Handholding a 7D may be ok for a short 2-minute HD clip but anything longer and you're going to need some kind of rig or stabilizing system. Companies such as Redrock Micro and Zacuto have been making a killing on these DSLR rigs which are finally starting to come down in price. Zacuto also has a great new clip-on video-friendly viewfinder called the Z-finder. These finders were selling like hot cakes at PhotoPlus Expo in New York City October.

One thing both Jason and I noticed about the 7D is its superior audio quality over the 5D Mark II. This is somewhat strange since, on paper, both cameras have the same built-in monaural microphone. The 7D's is placed higher on the front of the camera which might account for the clearer sound.

Of course, you can also plug in a stereo microphone to attach to the hotshoe for even better sound and you'll likely want to add a BeachTek adapter to the bottom of the camera to improve the audio mix, but all these accessories add bulk and weight to the camera along with jacking up the price. All of which makes the relatively lightweight (31 ounces) and mid-priced 7D seem better and better as a video camera.

Canon deserves kudos for loading this camera will so many video shooting modes. They certainly heard an earful from photographers and videographers after the 5D Mark II came out with just a 30p mode at full 1080p HD. Along with 24p (23.976p to be exact) and 30p (29.97p), the 7D offers 25p in 16:9 aspect ration at full HD; and 50p or 60p (59.94) at 720p HD; and 50p or 60p in standard definition at 4:3 aspect ratio.

That's quite an alphabet/numeric soup but it's appreciated. Canon knew it had a chance to improve on the HD versatility with the 7D and it has delivered. Another small but helpful video-centric improvement is putting a dedicated Start/Stop button on the back of the camera which toggles between Live View and HD mode. Switching into video mode can be done in an instant.

While the problem with "rolling shutter" or the "jell-o" effect you get when you pan quickly isn't fully solved on the 7D, it seemed improved, most likely because of the extra processing that's going on with the dual Digic 4 chips. In testing, I really put the 7D through the ringer, shaking it in a wild panning motion far beyond what most users would likely try. Though this caused the HD footage to wobble a bit, during regular panning the rolling shutter effect was far less noticeable. The only noticeable video feature we found to be missing from the 7D was continuous autofocus though the camera does offer full manual control of ISO, exposure, shutter speed and aperture.

In terms of image quality of the 1080p video, the 7D suffered because of the smaller chip and tiny pixels. (This is also true of the still image quality which I'll discuss later.) For one, with the APS-C sized sensor it was hard to get the very shallow depth of field that's achievable with a full-frame sensor camera such as in the 5D Mark II.

Secondly, the 1.6x magnification made wide-angle shooting a near impossibility which was disappointing if you're used to living at 16mm. Without making too much of a generalization— and I'm sure I'll get in trouble for saying this— these two issues are probably more important to photographers transitioning into video than videographers shooting with an HD-DSLR. Since photographers have been spoiled by the glories of shooting with full-frame sensor, moving back to a crop sensor can be a disappointing experience.