Canon 7D mk2 owners thread.

Vertigo1 said:
See that doesn't make sense to me. You say you use high tracking sensitivity so you can recover more quickly when getting back on target after losing focus but the whole point of setting a lower tracking sensitivity, as Case 2 originally does as standard, is to stop this happening in the first place, so if the target strays from your selected AF points momentarily, the AF system won't immediately focus on the background.

Or is it to do with the length of time you lose tracking on the subject? I guess the low tracking sensitivity is intended to deal with momentary losses of tracking on the subject or interruptions such as something moving between the camera and subject. Even with low sensitivity, if tracking is lost for any length of time, I guess the camera would give up and refocus on the background, at which point you'd want high sensitivity to bring it back to the bird as soon as possible?

I'm guessing here of course as I'm not a bird photograher by any means. Whilst I've used Servo AF quite extensively, I've never shot anything as erratic as BIF :)
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Hi
The reason it is best to use the higher tracking sensitivity is simple I raised this point many years ago with the original 7d . if the bird is flying towards you or on an angle across you if you used the slow option your point of focus would be behind the subject if you lost it in the view finder and at the speed some birds move it could be a few feet out before you find it again. By using the fast option it allows the camera to recover focus quicker now if the bird was flying parallel to you the slower option would work ok. The problem is you can't control which way the bird will fly so the higher tracking sensitivity wins out in the long term. There is a caveat to this though you need a really good panning and tracking technique to take full advantage of it I am one of the lucky ones when it comes to this as I seem to have been born with that bit of skill. If people struggle to track a bird sometimes you have to cheat what works for one doesn't always work for others I have a friend who is useless at tracking and he freely admits it. So we experimented when shooting against blue skies we upped his ISO allowing us to step the lens down to give us a greater depth of field then enabled all AF points his hit rate went up because even if he achieved focus on the wing the head was sharp. I would not recommend this approach for the majority of people but it allowed him to enjoy his trip to Gigren Farm.
The trouble is not everyone has the skills to take full advantage of all the custom settings for the autofocus and this is where sometimes the cameras get blamed.
 
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Joeturner11 said:
With the 7D II I would say ISO 1600 is my max limit for wildlife, I wouldn't push it any higher myself.
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I'm really interested in your thoughts on this Joe. I currently use a Mk1 and regularly have to push it to 1600, even 3200 at times and I was hoping that I would get away with 3200 on the Mk 2.
 
Quite impressed with the HDR functionality of the 7D2 - just wish I could save RAW and only the HDR image i.e. discard the processed JPEGs that are used to create the HDR.

 
Jelster said:
I'm really interested in your thoughts on this Joe. I currently use a Mk1 and regularly have to push it to 1600, even 3200 at times and I was hoping that I would get away with 3200 on the Mk 2.
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Hi Steve, I only use the 7D mark II up to ISO 1600 as I'm a wildlife photographer so any lose of feather detail etc is crucial to me hence why I keep such low ISO's in my work to keep detail levels as high as possible, if you shoot Motorsport, football etc. these subjects change the limit or whatever subject you shoot has its own set limit, my limit is a guidance for me that I know I can still get a good large A3 + print from the camera.
 
That's really useful Joe, thank you. I am a "budding" wildlife shooter, but struggle at times. I find the 7D Mk1 an excellent tool in good light and have had good results at 1600ISO but I find when the light drops, and the ISO goes up, sharpness gets lost in the noise - if that makes sense.

I'm torn between the Mk2 and a 5D3, but when it comes to birds, I need the crop to help with the length. I'm going back to the drawing board and need to have another think, I think.... God it's not meant to be this hard..... :)
 
redfan said:
Quite impressed with the HDR functionality of the 7D2 - just wish I could save RAW and only the HDR image i.e. discard the processed JPEGs that are used to create the HDR.

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does it only do HDR in Jpeg and not Raw?
 
michael23 said:
Nice picture, didn't realise the 7D2 had an inbuilt her mode. Is it in the menu somewhere?
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Yes - if you press the 'paintbrush' button on the left to bring up a menu from which you can set a few parameters that affect the HDR. This explains it more

salsa-king said:
does it only do HDR in Jpeg and not Raw?
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The link above explains it more, but yes you end up with a jpeg HDR image. You can shoot in Raw, but it creates a JPEG from each of the 3 raw files then creates a HDR image from those 3 jpeg images.

Stephen
 
salsa-king said:
is it easier/better to use a tripod for the HDR too?
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Undoubtedly, but it does have an auto-align option in the settings which is handy if you want to shoot handheld
 
Hi all,

I know the 7d2 would benefit tremendously for sports and wildlife compared to my 700D ... but would it be a worthwhile ugprade for landscapes? What advantages would the 7d2 have (apart from being more strongly built and weather sealed) over my 700D? Many thanks for any help.
 
Depends on what you shoot the most of. I upgraded from 550d and its been a good upgrade for me. i do shoot a lot of wildlife but i have noticed a difference with other parts of my photography
 
Recent couple of images from one of my trips in the past few days, first of the amazing Egyptian Vultures taken in the lovely mornings golden hour. ( @George The 400mm f/4 DO is proving to be a very good lens! )

A Continued 'Year working with the 7D Mark II' Continued review will be out very soon along with more new work.

Canon 7D Mark II - 400mm f/4 DO - Handheld
(640mm total with crop sensor)
1/1600 - f/5.6 - ISO 400.
10% Crop


p1733433895-5.jpg


Canon 7D Mark II - 400mm f/4 DO - Handheld
(640mm with crop sensor)
1/1250 - f/5.6 - ISO 250 - -0.3EV
25% Crop.

p1736466020-5.jpg


Canon 7D Mark II - 400mm f/4 DO - 1.4x III Extender - Handheld.
(896mm equivalent with crop sensor)
f/5.6 - 1/640 - ISO 1250 - -0.3EV
30% Crop.

p1645504979-5.jpg
 
Joe, I'm really glad the 400DO mk1 is working for you.....it's a very underrated lens, and the mk2 is just stellar, but a stupid price just now in the UK.

Have you tried it with 2x extenders?

George.

ps love the shots, wish my 7D2 had performed like that!!
 
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seme said:
They are beautiful photos I love the 2nd one.
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Thank you! :)

George said:
Joe, I'm really glad the 400DO mk1 is working for you.....it's a very underrated lens, and the mk2 is just stellar, but a stupid price just now in the UK.

Have you tried it with 2x extenders?

George.

ps love the shots, wish my 7D2 had performed like that!!
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It is indeed mate, was highly surprised when I got the lens and was very nervous I must admit to how it would perform but the lens is spot on for me and for the money a great buy also! I would have looked at the MK2 but for now the price isn't justifiable specially for what images the MK1 produces.

I have not tried the 2x Mark III on it yet, I did have a couple of 2x converters a while back but both were sold as I honestly don't like using them even on a 400mm f/2.8 I was not to pleased, but I will have to go and try one out in the local LCE maybe on the lens sometime to get a feel for it and see what I think, for me the 7D2 has always performed amazing results in my eyes, a very good camera I'm happy with that has certainly seen its fair share of use so far!
 
Joeturner11 said:
Thank you! :)



It is indeed mate, was highly surprised when I got the lens and was very nervous I must admit to how it would perform but the lens is spot on for me and for the money a great buy also! I would have looked at the MK2 but for now the price isn't justifiable specially for what images the MK1 produces.

I have not tried the 2x Mark III on it yet, I did have a couple of 2x converters a while back but both were sold as I honestly don't like using them even on a 400mm f/2.8 I was not to pleased, but I will have to go and try one out in the local LCE maybe on the lens sometime to get a feel for it and see what I think, for me the 7D2 has always performed amazing results in my eyes, a very good camera I'm happy with that has certainly seen its fair share of use so far!
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Joe, if you want a longer test I'd be happy to lend you mine for a week or so, except that it'll be in March as I'm using it in February.
Are you going to the photography show in Birmingham?...could meet there?

George
 
George said:
Joe, if you want a longer test I'd be happy to lend you mine for a week or so, except that it'll be in March as I'm using it in February.
Are you going to the photography show in Birmingham?...could meet there?

George
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Thanks for the offer George, something I may take you up on in the near future for sure! Very much appreciated! I will be going to the Photography show, Most likely to be going Monday but could possible adapt that to see you there if I'm free as I have a press pass so can go any day on the show.

Joe
 
I'll be there on the Sunday afternoon and on the Monday morning....will pm my phone no.

George
 
Right, This is going to be a steep learning curve....

One 7D2 purchased today, just got home and need to understand so much more about the focusing system on this camera....

Setting it up is going to take an age....
 
Jelster said:
Right, This is going to be a steep learning curve....

One 7D2 purchased today, just got home and need to understand so much more about the focusing system on this camera....

Setting it up is going to take an age....
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There are a couple of really good links to settings on this forum... I found them invaluable when first setting mine up... Once I followed them, I tweaked to my personal preference and am more than happy... Though still learning! Good Luck!
 
So what cards are you guys using with the7D2, not that I think I'm going to use it a lot at 10fps, but when I do, I need it to work :)
 
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