Finally got the 7D

[Draco13]

After months of waiting (i.e. saving), researching and droolling, I finally took the plunge and brought a 7D to use as my main body, regulating the 40D to 2nd body.

Was intending on purchasing it from a local camera shop but when they refused to allow me to test/play/look at the settings on the 7D that was sitting in the store, I thanked them for their time and walked straight out of the shop. Has anyone experienced customer service like this. Really, why would you want to fork out $2K on a camera where you were not allowed to turn it on. Suffice to say, ended up heading back into the city and finding it along one of the camera shops along Elizabeth Street (Melb based).

Have only taken a few shots on the 7D thus far and was quite impressed with the auto ISO feature, if somewhat noisy. Still trying to get my head around the 19 points area selection mode.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what worked and didn't work for them in regards to changing their settings. I tend to shoot RAW so WB and picture styles wont really get used. Suppose I'm more interested in the custom settings and changing buttons to quickly access AF point selection, AEB, remote flash etc.

Any feedback or guidance would be welcomed.

Thanx

[Bercy]

Won't let you test drive a camera you're about to buy - hell I hope they read this forum and although you probably shouldn't tell us who they are, they suck. That conduct is just silly. To see the article and test drive it is why you go to a real shop!! Congratulations on your purchase. I have a 40D - but that will have to do me! Envy envy. Hey good on you for buying local too.

Berni

[MarkChap]

One of the first things I do is get the camera in the hands of a prospective purchaser.
Get them to make that emotional connection.


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[Greeny]

Enjoy the new gear Draco ....

[dulvariprestige]

Congrats on the new camera,

The best thing to do is read the manual and try different settings, what works for others, may not be for you.

The first couple of things I change are, disable release shutter without card, and back button focusing, the camera has the AF-ON button on the back, but I like to use the * exposure lock button and have the shutter button only take an exposure reading on half press, and release the shutter full press, this way I can either manual focus with a lens that has full time manual overide, don't have to put the lens in manual, and then shoot, or grab focus anywhere in the frame, recompose and then hit the trigger and not worry about the camera refocusing on something else.

[crum]

I've had mine for about 4 weeks now and absolutely love it. Took a bit to get my head around everything at first but after a bit of practice and changing a few settings the image quality has improved dramatically. My first shots were very disapointing and have quickly gotten better from that. You will not be disapointed with your purchase

[jbee]

Nice camera but I am biased as I have one. I bought a DVD course on it which was great and showed the things you should set when you buy one. Two from memory were to run on the grid display and activate the other two focus modes which are not active straight out of the box for some strange reason. There were quite a few other changes in the custom menus that they recommended too but I can't remember them all right now.
Have fun

[Draco13]

I've been going through the book slowly and doing slight changes that I had made to my 40D. Also managed to get a copy of the Canon 7D by David Busch (a friend lent it to me). 400 plus pages but it looks quite detailed. Shame I had to work today as it looked like perfect weather to get some good shots. Can't wait to practice some more. Appreciate feedback given.

[crum]

The Magic Lantern guides are really worth getting hold of too. I got the multimedia version last week and learnt a heap from that.

[peterking]

Welcome to the fold. I now have two.
You are so going to enjoy and get frustrated at the changes.
Lots of changes can be made but I followed what Kiwi said a few months ago when I was having troubles and that was to read the manual from cover to cover then read it again. Play with everything.
I was given this link sometime ago and found it useful.
I ended up buying the Magic Lantern Guide for the 7D as well.

[ZedEx]

I guess it depends where you're coming from with your photography. If you have a sound knowledge of Canon dSLR's in general (I went in this order: 350D, 40D, 5D but have also played with many others) and a sound knowledge of aconyms and abbreviations in photography, it should be no real hassle to learn. I've had two customers of mine bring in their 7D's now with a question about some function or another and i've figured it out pretty much straight away. I'm not a fan of camera manuals, I much prefer just to 'get in and have a test drive'