The Best Budget Camera? - Canon R7 Initial Review

Canon R7 Review BUILD The whole reason that I purchased this camera was that I wanted to shrink my camera kit down as small as I could, while also maintaining a high production value. The Canon R7 fit that bill perfectly. The body feels like every other Canon Mirrorless body. It is slightly smaller but not by much and has a very similar size to the original EOS R. Something that was added to the R5 and R6, and now on the R7, was a little "thumb wing"  on the grip that makes single-hand operation easier. Some users wished for a smaller body to go with the smaller sensor, however keeping the mirrorless bodies the same size, while shrinking the sensor size has added some benefit. It feels more natural, since I've been using Canon mirrorless since it came out, and I don't feel like I have to relearn an entirely new camera. There is one quirk with the new button on the Canon R7 and dial placement, however.  The D-Pad and back wheel were an odd decision. It confused my brain a bit since the back dial is like a combination of three different functions. The rotation of the wheel feels like it should be down where the D-Pad is like it is on the R5, however, the placement is at the top like a normal dial. Then you have the joystick in the center, which gets bumped frequently if you aren't careful. The joystick is nice to have, however, and coming from R and having to use the touch screen to move focus point, the joystick is a welcome addition. One of my favorite features of this camera is the ON/OFF/Video switch. It makes switching back and forth really easy and incredibly fast. Gone are the days of having to press the mode button, then the info button, then the ok button, just to switch to video. Now, all that needs to be done is a simple flick of a switch! The camera will also switch between these modes very quickly, making true, hybrid shooting even easier. https://youtu.be/mFOSUI_yNfI

PHOTO

The Canon R7 boasts a 32.5 MP APS-C sensor. With this higher resolution sensor, we are able to capture stunning images and have some serious flexibility in post production. The R7 has the ability to shoot with both a mechanical and an electronic shutter. The mechanical shutter has a maximum continuous frame rate of 15fps, where as the electronic shutter doubles that speed with up to 30fps in continuous burst! While 15fps is already blazing fast, 30 fps is incomprehensively fast!

VIDEO

Now over on the video side of the camera is where things start to get really interesting! The resolution and frame rate options on the R7 are pretty standard with  59.94, 29.97, 23.98 and 119.00. There are no true 24 or 60p options, which is a bit odd to me. However, the frame rates that are available are the ones that are going to be used the most. With the R7 we have two different flavors of 4K, 4K vs 4K Fine. 4K Fine, which maxes out at 30fps, is oversampled from a 7K resolution, meaning it takes a 7K resolution image and compresses it in camera to produce a higher quality 4K image. While the file sizes are significantly larger, the detail that is retained in the image is absolutely incredible!! One of the main selling points of the R7 is it's ability to record in a 10-bit color range via CLOG3.  This gives us an insane amount of color flexibility in post! I've been recording in CLOG3 since it came out and it has been integrated into my workflow with the provided REC.709 conversion LUT from Canon (https://th.canon/en/support/0200603902?model=5137C) color grading has never been easier! Canon's color science has always been at the top of the game and the R7 is no different. We have IPB and IPB Light for recording bit rates, which doubles the record time over the standard IPB. Unfortunately, we do not have an All-I codec option. Canon boasts low light on this camera and I can see why. The high ISO performance on this camera is like nothing I've seen before, with the exception of the Sony A7sii. Cranking the ISO to 8000 or even 12800 still yielded usable results, even with no noise reduction. APS-C sensors are notorious for low light issues since they are smaller in size, therefore capturing less light. Now, with the ability to use your full ISO range, low light filming became much more easily accessible. One thing that was a concern before the purchase of this camera was the rolling shutter performance. In the past, smaller sensors have had serious rolling shutter problems, causing the image to warp when panning side to side or up and down. The R7 does NOT have this problem. The rolling shutter on this camera is pretty minimal and honestly hard to see unless you are really looking for it. In my tests, I was only able to see the rolling shutter when panning quickly back and forth multiple times, and even then, it wasn't like it was unusable.

Conclusion