New to RF and need advice.

[Barry]

Hi. After 54 years of taking photographs as a hobby and pursuing my wildlife interests I finally thought it might be nice to try out a mirrorless camera. I shoot Canon of course. I own a 1DX mkIII, a 5D mk IV and a 7D mk II. All fantastic cameras that I will never pass on. The awaited DSLR replacement for the 7D never materialised as Canon has gone down the mirrorless route so I followed Canon Rumour until I discovered that an APS-C mirrorless was to become a reality. I got in the queue and pre-ordered a new R7 with an adapter as I have a number of L series lenses that I also will never part with. It arrived and I set it up to emulate the 7DmkII and gave it a go.......... disaster! This was November last year and I still don't seem to get the hang of it. There are a lot of things I really don't like about it in terms of construct, feel, control positions, the lack of the top display....it's a long list. I would like as much input as possible from users who have made a successful foray into the mirrorless domain, preferably with the R7 although any useful information regarding this new form of camera would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks and kind regards
Barry

 

[Tim Mayo]

Welcome Barry and thank you for joining up here. Sorry to hear that your journey with the R7 hasn't been the smoothest so far. I own the R5 and love the feel of this camera in my hands, especially compared with my Sony mirrorless cameras. I did briefly hire an R7 but much preferred the feel and controls of my R5, so decided not to add the R7 to my gear bag. I just wish the R5 had pre-shooting as this was definitely my favourite feature of the R7 especially for taking shots of birds taking flight. Maybe if Canon come out with a battery grip this will help a little towards making the R7 feel better in your hands? I know some people are adapting the Canon BG-E2N Grip to fit the R7, there are some posts in our R7 Facebook Group.

 

[Barry]

Hi Timothy. Thanks for the encouragement!!! I have nothing to do with social media however so will not be using the face book page.
The whole point of the R7 was to have the front end magnification that an aps-c camera gives as I shoot wildlife and as they say "every little helps!" Having extra reach with a 400mm L series lens and 1.4x extender and the 1.6 mag. that you get from aps-c is very useful. With the 7DmkII I have a high hit rate. It seems that the R7 cannot match it as yet. I know some of it will be user error, but I have persisted with settings , tried AV, TV ,Program and full auto and still have a poor hit rate as yet. Changed ISO often too. Used every pre-set focus tracking and it doesn't keep up. I am better off turning the tracking off altogether. I have included the best image I have managed to score as yet. It's ok but I can and have done way better with the 7DmkII. Watch this space as they say.

• Canon EOS R7
• EF400mm f/2.8L IS III USM +1.4x III
• 560.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/400 sec
• ISO 400

 

[Grahamk]

Hi Barry, welcome to the group. I haven't used an R7 but have just moved from an R6 to an R6 Mk2, which I thought would be a simple transition. However, I had trouble getting the focus to lock properly on my 24-240mm lens (which I hadn't previously used on the Mk2) after having had a successful first outing with my Mk2 + 100-500mm at a sports car event. The issue seems to have arisen from a particular combination of settings for metering mode, autofocus area, subject to detect option and whether Whole area tracking Servo AF was enabled (or some sub-set of these). I'm not sure which adjustment finally sorted the problem as i changed more than one at the same time (never a good idea to identify the cause of a problem). I never had this issue with my R6 Mk1, which may have been luck, but, as I recall, that camera did not have the same Whole area tracking Servo AF option. It's stating the obvious, but the newer R-series cameras with their multiple inter-related menu options are complicated things.

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

Hey Barry. I'm a wildlife shooter who came to Canon Mirrorless from Nikon where I primarily shot with a D500. So while I don't have the 7D experience I understand the appeal of cropped sensors.

I started with the R5 but snapped up the R7 when it was announced for much the same reason you did. I'm shooting with RF glass, and perhaps that's the difference, but I put the R5 down and shot with the R7 almost exclusively for 5-6 months after I got it and was very happy with the results. I found the eye tracking to be much better than what the R5 had, and I could get it in every focus mode without having to use back-button focus as a work around.

My main complaints about the R7 seem to be shared by most users:

• Focus stickiness is poor while shooting - 3 shots in focus, 2 soft, 2 more sharp
• Focus wanders with button half-pressed - it will lock for 3-5 seconds and suddenly switch to a fore/background object
• Buffer is WAY too small - forces shooting in CRAW and in shorter bursts
• Sensor is old tech and noise is harder to deal with
• Mechanical shutter is stupid loud

That said, I have a bunch of photos from over last summer that I am thrilled with. It performs extremely well with the 100-500mm RF. Not as well with a 1.4x TC attached, but an effective 800mm at the long end without it means I'm not worried about it. I don't really mess with the AF options, I rely on the animal eye tracking and selecting the right focus area for the situation. I would dive deep into that. Wild Alaska and Whistling Wings Photography have done some videos on the R7 focusing system. Perhaps check them out?

Here are a few shots from the R7/100-500mm combo...

• Canon EOS R7
• 500.0 mm
• ƒ/7.1
• 1/1000 sec
• ISO 320

• Canon EOS R7
• 300.0 mm
• ƒ/7.1
• 1/2500 sec
• ISO 6400

• Canon EOS R7
• 500.0 mm
• ƒ/7.1
• 1/640 sec
• ISO 4000

• Canon EOS R7
• 451.0 mm
• ƒ/7.1
• 1/1000 sec
• ISO 1600

• Canon EOS R7
• 254.0 mm
• ƒ/7.1
• 1/1600 sec
• ISO 250

 

[Barry]

Hi Jake. Thanks for the insight. I am finding the camera a little less frustrating now as I have been persisting with the settings, largely by switching off most of them off! I still don't like the tracking features so don't use them. Having been used to Canon for 20 years or so, I expected the RF stuff to be really a step up from DSLR and as yet I am not convinced. Have not got an R5 as my 5Dmk IV is totally fine so won't need a full frame RF camera. I assume they are good?
I went out today with the R7 connected to my EF glass via the adaptor. I have the 400mm f2.8 prime lens and a 1.4X extender. The lens is superb as its an L series and has been amazing with my 7Dmk2. The light was poor so I didn't expect much. Was very pleased with the results overall. The camera can produce good results but its still a bit hit and miss so I will practice some more. See what you think of the images below.

 

[Barry]

Hi Barry, welcome to the group. I haven't used an R7 but have just moved from an R6 to an R6 Mk2, which I thought would be a simple transition. However, I had trouble getting the focus to lock properly on my 24-240mm lens (which I hadn't previously used on the Mk2) after having had a successful first outing with my Mk2 + 100-500mm at a sports car event. The issue seems to have arisen from a particular combination of settings for metering mode, autofocus area, subject to detect option and whether Whole area tracking Servo AF was enabled (or some sub-set of these). I'm not sure which adjustment finally sorted the problem as i changed more than one at the same time (never a good idea to identify the cause of a problem). I never had this issue with my R6 Mk1, which may have been luck, but, as I recall, that camera did not have the same Whole area tracking Servo AF option. It's stating the obvious, but the newer R-series cameras with their multiple inter-related menu options are complicated things.

Hi Graham. Its interesting what you have to say about the R6. Already they have updated it to a mk2 which tells me there was a need for improvement. I hope the R7 doesn't go the same way. The R7 is a cheaper camera but so was the 7Dmk2 and it never let me down. I am still trying with the R7 and am sure it will get better once I get round the irrelevant bits and use the settings that work for me.

 

[Barry]

There has just been a firmware upgrade for the R7. Hope this may change things a little

 

[Barry]

So---this firmware update has frozen my R7. I have had to reset the camera a couple of times and then replace all the settings I use regularly as the update cancelled everything. This morning I missed several opportunities for shooting wildlife as the autofocus gave up altogether until I "turned it off and then turned it back on again" What a joke. This camera (my own R7) is rubbish!!!!!

Or have I just got a total dud???

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

"Your Mileage May Vary" is a rule of thumb for any product. There are so many things that can cause what you've experienced that have absolutely nothing to do with the camera - the card (brand/quality/condition), the reader, the computer you used to download the firmware and copy it to the card... and the camera itself can be at issue. Given all that, I can neither judge yours as a dud even as I disagree heartily with the assessment that "the camera" (the R7) is rubbish.

Regardless, I'm sorry you're dealing with what you're dealing with.