Monday, February 8, 2010

Welcome to the Family, 7D!

Posted in Personal 13 comments

I’d like to announce a new addition to the Halford family! It’s a brand-spanking-new, yet-to-be-named Canon 7D and boy, oh boy, is it a hunk of cameraness.

It’s my first pro cam – until now, I’ve been squeezing every last ounce out of my 450D and 500D and very quickly outgrew them.

Why the 7D? Well, I was going to go for a 5D until I learned a few things. Most importantly, I learned that the full-frame sensor on the 5D is a whole new ball game. Interestingly, when researching about full-frame sensors, I came to learn that the aren’t all that when producing impressive DOF (depth of field) which means it might be counterproductive to me as a people person. Landscapes? Perfect. People? Not really necessary.

Want to know my first impression upon releasing this beauty from it’s nest of cozy bubble wrap? “I’m gonna need to hit the gym.” This bad boy is HEAVY and much bigger than my other cameras. By the end of the year, I’ll have arms like Popeye (to go with my Olive Oyl legs).

This is a review I found helpful when considering the 7D

Posted in Personal

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Adam - February 8, 2010 - 9:13 pm

I was under the impression that a shallow depth of field is desirable for portraits, and a deep depth of field is desirable for landscape, and that a larger sensor results in a shallower depth of field for an equivalent composition.
By which I mean, I would have thought you’d be keen on the full frame camera.

Jeremy - February 8, 2010 - 9:26 pm

Adam’s correct; larger sensors produce shallower depth of field given the same composition, something which is generally desirable for portraits.

Given the same *focal length*, a larger sensor will produce a deeper depth of field, but taking into account crop factor and making the necessary adjustments to focal length to get the same composition (e.g., 50mm on a 7D being approximately 80mm on a 5D) on both cameras, you’ll have a shallower depth of field on the full frame camera.

elizabethhalford - February 8, 2010 - 9:35 pm

Aaaach! Sorry, you’re right – I switched that around (d’oh!) but I did read that the full frame sensor was LESS desirable for portraits and, surprisingly, that was from a ‘reliable’ source although I’ve just scoured my history to find it to show you and simply can not find it. I had already decided on the 7D at the point t.b.h. What do you guys use?

Jeremy - February 8, 2010 - 10:06 pm

I’m a Nikon shooter, but I still shoot crop (D300s) because I’m not a huge wide angle fan, and cheaper lenses get me more reach with a crop sensor. I think the depth of field is already shallow enough for my needs (6″ at 6ft with a 50mm lens) so I can’t yet justify the cost of going FX.

Elli - February 8, 2010 - 10:14 pm

This is great info – the post and the comments. I’ve been trying to decide between a 5d and a 7d since the 7d came out. I might be able to afford the 7d sooner, so I’d love to hear what you think of all of its bells and whistles.

elizabethhalford - February 8, 2010 - 10:32 pm

@Elli: Oh that’s interesting! Yeah, I loooove it. First shoot with it and the studio lights tomorrow I’ll let you know. Some amazing features I’ve discovered so far are: the raw/jpg button to switch to take one RAW image if you’ve got it set to JPG or vice versa. Another is different drive speeds for continuous shooting going up to 8fps. Like I read in the review which I posted above, it ‘purrs’ at 8fps. And I know this is a completely frivolous, but the shutter feels and sounds gorgeous. Because you know that’s the most important feature on a camera. :) Elli, what are you using at the moment?

elizabethhalford - February 8, 2010 - 10:33 pm

@Jeremy: Love the D300. It was the first camera that I used professionally when I borrowed it from a friend. If I didn’t already have a ton of lenses, speedlites, etc etc I would’ve gone Nikon in the beginning. But I think this 7D is gonna sway me once and for all.

Adam - February 9, 2010 - 9:08 pm

I use a Pentax K-x, so 1.5 crop from “full frame”. I’m blown away by the shallow depth of field I get with my f/2 50mm lens, compared to trying to get a blurred background on my compact camera (something like 6.5 crop factor).
I think that if you’re happy with all the rest of the 7D, then there’s no need to worry about the slightly greater depth of field.

Simone - February 9, 2010 - 10:02 pm

WOW! and I thought the Rebel T1 was BIG, its looks like Mini-Me next to the 7D. Since I just bought my T1 6 months ago and still don’t know a thing about photography, it will be with me for a while. Congrats and enjoy!

elizabethhalford - February 9, 2010 - 10:09 pm

@SImone – aaaah well then stick around to learn some stuff :) And get hooked up with DPS (www.digital-photography-school.com) if you haven’t already.

Guy Collier - February 10, 2010 - 7:46 am

That’s a real surprise. I thought you’d want the FF for the tonality and smoothness, plus of course the DOF side.

I couldn’t go back to a crop sensor now.

elizabethhalford - February 10, 2010 - 8:25 am

@guy: Yes. But I was also thinking that jumping from a little 450d to a 5D was a bit overzealous like a 15 year old driving a Lamborghini. I’ll pay my dues with the 7D and then move on.

Andy Rapkins - February 12, 2010 - 3:55 pm

I have full and crop bodies (D700 and D300) and love them both for different things. Full-frame DOF with a fast lens is wonderful and I also love having proper wide-angle again. The 50 1.4 and the 17-35 2.8 are just brilliant on the D700.

For longer lenses I would rather use crop for the extra reach it gets. Also, you could never get a lens like the 18-200mm on full-frame which is amazingly versatile and another reason I’m keeping the D300.

7D has a great spec and high-ISO is supposed to about as good as it gets on crop sensor. You’ll have a lot of fun with it I’m sure!

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Welcome to the Family, 7D!