ppage wrote:
Flippy screen
4K
At least 24 MP
12fps
dual pixel AF
dual SD slots
If true, of those "upgrades", only one of them interests me very much.... the increase from 20MP to 24MP.
For me:
- A flippy "Touch Screen" might be nice, but not a deal breaker one way or another.
- 4K? Personally I could care less. If I want to shoot video, I'll buy a video camera. I'm sure the 7DIII will have 4K though.... after all, the D500 has it.
- 12 fps ain't all that different from 10 fps.... Faster frame rates just means more images to post-process! (I already take too many shots... at "merely" 10 fps)
- 7DII already has DPAF. (Though it would be better if it were paired up with a Touch Screen, which the 7DII lacks.)
- Dual SD slots... no thanks. I'd rather have dual CF slots. The larger cards are easier to handle in the field. But I really don't foresee Canon getting away from dissimilar card slots, so I make do with 1 CF, 1 SD. Canon (and everyone else) seem to like that setup (which has some advantages). If anything they might make one slot CFast or XQD compatible, to accommodate the data rate of 4K. Either of those "new" memory card types are similar size to CF (more likely that Canon would use CFast they helped develop, rather than XQD which Nikon/Sony are backing and using).
IMO, besides a nice little bump up in resolution, the biggest and/most likely improvements that Canon could or will make to the 7DIII include:
- More f/8 capable AF points (currently only the center one.... not like 80D/6DII, either, which are f/8 at more points only with certain lenses... more like 5DIV or 1DXII, f/8 at ALL points).
- Delete the built-in flash (for better weather/dust sealing). Ain't gonna happen, but I can wish.
- Make the damned battery trays for the BG-E16 available separately so I can buy extras and preload them with my backup batteries! I HATE fiddling with loading batteries into trays in the field (it was faster and easier before they went to the trays, when you just slid each battery directly into the battery grip). This is a no-brainer and it's just plain DUMB that Canon doesn't offer spare battery trays. What's even worse is Canon can't even understand what I'm asking for! I've spoken with and/or emailed Canon customer service, CDS and their repair/parts dept. Even when I send photos and tell them the BGM-E16L part number of the specific tray I need, they keep trying to sell me AA battery tray BGM-E6 for 5D Mark II grips (which won't even fit)! They also should make the battery trays AND the grips themselves compatible across different camera models. There is NO NEED to have a different grip for each camera. The same should be true of the WFT modules... those also shouldn't be model specific (they've made some steps in that direction).
I'm sure they'll use newer dual processors to handle larger image files even faster, probably along with a bigger buffer to allow more shots continuously.
They also will probably increase the number of AF points... can't have Nikon D500 with 153 points (99 cross type) go unanswered!
I don't necessarily want more AF points... Instead I'd rather that they have a bit broader spread across the image area, both horizontally and vertically. If that means more points, so be it.
I'd love to see Focus Peaking in a Canon DSLR (in Live View, if not in the viewfinder). That would be helpful with manual focus lenses (incl. Canon TS-E and MP-E that I use).
Higher usable ISO is pretty much to be expected. (7DII's native range tops out at ISO 16000, which was darned good in 2014... But the two year newer D500's goes to 51200. I don't use and don't care what the "expanded ISOs" go to. IMO they aren't very usable.)
I can probably think of more, but that's all that comes to mind quickly and it's all just speculation anyway. Depending upon who you listen to, either a 7D Mark III is imminent... or we won't see one until next year, at the earliest!
I suspect the new 7DIII will have built-in WiFi. That's why they're blowing out the W-E1 modules, which if I recall correctly, are only usable in a few cameras that have dual memory card slots, one of which is the SD type required for the module (which only costs $40 when bought separately).