My Take on the Canon EOS Rebel T7

A Blog by Hunter Holloway

For an amateur photographer, choosing the correct camera and lens is absolutely imperative to starting your journey. You want a good introductory camera that is able to take quality photos, without necessarily breaking the bank. That last part is key, because personally I don't think that an expensive camera or lens is something that an amateur photographer should be buying at the start. I will further elaborate this point later, but I believe it is more important to spend money on getting to a location than on photography equipment.

The Canon EOS Rebel T7 is, in my opinion, a great consideration for someone who is looking into starting a hobby in photography. Now I am no expert when it comes to DSLR cameras, however this has been the camera that I have used to take all my photos for the past five years. So, I would say that I have had a fair amount of hands-on experience when it comes to the Rebel T7. It has captured some of my favorite photos and has proved that you do not need a couple thousand-dollar camera to begin your journey as a photographer.

My First Impressions of the Canon EOS Rebel T7

When I first opened up the box of my Rebel T7, I was like a kid on Christmas morning. I was so excited to have this new camera to be able to take pictures with. I was blown away by the clean design of the camera as I found the aesthetics of it to be appealing to look at from all angles.

In addition, I enjoyed that the buttons weren't thrown all around the body of the camera, but rather in one section on the back of the body. This was one of the appealing aspects to me because it kept all of the buttons that would be frequently used in one area, so I wouldn't have to go searching around.

In addition, the manual mode is quite simple to navigate through. Your shutter speed, aperture and ISO are displayed at the top of the screen, and you have access to each one with the click of a button. Many other features are very simple to get to on this menu too when you click the "Q" button that is to the right of the screen. From here you can set a timer, change the image quality, adjust the white balance, and many more options.

When I was navigating through the settings, I found it to be quite easy to find what I was looking for. Want to adjust auto power off? Just click the menu button then move to one of the "wrench" icons in the menu and change the setting. Want to turn on off the shutter beep? Push down the menu button and move to the first "camera" icon and disable the feature.

What I Have Tested

I have used this product countless times. Whenever I would go on a hike in my local areas, I would bring it along with me and it has been a reliable camera to operate. I have even taken it to places as far as the Galapagos Islands and across the Western and Central United States. I also took it on one of my recent trips to Alaska and I was able to capture some incredible photos with it. These photos aren't as incredible as the ones that you would be able to capture on a $5000 camera, but it is an entry level camera so you can't have it all. In my opinion though, with its 24-megapixel sensor, it is still able to capture some stunning photos.

When I have taken it on these trips the battery life has proved itself to be incredible. Even if I am shooting in RAW and constantly using the live view feature, I still get great battery life that lasts me throughout one to two and sometimes even three days. I still think it is a good idea to purchase a secondary battery as you may want to use the live view feature more often than I have.

One downfall I do see in this camera is its auto focus. Now, personally I like to use autofocus because I can't always tell if my photo is completely in focus and autofocus is reliable enough to get the job done. I have noticed it struggling though occasionally during sunrise and sunset photos. The problem I see it running into is when you try to photograph a composition when a certain portion of that image is dark, which happens quite often during sunrises and sunsets. I just find it annoying sometimes having to fiddle with the focus of the camera when the light is quickly disappearing from the shot I'm trying to compose. Now this very well could be operator error, as I am still fairly new to photography, and I don't know all the tricks. But I doubt the majority of the people using this camera will know all of the tricks either, so it's important to have a user-friendly camera when it comes to one of the most important aspects of photography, the focus.

The Pros and Cons

Now as a little recap I will go over some of the most prevalent pros and cons in my opinion. To start off, one of the pros is the easy to navigate menus and settings sections. Having a camera where the settings are easy to adjust is paramount for a beginner photographer to be successful. In addition, the simplicity of the back of the camera and the fact that the number of buttons is not overwhelming, adds to the useability of the Rebel T7.

Another great feature that helps when it comes to composition is the live view mode of the camera. Not only do you have live view though, but you can add a histogram to it in order to see if you are exposing your shot correctly. I have lost count of the number of times that this feature has helped me out. Sometimes you can't necessarily look through the view finder, or you want to make sure the shot is exposed properly, so having this feature helps out tremendously.

As I have mentioned previously, the battery life of this camera is amazing. Even if you are constantly using the live view feature, it will still last you throughout the day and even onto the next few. The last pro of this camera is the price, which is $479.99 for the body and an 18-55mm lens, or $599.99 for the body, an 18-55 mm lens, and 70-300mm lens. This price has made it very easy for virtually anyone who wants to get into photography to be able to purchase it. This price is exceptionally good when you look at the amazing image quality that the Rebel T7 is able to capture.

Some may look at this price and think that it is too cheap for a starter photography set up and they would rather purchase a few thousand-dollar camera and lenses. Now you can by all means do this, but I personally think it is wiser to spend less on the camera and equipment and more on the places you can visit. If you purchase a very expensive camera, you won't have much money left over to be able to travel to amazing places. Even if you live in a beautiful location, you will soon become bored of it and you will want to move out to photograph other places.

Like I talked about the section above, this camera is not perfect as the auto focus is not best when it comes to sunrise and sunset photos. This may not be a big deal for some, but for others it is something to consider. And as I said before, this could just be operator error. This is the only con that I have noticed when it has come to this camera, everything else has been flawless.

What's the Verdict?

Now once again, this is my review of the Canon EOS Rebel T7, it is not a comparison of it with other cameras. This is just me telling you about my experience with the camera and letting you know if I think it's a good camera that is worth it. And I think it is a great camera that is worth checking out. For the amount of technology that is packed within the Rebel T7 for the low price I think it's a no brainer. I would give it a solid 9.3/10, only lowering it a bit for the auto focus, but you have to keep in mind when you by an entry level camera, you're not going to get everything.

If you enjoyed this blog and would like to see more blogs and product reviews, please let me know down in the comment section! Share this with your friends and seriously consider the Canon EOS Rebel T7 when looking to buy your first DSLR camera.