Canon EOS 7D Mark II Review – Design

As you might expect for a camera with a firm view towards the sports and wildlife photographer, the build quality of the 7D Mark II is of a very high standard.

The body features a magnesium alloy shell with a wide range of weather sealing located around the body. In fact, the weather sealing is such that Canon places it as the second best specified camera in this regard, just behind the flagship EOS-1D X.

In terms of the general appearance of the camera the 7D Mark II certainly has an air of its predecessor about it, although the button configuration is probably more akin to the Canon EOS 5D Mark III.

Canon EOS 7D Mark II side view

Button additions

The general button layout has been shifted around somewhat so as to accommodate a new ‘rate’ button, no doubt introduced so as to make the process of selecting the desired image from a larger burst a much simpler one.

One new introduction for the 7D Mark II is a sprung lever which sits around the joystick on the rear of the camera. This is user assignable to a wide range of functions, the most useful of which is arguably AF selection toggling when using long lenses, or alternatively in conjunction with the front dial to change ISO sensitivity.

Other adjustments include the insertion of a locking mode dial to prevent accidental adjustment when shooting in difficult conditions.

The 7D Mark II also features a Q button which offers access to a range of customisable controls, adding further fast access to a wide variety of shooting settings and thus making the image capture process as simple as possible.