7D Birds in Flight - Getting there now.

grumpybadger

grumpybadger

Alan Rickman
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Paul Beastall
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As some of you will be aware, I was struggling to get the hang of birds in flight using the 7D. I had the chance to do some pretty intensive tests of the camera last week and I am much happier with the results I am getting now. In each case, I have added a 100% (1:1) full crop in the bottom left hand corner. When you think how demanding that is from a pixel density point of view, then hopefully you'll agree these show promise. Each is with a different lens.

First two shots are wild from Norfolk and the third was taken at the Hawk Conservancy, near Andover.

1. Barn Owl just after dawn

EOS-7D, EF 500 f/4L IS, tripod, Acratech Long Lens head

This shot was at ISO800 early last Wednesday morning. Using single AF with assist points (and off centre which non 1-series cameras have struggled with in the past)

2. Turnstones

EOS-7D, EF 70-200 f/4L IS, handheld

I'm pretty impressed with this as the turnstones were against a challenging background. This was using spot AF.

3. Captive Black Kite

EOS-7D, EF 400mm f/4DO IS, handheld

I know the kite looks a touch soft but I am sure that is motion blur - I was only running 1/640s and with a 400mm lens and a 1.6 crop, that is pretty demanding for a fast bird in flight. This was using AF with assist points on.

I think the 7D is certainly staying. It still cannot offer the sublime image quality I get from my 1DsII (I've been using the 7D a lot and had forgotten just how good the 1Ds is) but the light weight, better batteries and crop factor mean it is a great option to have alongside the Ds.

I hope this is useful to people and I will continue to post review comments as I find out more.

Paul
 
Nice to see your thoughts on the 7D...

Having just got a 1DIIN to offer the AF performance I felt the 50D was lacking, I now feel the 1DIIN is lacking the higher ISO that the 50D offered and guessing the 7D will also offer.

Not sure what to do though really as there seem to be conflicting reports whether the 1DII or 7D are the bodies to go for (I know the 1DII is older but it has done a lot of its depreciation already).

I do know that the 5DII will be my next body to go along with either of the fast focussing sports bodies.

DB
 
Nice stuff Paul, thanks for that - getting mine in the new year, waiting for the price to hit 3 figures..ish ;) jealous of the barn owl! yet to shoot one of those round 'ere yet :)

drew
 
Those look like pretty good examples, particularly the Turnstones, BIF is challenging, what response setting did you have for the AIfocus.
 
gorgous pics especially the barn owl, its really amazing. Never seen one wild no matter how much I looked

The last one of the black kite reminds me I happened to come across yesterday a captive hawk in flight, I was so happy taking pics of then it stooped down too low and was hit by an oncoming truck. Was gutted for 1st the hawk then its owner. Luckily hawk got up on its feet like 5 mins later. I managed to take a pic right before the impact
 
OK. Here goes on other thoughts. Crop factor has its uses and can be good when you need extra effective reach but to really get the benefit of the crop sensor at 18 Mpx, you really need very high quality lenses. These images were taken with two of Canon's big primes and one of their sharpest zoom lenses.

In terms of noise, I think it is great as a crop sensor camera. It is probably similar to my old 1DII in terms of noise at a given ISO, possibly a touch better. I think it is almost certainly worse at low ISO (100-200) where there seems to be a higher level of noise.

At 800-1600, it feels very similar to my 1DsII. It seems to react well to noise reduction (e.g. Noise Ninja) so the noise patterns are probably very random.

I am not impressed at all above 1600 I won't/don't use it. It's worth noting that I tend to use a tripod a lot of the time and slow down the shutter speed rather than bumping the ISO so even at 1600 or so, it is pretty dark.

I've slowed the AF speed down a notch for these and that seems to help a lot.
 
Looks like I'll be sticking with the 1DIIN then until I can afford a 1DsIII


DB
 
that's a cracking set of pics, glad you're getting used to the new cam :)
 
Have you tried the "all point" or "zone" focusing for bifs?

I tried the "all point" the other day and was severally impressed, i like how it shows you the focus points that are tracking all the time too, very useful. It was getting stuff my mk3 cant do! :eek:

Going to try the zone out tomorrow I think its going to be really handy as it goes for whatevers in the foreground in that mode.
 
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