Kingfisher on Canon 7D Mark II....

RedRobin

RedRobin

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Robin
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RAW edited and a massive crop enlargement shot at ISO 1600, so this is stretching the limits. I sat for one and a half hours waiting for one to appear following a location tip from a friend. A pair flew by and eventually one perched.

Kingfisher_0987vns by RedRobin_05, on Flickr

Here is the original shot.... Canon 400mm F/5.6L on 7D Mark II, ISO 1600, Av-mode, more data on Flickr....

375A0987.jpg
 
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Nice shot Robin
worth the wait I think
now to get closer ...... :canon:

PS
Love your Dragonfly pix on Flickr by the way (y)
where were they taken ?
 
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Thats a decent result Robin, worth the wait. I can see you have done some PP work to boost colours etc, that's the same as we always do on RAW, but I wonder how much sharpening and NR has been applied after the crop, could you give us an idea please, and what software have you used? Its certainly looking like a big improvement on the mk1.
 
Trev4 said:
Thats a decent result Robin, worth the wait. I can see you have done some PP work to boost colours etc, that's the same as we always do on RAW, but I wonder how much sharpening and NR has been applied after the crop, could you give us an idea please, and what software have you used? Its certainly looking like a big improvement on the mk1.
Click to expand...

....Thanks, Trev :)

PP in Aperture 3.6 on Mac OS 10.10 Yosemite (Adjustments screenshot below). Followed by my usual Photoshop CS6 selection of subject, invert, Imageonic Noise Reduction filter, resize, Smart Sharpen. Due to the large scale crop of the original etc, I have applied more PP than I usually do. I was prepared to bin it if I couldn't reach a minimum standard. It's not award winning but a good start and better than when I started on TP with the Canon 70D (as I'm sure you remember!).

Most of what I have learnt about digital photography has been here on TP :)

KingfisherPP.png
 
Thanks for your reply Robin. Yes, I remember your early days on here and its a pleasure to see someone improve so much after listening to and discussing the advice offered. Many, including me, have followed exactly the same path, then I have been able to pass my knowledge on again to others, its a compliment to the members who are prepared to offer sincere help rather than the ones who use their energy arguing about the more petty points of the forum in a playground manner.

Anyway, back to the thread. I'm not conversant with Aperture, but the screenshot does give a good idea of the PP work you have applied, thanks for supplying that. I really don't think you would get away with that on the mk1 at the same settings no matter how much PP was applied, in fact, I think this shot from a mk1 would have been binned. As a user of LR and CS6 I am waiting for Adobe to get their act together which hopefully wont be long now, then I have decided I am going to buy one, I'm looking forward to playing with one especially for BIF shots. I was going to wait until next spring, but perhaps it might be a Chrissy pressie from me to me unless my wife feels generous lol.

Cheers (y)
 
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Trev4 said:
I'm not conversant with Aperture, but the screenshot does give a good idea of the PP work you have applied, thanks for supplying that. I really don't think you would get away with that on the mk1 at the same settings no matter how much PP was applied, in fact, I think this shot from a mk1 would have been binned. As a user of LR and CS6 I am waiting for Adobe to get their act together which hopefully wont be long now, then I have decided I am going to buy one, I'm looking forward to playing with one especially for BIF shots. I was going to wait until next spring, but perhaps it might be a Chrissy pressie from me to me unless my wife feels generous lol.
Cheers (y)
Click to expand...

....Word on the street is that Adobe will update to accommodate the 7D Mark II by the end of this month, so not long now if that rumour is true.

I am finding that the Mark II Autofocus system is so customisable and with so many options that its learning curve is relatively steep. It hasn't helped that I jumped in the deep end by shooting at fast flying and erratic seagulls on dull days. However, I can already tell that my in-focus and keepers rates will be much higher. The 10 fps rate helps too and it's not a matter of shooting 10 frames every time (~30 RAW on buffer).

You may be already aware of this 7D2 thread which has quite a lot of information and links in it -
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/canon-7d-mk2-owners-thread.565222/

I'll be posting some seagull shots here in the Birds section in due course.
 
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I don't shoot much wildlife but at first I assumed the two photos we're different shots. I'm staggered that you've managed to crop it that heavily but retain so much detail and quality! Great job
 
I'm also very impressed with the quality of the image having been so heavily cropped. Certainly looks like a good bit of kit that 7D2. I've just upgraded to a 5D3 and have been amazed at how far you can push the settings on these newer bodies. A shot like the one above even on my old 5D2 would have probably been binned. Well done.
 
tman said:
Nice shot Robin
worth the wait I think
now to get closer ...... :canon:

PS
Love your Dragonfly pix on Flickr by the way (y)
where were the taken ?
Click to expand...

....Too right, Tony! I couldn't physically get any closer to where this one perched.

My dragonfly pics have been taken all over southern England. Their flight season is now over until next Spring.
 
Carl Hall said:
I don't shoot much wildlife but at first I assumed the two photos we're different shots. I'm staggered that you've managed to crop it that heavily but retain so much detail and quality! Great job
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....I was very surprised too, Carl. Good as I found my 70D to be, a long distance shot like that with the same Canon 400mm F/5.6L would have been a stretch too far and I doubt the image would be as well captured.

wippers said:
I'm also very impressed with the quality of the image having been so heavily cropped. Certainly looks like a good bit of kit that 7D2. I've just upgraded to a 5D3 and have been amazed at how far you can push the settings on these newer bodies. A shot like the one above even on my old 5D2 would have probably been binned. Well done.
Click to expand...

....Thanks, Gareth. Technology never stands still but I bought the 7D Mark II because Canon have designed it and built it specifically aimed at wildlife and sports action.
 
Great to see such initial results from your new toy Robin :)
I too am planning to upgrade from a Mk1 in the future, perhaps when the Mk 2 price has dropped somewhat! Are you planning to do any BIF shots in the near future, because improvements there would really be a major step in the right direction I believe.

Russ
 
Rustydon said:
Great to see such initial results from your new toy Robin :)
I too am planning to upgrade from a Mk1 in the future, perhaps when the Mk 2 price has dropped somewhat! Are you planning to do any BIF shots in the near future, because improvements there would really be a major step in the right direction I believe.

Russ
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....Thanks, Russ :).

I think you'll find that what people are saying about the Mark II compared with the MkI is true and that it's a leap forward and especially good for wildlife and sports action.

I have just posted a thread with my first efforts on BIF shots - http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/seagulls-in-flight-on-canon-7d-mark-ii.568144/
 
That certainly looks promising Robin, especially considering the size of the crop, very encouraging.
 
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