Bill S wrote:Although I'm not looking to upgrade I do take note of developments and the 7D seemed like the no-brainer upgrade from my 40D. FPS, resolution and high ISO performance being the main attractions. Bill
Bill,
sort-of-following on from earlier discussion...I now have the Canon 7D and Canon 50D. My main reason for getting the 7D was to the need (I felt) to have a camera with a bird lens ready at the same as a butterfly (macro) lens, because you can miss an opportunity in the field by having to exchange lenses. I also wanted to trade in my EOS 1D Mark III (the 10 frames per second Canon body, which was bought primarily for sports and in particular golf action photography) which I was sick of hulking around! As you mention, the 7D is only a little behind the top notch Mark III, as the 7D has 8 frames per second and is a lot lighter and smaller but not too small to feel 'unimportant'
.
My initial impression, as mentioned in another discussion, is that the 7D isn't as good as the 50D (and probably the 40D) with macro shots, or at least through the viewfinder. I have since switched to using the 'Liveview' and found that the macro shots are better. It may be that the 7D has a slightly heavier body than the 50D, and therefore as I 'handhold' for macro shots there is more of a 'bounce' in the camera body unless I use the liveview, which I presume takes the shot with the shutter-mirror already up, hence giving less camera shake.
The bonus of using the 'Liveview', especially with butterflies, is that you do get nearer them with less effort. Plus a butterfly is more likely to 'bu**er off!' with a large monster looming over it, as opposed to a large monster with a 'smaller black object' held nearer the butterfly. Plus, already I have got shots of hairstreaks etc that stayed 'above my head' or at funny angles in bushes, whereas previously I would have missed the shot if I needed to look through the viewfinder rather than 'Liveview'. The only problem with the 'Liveview' is that it takes a second or so more to focus, and sometimes you may miss the shot or the framing may move as your arm strains to hold the camera. Folks who use a tripod (good luck to you!) won't need to worry about shake anyway...
So my advice is, think carefully about upgrading. If you have a good Canon SLR then an upgrade to the 7D (or a more expensive model) may not be necessary, and may just fulfill that need we all have to get that bit of 'extra shopping buzz'.
Is that "Do as I say, not as I do"?
Michael
P.S. And remember, a 'serious' macro photographer like Robert Thompson would always use both a tripod and medium-format camera, so he'd pooh-pooh our poor digital SLR's anyway.
http://www.robertthompsonphotography.com/
and then the 200mm-400mm 
£££££'s!