Canon EOS R7 Camera Review

The Canon EOS R7 isn't the most portable crop-sensor camera. However, it's still smaller than most full-frame alternatives. It's much heavier than other crop sensor mirrorless cameras, including the Sony α6600 and the Fujifilm X-S20.

Build quality is great. The camera feels sturdy, with materials that feel fairly high quality. The texture around the grip and thumb rest feels sufficiently grippy. The screen articulation mechanism also feels solid. There's a locking hinged door for the battery compartment and a sliding door for the SD cards, both of which feel secure. That said, some of the buttons and dials feel a bit mushy.

Like the Canon EOS R6 Mark II, the R7 includes Canon's new 'multi-function shoe' rather than a standard hot shoe. It includes a 21-pin electronic interface and, according to Canon, is supposed to offer more functionality with certain accessories.

• Canon EOS R7 camera body
• Canon RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM lens
• Sensor cap
• Lens cap
• Rear lens cover
• Hot shoe cover
• Shoulder strap
• 1x Canon LP-E6NH battery
• Battery charger
• User manual

The Canon R7 is very comfortable to shoot with. It has a large, roomy handgrip that's suitable for most hand sizes. The buttons and dials are well-placed for the most part, though having the back dial around the joystick is an odd choice. It makes the joystick somewhat awkward to use, so it's really easy to accidentally hit the joystick and change a focus point when trying to adjust the dial or vice versa. The On/Off/Movie Mode switch can also be a little finicky, making it easy to unintentionally switch into Movie Mode when simply turning the camera on. Still, there are plenty of physical controls that you can remap to your preference, and overall, the ergonomics are very good and intuitive.

The EVF is only 2.36 million dots, which is still good, but higher-resolution viewfinders are increasingly becoming the norm. While it makes sense to see a lower resolution here than what you get with the Canon EOS R6 Mark II, it's still a bit disappointing, given the R7's price point. That said, it's still a very effective EVF—there's little, if any, lag, and it's large enough to comfortably get a clear view of your subjects. It sticks out from the body a fair amount, as well, so you don't need to squish your face against the camera. The soft rubber eyecup feels quite nice, too. Still, if you'd prefer a camera with a higher-resolution viewfinder, check out the Fujifilm X-H2.

The screen is fully articulated and includes full touch capability. You can use it to navigate the menus, select focus points, or as a touch shutter. The resolution is high, so you can review your photos on the monitor, and it gets bright enough to combat glare on sunnier days.

The user interface is fantastic. It's essentially the same menu found on recent Canon mirrorless cameras, including the Canon EOS R6 Mark II. The settings are extensive, but the menus are logically organized and easy to navigate. There's also a very helpful 'Help' function that explains certain settings and features in-depth when you press the 'Info' button while browsing the menu.

Battery performance is impressive. The camera is CIPA-rated for 660 photos on a full charge when using the LCD, which is fantastic for a mirrorless camera. However, that number drops to 380 when using the viewfinder. When using the camera's power-saving settings, those numbers increase to 770 and 500 shots, respectively. However, these figures can vary drastically depending on how you use the camera in real-world scenarios, but they do give you some idea of what to expect and how the camera compares to other cameras. Naturally, its battery life is much shorter than DSLR alternatives, but it's still very good overall.

Meanwhile, video battery life is exceptional. In our testing, the battery lasted over two and a half hours of continuous video recording in 4k at 30 fps. We didn't experience any overheating interruptions, either, which is excellent.

The Canon EOS R7 has a very quick max burst rate. With its mechanical shutter, it can shoot at up to 15 fps, which is fantastic for capturing bursts of fast action. Switch over to e-shutter mode, and you can get bursts of up to 30 fps, though rolling shutter distortion can be an issue, so that mode is best suited to stationary subjects.

The photo buffer is fairly large. However, it takes a bit of time to empty if you manage to fill it up. When shooting in RAW, the empty time also doubles to around 16 seconds, which can disrupt your shooting when timing is critical.

The Canon R7 has an excellent autofocus system overall. It can detect between people, animals, and vehicles and includes more precise eye tracking. Overall, the AF does an amazing job keeping moving subjects in focus. With more erratic movements, it can lose focus but quickly recovers its target, so you'll likely have a very high keeper rate in most situations.

Center point AF is fantastic. The camera is quick and accurate when paired with lenses that use decent focusing motors. As long as you keep your subject behind your chosen focus point, you'll likely have a very high hit rate.

The Canon R7 has in-body image stabilization, which works in conjunction with optical image stabilization on RF and RF-S lenses. It's remarkably effective, letting you capture clear handheld shots at very slow shutter speeds. That said, stabilization performance will vary depending on many factors, including your lens, focal length, and how steady your hands are.

The Canon EOS R7 has great dynamic range. It's on par with other APS-C cameras with IBIS implementations, like the Fujifilm X-T4. At base ISO, it can capture a pretty wide range of highlight and shadow detail.

The R7 uses a high-resolution sensor and does a very good job of resolving fine detail. However, this is mostly only noticeable when punching in or cropping heavily.

RAW noise handling is decent, and the camera performs fairly in low light. Noise is a bit more pronounced than on competing APS-C cameras, but it isn't far off of other Canon crop sensor models, like the Canon EOS M50 Mark II. If you'd like a similarly-priced camera with better noise handling, check out the full-frame Canon EOS R8.

The camera can record standard 4k resolution video but also includes a '4k Fine' option, which is oversampled from the full 7k resolution of the sensor. In '4k Fine' resolution, the camera can only record at 30 or 24 fps.

In addition to supporting C-Log 3, the R7 includes a handy 'View Assist.' feature that applies a LUT to the in-camera preview, so you can preview how your footage will look after processing and grading.

Note: All-I is only available in time-lapse mode.

The camera can record at up to 60 fps in 4k without a crop, which is fantastic for capturing smooth action footage or incorporating slow-mo shots into your videos.

4k internal recording capability is fantastic. It supports 10-bit 4:2:2 recording internally when recording in C.LOG 3 to capture a wider range of detail and color, giving you more leeway in post. Like other Canons, there's an 'HDR PQ' mode with a gamma curve tailored for content on HDR displays. The camera records its highest bit rates with 'HDR PQ' enabled. There's no recording time limit, either, which is great. The camera also has excellent heat management, with no overheat interruptions throughout its over two-hour battery life for video.

Autofocus is incredible in 4k video mode. The camera supports both face and eye detection, and it does a fantastic job of keeping moving subjects in focus, whether you manually select a target or let it automatically detect a subject. Shifts in focus are quick and smooth. You can also fine-tune the AF settings to adjust its speed and sensitivity, depending on how you need the AF to behave.

4k video quality is great. In more controlled lighting conditions, videos look crisp, with colors that pop straight out of the camera. It performs well in low light, too. A lot of shadow detail is preserved, and noise is fairly minimal.

If you want even higher quality video, you can also set the resolution to '4k Fine', which is oversampled from 7k. You can see a test scene extract of '4k Fine' footage here.

In standard 4k resolution, rolling shutter effect isn't too bad. There's some noticeable skewing with vertical lines, but it's most apparent with quick or sudden camera movements.

When shooting in '4k Fine' resolution, rolling shutter is much worse, with a 9.3º angle of distortion (which would result in a 'Rolling Shutter Effect' score of 4.3). You can see the rolling shutter effect in 4k Fine here.

In 1080p, the camera can record regular video at up to 60 fps. It also has a 'high frame rate' mode that can record slow-motion videos at 120 fps, with a playback speed of 30 fps for 4x slow-motion. There's no audio in this mode.

Internal recording is similarly excellent in 1080p. You get 10-bit 4:2:2 recording, high bit rates, and no video time limit.

The autofocus performs just as well in FHD as it does in 4k. It has very little trouble keeping up with moving subjects in video.

1080p video quality is great. Video is relatively sharp and detailed. It also handles low-light conditions well, with minimal noise and good preservation of details in the shadows.

Rolling shutter effect is still present when recording in 1080p. You'll notice some skewing with vertical lines when panning the camera. It gets quite bad with very fast camera movements.

The Canon EOS R7 includes two SD card slots, which is great for those who like to keep a running backup. They're also conveniently placed on the side of the camera, making it easy to switch out cards when using a tripod.

The inputs and outputs are on the left side of the camera and covered by rubber flaps with gaskets to keep moisture out. There's both a headphone and microphone jack, along with a Micro HDMI to connect an external display.