7D Mark II - Focus Discussions

"Thanks Jeff and I'm beginning to think that you're right. Age isn't on my side, (67) and as I say, I walk a long way to get most of my shots (13ks the other day for one shot of a Pacific Heron) I feel much more tired than I used to on return and I know that keeping point of focus on my subject is a lot harder than it used to be, even since a short while ago. I can see that little square in the viewfinder wobbling all over the place whereas previously, it was steady. That extra length and weight must take it's toll but nevertheless, it takes me to places I'd never been before as I'd never even considered shooting birds before I got this combo and now i'm loving doing just that, despite the lower keeper rate.Thanks for your encouraging response."

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Kev just keep your blinkies on and watch them, forget about 1 or 2 stops to the right.. Shot whatever Iso you need Chimp and see what you get in the view finder and adjust from there. Check in PP if not satisfied with the noise and you cant clean it it up, then it's time for the 5DIII or better yet the 6D for low light situations.

Regarding noise this works very well
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=D3V2_9c2Oz4

Bianchi wrote in post #17660436
"Thanks Jeff and I'm beginning to think that you're right. Age isn't on my side, (67) and as I say, I walk a long way to get most of my shots (13ks the other day for one shot of a Pacific Heron) I feel much more tired than I used to on return and I know that keeping point of focus on my subject is a lot harder than it used to be, even since a short while ago. I can see that little square in the viewfinder wobbling all over the place whereas previously, it was steady. That extra length and weight must take it's toll but nevertheless, it takes me to places I'd never been before as I'd never even considered shooting birds before I got this combo and now i'm loving doing just that, despite the lower keeper rate.Thanks for your encouraging response."

_______________


Kev just keep your blinkies on and watch them, forget about 1 or 2 stops to the right.. Shot whatever Iso you need Chimp and see what you get in the view finder and adjust from there. Check in PP if not satisfied with the noise and you cant clean it it up, then it's time for the 5DIII or better yet the 6D for low light situations.

Regarding noise this works very well
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=D3V2_9c2Oz4

Thanks for that. I have the Topaz collection but to date, haven't got round to using/learning the processes. I tend to be a bit lazy with (learning) processing and just "feel" my way around PS and ACR. For noise I hit on the luminance slider one day (without even knowing what "luminance" meant) and I seem to have stuck with that. I simply go to 100% size in ACR and adjust the luminance to deal with the noise. Probably the wrong way to go about it and I keep promising myself that i will watch more tutorials but tend to spend so much time actually shooting that the processing side suffers for it.

That said, I had a better keeper rate yesterday and did notice that nearly all the non keepers were down to subject movement and my shutter speeds being too low. I will up the iso more often in future, as rather a noisy shot than a lost one.

bidkev wrote in post #17660596
Thanks for that. I have the Topaz collection but to date, haven't got round to using/learning the processes. I tend to be a bit lazy with (learning) processing and just "feel" my way around PS and ACR. For noise I hit on the luminance slider one day (without even knowing what "luminance" meant) and I seem to have stuck with that. I simply go to 100% size in ACR and adjust the luminance to deal with the noise. Probably the wrong way to go about it and I keep promising myself that i will watch more tutorials but tend to spend so much time actually shooting that the processing side suffers for it.

That said, I had a better keeper rate yesterday and did notice that nearly all the non keepers were down to subject movement and my shutter speeds being too low. I will up the iso more often in future, as rather a noisy shot than a lost one.

Both Colour and Luminance sliders at zero. PS/LR Colour noise defaults to 25 which is pretty good but I turned it down for the demo.

Always view at 100% when doing NR.

digital paradise wrote in post #17660780
Both Colour and Luminance sliders at zero. PS/LR Colour noise defaults to 25 which is pretty good but I turned it down for the demo.

Always view at 100% when doing NR.

Move the Colour slider first until you get rid of the the splotchy colours. Stop when it looks good. There is no gain to go any further because you will start to change the colour hues. I just usually leave mine at 25.

Next move the Luminance sider. Without going all technical Lum noise is the grainy appearance. This one is to taste because there balance between noise and sharpness. The more you reduce noise the more sharpness you lose.

Final product. My old 7D at ISO 12,800.

the other trick is to then hold down the Option key and while doing it slide the Masking slider so it masks off areas where Noise Reduction is not needed - I have found this to be particularly useful at making the image look cleaner (there are some good Youtube videos explaining this)

wallstreetoneil wrote in post #17660920
the other trick is to then hold down the Option key and while doing it slide the Masking slider so it masks off areas where Noise Reduction is not needed - I have found this to be particularly useful at making the image look cleaner (there are some good Youtube videos explaining this)

Very useful post by DP on noise reduction.

As for the masking, I find it works successfully at times... but at other times, depending on the picture, it can leave a conspicuous ragged appearance along the mask margins. For that reason, I often don't use masking.

These are great tips and deserving of another thread under another category ... but I will take advice anywhere I can find it.

wallstreetoneil wrote in post #17660920
the other trick is to then hold down the Option key and while doing it slide the Masking slider so it masks off areas where Noise Reduction is not needed - I have found this to be particularly useful at making the image look cleaner (there are some good Youtube videos explaining this)

I have camera profiles set up for both my 7D2 and 5D3. NR and sharpening change automatically based on ISO. My Masking slider preset for all ISO values and both cameras to 80. That feature is worth more than gold. It and a few others keep me using Adobe products. It took a lot and many years to move from DPP which is an excellent converter. Figures they introduced DLO 6 months after.

For my hobby shots (PS) part of the process uses an edge sharpening method that does the same thing. Otherwise I suspect there is some edge sharpening going on in LR's output process.

Archibald wrote in post #17660934
Very useful post by DP on noise reduction.

As for the masking, I find it works successfully at times... but at other times, depending on the picture, it can leave a conspicuous ragged appearance along the mask margins. For that reason, I often don't use masking.

I have not noticed that. I'll have to look more carefully. Thanks for the heads up.

digital paradise wrote in post #17660945
I have not noticed that. I'll have to look more carefully. Thanks for the heads up.

Here's an example, 100% crop. There is a speckling effect along the margin between masked and unmasked areas. It's quite obvious at the bird's bill.

It does effect sharpness which I did know about and I made up for later. There is some detail loss. I guess I got caught up in smooth background. I goofed around and I'll tone down the auto setting and look at it individually for my hobby shots which takes no effort.

nice shot, the blacks are handled very well.

Original

Archibald wrote in post #17660962
Here's an example, 100% crop. There is a speckling effect along the margin between masked and unmasked areas. It's quite obvious at the bird's bill.

Hosted photo: posted by Archibald in
./showthread.php?p=176​60962&i=i239243947
forum: Canon Digital Cameras

I appreciate this comment as well.

Sometimes I am too quick to apply what I know 'generally' works but I have learned to look at these types of edges to see how far to go and when to back off - Sharpening / NR / Masking are like a little dance where each picture is slightly different and finding these areas of the picture quickly shows you what gives the best outcome. I honed my skills doing high ISO work with the 7D2 for ice hockey after watching a few key videos about these sliders on Youtube.

thanks for the reminder again

digital paradise wrote in post #17661001
Original

0 masking

80 masking

These look natural, not much sign of manipulation to my eye. I had to download the shots and scrutinize to see a difference. But at ISO 800, there is actually not much noise.

Yeah. This was good. You can see the difference in the micro detail between the 0 and 80 making examples. I reset my defaults to 40 and will pay more attention for my hobby shots in PS. Mass edits in LR are another thing.

Also my final edge sharpening in PS does the same thing. For this I do each image individually and often pay more attention to the background. I'll pay more attention to how much detail loss I get in the beaks, etc as opposed to having a smooth background. Background to me includes any flat areas that include beaks, etc that do not have any visible details in the first place.

Sometimes it is good to revisit things. Thanks very much.