Considering the shenanigans I have to go through to switch modes on my 1D2, having to rotate a switch and then push a button in the middle of same switch to make a movie doesn't seem like that much of a deal to me. But then I look at video as a "that's kind of cool" add-on, not a major selling point. YMMV.
This how I remember it was when I tested it in a shop. When the switch is on LV, you have to press the start/stop button to lock the mirror. When you switch to Video the mirror is automatically locked up so a press of the start/stop button will start the recording.
don't get me wrong, I'm not denying that these artifacts exist when a file is "abused", but in my real world I've never, ever had to crank up a shadows/fill light function so far that there was any risk of this kind of banding in my images.
To my mind, if I've taken an image that needed that much work on exposure and shadows, I've stuffed it up - I'm not really inclined to blame the camera after the event.
It's not just lifting shadows -- pattern noise messes with the demosaic algorithm to generate more noise and more interpolation artifacts. For instance, imbalance of the two green channels results in maze artifacts. Banding will also result in extra noise, because the interpolation algorithm is typically looking for pixel correlations and banding is a pixel correlation that is not due to the image being captured, but rather the camera electronics; therefore a misinterpolation can result, and that appears as additional noise or artifacts.
alundeb wrote:
The intermediate ISO's are still software implemented.
125 is 100 underexposed and pushed 1/3, and gives more read noise than 100.
160 is 200 overexposed and pulled 1/3, and gives less read noise and less headroom than both ISO 100 and 200.
It actually turns out that you get the widest Dynamic Range at ISO 160, but the loss of headroom must not be forgotten.
If ISO 160 is software implemented, how can it have more DR than ISO 200, from which it is derived?
Brainiac, maybe I'm not understanding the question right, but here's my take based on what I think my 7D is doing.
First, I can't see any difference between hitting the live view button or hitting the video switch except that in video mode, you can record video. In either mode you can take still pictures.
In practice, hit the video switch. Now you can take video by hitting the button to start or stop the video. At any point, you can take a still picture by hitting the shutter button. Even during video recording, although it seems to cause the video to skip when you do that. You could also take only still pictures with the video switch on and never take any video at all. Seems to me to work exactly like live view. Easy, 1 switch to activate it and a button to take a still and a different button to start/stop the video.
I hope that makes sense because I'm not sure it makes sense to me just reading it. )
ExxWhy wrote:
Brainiac, maybe I'm not understanding the question right, but here's my take based on what I think my 7D is doing.
First, I can't see any difference between hitting the live view button or hitting the video switch except that in video mode, you can record video. In either mode you can take still pictures.
In practice, hit the video switch. Now you can take video by hitting the button to start or stop the video. At any point, you can take a still picture by hitting the shutter button. Even during video recording, although it seems to cause the video to skip when you do that. You could also take only still pictures with the video switch on and never take any video at all. Seems to me to work exactly like live view. Easy, 1 switch to activate it and a button to take a still and a different button to start/stop the video.
I hope that makes sense because I'm not sure it makes sense to me just reading it. ) ...Show more →
The only cumbersome switching that I see is between shooting with the VF (not liveview) and shooting video: first flip the switch from the liveview position to video and then press it to start shooting video. When the switch is in the video position, there's apparently no way to shoot stills using the VF.
ejmartin wrote:
If ISO 160 is software implemented, how can it have more DR than ISO 200, from which it is derived?
Got me there
The DR of ISO 160 and 200 are identical, of course.
What I meant to say, was that both 160 and 200 has more DR than 100. Because 200 clips at amp limit, and 100 saturates at sensor limit, which is a little lower relative to the read noise, that dosen't differ much between 100 and 200. Sorry that I wasn't exact.
stevet wrote:
For still photography you can use flash to compensate for lack of light when using slow lenses. For video you can't. So you need fast glass.
He then goes on to say that for fast wide glass there are limited options (IIRC)
Cheers,
yeah, that is exactly what I thought he said
I think it got confusing because he was assuming that you need to shoot wider than 20-24mm where there is no fast glass for APS-C, but others were not catching that to be such an issue.
ExxWhy wrote:
Brainiac, maybe I'm not understanding the question right, but here's my take based on what I think my 7D is doing.
First, I can't see any difference between hitting the live view button or hitting the video switch except that in video mode, you can record video. In either mode you can take still pictures.
In practice, hit the video switch. Now you can take video by hitting the button to start or stop the video. At any point, you can take a still picture by hitting the shutter button. Even during video recording, although it seems to cause the video to skip when you do that. You could also take only still pictures with the video switch on and never take any video at all. Seems to me to work exactly like live view. Easy, 1 switch to activate it and a button to take a still and a different button to start/stop the video.
I hope that makes sense because I'm not sure it makes sense to me just reading it. ) ...Show more →
But the problem is this: I'm looking at the bride and I just got my shot and then I think there's about to be a nice video moment. On a 5D2 I hit the set button and that's it, I'm in business. On the 7D I have to flip a fiddly switch and then hit a less reachable and smaller button. It's a fumbler's nightmare. Then I have to remember to switch the switch back to the liveview position (and disable liveview?) to turn off video monitor and preserve battery power. It sucks at every turn, and it took an extra button and switch to make it worse. The solution is to allow the user to configure the 'set' button to start video recording, whatever else is going on.
brainiac wrote:
The solution is to allow the user to configure the 'set' button to start video recording, whatever else is going on.
This video solution (and others) should have been correctly implemented by Canon when the 7D was released, but can you say "Magic Lantern," once it's ported from the 5D2 to the 7D firmware?
Does sound fiddly and wasteful of battery power now that you've explained it. Why not have a dedicated live view button and a dedicated video button? Or since that's obviously set in stone by now and not an option, add a custom function that allows the shutter button to be modal, i.e. if you take a shot in the middle of taking video it switches to "still shot" mode instead of just taking that one shot and reverting back to video recording.
There is new firmware coming out for the 7D, most shipped with 1.0.7 and the update is 1.0.9 - should be available on Canon's website shortly, no details available.
Yohan Pamudji wrote:
>Why not have a dedicated live view button and a dedicated video button?
Exactly. Two buttons, one for start/stop liveview, the other for start stop video.
>Or since that's obviously set in stone by now and not an option, add a custom function that allows the shutter button to be modal, i.e. if you take a shot in the middle of taking video it switches to "still shot" mode instead of just taking that one shot and reverting back to video recording.
AAaaargggh! No!!!! Video needs to continue even though a still image has been grabbed. The 5D2 and 500D basically have this right, as they can be configured so that there is a one button for liveview, one button for record, and one button for shutter release, and they always work. It's a usability mantra for those of us who have to use these cameras to do everything all at once when there are no second chances:
- one button for shutter release
- another button for record
- another button for liveview
Simple.
skibum5 wrote:
The vertical pattern banding is not likely to be an issue above ISO500 even on the bad cameras in any reasonable real-world scenario and ISO250 on the better bodies (and of course even then only with very challenging scenes), although at ISO 100 it can give you less effective DR, I think, than the 40D and even 50D and 5D2 (again not all scenes really have huge DR or important shadows).
Does the 7D suffer from low ISO pattern noise too?
And reading your reviews, is it correct to assume that the 7D AI Servo has a tendency to lock on a target and not let it go?
raphacm wrote:
There is new firmware coming out for the 7D, most shipped with 1.0.7 and the update is 1.0.9 - should be available on Canon's website shortly, no details available.
That is from a single post on DPR which came from a poster who said his dealer called Canon and they told him it will be posted shortly. I did see that someone got a 7D with Firmware 1.09 where almost all of the ones delivered are 1.07. Whether the info is valid is on the iffy side from my perspective. If it is going to be posted shortly it must have some critical updates since Canon is famous for delaying Firmware updates.
brainiac wrote:
I think you are probably right. I wonder if Canon will publish information stating that this camera is somewhat incompatible with the 90 TS.
I found the only solution to the VF issue was to use live view 10x, especially with small or distant subjects. However, one situation where MF is easy is subjects (like sunsets) at infinity. I suspect that could be viewed as cheating though
