This will be the third and final article in an ongoing series I’ve been writing about the recently announced Canon EOS 7D. As I have previously mentioned, I am very excited about the 7D because it looks like it will be a very impressive camera. The features it brings to the Canon camera lineup will only get better and more exciting as newer cameras are released. The competition between Canon and Nikon over the last couple of years has been fierce and it seems that Canon regained their lead with the 5D Mark II and now the 7D extends that margin. Competition has been very good for our industry and I have no doubt that Nikon will reply shortly…

I really like the look of the 7D; however, I have also stated that I probably won’t buy one. Here are a few reasons why I might consider buying the 7D after all:

1. The Hype: Canon fans around the world are very excited about this camera. I haven’t seen hype like this for a camera since the Nikon D3 was released. That was the first time in a long time that Nikon had sent a camera out that was really competetive with anything Canon had, and the Nikon users were on fire for months afterwards. Sure the 5D Mark II release was exciting, but everybody knew it was coming. In many ways the 7D trumps the 5D and it has tongues wagging all over the interwebs.
2. The Timing: In a perfect world I would wait for the pending expected successor to the 1D Mark III (presumably the 1D Mark IV) to be released, but nobody knows for sure when that will be. The pundits on the rumour sites are pointing to a spring 2010 release. I can probably wait that long, but I definitely don’t want to wait until fall 2010.
3. Improved Autofocus: I am becoming increasingly disappointed with the autofocus performance of my 40D, especially in lower light situations. The new 19 point AF system on the 7D looks amazing and I can only assume that it will be vastly better than the technology built into the 40D.
4. High ISO Performance: I used to be an absolute nut about image noise, taking my shooting to such extreme lengths to avoid ISO 400 even, never mind taking it up to ISO 800. I’m much better now and I actually use ISO 800 all the time; however, I’m really looking forward to having a new camera that has a useful ISO 1600. From the test images I’ve seen and the reports that I’ve read, the ISO performance of the 7D is very good.
5. 1.6x Crop Factor Sensor: There are lots of things to love about full frame cameras like the 5D (most notably the low image noise, the extreme wide angle field of view, and the beautiful bokeh), but crop sensor cameras have one thing that really trumps all of that for me: longer equivalent focal length. I mainly shoot birds and wildlife and for that purpose focal length is king. At this time I simply can’t afford (or justify) to buy the 500mm f/4L, 600mm f/4L, or 800mm f/5.6L Super Telephoto lenses that I really want. For now I would really prefer to stick with a crop sensor camera. Hopefully the 1D Mark IV will stick with the APS-H (1.3x) format currently in use in the 1D Mark III which would be an acceptable trade-off for me between the 1x of the full frame sensors and the 1.6x of the APS-C sensors.

I’m ready to buy a camera right now, but I really want the next camera in Canon’s professional 1D series. Hopefully that release will come soon, but if it doesn’t then the Canon EOS 7D is a very tempting piece of equipment. It will be interesting to see what the reviews are like as the production models start to actually appear in the wild.