justgo my 7d in the mail

[Rcspecops]

I got an excelent deal, it however did not come with a manual or disks. I downloaded the manual. Does anyone know what programs and other tools I might need are on the disks. Thanks

[TCampbell]

I am presuming you bought a "used" 7D.  A "new" camera would have included proper packaging.  A "new" camera sold for use in North America would have included a USA/Canada warranty card (very important).  There are places that will sell "new" cameras intended for other markets but which they sell in the USA & Canada.  Canon will not honor the warranty or perform service on a camera in North America unless it was a unit Canon sold in North America.  Note the "or perofrm service" -- even if a customer is willing to pay for the service, Canon will not service a "gray market" camera.  This isn't just Canon -- it's a pretty common practice.  Nikon has the same policy.  I'm always careful to make sure any gear of substantial expense is intended for and warrantied and serviceable in the US market.

(BTW, I'm told there is an exception to the policy if you buy gear while overseas.  But I'm told you have to be able to provide proof that you were, in fact, actually overseas when you bought it and not just ordering it from overseas.  They call this their "international" warranty.)

This page will show you what you should have received:  http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/slr_cameras/eos_7d#BoxContent

The utilities that would have been on the disk would include things like:

• EOS Utility -- this allows you to connect to the camera to download images, do "tethered" shooting (where you use the computer to control the camera), but it's also how you program in things like the camera "owner's" name.
• Digital Photo Professional (aka DPP) which knows how to read and processing the RAW file images when you shoot in RAW.  It will let you perform common adjustments to the images.  It can also convert those images to, for example, TIFF -- since TIFF is universally readable but RAW is camera-specific (so you'd need an app that specifically knows how to read RAW images for a Canon 7D).
• Picture Style Editor -- this lets you define or modify picture styles on the camera.  Picture styles are only applied if you shoot JPEG or video and are not applied to RAW images.  The picture style controls color, saturation, sharpening, and other settings.
• I think it also includes the PhotoStich utility -- used to stitch together several shots to create a panorama.

You can download the contents of the solution disk online at Canon's download page for your camera.

Go to this page:  http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/slr_cameras/eos_7d#DriversAndSoftware

Select your operating system (it tries to auto-detect your OS and may have down so already).

Expand the "Software" section by clicking the tiny red triangle next to "Software".

Look for the item on the list below named "EOS Digital Solution Disk Software ..."

It will ask you to enter the serial number of your camera (I think) and then let you download it.  Once you install the base version, in the future you only need the updates.  If you read the other download names carefully, you'll see that they are generally only "updates" (they presume you have the previous version installed.)

The Canon software isn't technically "required" for most things.  Lots of third party programs can open the RAW files from a 7D and a few other programs can control the camera for tethered shooting.  I doubt anything else will let you program in the owner info though.

[Rcspecops]

Thanks!! I followed your procedure and everything went well!!