Canon 7D Quick Review
 

I had the luck to land the only 7D in Singapore and took it out for 2 weddings. The video was very impromptu as it was done last minute. I hope the limited test footages could help some people who are making a decision on the 7D.

Hey Sean: Nice review. I think you covered a lot of ground for us who haven't had it in hand yet.... Thanks for taking the time to post the video.

Thanks, Sean. I liked your CMR review, too. I have an old small steadicam that has sat around forever. With a 7D on order, I didn't even think that I could use that again until I saw your video! Can't wait to get the 7D and try it out.

Kevin

I'm happy to contribute back to where I learnt most of my stuff. I'm going to order one myself as well. Its a good compliment to the 5D2. But I have to admit I'm still hoping for a 5D selectable frame rate. I do feel that the 5D2 is better under low light.

An amazing amount of people worldwide have had their hands on new 7Ds well before the "official" release date it seems. I bet this is a brilliant viral marketing effort by Canon to get the camera into the hands of a few early adopters so that they do exactly what Sean, Philip and all of the others have done, build the buzz and anticipation for the 7D

It's working, I want one!

Dan

I have a question...

If people are using an external preamp box like the Juicedlink...how are they monitoring audio? Does the 5DII or 7D have a headphone output or anyway to monitor if you are recording audio sync in the camera?

Thanks.

Kevin

By running Magic Lantern in the 5D, you can get a monitor output from the A/V jack. You need to either make a custom cable, or put adapters on the A/V cable that ships with it. You can increase the gain a bit with ML, so your headphones might get enough juice straight from the camera. I purchased a 3-output Boostaroo headphone amp. For our team, the AC takes care of the levels, since Magic Lantern provides the meters, and the juicedLink has the knobs.

Great and very useful review, Sean! Thanks for doing this. Btw, where did you get the 7D? I want one! :D

Ian, Canon Singapore loaned it to me for a go beginning of this month but I was not allowed to talk about it until I told them Jason (Phillipines), Phil (UK) and Patrick (Canada) had done their parts online already =) So I got it again for 2 days over the weekend and had a go at 2 weddings.

Anyway the audio cant be monitored. I had to make sure the Sennheiser is ON before recording. I left it on the whole day basically. Everytime I turned on the camera I did a test shot and reviewed to make sure the audio was there.

It could take a few months before Magic Lantern is ported to the 7D. Step 1, we need to get Tramm a camera...

I expect that the 7D uses the same audio A/D chip (AK4646) as the 5D. Unless there's something very unexpected, that part should go smoothly. The audio output is not through an analog A/V jack. If nothing else, this will require a unique audio monitor plug.

So without ML for the 7D - the camera won't output audio through the included A/V cables? -In realtime ofcourse. Apologies, I'm new ^__^

This looks like a nice solution for the 7D - or on the 5D2 for people who don't want to run Magic Lantern...

juicedLink: New Product Preview: DN101 DSLR Audio Solution