Canon 7D in 2021: Shooting on a TEN Year Old Camera!

okay it's actually an 11 year old camera i just got done playing with the sony a7s3 i'm still very conflicted about selling off my panasonic gear to try and pick up that sony but i was also feeling a bit nostalgic so i dug out one of my all-time favorite cameras my canon 7d the og aps-c video focus dslr from canon launched in 2009 and i took it for a spin i picked this camera up in 2010 to shoot a web series my buddy and i were producing a movie review show featuring two d-bags in a filthy bachelor pad talking about films no one ever saw called movies you may have missed it was a hokey show but we still wanted to produce the best version of that concept that we could and this was back in the early days of dignation we wanted something that looked better than just an off-the-shelf webcam canon was basically untouchable at that point and when the 7d arrived with some compelling video focused features it was a no-brainer i put some hard miles on this body and sensor for years and it just never quit on me 11 years later this motor drive mirror box it's still raring to go even on the original batteries i picked up all those years ago and even though this is a digital camera there's just something so charmingly analog about this hardware the eyepiece is light bouncing off of a mirror and into a prism you're literally looking down the lens to compose your shot and the info you see through that eyepiece has to be simplified as it's an overlay on top of the actual lens reflection and then you hit the shutter and there's that reassuring thunk of the mirror flipping up to let light hit the sensor and thwacking back down again it's a digital camera but has an almost bolt action feel to the operation i really miss how mechanical this all feels i learned how to shoot on film way back in the day so so this this speaks to me of course this is gonna be a bit chunky but surprisingly i mean considering there's a reinforced motor-driven mirror in here it's not that much thicker than some of my favorite mirrorless options like at some point you're not making a better camera by making it skinnier and skinnier especially if you've got some good glass that just makes your camera nose heavy and kind of fatiguing to use if it's not well balanced in your grip this was all way too early for features like bluetooth or wi-fi there's no flip out display so if you want to hook it up there's an annoying mini hdmi port you need to use and we also kind of moved on from compact flash as a memory card standard so i'm glad i still had a few of those floating around to use for this tank you know it's really interesting how we get all hung up on the tech side the improvements to sensors the better video capabilities and shooting on the 7d again especially for how familiar i am with this hardware i still dig the photos that come out of this camera there's a character to the sensor that's very familiar and familiarity is often one of those comforting aspects to creating a piece of media so it's not as pleasant as film grain but i shot on this camera so much that i still kind of have that instinct for the hardware's limitations it's always a good feeling when you can kind of predict what the final output will be just as you're hitting the shutter if you lean into the noise on the sensor that texture can contribute to the content you want to create what hasn't aged as well i'm super spoiled by modern autofocus the 19-point autofocus through this viewfinder each focus point just always seems to be that tiny bit off from where i really need it the way it gears into and out of focus i mean i remember the hours i would spend adjusting every lens agonizing over the slightest front or back focusing issue pulling out charts to measure exactly the performance i could count on i do not miss that so because i'm not relying on the system today it's this is just kind of charming but i refuse to use any camera or phone that won't give me focus peaking today it's even funnier firing up the live view these days and listening to that soft shoe routine of motors skipping through the focusing range before locking on like even the camera does not trust this process still i gotta say it's encouraging coming back to this hardware even for some limitations how capable this camera still is actually because of the limitations it creates images that are unique now we rightfully put the majority of the character conversations on the lenses on your glass but the camera body contributes in subtle ways old digital camera bodies will never occupy the same kind of conversation as old glass but they are fun to revisit as i agonize about maybe switching formats and ecosystems again it's been fun taking this tank back out how my needs have changed over the years and maybe i need to spend a little more time on the fun photography and not just obsessing about the iterative improvements we see on every technological refresh i don't know no big question or call to action for this video maybe how about this if you have a camera memory share some happy in the comments down below as always thanks so much for watching for sharing these videos subscribing to this channel supporting your favorite content creators has never been more critical than it is today so i greatly appreciate those of you who are checking out the description down below all the links in there maybe hit up some of my merch that kind of stuff really does help keep production rolling on this channel there's a full list of all my affiliates and partnerships on some gadgetguy.com or you might consider joining the list of names scrolling by from my patreon patreon.com some gadget guy it's basically a collection of the coolest tech pals on the internet so i hope you check them out now you know where you can find me around the rest of the internet at some gadgetguy on the twitters and the twitch and the facebooks and the instagrams and i will catch you all on the next video i don't know is flickr still a thing like when i used to shoot a lot flickr was a thing but now now we're all like instagram and stuff and i'd like to share some higher quality photos than that

Channel: JuanBagnell

Views: 25,163

Rating: 4.9284649 out of 5

Keywords: juan carlos bagnell, some gadget guy, SomeGadgetGuy, canon, DSLR, Canon 7D, 7D long term review, after the buzz, pocketnow, pnweekly, ten year old camera, what to do with an old camera, professional camera, camera review, recycling, what to do with an old gadget, APSC, APS-C, old camera versus new camera, can an old camera still perform, do old cameras still work, old camera body

Id: KDhx8GmFTsw

Length: 6min 45sec (405 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 20 2021