Just got my 7D and VC-7D!!!!!!!!!!

Going to open them right now!!!! Weeeeeee!!!!!

Where oh where did you get them from? I saw them available on B&H this am around 5ish, by the end of the day they were all gone.

If you want us to believe you, you're going to have to post more. ;-)

On the 15th of October (I think) or thereabouts, several online folks put the 7D on their sites for pre-order. Ritz was the first place I saw it, so I placed a pre-order on that very day with overnight shipping. It went out last night and arrived today.

 

I've been blasting away for a couple hours. Pretty happy so far. One of the most interesting things I noticed pretty quickly was that the default flash mode of ADI with my Tamron 24-135 underexposes just about every shot (I'm leaving open the possibility that it might get lucky sometimes). This is with the built-in flash, or the 5600HS. I was starting too get freaked out when I thought of trying pre-flash. That did the trick. My 85mm f1.4 D lens works fine either way. The 200 f2.8 G and 50mm f2.8 Macro also seem to work fine either way, even though they're not D lenses.

 

So far I've shot 245 photos, all hand-held snapshots. Haven't tried the Sigma 12-24 which I bought for this very camera, yet. Some of these shots were with the built-in flash (maybe 30), some with the 5600HS, maybe 20, and some wireless (maybe 40). No signs of battery depletion yet. I'm using only the single built-in battery right now to establish some sort of minimum battery life, although I'll regularly be using the VC-7D, which uses two batteries and will, of course, give better battery life.

 

I was interested to find that there is no grip sensor. I guess I didn't notice that in the photos that have been floating around the web. Interesting. Also, it looks like there's no option for making the LCD just stay on all the time. I wouldn've liked that as an option. You can make it stay on for up to 1 minute. I guess using the camera refreshes the timer for that. Not sure.

 

I'll weed through some photos and upload a couple.

May I asked how much you paid for the 7D and grip? Did Minolta bundle anything else?

$1600 for the body and $200 for the grip. I think that's what everyone is charging. I paid $25 for overnight, which I figured was small overhead.

 

I'm going to try to upload some photos. Remember, all the ones I've taken are just snapshots. I'm just fiddling here...quick and dirty. Looks like I have to downsize them substantially, so here goes.

Another...

Another....

And another...

If you download the images to your local drive, you can see the EXIF data for shutter speed, ISO, etc.

 

I had to downsize them and resave. I used JPEG setting 6 for compression in Photoshop CS to get them down to around 100k, which is what Photo.net wants.

 

I'll probably put a few full-size, max quality photos on my website (www.jpwphoto.com) in the next couple days.

Meant to upload this one instead of 201. This one's focused better.

Photos 200 and 201 are using the 5600HS in wireless flash mode, in case you couldn't tell. :)

i like the very last one :)

I got about 330 photos on the first full charge with heavy LCD usage and AS on all the time.

>>>I got about 330 photos on the first full charge with heavy LCD

usage and AS on all the time.<<<

 

Did you only use the inbody battery? or is that the result of the

dual battery grip? I know you are excited with it and all but it

would help us readers and potential buyer much more if you

would post some info along. Thanks!

See my review on my website for additional info.

 

http://www.jpwphoto.com/Articles/7D/MinoltaMaxxum7D.htm

Jay

Congrats on your new toy. I have been waiting for mine, for months and it won't arrive before this Friday. I am going to pay exactly the same price as you did with an extra handling charges for being the first one here to get.

 

One question: why those photos you uploaded seem blurred and not well focused. Colours are very vivid though

Thanks for the review, Jay.

Why in PICT0101copy.jpg did you focus on leaves in the foreground

instead of the dog? Is that intentional?

Remember. Those are all just quick snapshots.

 

#228 is at ISO 1600 1/25 sec with 85mm lens, and recompressed at higher compression ratio, so yeah, it's definitely not the best quality.

 

#101 seems sharp and well focused to me. Just shallow DOF.

 

#193 is with a macro lens, so DOF is VERY shallow. Other than that, it seems fine to me.

 

Same with #200. Seems sharp and well focused to me. Taken with 85mm at f1.4, so shallow DOF again. Other than that, seems okay.

Bill,

 

Yes, that was intentional and not for any particular reason that I can recall. Remember, I was just taking snapshots. I wasn't out to take great photos. I was out to mess around with and become familiar with my new camera. I suspect I was fiddling with some aspect of the camera at the time.

<p>

There's a little bit nicer photo (full-size, extra-fine) on my website at the bottom of my 7D review which you can download and see EXIF data on (<a href="http://www.jpwphoto.com">www.jpwphoto.com</a>). I'll put more full-size, original images there as I take a few more good ones.

<p>

From now on, I better be a little more careful what photos I post on this here website! :)

Jay, I am thrilled with your excitement about your new camera. Mine comes here Thursday. I am trying to remain calm. Thanks for your review which is very helpful and thanks for posting the photos. This camera looks like everything I had hoped for. Hurray!

Yeah, after I got the e-mail stating that the camera had been shipped, I could hardly stand it. :) Where did you buy yours, just out of curiosity. You must've pre-ordered it, too, since it looks like everyone is sold out.

 

I'll be very interested to hear what you think. In particular, I'll be interested to hear what you think of flash exposure. Of course, you'll probably be using different lenses, so that will impact your results. Will you be using on-camera flash only, or do you have any dedicated flashes? I'm still concerned about some of my flash results (still experimenting--thankfully very easy to do with digital!!!), but overall, I'm just thrilled.

 

Let us know what you think.

Jay, I ordered mine Friday morning from B&H, 6 a.m. EST. I was on another internet site and someone indicated that B&H had them in stock. It was on my wish list, I have an account there, and it was simple to jump right on it. They shipped it Monday. I have been a Minolta owner for more than 10 years, starting with the 7000i. I still have a 7xi, 800si, and two 7 bodies. Lenses from 17mm Tokina, 24mm f/1.8 Sigma, 24-85 Maxuum, 50 F/3.5 macro, 50 f/1.7, 100-300 Maxuum, 100 f/2.8 macro D, 70-200 SSM (being repaired--oops), and 400 f/5.6 Sigma. I have the 5400 flash which I have been reading will work only in manual mode, but I also have the twin macro flash which is supposed to work with the 7D. I am eagerly waiting for its arrival and UPS says it is on schedule. Wow!!

John,

 

You've got some great lenses! 70-200 SSM! Cool!

 

A fellow posted on my site that he thought my sample photos lacked sharpness (compared with the 20D, at least). I agreed with him on one, but that conceivably might be blamed on the lens. Not sure. I'll be interested to hear what you think once you get yours. I know this has been a question with other Minolta cameras (e.g., A2 and others in that family). Some people believe it might simply be that Minolta is more conservative with their in-camera sharpening. It's really hard to know what might cause something like this unless you're one of the engineers that built the camera.

 

Also, I think some of my underexposures with flash (which I mention in my review) might be due to the fact that I had it set on ISO 100. Switching to Auto or a higher ISO (e.g., 1600), seems to help. Maybe I'll be shooting events more with the Auto ISO setting rather than pinning it on 100. Besides, I'm really impressed with the quality of images at ISO 400.

I have mine for 24 hours. Initial impression is good