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Canon EOS R7
Canon · EOS R7 · Free lesson

First Setup

What should you change on a brand-new EOS R7 before your first shoot?

https://camerasdecoded.com/camera-select/canon/eos-r7/first-setup.html
THE ANSWER
Format both cards in the camera, write every photo to both cards at once, shoot RAW (or C-RAW at about half the file size), let the in-body stabilizer work — then register the whole setup to C1.
Format: Set-up → Format card · Record: Record func+card/folder sel. → Rec. to multiple · Image quality: RAW · IS: IS (Image Stabilizer) mode → Still photo IS · Save: Custom shooting mode (C1-C3) → Register settings → C1
Free lesson — the guided run walks every step.
STEP 1

Format both cards in the camera

MENU→Set-up→Format card

Formatting builds the folder structure the camera expects. This body has two slots, so the format screen asks which card — run it once for each. Shooting 4K video? Tick Low level format: Canon’s own manual calls for it before 4K recording, and it clears every recordable sector.

Know this: formatting erases everything on the card — including protected images. Format before the shoot, never after it.
STEP 2

Write every photo twice

MENU→Set-up→Record func+card/folder sel.

Both slots take UHS-II SD cards. For stills, set Rec. to multiple: every shot is recorded to both cards in the same quality, so a card failure stops being a lost shoot. Auto switch card rolls over when one card fills; Stills/Movies separate sends photos to card 1 and movies to card 2.

STEP 3

Shoot RAW — know C-RAW

MENU→Shooting→Image quality

Set Image quality to RAW for the full file. Canon also offers C-RAW (Compact RAW): the manual states it produces RAW images with smaller file sizes than RAW — Canon’s own approximate sizes are 35.1 MB for RAW and 17.9 MB for C-RAW, the same 6960×4640 pixels at about half the card bill. Default to RAW; reach for C-RAW when card space is the constraint. And remember the sensor: APS-C, so every lens frames at about 1.6× its marked length by Canon’s own specification.

Approx. file size per photo (Canon’s figures)
RAW35.1 MB
C-RAW17.9 MB
STEP 4

The stabilizer is in the body

MENU→Shooting→IS (Image Stabilizer) mode

This body has in-body stabilization, and with an IS lens the two work together. Still photo IS chooses when it runs: Only for shot steadies at the moment of exposure; Always keeps the viewfinder image steady too. A lens with its own IS switch rules — the menu steps aside. A non-IS lens without a switch needs IS mode set to On here, and a lens that cannot report its focal length gets steadied by the [Focal length] entry (with Release shutter w/o lens enabled).

STEP 5

Register everything to C1

MENU→Set-up→Custom shooting mode (C1-C3)→Register settings

Canon’s saved setup is a physical dial position — and this body has three of them, C1, C2 and C3. Register the setup you just built to C1; after any reset or borrowed-body detour, one turn of the dial restores it. Leave Auto update set. off for now, so experiments in other modes never silently rewrite your C1.

TRY IT NOW

Do the five steps now, in order, then turn the mode dial to C1 and confirm every setting stuck. That dial position is your camera from today on.