Canon 7D - First few hours

It was a bit spur of the moment to actually get out and buy the 7D (I've been thinking about it for a while!), but with a little help from the tax man, a cashback website and selling my 40D I can just about justify it!  Here are my thoughts after using it for a few hours...

This is not a review - I'll compares it to the 5D2 and think about the details a lot more later, but for now, I just wanted to get a few bullet points down:

• AF seems superb - thankfully, as this is the main driver for buying it.  It's 19-point, all cross type, with a overlaid LCD in the viewfinder (like the Nikon's, e.g. the D90).  Tracking seems to work well - I was using it in AI Servo mode with all points active while chasing some gulls around the air, and the results seem much, much better than my 40D.  I have only played with one of the many modes, and I need a lot more time to really appreciate the benefits here, but so far it's looking very promising.
• Ergonomically, it's nicer than the 5D2.  The build quality is better - things like the CF card door and battery door just fit better.  The top LCD is a bit denser and looks somehow clearer (that might just be because it's new), and the rear LCD is quite a bit clearer as it's the ClearView II type which is the later generation from the 5D2.  The body shape has been modified a bit just to add a few bumps here and there, and it fits into my hand better.
• It takes the same bettery as the 5D2 - thankfully!  So now I have 3 batteries and 2 chargers.
• Image quality - my first feeling is it's quite a way behind the 5D2, but quite a bit ahead of the 40D.  This is more of a gut feeling and I reserve the right to change my mind on this after some proper testing, but the combination of *decent* quality (rather than outstanding which is how I'd consider the 5D2) over 18MP and the seemingly superb AF makes it have the potential to capture some great shots.

So far, I'm very happy - it fits very neatly alongside the 5D2, so my research and thought into this has paid off.

Here's a few shots from early on - note these aren't supposed to be true demonstrations of the capabilities of the camera, I was just messing around and have a LOT to learn about how to get the best from this new toy: