Canon EOS 7D 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-inch LCD and 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens,4.0 out of 5 stars A good camera, a good value., November 1, 2011

I bought this camera on Amazon a year and a half ago to replace my 20D. I am hobbyist, not a professional, but I use the camera nearly every day. I mostly shoot with either the Canon EF-S 17-55mm 2.8IS, or the Canon 50mm 1.4 prime lens.

I chose this camera because the photos I care most about are of my two toddler daughters. This camera is marketed for fast, low-light, no flash situations - most people assume sports, but I think there are probably more people taking pictures of their young children than people doing serious sport photography. Kids move fast and are bothered by the flash, so I was immediately interested in this camera.

First, my personal opinion is that if you are not going to buy a high quality lens (not the kit lens), you should not buy this camera. A 20D with the EF-S 17-55mm 2.8 IS lens will take much better photos than the 7D with the kit lens. If you aren't ready to spend some money for a high quality lens, then don't buy this camera, you simply won't see an improvement in your photos. The added megapixels will only be noticed if you are printing out poster-sized pictures, or doing extreme cropping.

For the last year and a half, this camera has performed extremely well for my needs, much better than the 20D. I almost never use a flash for portraits, and my results are outstanding compared to my old 20D.

This is not a camcorder, but I have not used our camcorder since getting the 7D. The 7D will not re-autofocus while shooting video, and caps video at 30 minutes, so you won't be able to set it on a tripod and shoot your kid's musical or whatever. Personally, I don't think anyone really is interested in watching more than 5 minutes of your home video anyway, and this camera works awesome for 2 minute videos of my kids singing "I'm a little teapot."

I have no issues with useability, but you should know that this camera does not include preset settings for macro, portrait, landscape, etc. If you don't yet know how to set aperture and shutter speed settings, and you are not planning on learning, then you should get the 60D instead.

If you are a true professional, then you probably are not reading this review, and have already bought the full frame 5D. The 7D allows you to use some of the less expensive EF-S lenses, which is probably the biggest selling point, but also possibly the biggest negative. Two popular EF-S lenses, the wide angle Canon 10-22mm, and the walk-about Canon 17-55IS are amazing lenses for the price, and I think the the best value lenses available, but they won't work if you ever upgrade to a full frame.

Finally, my camera did break after a year and a half (6 months after the warranty expired). The camera "crashes" whenever the pop-up flash is engaged. I have sent it to Canon, and will update this review to describe my experience with the repair process.