DPRefugee from Massachusetts

[rlk]

I've lost track of how many years I've been a member of DPReview. I've participated in innumerable discussions and learned a lot about photography, and tried to help others in that regard.

About me: I'm an amateur enthusiast who could probably call myself a semi-pro based on the fact that I've shot a small number of weddings for compensation. My wife and I have not been able to take vacations since COVID, and at present I'm focused on shooting sports for my alma mater (MIT). Membership (even as manager) in the basketball team helped me grow, and I want to give something back to the current generation of student-athletes, so I shoot photos of games to give them memories down the road.

I bought an R7 last fall. Much better camera than the 7DmkII I had been using, as good of a camera as that was when it came out. It's not perfect, of course, but nothing ever is. I'm shooting an RF 100-500 for outdoor sports (it's lighter than the EF 100-400II, and the extra range is helpful for football and soccer). For basketball, I'm using an EF 70-200, with a Viltrox 0.7x speed booster, which I mostly use because it brings the field of view of the lens to something more useful. I certainly have other gear; Tamron 16-300 for walkaround use, 17-55 EF-S which I put on the 7DmkII as my second body, Sigma 8-16, and some prime lenses, but my primary kit is built around the 100-500 and 70-200.

Compared to the DSLR bodies, the R7 feels more like an R10, so the R10 is more like an R100 (i. e. Rebel) and the R50 more like an R1000 (i. e. the Kiss series in Japan). But no matter, the AF still blows away the 7DII, and the low light performance at ISO 6400 and up is fantastic. I'm shooting OOB JPEG, normally only cropping and correcting tilt, and the images are technicall stunning (hopefully I capture the decisive moments anywhere near as well).

 

[rlk]

To add to my initial post: I held off from mirrorless for quite a while. Not because I believe in a traditional optical viewfinder, but because the engineering just wasn't there. I've had an M and an M5, and they're very useful for what they are, but the battery life and viewfinder response just weren't what's needed for action photography. Exposure preview is such a huge advantage in difficult lighting conditions that it can hardly be overstated. I've certainly been known to inadvertently change the exposure (and the R7, with its small dials, is more prone to than the the 7D), but when it happens I know it right away rather than having shot for many minutes before reviewing a photo and having an "oops" moment. Not to mention that the immediate feedback helps me dial in the exposure quickly in my own pregame "warmup".

I'd certainly like to see a faster sensor readout, making electronic shutter usable for this purpose. That would surely improve AF in burst shooting. Indoors, even if distortion's not a problem, 120 Hz flicker from the overhead lights certainly would make the R7 unusable in ES mode for the kind of shutter speed I need. Maybe for the R7mkII Canon will do that or maybe not, but regardless, it's still a game changer, even more than the original 7D.

 

[Tim Mayo]

Welcome Robert and thank you for joining up here and introducing yourself. It is certainly hard to find that illusive perfect camera! I also shoot with a Sony A1 but still prefer the ergonomics of the R5 and the more affordable CFexpress Type-B cards. If the R5 Mark II comes with a stacked sensor like the Sony A1 and also pre-shooting like with the R7 then this would be very close to being my perfect camera Any questions about the forum here please just let me know.