Canon EOS 7D Mark II PERFORMANCE AND CONCLUSIONS

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

The 7D Mark II starts and captures an in-focus image in just about half a second, and it locked focus speedily in a variety of lighting scenarios. Our standard focus speed test involves shooting an analog stopwatch on an LCD display, and the 7D consistently locked focus and fired in about 0.05 second. Doing the same with Live View enabled only extended that time to 0.1 second, with a mere 0.4 second required if the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens was significantly out of focus before the shutter was pressed. In low light the 7D slows to about 0.8 second to acquire focus and fire a shot—that’s really quick.

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

The 7D’s focus system features 65 AF points, all of which are cross-type. The focus system can be set to choose a point or points automatically from the entirety of its area or do the same from one of three zones (left, center, and right), or you can select from a point or group of five to 15 points. When set to direct control, it’s very quick to change between focus modes and move the active point around. And, unlike less-expensive cameras, the 65 points cover almost the entire frame. Like Canon’s full-frame flagship camera, the EOS-1DX, the 7D Mark II features an autofocus system that you can adjust to your heart’s content. It has six main customizable modes to choose from, each corresponding to a different type of scene.

Canon rates the 7D at 10 frames per second (fps), and it just about lives up to that claim, hitting 9.8fps over full bursts of shots in our lab tests, even with AI Servo continuous focus enabled. Depending on the format you’re shooting, the number of images you can capture in a burst varies. In Raw+JPEG mode it manages 18 shots before slowing down; it can keep shooting at a slower pace, but if you want to clear all of those images to a memory card and start with a fresh buffer, only about 7.6 seconds is required. If you use Raw mode, the buffer holds about 26 shots before the 7D slows, with a short 6.4 seconds required to clear all of those images. But when I opted to shoot JPEG, I held the shutter button down for a full 2 minutes, capturing more than 1,200 full-resolution images with no signs of the 7D slowing down. That’s pretty amazing.

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

I used Imatest to check and see how the 7D Mark II’s image quality holds up at higher ISOs. When shooting JPEGs at default noise reduction settings the camera keeps noise under 1.5 percent through ISO 3200. Minor smudging became noticeable at ISO 3200, but images are very crisp at ISO 1600 and below; detail drops off further at ISO 12800 and the top standard setting, ISO 16000, but both should be fine for Web use. Raw images show strong detail through ISO 25600, although there’s a lot of grain.

The 7D Mark II records QuickTime or MP4 video at up to 1080p60 quality. You can only record footage at 1080p60 using an IPB compression scheme, which is more heavily compressed than the ALL-I recording options available at 1080p30, 1080p24, and 720p60. If you plan on shooting video with the intention of editing it into a finished project, ALL-I is the way to go. The camera features both a microphone

input port and a headphone jack, so you can connect a pro-grade microphone and monitor audio while recording. Video quality is excellent, with sharp details, but as with most large-sensor cameras, rolling shutter can be an issue when panning quickly or capturing fast-moving action. Video autofocus is very quick, as on-sensor phase detection handles all of the work. The 7D can also be set for Servo AF, which constantly adjusts focus as the scene changes, though this feature is disabled when shooting at 1080p60. Autofocus modes available when recording video include face detection with tracking, a wide focus area, and an adjustable flexible spot.

The 7D Mark II has a number of interface ports. It uses USB 3.0 for data and it has a mini HDMI output to send uncompressed video footage to a field recorder. There’s also a remote control port and a PC sync socket to connect to studio strobes. It supports two memory cards, one CompactFlash and one SD, SDHC, or SDXC.

Owners of the original 7D have been patiently waiting for an updated camera. The 7D Mark II proves that the wait was worth it. It has the best autofocus system that I’ve seen in an APS-C body, and its image quality holds up against the stiff competition in this category. When you add in smooth autofocus when recording video or using Live View for stills and access to Canon’s extensive lens system, you have a camera that is worthy of being called our Editors’ Choice.