My readers know me as The Wildlife Ho-tographer. I have been using Canon equipment for almost three decades. Through the years, I have owned and used almost all of Canon professional and consumer grade gear and have tested many of them on global wildlife photo tours.
As you know, I have picked the EOS-7D as the best APS-C camera on the market for action and wildlife photography fours years in a row after it was announced in 2009. The Mark II model came out in 2014 followed by the Nikon D500 in January, 2016.
Read my comprehensive review of the Mark II DSLR. For those interested in comparing the EOS-7D Mark II to the EOS-80D, read my earlier post. You can follow my travels on Facebook and Twitter , see my equipment bag and works on MichaelDanielHo.com
I will be going on another wildlife photography tour very soon. In September, I was in the high Arctic and this time I will be photographing Jaguars and other fauna down in the Pantanal, Brazil.
Although the Mark II camera is a dramatic improvement over the earlier model, the Nikon D500 gave the Canon camera a real challenge and of course, the EOS-7D Mark III is just 'around the corner'. The test cameras are already out of the labs and into the wild for beta testing.
There are crazy rumors flying around saying the new camera will have a 30MP sensor and burst rate of 12+ fps, etc. Frankly, that is a lot of photography noise so early in the guessing game. I do not expect the Mark III to be announced earlier than late Q1, 2018 but the trend in the past few years has been to speed up the replacement cycle of higher end cameras.
Since the EOS-7D has always been the leader in Canon's APS-C camera lineup, it is very logical the Mark III will again come with a new generation of APS-C sensor. Many photographers are clamoring for everything under the sun and a list price of $1,499. One has to be more realistic about the business of manufacturing photography equipment.
My personal opinion is the Mark II is already a very good camera but a few improvements will make it an even better prosumer DSLR body.
Here is my wish list for the EOS-7D Mark III :
- A slight increase in megapixels, low to mid 20s for the sensor.
- 10 fps is adequate but if technologically feasible, 12 fps is welcomed.
- 4K video and C-Log is unnecessary for me but it's de rigueur for any prosumer camera
- Since 4K video will be included, a tilting or variable LCD screen is expected
- Additional AF points to below 100
- Increase in high ISO and Dynamic Range performance is critical
- Illuminated buttons on the back panel
