Canon EOS 7D

Bottom line

The EOS 7D is the best compact-sensor Canon you can buy. It's built tougher and shoots faster than the step-down EOS 60D (*Est. $935 body only) and Nikon D7000 (*Est. $1,000 body only), and packs in pro-grade specs. If you want more, you'll have to step up to a $2,000-plus, full-frame digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera. But unless you're starting a business shooting weddings, sports or models, experts say the 7D might be overkill. The Canon EOS 60D and Best Reviewed Nikon D7000 deliver equally great photos and plenty of advanced features for hundreds of dollars less.

Ease of use

A "joy to shoot with." Since it's aimed toward advanced photographers -- including pros on a budget -- the Canon EOS 7D skips novice-oriented features. For example, you won't find any Portrait or Landscape presets on the mode dial; they're still there, but you have to hit the menu. Instead, you'll see three Custom modes that let you save your own favorite settings. Experts like the way the buttons are laid out, but if you don't, just reassign them. "The function of almost every button can be changed," DPReview.com says.

The 100 percent optical viewfinder shows everything in your shot. It "inspires more confidence when framing," Imaging-Resource.com's Shawn Barnett says, compared to cheaper cameras like the Canon EOS 60D that shows only 96 percent of the frame. The Nikon D7000 has a 100 percent viewfinder, but the 7D's magnifies slightly more.

What's missing is the swiveling LCD screen from the Canon 60D. The 7D also weighs 5 ounces more, but testers find the heftier body quite comfortable. It "feels like the body will be perfectly balanced" with a telephoto lens, says Dave Stevenson at TechRadar.com. Big buttons and thick rubber grips make it easy to grasp with gloves on, too.

Like all DSLRs in its class, the 7D includes a small LCD panel on top that lets you check and change settings at a glance. Overall, DPReview.com says, the Canon EOS 7D is a "joy to shoot with."

Performance

Fast enough for serious action photography. The 7D is the cheapest Canon that's fast enough for serious sports and action shooters, experts say. It can fire off 8 frames per second (fps) -- "just what serious photographers on a budget have needed to capture sporting events without an outrageous initial investment," says Imaging-Resource.com's Barnett -- with a big burst depth and hefty buffer to prevent slowdowns that's also useful for model shoots and more.

Step-down cameras like the 5.3 fps Canon EOS 60D just can't compare. However, the 60D does get the same 18-megapixel image sensor as the 7D, which delivers lovely images at all light levels in tests. The 16-megapixel Nikon D7000 does a hair better in very low light.

In movie mode, the Canon 7D can shoot full 1,080p HD video at 24, 25 or 30 fps, just like the Canon 60D. Neither can continuously autofocus while doing so, although the Nikon D7000 can, but experts say autofocus makes a lot of noise on the soundtrack anyway. "The Canon 7D's Movie mode is quite good, despite the lack of continuous autofocus," Barnett says.

The 7D's Nikon counterpart, the D300S, had just been discontinued in Japan at the time of this update and its replacement hadn't been announced. But instead of likewise axing the aging 7D and replacing it with a fresh model, Canon released a big firmware update in 2012. Among other things, it gives videographers the power to manually adjust audio levels, and it boosts the number of raw images you can capture in a single burst from 15 to 25.

Battery life is rated at 1,000 shots per charge, very good for its class and on par with the 1,050-shot Nikon D7000.

Durability

All-metal and weather-sealed. Unlike cheaper DSLRs, the Canon EOS 7D is built for rugged use. It's fully weather-sealed so you can shoot in dusty or rainy conditions, with a tough magnesium-alloy shell. Less expensive DSLRs usually use plastic bodies to save weight and cost. The Nikon D7000 wears magnesium panels on its top and back but plastic on the front and bottom, and also comes weather-sealed.

Experts say plastic bodies are tough enough, but they all count the 7D's metal body as an advantage. So do plenty of owners, who say it "gets rid of the concern [about] little dings and dongs while in action," as one Amazon.com customer says.

Features

Handy tools for advanced shooters. While the Nikon D7000 has two memory card slots that are extremely convenient for overflow shots, backups and more, the Canon EOS 7D has just one. However, like pro-spec cameras, the 7D uses faster Compact Flash (CF) cards; the Nikon uses Secure Digital (SD) cards like other $1,000-and-under models. Additional features include:

• Built-in electronic level: This shows both pitch and tilt, on both the viewfinder and LCD. The cheaper Canon 60D and Nikon D7000 show tilt only on the LCD.

• Pop-up flash: This can wirelessly command a slew of external flashes, as many as three groups of four flashes each. The Canon 60D and Nikon D7000 can command two groups.

• Highlight Tone Priority mode: This preserves more detail within highlights, "important for wedding photographs, where typically white dresses often have blown detail," says Shawn Barnett at Imaging-Resource.com.

• Raw/JPEG button: If you're shooting JPEGs and suddenly wish you had a raw shot as insurance or vice versa, just hit the button and you'll capture it on your next frame. "Such conveniences are what makes the Canon 7D ideal for the serious photographer," Barnett says.