First impressions of the current APS-C-Star Canon

Some brief remarks in advance. I photograph for the past three decades with SLR and hold me now for an advanced amateur. With the introduction of the DSLR then eventually came the commitment to Canon. Not deep conviction, but because the former offer was favorable. Meanwhile I have so much Canon equipment that really no longer comes a switch in question. Safe build Nikon and Sony cameras and more excellent, but I can and want to compare only with Canon models that I know well.

Canon has now after 5 years of proven 7D donated an update. Purely technical data can be found on the Net and at first do not sound particularly spectacular.
The body itself is made of the proven magnesium alloy, the Canon donated its top models. The feel is superb and exudes quality in every respect and seriousness from.
The body and the keyboard layout were changed significantly compared to the 7D are now almost the same as the 5D Mark III. About the service makes a "rounder" impression is softer and quieter.
Particularly noteworthy here is the newly added AF area switches that can be allowed or reconfigured in the AF Configuration very fast access to very quickly change the ISO settings, for example.

The basic concept of the camera's speed and power with absolute top autofocus performance.
The now 65 (7D = 19) cross-type sensors can be configured multiple and cover a large field well into the edge area from. The speed of focusing I find significantly higher than the 7D. The new menu allowed here diverse settings.
Of particular note, the are now supported teleconverter to f 8.

The continuous shooting speed is 10 frames / second quite impressive (7D = 8). Depending on the writing speed of the memory card being used for the 7D2 to create up to 32 pictures in a row. With a SanDisk Extreme Pro with 95 MB / s I have at least managed 21 RAW files in a row. JPEGs should go theoretically infinite.

The 7D2 has two card slots and allows in addition to the SD cards use the more professional because stable CF cards. You can also configure different here. Thus, the separate storage of RAW and JPEG files is possible for example. Also safety fetishists will appreciate the two slots.

The new viewfinder is very pleasant and you can find assorted information, if desired, show here.

The image quality at the same lens I find something better than the 7D. The noise performance is also better. The performance is surpassed in terms of image quality in my opinion only of the 6D with its full frame sensor. These impressions, however, are very subjective and it remains to be seen measuring results.

As negative I feel the lack of WiFi and especially the lack of touch screen. The latter in particular has proved effective and represents a real and meaningful addition to the facilities. This criticism must be permitted. However, the whole package is so strong, that I in the overall nothing can pull the best of intentions.

For whom the 7D Mark II, then, is useful for? It is certainly not an entry-level camera. But on the contrary. The 7D2 is a real giant equipment with an almost spectacular performance in terms of speed. The high-quality housing and especially the multiple configurable settings and key assignments suggest a professional use. But even serious amateur photographers, focusing on fast moving subjects, such as sports events or Plane-spotters, and wildlife photographers who appreciate the crop factor at the telephoto end will get their costs.

Who is increasingly interested in creating videos, should view the 70D with its excellent, swivel touch screen to an alternative.
Portraits and low-light fans I can highly recommend the 6D despite purist equipment.
Those who want to upgrade to the professional or semi-professional field, but is financially limited, which should look at the good old 7D again, which is likely to be well sold off cheap in the near future and still is a very good camera.

Overall, once again, the realization that there is not a camera for everything. Somewhere you always have to compromise, and this is at a very high level. Those who lived through similar times, will probably laugh at some of the discussions just tired.

Conclusion: Maybe not the hoped-for big bang, but a true high performance camera that is fun.