Canon EOS 7D

I have owned the Canon Rebel XT, Rebel XSi, 40D, 50D, and now the 7D. I primarily shoot wildlife and action. The 7D is by a good margin the best crop sensor DSLR that I have ever used.

Controls are intuitive if someone is moving up from an XXD model. And really not a very large learning curve for Rebel owners. The camera is heavier and larger than the Rebel models and slightly heavier than the previous XXD models too, but not noticeably so for me. The camera fits nicely in my hands. I wear a size large glove.

Features wise the camera is a significant upgrade from my previous bodies. The viewfinder at 100% is great. The 8 frames/second is fast though not as big a difference from the 40 and 50D as I would have imagined. One of my favorite features is the Q button that allows for very quick changes to a variety of settings. The on camera flash also seems much better to me.

The Auto Focus which many people will either buy or not buy this camera is to me fantastic. It does however take some trial and error for your type of shooting. I have had great success with moving objects with both expansion points and single point selection in Al Servo mode. I still haven't tried auto focus zones yet for movement. I find that Al Focus mode is also pretty effective in locking on and tracking moving objects. Achieving focus is very quick.

The image quality has been fantastic for a crop sensor camera especially with good glass. The detail that you are able to achieve is really fantastic. I loved my 40D until it got stolen but I also thought the 50D replacement was an improvement in many areas. But I think the 7D bests both. I have found that you are able to sharpen images to a much higher degree without seeing sharpening artifacts compared to those other two bodies. I can only assume that is because of the greater resolution the 18 MP provide.

The high ISO capability has been a pleasant surprise to me as well. ISO 6400 shots are definitely very usable up to an A3 sized print especially with some post processing.

Overall this camera has been the best DSLR that I have used. Feature wise it seems to be very much like a 1 series camera. Obviously, it doesn't quite compare in image quality though the image quality is outstanding for a 1.6x crop sensor.

I think this will be a favorite of wildlife and action photographers that don't want to ante up for a 1 series camera. I also think that it will do well in portrait or landscape photography. Low light event photographers will enjoy this camera even if they may have to do some extra work in post processing their images.

If you are just a landscape photographer or even primarily like to shoot portraits you might want to consider the much less expensive but much much slower Rebel XSi which has amazing image quality for the price or move up to a full frame sensor camera which is much more expensive.

Speed and handling. Image quality throughout ISO range. Detail retention even at 200%.

No second CF card slot. Lack of in body stabilization which makes, me at least, buy more expensive lenses. Price vs image quality verses XSi and 50D in the Canon line.

Nikon D50, Canon Rebel XT, Canon Rebel XSi, Canon 40D, Canon 50D

I have only had excellent customer service with Canon. They helped with fixing both a 70-200 f2.8 IS lens and walked me through some issues I had with the pixma pro9000 printer.

I was very happy with the service I received from Independent Photo Art Supply in Kansas City, MO.

This is the camera that many of us xxD users have been waiting for. It has a more professional feature set at a less than professional price. They have improved virtually everything over the xxD series. I personally owned the 10D, 20D, 40D and 50D... each being better than the last but this is not that equivalent of incremental upgrade. This is a new model which shows an advantage in every areas. It was well thought out and gives the majority of features that everyone wanted.

This is a new advanced model crop camera no matter what number of letters Canon decided to come up with. They probably called it the 7D because it is a more professional camera even than the 5D series except for final image quality which should always go to a FF camera yet the quality of the 7D photos are excellent and any difference cannot be realized unless printing at very large poster sizes which I never do which is why I love this camera. High ISO is excellent, new 100% viewfinder, fast accurate focus especially good for tracking Birds in Flight or cars racing around a track.

This is definitely the best crop camera out there.

This is a really great camera. I am really enjoying it. You think this camera has what you need then run to get it. It is well worth it. Is it perfect? No... There is no such thing as a perfect camera (perfect anything for that matter)... What it does offer you is a very full feature set, great quality all around for a reasonable price.

Just some of the new features:

*18MP APS-C CMOS sensor: fine details and gives a lot of room to crop your image if needed.

*8 frames per second continuous shooting: gives you very fast capabilities to help you capture those moments that can pass by too easily, that great hit in a baseball game, or the great save in hockey or even to catch that smile from someone just turning away after saying goodbye...

*1080p HD video recording with manual controls: The best video options in any DSLR so far. It will not replace your camcorder as there are pro features which mean not a point and shoot video camera with auto focus. The quality of the video and the capabilities of using interchangeable lenses with adjustable Depth of Field are great.

*3.0 inch Clear View II LCD screen with 920,000 dots: Crystal clear high quality to review your shots and verify whether 100% focus was achieved as well as the ability to make many camera adjustments if you want to.

*19-point AF system (all cross-type): A new improved focus system, very versatile with many new setting to be able to get the camera to work the way you want. Also new focus zones and spot focus capabilities.

*1.0x magnification and 100% coverage viewfinder with Transmissive LCD screen: To be able to see everything that will be in your final image and not miss that little bit that was just outside the frame. Big easy to see, clear and with the new display for focus points (gotta love it showing you the points that have focus while in AIServo focus mode and following a bird in the sky.

*Wireless flash control: Now you don’t need an external flash controller for wireless flash control.

Environmental sealing: Better sealing for the bad weather shooting you might end up with.

*New metering: which include color and focus point information for more accurate metering

Wider selection of image parameters: like +-5 for exposure compensation that can be shifts +-8 stops

2 Digic4 Processors to give the camera the speed it needs to handle all this and yet push up to 16 18mp RAW file continuous shooting to the buffer/card (126 jpegs).

The list just goes on and on.

None so far. Excellent

Canon 50D, 40D, 20D, 10D

Past experience with Canon customer service has been great.