With the EOS 7D, Canon is pulling out all the stops to appeal to keen amateur and semi-pro photographers. In a nutshell – or rather, a tough magnesium alloy shell – the 7D offers an 18.1-megapixel sensor, speedy 8fps performance, 19-point autofocus and full HD video recording.

The Canon EOS 7D is Canon's top of the range APS-C camera. Below it sit the compact forms of the EOS 1100D , EOS 600D and EOS 60D and above it the full-frame glory of the £200 more expensive EOS 5D MKII .

Build quality; Video footage; Continuous shooting mode; High-ISO image quality; Great viewfinder

Hard on memory cards; Unimpressive kit lens

The pro-orientated, 18-megapixel EOS 7D digital SLR has a couple of minor flaws, but they're far outweighed by all the positives. Offering tank-like build quality, class-leading resolution, excellent high-ISO performance and brilliant continuous-shooting speeds, it's a fantastic camera

Hard-as-nails build quality; Ergonomic design; Impressive 8-frames-per-second shooting; Records 1080p movies; Good high-ISO performance

Mediocre detail from kit lens and JPEG processing; Occasional exposure howlers

Review Your possible reason for buying this camera may have changed fairly recently. The EOS 7D would have been the only way to get 'standard' and 'film' frame rates from a Canon DSLR product in HD, but no more.

At last, it appears Canon has raised its game, in response to Nikon, and introducing a new breed of camera, the EOS 7D.

The battle of the pixels is a long-running war that still shows no signs of letting up. In fact, the APS-C sensor has been continuously developed to take more pixels and ultimately allow the user to shoot larger images.

We take a look at Canon's new 18-megapixel APS-C flagship

I had had several year experience with an entry level DSLR before I bought the Canon 7D. I like trying new things with cameras and I had got as far as I could with my old camera. I have now had my 7D for 2 years and have still not gone through all of what it is capable.

Easy to use and set up; Lots of features to help make your photographic experience rewarding

Performance at high ISO settings can be disappointing at times

a good camera but too technological and gets in the way of taking pictures

good IQ at low iso; solid camera; video

high iso quality; complicated AF

I am a novice but keen SLR user, this being my second SLR after a 600D. I have had help how best to navigate the controls and I have got some fantastic results. I like taking photos showing "as it is" - and I am extremely pleased so far.

Bright LCD; Comfortable Controls; Easy To Use; Fast Shutter Speed; Great Image Quality; Image Stabilisation; Strong Construction

Heavy