Not even two months have passed since Canon U.S.A. officially introduced the rumored APS-C sized sensor-featured EOS 7D top notch entry-level digital SLR. As we all know, most rumors tend to add up, and as the rumor first said, this camera indeed had a reduced size sensor. Nevertheless, that really isn't my point with this now.

A video test managed to get released on the internet, not from Canon officials but from a guy that did record some interesting content, or at least mounted it nicely. Even with that, I for one didn't hear too many complaints about the performance of the camera, and yet today I stumble upon the official release of a new firmware for the Canon EOS 7D. I find it funny because as I didn't see any complaints, I can't understand what's with the new firmware. Let's see what it is supposed to fix (because I have seen cases where the firmware did nothing).

First, this new firmware should improve the AF accuracy of the 7D, when set to Live View shooting - to this I can relate since this I think is the first Canon digital SLR that boasts contrast detect AF. Second, it should minimize the phenomenon that, in rare instances, the motion images shot with the 7D exhibited weird colors - I can't say anything new about this, since I have no idea about Canon's proprietary in-camera video encoding, but I can presume it was nothing but an error in the video processing code.

Third, but not least, the new firmware should make the EOS 7D not exhibit the phenomenon, at certain timings, when the shutter cannot be released while the camera's built-in flash or external strobe is used for shooting - this is either a user error that was reported on or Canon implemented a code that didn't allow for any shutter release if the maximum sync speed was breached. Usually, it would just have implemented a feature that automatically draws back your shutter speed.

All in all, I hope you'll be able to enjoy your Canon EOS 7D even more now, with the new firmware, or that you got confidence to purchase it now. Happy snapping to all of you (and I hope there aren't any crocodiles around you).


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