By Tan Chong Yaw

THE EOS 7D is no gawky debutante. Rather, Canon's new prosumer DSLR is a seasoned socialite confident of her charm.

Chock-full of Canon's photo wizardry, the 7D will please many with its image quality, responsiveness and toughness.

The lines of this matte black shooter are sleek and clean - not a single awkward line or garish detail spoils its mien.

Packing 18 megapixels - more than enough to print a 420mm x 594mm or A2 photo - this camera boasts the highest resolution for a sub-$2,800 DSLR body.

Even with the EF-S 18-135IS kit lens, this 1.37kg DSLR is not heavy. In my hands, the weather- and dust-resistant camera, wrought from magnesium alloy, feels reassuring.

The colours it yields are lively and accurate - out of more than 400 shots, only six have a slight yellowish cast.

With the 7D firing at high speed and using a fast Lexar Professional 300xcompact flash card, I feel like a photographic Rambo clocking 210 shots over 30 seconds.

If I had a zippier card like a SanDisk Extreme Pro or a 600x Lexar, I would have gunned for the camera's maximum speed of eight frames per second (fps).

True, Canon's 10.3-megapixel 1DMark III grabs two more photos (10 fps) but the 7D is 0.33kg lighter. Also, the 7D is less than half the price of the 1D.

Part of a DSLR's charm, for me, is the sound of the shutter release. This photo master works with an authoritative snap.

The only incongruous noise came from the flash: it whined while popping up.

Videographers can look upon the 7D as a serious full-HD camcorder. Think wide angles and quick and precise manual controls over the aperture and zoom. No consumer video device can match this.

Two caveats though: the camera does not refocus after shooting starts. Also, only one channel of sound is captured. You will not hear the to and fro of the ping pong ball in a table tennis match.

However, manual focusing is no problem when using the high-resolution 921,000-pixel 3-inch LCD. For stereo sound, you can stick a microphone into the 3.5mm port .

I like the new Live View switch, or LCD shooting, mode. One touch and the LCD comes to life. One flick of a switch converts it to a camcorder. The same switch starts and stops the video recording.

Also new is the RAW button. There is no need to lift my eye from the 7D to grab a RAW shot (the digital equivalent of a film negative). I just press a button on the left of the viewfinder.

Both kit lenses have image stabilisation built in, which helps those with unsteady hands.

Sports photographers will love the camera's speed. Budget DSLR owners hankering for an upgrade will appreciate its responsiveness. Professionals will value its toughness.

Final say

If the 7D were a bowl of ramen, it would be a dish that many would want to savour.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

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