Opines: Canon Strikes Back?

In my previous rants about Canon not giving you the best camera by purposeful market segmentation, their latest release marks a significant change in their ways.

The Canon 7D has the following key specifications:

• 18 MP (up by 3MP from the 50D) *NEW*
• 8fps (up by 2fps on the 50D) *NEW* – previously only the kind of thing you see in the 1D camera
• ISO 12800 (same with the 50D)
• 19 cross-type AF points (up by 10 points from the 50D) *NEW*
• iFCL metering system (brand new, not in any other Canon camera) *NEW*
• Dual DIGIC IV (two image processing chips, previously only applied to 1Ds and 1D cameras)
• HD Video (equal and trumps the 5D Mk II if only on paper)
• Integrated Speedlite Transmitter (the first Canon to have this, Nikon has had this for eons) *NEW*

So why is this important? Truth is, this is the first time in Canon’s history, that so much new technology is put into a camera that’s not a 1D or 1Ds camera. In fact, in a marked change from the norm, it is also the first Canon camera since the 1D Mark II to have so many genuinely NEW photography-related features.

Look at this way, it has a new Sensor, a new AF Module, a new Metering system, wireless flash transmitter. This is as significant a release as the D300 was for Nikon 2 years back.

I am actually very surprised, and the fact of the matter is, I think this camera was released under severe pressure. The 50D, is by all means a poor excuse for a new camera, doing only damage to Canon as it was a shoddy, rushed job of a DSLR to reply on paper in the face of Nikon’s one year old D300. It was used to buy Canon time to release THIS camera. No offence, the 50D is indeed a good piece of gear, but it could have been so much more, and it really should have been this 7D.

It begs the question. What took them so long? And for me the answer is simple. As I’ve put in my email to Canon about 1.5 years ago, and also in my many rants; Canon is a sleeping giant. They will only do something when they are put under severe pressure, or because they have to. In this case, it was both. The Nikon D300 has been critically such a success and was designed as not a handicapped camera in any way unlike the 40D, 50D and even the 5D Mk II. The sales of the 50D have also been a lot lower than expected in Canon’s books.

Yes, I know I’ll get crap for picking the 5D Mk II as a handicapped camera, but how does it feel now, honestly, all you 5D Mk II owners, to know that Canon had the technology to give you Integrated Speedlite Transmitter (no different to Nikon’s CLS and reduces the need for Pocketwizards and the like), and also a 19 point cross-type AF system, and yet they did not? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

To me, I believe Canon finally has come up with a camera worthy of their brand and capabilities. It isn’t one purposely stunted to make you want the 1D or 1Ds cameras. It is a camera, that in many gearheads’ views, is genuinely lustworthy. It also begs the question: What if they put all this in the new 5D? And more importantly, shouldn’t they have done so from the start?

I applaud Canon for finally bucking the trend of hand-me-downs and genuinely giving you features worthy of such a camera. But, more importantly I thank Nikon and all its users (by voting with their money and support) for forcing this upon Canon. Even if you’re a fence-sitter, all this is great news, as it means competition, and we, the consumers are the winners in the end.

Last but not least, I’m still glad to have left Canon, because this amazing 7D is just evidence that Canon has been shortchanging its users all this while, and frankly, will continue to do so unless pressured by Nikon and Sony.

5D Mark III anybody?