-= 7D2 owners unite! Discuss and post photos!

No, that just means the index finger dial is shutter and the rear dial is apterture adjustment, just as you would expect on a dual wheel Canon. You could reverse them if you wanted to or assign a couple of another adjustments to the rear dial, but I am not sure why you would.

ScPhotoMom wrote in post #17248277
I went out this morning with the intent of finding a bird since it seems like thats what every one here shoots. Had myself a little adventure. Was winding down roads to chase these birds I could see from an insane distance. I used all 65 points and then point focus to tell the camera where to start and it focused nicely on 2 of 4 shots I took. Im struggling with it. Do I put the camera in continuous shooting mode and all servo and just fire away and it will keep following the bird? or do I do one shot and al servo and refocus with each shot?

Obviously I needed to get closer and realized I really need a new lens. I drove and I saw this little field with a pull off and I attempted to turn into the driveway with my sonata and overshot the drive way, sending my car into a 3 foot deep ditch. So there I was with my front drivers side wheel in the ditch, unable to even touch the ground, my back passenger tire about 2 feet in the air and the other two tires teetering back and forth because my drivers side kick plate was sitting on the edge of the drive. All I could think was "over a bird" and "my husband is going to kill me" lol. 45 minutes later and a cop and passerby jumping up and down in my trunk, we finally rocked the car enough for my front wheel drive to catch the grass and pull forward.

I continued on my bird watching journey because of course all the noise scared away the birds I was seeking. On the side of the road, I found my next bird and he was not a moving subject, but I have bird shots.

For birds in flight, put in AI Servo and High Speed Continuous. Also, it helps if you have the AF point on the bird and track for a second or so before firing. It lets the AF system acquire the target and use a little data for better movement prediction. You can use all points AF, Zone, etc. Generally speaking though a single AF point or one of the expanded options steadily on the bird will yield better results in my experience. When you take images, it is best to fire 4 or 5 shot bursts rather than laying down like a machine gun. When the mirror flips up, it blocks the AF sensors. So doing bursts rather than machine guy style actually lets the AF sensors "see" the subject more resulting in better tracking my experience. Also, the larger amount of the frame the bird takes up, usually better tracking and of course detail.

ScPhotoMom wrote in post #17248277
I went out this morning with the intent of finding a bird since it seems like thats what every one here shoots. Had myself a little adventure. Was winding down roads to chase these birds I could see from an insane distance. I used all 65 points and then point focus to tell the camera where to start and it focused nicely on 2 of 4 shots I took. Im struggling with it. Do I put the camera in continuous shooting mode and all servo and just fire away and it will keep following the bird? or do I do one shot and al servo and refocus with each shot?

Obviously I needed to get closer and realized I really need a new lens. I drove and I saw this little field with a pull off and I attempted to turn into the driveway with my sonata and overshot the drive way, sending my car into a 3 foot deep ditch. So there I was with my front drivers side wheel in the ditch, unable to even touch the ground, my back passenger tire about 2 feet in the air and the other two tires teetering back and forth because my drivers side kick plate was sitting on the edge of the drive. All I could think was "over a bird" and "my husband is going to kill me" lol. 45 minutes later and a cop and passerby jumping up and down in my trunk, we finally rocked the car enough for my front wheel drive to catch the grass and pull forward.

I continued on my bird watching journey because of course all the noise scared away the birds I was seeking. On the side of the road, I found my next bird and he was not a moving subject, but I have bird shots.

You were definitely working hard to get your birds!

ScPhotoMom wrote in post #17248277
I went out this morning with the intent of finding a bird since it seems like thats what every one here shoots. Had myself a little adventure. Was winding down roads to chase these birds I could see from an insane distance. I used all 65 points and then point focus to tell the camera where to start and it focused nicely on 2 of 4 shots I took. Im struggling with it. Do I put the camera in continuous shooting mode and all servo and just fire away and it will keep following the bird? or do I do one shot and al servo and refocus with each shot?


Obviously I needed to get closer and realized I really need a new lens. I drove and I saw this little field with a pull off and I attempted to turn into the driveway with my sonata and overshot the drive way, sending my car into a 3 foot deep ditch. So there I was with my front drivers side wheel in the ditch, unable to even touch the ground, my back passenger tire about 2 feet in the air and the other two tires teetering back and forth because my drivers side kick plate was sitting on the edge of the drive. All I could think was "over a bird" and "my husband is going to kill me" lol. 45 minutes later and a cop and passerby jumping up and down in my trunk, we finally rocked the car enough for my front wheel drive to catch the grass and pull forward.

I continued on my bird watching journey because of course all the noise scared away the birds I was seeking. On the side of the road, I found my next bird and he was not a moving subject, but I have bird shots.

Well it looks like you ended up with some pretty good shots, but what an adventure.

I think this camera is so well suited to wildlife that we will always see lots of those types of shots here.

jase1125 wrote in post #17248307
For birds in flight, put in AI Servo and High Speed Continuous. Also, it helps if you have the AF point on the bird and track for a second or so before firing. It lets the AF system acquire the target and use a little data for better movement prediction. You can use all points AF, Zone, etc. Generally speaking though a single AF point or one of the expanded options steadily on the bird will yield better results in my experience. When you take images, it is best to fire 4 or 5 shot bursts rather than laying down like a machine gun. When the mirror flips up, it blocks the AF sensors. So doing bursts rather than machine guy style actually lets the AF sensors "see" the subject more resulting in better tracking my experience. Also, the larger amount of the frame the bird takes up, usually better tracking and of course detail.

Thank you! I am going to figure this out. There is a duck pond up the road I am going to try probably Friday

And yes, today was quite an adventure lol

Kickflipkid687 wrote in post #17248220
Wait, so u can change the 2 dials and have it switch between AV/TV or what?

Yes. You can swap the dials if you prefer.


Ok, so one more comparison between the 7DI and 7DII:

Gallery ISO 100 - 12800 w/ both bodies: https://www.flickr.com …k/sets/72157646​769942864/)

So far, the lower ISOs seem pretty much the same up to ISO 800; but, from there the MkII's noise patterns are much less bothersome and much easier to process. I am particularly liking the 1600 - 6400 range now.

These were all shot in the 1600 - 3200 range:
3200:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/pCwL​fT

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/pCwL​qT

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/oYe7​nz

This might be one of the coolest adjustments I've seen in a while. In M, when zooming a variable aperture lens or throwing on a lens with a different aperture than the previous one, the camera will adjust either ISO or shutter speed [configurable] to maintain the previous exposure.

- Ability to specify 'usable' shutter speed and aperture ranges
- Ability to set continuous shooting speed for High, Low and Silent.

Range is:
High: 4 - 10/fps
Low: 1 - 9/fps
Silent: 1 - 4

- Updates to the viewfinder to allow warnings and other various shooting info to be displayed without having to remove the eye from the VF.
- Multi-function Lock configuration: Set which controls get locked out when the multi-function Lock switch is engaged
- Set minimum shutter speed to use with Auto ISO
- Ability to continue to set EC when using Auto ISO
- In camera multi-exposure blending/in camera HDR
- Built-in Intervalometer - Basic but nice to have. Hh/Mm/Ss + # of shots
- Built-in Bulb timer - Finally...I've wanted this one in-camera since the 40D
- Silent shoot continuous drive

Thanks for your share

One warning PhotoMom . . . bird photography is ADDICTIVE!

It takes time and practice but if you find you love it - it's well worth it!

Mark

ScPhotoMom wrote in post #17248337
Thank you! I am going to figure this out. There is a duck pond up the road I am going to try probably Friday

And yes, today was quite an adventure lol

Did some more comparisons between my 60D and the 7D Mark II, as far as AF Speed/Accuracy and High ISO go.

Things I found:

- The 60D and 7D Mark II AF Speed in One Shot/AI Servo , with the same settings/on a tripod and with a static subject, were actually about the same... In some cases, my 60D was a little faster, but still accurate, which is surprising.... I was racking focus completely from near to far and focusing back to the static subject. I had the Beep turned on, so I knew when it was confirmed.

- I'm not sure what my 60D is rated for, but both cameras focused about the same speed and got stuck/couldn't lock focus up to the same available light. It was quite dark, and they both were racking the focus the same and giving up in the same ways.


The Mark II's Live View is faster/alot faster in some cases, which I knew it could be, based on the Dual Pixel AF. But it still struggles sometimes or fails in cases where I feel maybe it shouldn't.

Overall I like the Mark II. However... I wonder how much better or not it is from the 70D. I know some people said it was giving them issues with AF/BIF shots. The Mark II has more customization of course.

I felt like the AF was faster/better when I was doing wildlife shots this weekend. I had quite alot of shots in focus, but also a chunk of misses where I felt it should have/could have done better. But that could have been the Tamron failing, or me not giving it enough time to acquire AF.

Interesting Kickflip...

I hit a wall this morning that I need to figure out with my 70D... 'close' birds (ok, ducks) in flight filling my frame were never in focus... makes me wonder if my 70-300L IS thought they were closer than the 1m or so MFD and so didn't focus... don't know... but ducks further out were fine

Nice shots! ^

Yeah, I'd be interested to hear what you guys come up with?

Could some of you try comparing them like I did, with your 7D/70Ds?

Use the same lens, same settings, focus on the same static target, while racking focus and see what you get? I counted in my head, but most of the time, it was like 2-3 seconds for them both (60D/Mark II) to lock focus. They were really about dead even, except in a very small percentage of shots, the Mark II stalled for a tiny bit longer before acquiring focus.

I did this test on 3 static targets, in consistent lighting per test. I used the Canon 135 F/2, Canon 70-200 F/4 L IS, and Tamron 150-600.

Kickflipkid687 wrote in post #17248554
Nice shots! ^

cheers, you have magnificent detail on your green herons with the 60D

Immaculens wrote in post #17248559
cheers, you have magnificent detail on your green herons with the 60D

Thank you! Yeah, I was extremely close/got lucky. About 2 meters away or so.

I'm loving the AF system, it was fast and snappy on this little Marsh Wren that would only stay perched for a few seconds. I think I was using the 9 center points and was about 17ft or so away from the bird.