Canon EOS Rebel T7 - Review 2022

Canon has finally put a modernistic 24MP image sensor in its least expensive SLR. Merely the EOS Rebel T7 ($549.99 with 18-55mm f/3.5-v.6 IS 2 lens) doesn't offer any other meaning updates from its predecessor, the T6, and remains a woefully dated SLR when compared with more modern alternatives, from both Catechism and its competitors. Skip this half-baked upgrade and spend your coin on a better entry-level SLR or mirrorless camera. The Nikon D3400 is a amend camera that sells for about $500 with a lens, and if you spend a little bit more you lot tin can get one of our Editors' Pick options, the mirrorless Sony a6000 ($649 with lens) or the next model up in Catechism's line, the Rebel T7i ($899 with lens).

Blueprint: Not Much New Here

The T7 has the aforementioned torso equally the T6. It measures iv.0 by five.i by iii.1 inches (HWD) and weighs 1.1 pounds without a lens. It doesn't deviate from the SLR design paradigm in any way. The body is finished in blackness, with a pocket-sized handgrip, integrated pop-up wink, and a hot shoe atop the optical viewfinder.

Like the T6, the T7 is hard bundled with the EF-South 18-55mm f/3.v-5.vi IS Two zoom lens. Every bit with the residuum of the camera, the lens isn't new—the EF-Southward 18-55mm f/4-5.half-dozen IS STM, bundled with models like the T7i and SL2, is the latest iteration, ii generations newer than the T7'south bundled zoom.

Aside from the lens release button, at that place are no controls on the front end plate. The Mode dial, power switch, flash release, command dial, and shutter release are on the top plate. The shutter release is the virtually forrard, sitting at an angle on the height of the handgrip.

Rear controls are all to the right of the fixed LCD. The Live View button is just to the right of the viewfinder, and below it you get the EV bounty, Q, Display, Menu, and Play buttons. There's also a four-way push button organization to set ISO, AF, White Residual, and the Drive mode, with the Set button at its center. Finally, there are two buttons at the top correct corner that are used to zoom in and out of images during playback, with the zoom out button doubling as a focus point selector.

The LCD is a 3-inch fixed panel without touch support. It'south the same 920k-dot design used by the T6, sharp enough for image review and Live View. But it's not most every bit useful as the vari-angle touch screen Canon puts in the T7i.

Lack of touch makes the camera experience like a remnant from yesteryear. Peculiarly since Canon's on-screen "Q" menu organization is and so like shooting fish in a barrel to navigate on models with touch support. I found it frustrating to tap on information technology to change a setting on more than one occasion.

Wi-Fi and NFC are included. Yous tin use information technology to transfer images to your Android or iOS device using the Catechism Camera Connect app, a plus for sharing images on social media when away from habitation. There's no Bluetooth, nor practise you get the more avant-garde wireless functions available in more contempo Canon cameras, like the wireless desktop transfer available with the mirrorless EOS M50.

Yous also become a 2.5mm interface for a wired remote command, mini USB, and mini HDMI. The T7 supports SD, SDHC, and SDXC retention, which is in the same compartment as the battery. The battery powers up outside the camera, in an included wall charger. Bombardment life is solid, with a 500-shot CIPA rating when using the optical finder. Information technology drops to 240 shots when using Live View.

Performance: Underwhelming

The T7 uses the same ix-point autofocus system every bit the T6 before it. Information technology takes about 0.6-2d to power on and capture an epitome. Focus locks in 0.1-2nd in bright light, but slows down to about 0.6-second in dim atmospheric condition. Subject area tracking is available—you lot demand to set the focus mode to AI Servo to turn information technology on—as is flare-up shooting, but at just 3fps. The Sony a6000 runs circles around it with 11fps subject area tracking.

The shooting elapsing varies based on your file format. If you shoot in JPG manner, the T7 captures a solid 76 photos before its buffer fills. But if you're a more advanced lensman and want to shoot in Raw format, you'll get just 10 shots, and only six in Raw+JPG, and you'll have to expect nearly 15 seconds to clear the buffer and commit all images to a memory carte du jour.

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Live View focus is painfully slow. In bright light it requires most ane.4 seconds to lock focus using the rear display, and in dim light I clocked information technology at v.vii seconds on average. This lag is unacceptable in a camera released in 2022, and no, that'due south not a typo. If you step up to whatsoever other electric current Canon SLR you'll enjoy Live View focus performance that is most as quick as through the viewfinder.

Image Quality: A Brilliant Spot

A photographic camera is meant to capture images, which is i thing the T7 gets correct. The 24MP prototype sensor puts it on the aforementioned level as the competition, fifty-fifty if the epitome processor that powers it is an older 1. Images from our ISO test scene bear witness that the T7 delivers crisp, clear JPGs through ISO 1600. There's a slight blur at ISO 3200, the top setting at which noise is less than one.v percent, and more meaning mistiness at ISO 6400. ISO 12800 is the summit setting, but y'all'll demand to dive into a card to turn it on, and enable information technology manually when you want to apply it—automatic aligning tops out at ISO 6400.

If y'all do shoot in Raw, the T7 captures crisp images without also much grain through ISO 3200. At ISO 6400, detail holds up well, but grain is stronger. You can't go whatever higher in either Raw or JPG format, a limitation of the prototype processor. The T7i and SL2 both back up ISO 25600 capture, useful when the light is very dim.

Video: Where'south the Autofocus?

Video tops out at 1080p, with 24fps and 30fps frame rates bachelor. Video quality is fine—non the all-time 1080p I've seen, but by no means the worst. Nobody is going to use the T7 and expect to get pro results—there's no microphone input for ane thing, a must-have for serious videographers, about of whom will want a camera with 4K.

Just more casual users volition want a camera that tin can keep a scene in focus while recording video. The T7'due south autofocus system can set up focus earlier you start recording a prune, but information technology does not function when the camera is rolling. Y'all can adapt focus manually, but the SL2 and the T7i accept video autofocus that'due south quick, smoothen, and easy to use—if yous desire to record video, they are much improve options.

Conclusions: Better Ways to Spend Your Money

Like the T6 that came earlier it, the T7 is a disappointing, underwhelming entry-level model from a trusted brand. Canon knows how to make a good camera, and with a few refinements the T7 could be one. Merely it'due south as well far backside other models. If you desire an affordable, entry-level SLR, the Nikon D3400 is better all around, and information technology doesn't price as much. Its prototype quality is a bit better and it tin can autofocus when recording video, although not every bit smoothly every bit a Catechism SLR or nigh mirrorless cameras.

If yous're committed to the Canon brand, the SL2 and the T7i are both much meliorate cameras, though they are a fiddling pricier. The Sony a6000 is a solid mirrorless choice, delivering stiff prototype quality and speedy focus in a smaller form cistron.

It appears as if Canon has opted to rest on its laurels with the T7, which is a shame. Customers shopping should be able to trust that the number 1 name in cameras delivers a product that is at least competitive with other entry-level SLRs and mirrorless cameras. No ane expects low-cost choices to perform like pro cameras that sell for much more, only they should at least be in the same ballpark as similarly priced alternatives. That's non the case with the T7.