Can shooting video on a Canon EOS 7D damage the mirror assembly?
Asked 3/6/2011
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2 answers
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I'm choosing my first DSLR for macro, nature, and landscape photography, with occasional travel video. I'm interested in the Canon EOS 7D, but a friend warned me that using video on the 7D could cause the mirror assembly to fail because the mirror is held up for long periods. He suggested a Pentax K-series body instead, saying its design is safer for video.
Is there any real risk of damaging a Canon 7D by using Live View/video occasionally, and is this a meaningful reason to choose Pentax over Canon?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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Over the last year I have shot several short films with the Canon 7D (and with the 5DmkII)- covering more than 5 hours of footage in total, including a number of interview-style segments where the takes were many minutes in length. I've never had a problem, and the 7D has performed beautifully throughout.
Further, if there were this level of flaw in the Canon 7D, you would think that there would be a lot of information about it out on the internet, but there isn't.
Bottom line, from someone who has used the 7D extensively for filmmaking: your friend is just plain wrong (and may not the most reliable source for videography information). :-)
Originally by user2838. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2838
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Based on the experiences shared, no—occasional video use on the Canon 7D is not known to damage the mirror assembly.
In video or Live View, the mirror flips up once and stays there. That generally puts less mechanical stress on the mirror mechanism than normal still shooting, where the mirror must rapidly move up and down for every frame. The same is true for long exposures, where DSLR mirrors have long been designed to remain up for extended periods.
Users in the discussion report shooting many minutes and even hours of footage on the 7D without issue, and the 7D has been widely used for filmmaking. If this were a common design flaw, there would likely be broad, well-known reports of it.
So the warning you were given does not appear credible and should not be a deciding factor. Choose between Canon and Pentax based on the things that actually matter for your needs: lens selection, ergonomics, macro options, video features, and overall handling.
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