New firmware version for Canon EOS 7D Mark II has been released.
Firmware Version 1.0.5 incorporates the following fixes and improvements:
- Improves AF accuracy when used in combination with the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM lens or EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens.
- Fixes a phenomenon in which, in very rare cases, the "Peripheral illumination correction" is applied inconsistently.
- Fixes a phenomenon in which, while performing an EF lens firmware update, the progress bar displayed on the LCD monitor may freeze at 100% even though the update has been completed.
- Fixes a processing error in relation to the leap second for the "Geotag information appended to image" and "Log data" GPS functions.
- Fixes a phenomenon, where at the time of shooting in very rare cases "Err 70" occurs, or the shutter does not release.
Firmware updates can be downloaded from Canon US, Canon Europe, Canon Asia or your local Canon site..
Canon has a announced a new midrange flash to replace 430 EX II. The new Canon Speedlite 430EX III-RT adds support for radio-based wireless control and is faster, smaller, and lighter than its predecessor. Using the traditional optical/infrared system the 430 EX III-RT, like it's predecessors, can only work as a slave unit, but when using radio wireless flash control, the new flash can work both as a master or slave unit. The guide number remains at 43 (43m at ISO 100).
The 430EX III-RT will be available in mid-September for an expected retail price of $299 in US, £249 in UK or €349 in EU (Linked prices may vary).
Are you frustrated over missing thumbnails for your Canon EOS 7D Mark II RAW-files in Windows Explorer? Here's a way to get thumbnails on your 7DII RAW files...
![[Image: Windows Explorer with support of 7DII RAW files]](/img/thumbnails-565x338.png)
With FastPictureViewer's Codec Pack, support for Photoshop PSD and 7D Mark II CR2 RAW files has here been added in Windows Explorer - DNG files created with Adobe's new RAW HDR-merge feature, does however not seem to be supported (yet?). The three blank icons are XMP sidecar files to the RAW files.
Microsoft has a Camera Codec Pack for Windows, but it does not yet support RAW files from 7D Mark II. Actually Microsoft hasn't updated the Codec Pack since April 2014, so it's easy to suspect that Microsoft don't update it at all anymore. So that's not it - at least not for now...
Some years back Canon released a Canon RAW Codec package for Windows, but that software hasn't been updated for years. So that's not it either... [edit: If you're a Windows 10 user, see August 2016 update below].
You could shoot RAW+JPG (or make a script to extract JPGs from all your RAW files), so your CR2 RAW files always have a JPG-companion with thumbnail. But that's not really how you ideally want to do it, is it?...
Luckily the people behind FastPictureViewer has a Codec Pack available adding Windows thumbnails support for Canon EOS 7D Mark II RAW files, and a big number of other RAW and image-file formats. You can currently purchase a single-user version for USD 9.99 and it should support all Windows versions from XP SP3 to Windows 8.1 in both 32 og 64 bit versions. Actually they also claim support for the forthcoming Windows 10. For my 64 bit Windows 7 installation I can confirm it added support for both 7DII CR2 RAW files and Adobe Photoshop PSD files, though Adobe DNG files created with Adobe Camera RAW's new HDR-merge feature is still only shown with a standard icon.
Other Canon cameras currently/apparently not supported by Microsofts Camera Codec Pack, but with RAW format supported by FastPictureViewer Codec Pack includes Canon Powershot G16, Powershot G7 X, Powershot S120, Powershot SX60 HS, Canon EOS 1200D (Rebel T5), EOS M and EOS 1Ds Mark III. Owners of the just released EOS 5D S, EOS 750D (Rebel T6i) and EOS 760D (Rebel T6s) might keep an eye on future updates too.
Update April 2016: If FastPictureViewer's Codec Pack has stopped working on Windows 10, do a complete uninstall/reinstall of the Codec Pack (repair is apparently not enough) followed by deletion of thumbnails via Windows' Disk Cleanup feature. Should fix the problem and worked for me...
Update August 2016: While I'm still running FastPictureViewer's Codec Pack myself, I hear latest Windows 10 updates has built-in support for 7D II Raw files:
- Microsoft has integrated RAW file support in Windows 10, and there is no downloadable codec pack as there used to be for Windows 7 and 8.x.
- Out of the box support is only included for files from popular makers such as Canon or Nikon.
- If you need support for DNG files, you need to download Adobe's dng codec. The Adobe codec is old and in theory for W7, but should work just fine in W8 and W10 too.
A few Canon updates from the week. Specific for owners of Canon EOS 7D Mark II, there's a new firmware version 1.0.4 out. It should fix a few not so common issues:
- Fixes a phenomenon in which the camera's AF function may not operate properly at a focal length of approximately 100mm when used with the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.
- Fixes a phenomenon in which, in rare instances, the reduction of the flicker effect cannot be achieved when in AI servo AF mode, despite the "Anti-flicker shoot" function being set to "Enable".
- Fixes a phenomenon in which the Picture Style settings may not be applied to the captured image when the camera is set to custom shooting mode C1, C2 or C3.
- Fixes a phenomenon in which, in very rare cases, the first still image captured in live view mode may not record the correct date and time.
- Fixes a phenomenon in which, in very rare cases, image noise may appear in JPEG images when brightness or contrast is corrected by the Auto Lighting Optimizer function.
Firmware updates can be downloaded from Canon US, Canon Europe, Canon Asia or your local Canon site. And while you are at it, you might check the latest software updates from Canon too. Canon has new versions out of Digital Photo Professional, EOS Utility and the Picture Style Editor.
The week also gave us an announcement of a new Canon lens. An update of the cheap but classic EF 50mm/1.8, commonly known as the "nifty fifty". The new version has been given STM AF-motor for better AF-performance, a 7-blade aperture (up from 5) for better bokeh quality and the minimum focusing distance for the lens has been shortened to 0.35m (from 0.45m). Also looks like build quality of Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM has been improved from its predecessor. The lens should be available by the end of May for a very fair price.
Imaging Resource is one of the most thorough when it comes to camera testing, and it's no surprise they are later than most other sites publishing their final full review of Canon EOS 7D Mark II (though, to be fair, 10 days ago). I haven't read the complete review myself yet, but even if you already purchased the reviewed camera, their reviews are usually a good read to learn more about it.
Your 7DII comes with a handy little 180p print-version of the Basic Instruction Manual, but the in-deep 550p full Instruction Manual is only included in pdf on the supplied CDROM. If you like me like to have your advanced manual in print too, EOS Magazine offers printed manuals for various cameras including a two volumes spiral bound A5 print of the full Instruction Manual for EOS 7D Mark II. It's not "camerabag compatible" like the little compact Basic Instruction Manual that came with your camera, but it's nice enough for a little home-studying...
If on the other hand you don't mind ebooks, but miss some more popular type of introduction to your new advanced EOS 7D Mark II, Canon 7D Mark II Experience looks like an interesting choice. Canon 7D Mark II Experience by Douglas Klostermann is available in Kindle format om Amazon, or in pdf or epub format from authors homepage. The book currently doesn't seem to be available in a print-version.
Just a quick little heads up informing that Canon Europe's Canon Professional Network has a collection of small tips & tricks for Canon EOS users. This also includes a lot of recent EOS 7D Mark II specific tips. Especially movie-shooters will find a some relevant tips and information for the new 7DII here.
A new provider and new blog technology.
I'm currently in the process of converting old posts to this new site, and getting everything to work as it is supposed to. At the time of writing commenting doesn't seem to work, but I will hopefully get that up and running soon. Also I might convert the comments from the old site to this new site/system. But only might...
If you where using the old newsfeed, please update to the new feed addresses. The post feed is available in either RSS format or Atom format.
I'm still not sure how much energy I'll put into this site in future, but for sure I will post a bit now and then. And anyone willing to help, are welcome to contact me.
No memory card is fast enough to keep the 7DII's 10 fps rate constant when shooting in full resolution RAW format. The camera has a buffer ensuring that the maximum framerate can be held for some (short) time, no matter how fast a memory card is used, but how long the framerate can be held and how low the framerate goes when buffer is full, greatly depends on how fast the camera can write the buffercontent to the used memorycard.
The top-5 fastest cards in Camera Memory Speed's test with Canon EOS 7D Mark II
At cameramemoryspeed.com they have benchmarked a number of CompactFlash and SD-cards with the 7DII. Do you want the fastest possible card, or are you looking for a "best-value" choice? Take a look at Camera Memory Speed's measurements of flashcards with 7DII.
At Camera Memory Speed they have used a 30 MB big RAW file for their testing. Canon's RAW files vary in size (using lossless compression), and most 7DII RAW files are probably a bit smaller than the one used for this testing. So your practical output might be a bit better than these results, however no doubt that the chosen memory card is very important for the practical framerate you can get.
DPReview released their final full review of Canon EOS 7D Mark II yesterday. Maybe the most anticipated review by people still not decided if 7DII is the way they want to go. And while I still only has read the conclusion myself, it sounds very favorable for the camera:
What Canon has essentially done is cram as much of a 1D X into an $1,800 compact body as humanly possible, and they appear to have been quite successful in the process. Make no mistake - this is a pro-level camera with pro-level features, and it performs accordingly.
A lot of other sites has released reviews of the camera in the last weeks, and I haven't been good updating this site. I never got the first 7D for various reasons, but I got Mark II and are very exited about the camera. It has however not - as I had expected - inspired me to put more time into updating this site. So I'm open for suggestions and offers! :-) ...
Meanwhile, here's a short list of some of the reviews I have "forgotten" to post in the latest weeks: