planet 7D now has its own flickr group. Post your photos on Flickr to the group pool and get them featured right here on this site. Currently a "strip" on top of each Planet 7D page will automatically show the latest 50 photos added to the Flickr group pool (Requires "Hide your stuff from public searches" is set to "No" in your Flickr account settings if you want your photo included). I'm hoping to get a group pool with quality rather than quantity and there's already some very impressive shots done with the 7D in the pool. Take a look for yourself...
]]>The currently widely running TV commercial featuring photographer Fergus Kennedy. The commercial itself was also shot with the 7D. Maybe a little bit cheesy, but I guess commercials has to be that? :-) You can also watch it on YouTube.
Watch more about Fergus Kennedy working with 7D in the French wetland Camargue at http://www.canon-europe.com/takestories/#/eos7d.
]]>Download latest versions of Lightroom, Camera Raw and DNG converter from the Adobe website or use Adobe Photoshop and Lightrooms built-in update functionality. Lightroom 2.6 is a free upgrade for Lightroom 2.x users, Camera Raw 5.6 is a free upgrade for Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop Elements 8 users. The DNG converter is a free tool available for all:
Also DxO released DxO Optics Pro version 6.1 for Windows with 7D support a weeks time ago. You can download this RAW software in a trial version from the DxO site:
And finally Apple has released Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 2.7 which adds 7D support to software like Aperture 2.x and iPhoto '08/'09 for Mac. The update is available via the Software Update mechanism of newer releases of Mac OS X.
Update 19th Dec. 09: According to a little test by Secerator on the dpreview forum there's significant less noise in Lightroom 2.6 compared to the Release Candidate when using default settings without any noise reduction applied.
Related posts:
Maybe the most interesting read will be the Norwegian photographers Ole Jørgen Lioddens four-part review. He tested the camera 3,5 week in Antarctica! The subjects of the four parts will be weather sealing, autofocus, HD-video and image quality. So far only the first part has been published, but I will update this post as soon as I see the other parts.
Updates 7-8th Dec 09: I have added a few more reviews to the above list.
Related posts:
P.S. A working contact form has finally been implemented here on Planet 7D. So if you got any comments or tips to Planet 7D, please go ahead:-)
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Screenshot from one of the Canon tutorials at Digital Learning Center.
Canon US has posted a series of 16 Canon EOS 7D tutorial videos on their Digital Learning Center site. The videos are available for download in different sizes optimized for playback on various devices, including versions for playback on the camera's rear LCD. But of course you can watch them online on your PC too. 6 of the 16 tutorials are about the camera's many AF options, but subjects also include live view, movie mode, customizing the camera, flash and the WFT-E5 Wireless File Transmitter:
Speaking of tutorials. Especially video shooters might also find these two tutorials interesting:
In other news, Adobe earlier this week made release candidates of Camera RAW 5.6 and Lightroom 2.6 available for download on the Adobe Labs site. Both have official support for Canon EOS 7D RAW files, and the word is that they are doing a much better job than the unofficial 7D beta-support found in Camera RAW 5.5 and Lightroom 2.5. Being release candidates means that the software might not be completely equivalent to the final versions, but should be very close. Download from Adobe Labs:
]]>Also the Canon EOS 7D review is now up at The-Digital-Picture.com. I haven't read it yet myself, but it should be a quite positive review.
]]>http://www.dpreview.com/news/0911/09110603canoneos7dreview.asp
Secondly a private user review by Roland Lim might also be of interrest:
http://rolandlim.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/canon-eos-7d-review/.
Update: Two more reviews. These are more skeptical towards the camera, and has created some discussions (discussions on dpreview linked too):
Related posts: