Yesterday there was a steady stream of blog posts and discussions on forums and social networking sites about a “ghosting” issue with the new Canon EOS 7D digital SLR. I’m not exactly sure who discovered the problem but I first saw it in a Twitter post linking to a British Journal Of Photography news post (read the BJP post). The gist of the problem is that when you use the camera in burst mode, subtle remnants of a previous image can end up in the subsequent frame. Canon has acknowledged the problem and say they’re working on a firmware fix.

For what it’s worth, I’ve been shooting a lot of action with the 7D including a lot of high-speed bursts and I’ve yet to notice the ghosting problem. And the British Journal Of Photography story says, “BJP’s reviewer David Kilpatrick ‘was unable to reproduce the effect using the Canon 7D supplied for test to the British Journal of Photography,’ he says.” News of the problem has been good fodder for Nikon vs. Canon debates and there’s plenty of talk about how “Canon has done it again…” referring to problems with the Canon EOS-1D Mark III EOS 5D Mark II. Those camera had well-documented problems but I’ve yet to see any examples of the 7D problem or experience it myself. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist or it shouldn’t be addressed. I’m just saying it might be a bit early to jump on the “Canon sucks” bandwagon. My experience so far with the 7D has been very good and I have no regrets about my purchase. That said, if anyone can point me to an example of the 7D ghosting problem, I’d love to see it.

Official Canon EOS 7D Service Notice >>

British Journal Of Photography Article >>

 
Related Content:
Canon EOS 7D Announcement
Canon EOS 7D User Reviews
Canon Cameras Forum
Digital SLR Forum
All Canon Camera News And Articles
Canon Cameras Web Site