-= 90D owners unite! Discuss and Post Photos

Martin.D wrote in post #18961610
I'm stumped! 90D Facebook group I'm a part of people are complaining of similar issues. There are a few decent images but a majority of them are missed focus or soft. Noise I can handle but soft images? Could it have anything to do with auto focus with lack of contrast? I'm no expert when it comes to diagnosing this kind of issue..

I'm steady on the arm, proved that with the 5D Mark IV this morning - not one focus issue..

My home office overlooks my garden, and I keep my 90d with the Sigma 150-600c on the desk beside me. So most days I fire off some shots as I try different settings I read about on the FB group, or to experiment with using the histogram instead of auto iso for exposure.

What I see the most often are collared doves (mostly a greyish beige) sitting on neighbours' TV aerials. And what has become very clear is how the lighting affects AF. On a cloudy day, even if bright, I get far more soft images pretty much no matter what settings I use. Even if I'm keeping the single spot on the same place using Servo I'll see it going slightly in and out of focus constantly. It seems to be less about shutter speed and aperture, and more about contrast. Same with Jackdaws that are mostly black and also like those aerials. On an overcast day most of the shots will be soft. But when the lighting is right I've got some amazingly sharp pics of them.

For me, this camera is a big step up from the Panasonic GH4 I was using before. The keeper rate for that one for birds was a fraction of this one. I did a slide show on my 27" iMac for some birder friends on Saturday and they were blown away by the images I've got and how sharp they are. So I'm still happy with it.

I would love it, though, if there was a possible firmware fix to deal with low contrast lighting better. And I'm still hoping if I find the right combination of settings, and micro adjustments, I can find a way to get consistent AF on those too. Having said that, I've also noticed in articles and YT videos of professional bird photographers, they often say they don't even leave the house when it's overcast, so this may not be unique to the 90D.

Downsman wrote in post #18961979
My home office overlooks my garden, and I keep my 90d with the Sigma 150-600c on the desk beside me. So most days I fire off some shots as I try different settings I read about on the FB group, or to experiment with using the histogram instead of auto iso for exposure.

What I see the most often are collared doves (mostly a greyish beige) sitting on neighbours' TV aerials. And what has become very clear is how the lighting affects AF. On a cloudy day, even if bright, I get far more soft images pretty much no matter what settings I use. Even if I'm keeping the single spot on the same place using Servo I'll see it going slightly in and out of focus constantly. It seems to be less about shutter speed and aperture, and more about contrast. Same with Jackdaws that are mostly black and also like those aerials. On an overcast day most of the shots will be soft. But when the lighting is right I've got some amazingly sharp pics of them.

For me, this camera is a big step up from the Panasonic GH4 I was using before. The keeper rate for that one for birds was a fraction of this one. I did a slide show on my 27" iMac for some birder friends on Saturday and they were blown away by the images I've got and how sharp they are. So I'm still happy with it.

I would love it, though, if there was a possible firmware fix to deal with low contrast lighting better. And I'm still hoping if I find the right combination of settings, and micro adjustments, I can find a way to get consistent AF on those too. Having said that, I've also noticed in articles and YT videos of professional bird photographers, they often say they don't even leave the house when it's overcast, so this may not be unique to the 90D.

Totally agree with your findings, myself I like to photograph in all lighting and weather conditions. I don't believe this camera should only be used in good light, we have the ability to overclock the iso to counter poor lighting conditions. I can understand when using 3rd party lenses like my previous Sigma 150-600c but when using top quality glass like the 100-400 ii this camera should be able to handle it and still produce sharp images just like the 5D Mark IV and 7D Mark II - especially when the subject is only a few meters away.

I have other setting as well as one shot etc customized... f stop, shutter speed and EC... Not a waste at all for me. When a bird makes a break for it and I"m shooting a pond I can turn one switch and be able to get that dark eagle against a sky at +1 EC and 1/2000

Below is what I start with.. and adjust accordingly

C1:
one-shot
EC -2/3
SS 800
f9
Centre point

C2:
Servo
EC +1
SS 2000
f8
9 point

Took the 90D and the 5Ds down to the Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson over the weekend to get some shots. I do agree that it seems the 90D needs quite a bit of contrast to allow the AF system to really lock on and get good focus, and that may be one of the issues with some of the soft images. I had a good amount that should have been a lot sharper (I think anyway) but thankfully with the 10 FPS that it shoots I was usually able to get the shots that I wanted, but I certainly saw some missed opportunities as well. Here are some of the bird pics from the day;

And here are a couple of the non-bird pics from the day. Still so many more to sort through

JayLT wrote in post #18962207
Took the 90D and the 5Ds down to the Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson over the weekend to get some shots. I do agree that it seems the 90D needs quite a bit of contrast to allow the AF system to really lock on and get good focus, and that may be one of the issues with some of the soft images. I had a good amount that should have been a lot sharper (I think anyway) but thankfully with the 10 FPS that it shoots I was usually able to get the shots that I wanted, but I certainly saw some missed opportunities as well. Here are some of the bird pics from the day;

Some absolutely stunning images ...

Help a newb birder out, I noted your exif data. Are you shooting full manual, or using aperture or shutter priority? Do you manually pic an ISO? I know, take a shot and look at the histogram, but where do you start? Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Jerry-R wrote in post #18962243
Some absolutely stunning images ...

Help a newb birder out, I noted your exif data. Are you shooting full manual, or using aperture or shutter priority? Do you manually pic an ISO? I know, take a shot and look at the histogram, but where do you start? Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks! I'm still really new to taking pics of birds, but I do a fair amount of airshow pictures so I kind of treat it like that.

I prefer full manual because a kind of bird can throw the exposure metering off by a good amount, the face of a barn owl as an example might make the camera underexpose the image by too much. Usually what I do is take occasional "metering shots" throughout the day to ensure my settings are still good based on changing light. At an airshow I'll meter off of something like a static plane on a runway and get an idea of what the basic settings should be then make slight adjustments from there. I've only really shot larger birds in flight (herons, egrets, raptors, etc...) and I find that 1/1250th is as slow as I like, and 1/1600+ is preferred. For aperture, f/5.6 is usually my minimum but preferably f/8 if the light is there to keep the shutter speed, and I'll let my ISO float a bit on auto, but usually cap it at either 640 or 800. If there's not a lot of clouds then I'll set the ISO manually as well.

Airshows are easier because they are much more controlled environments, so there I'm usually just shooting Shutter Priority based on what's in the sky (jet or prop/rotor) and let the camera adjust the aperture as needed.

Thanks much. Good info, and appreciated. I found a link in the "Bird Talk" section to a book on shooting birds. Going through it now.

some from the weekend

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2hMc​nYU

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2hM8​ijM

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2hMh​izc

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2hMi​68w

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2hMj​5L2

DreDaze wrote in post #18962412
some from the weekend

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2hMc​nYU p-week45_19_0947 by andre gregoire, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2hM8​ijM p-week45_19_1199 by andre gregoire, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2hMh​izc p-week45_19_0821 by andre gregoire, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2hMi​68w p-week45_19_0770 by andre gregoire, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/2hMj​5L2p-week45_19_0712 by andre gregoire, on Flickr

That's a good crop!

Dave Weldon wrote in post #18961306
Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach, CA this morning. Heavy crop from around ~15-20yds. So far, the 90D with the 500mmII has been working as I had hoped . I do miss some of the features of my 5D4 but not a deal killer.

Hosted photo: posted by Dave Weldon in
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Hosted photo: posted by Dave Weldon in
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Nice work!

I think this is the BEST go-to combo right now in the Canon world.

JayLT wrote in post #18962207
Took the 90D and the 5Ds down to the Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson over the weekend to get some shots. I do agree that it seems the 90D needs quite a bit of contrast to allow the AF system to really lock on and get good focus, and that may be one of the issues with some of the soft images. I had a good amount that should have been a lot sharper (I think anyway) but thankfully with the 10 FPS that it shoots I was usually able to get the shots that I wanted, but I certainly saw some missed opportunities as well. Here are some of the bird pics from the day;

Well it nailed that last shot! Nice work! I'll have to checkout that place once I"m down there!

Does anyone else find it weird that you can’t shoot video in AV mode, and that it goes to an automatic shooting mode...this was making me go insane over the weekend...not being able to adjust the aperture during video made no sense to me....i gotta say the focus peaking was pretty sweet, when i started using it, i was wondering who the hell was around to shine a flashlight on the bird. It really worked well

Archibald wrote in post #18962487
That's a good crop!

How do you know they were cropped?

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18962721
How do you know they were cropped?

Well, the 90D is a cropper...