I was thrilled to hear than Canon is putting out a mid range semi professional Camera titled 7D which should be in the market around Mid October this year.

Why I was thrilled was that I always wanted a second Body to go with my top line ID MK11 that is now over 5 years old. I didn?t want to upgrade for the new MK111 that boasts of superior quality and features, but as a photographer I have now learned that this does not make or break a photographer. All the technology and features come at a premium price in this range of 1D cameras. As I already have a premium camera (1d MK11- 1994), which is still good in comparison to the models available at present, I was not going to invest another ton of money to upgrade it to the latest version the MK111.I am Perfectly happy with it and I am enjoying every minute with it. One thing is even if I sell it I will get only half the price now or even lower and the other is that I have to put another half or more money to go for the MK111. That?s a lot of money for someone who does not make much money out of photography, its been a passion and a hobby all this while. Besides, I think that I can produce exactly the same quality out of my MK11, especially if you know how to process your images from the RAW stages. I will come to that in my next newsletter. So, the 7D now looks quite tempting looking at its features (I especially like the new HD 1080p video recording it has) only draw back is that it has a 1.6 crop factor sensor (APS-C). In short in multiplies your view by 1.6 times. I hear that the quality and noise are going to be very smooth in this model and noiseless. I didn?t like the 50D because it was very noisy at 100% magnification. But this model is no replacement or an upgrade of the 50d. It seems it?s a completely new Model targeted at the semi pro wildlife photographer, who is looking for professional quality images at a affordable price.

So, the 7D hopefully would be my second body. Its ideal for wildlife with the 1.6 magnifications. I will get 800mm out of my 500mm lens. Thereby I save investing on the hefty 600mm or 8oomm lenses that are very expensive and bulky. With this, I will still be able to get my bird and close up mammal photographs.

I would still love to test the camera before I buy one. Like what I did for the 50D which I was fortunate to borrow from a friend of mine.. But I am no professional and nobody would give me one free for testing. But I am rather confident that this camera is to my expectation.

You can visit :
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/canoneos7d/

If you want to know more about this camera. This site has extensive coverage of the 7d.