Been busy all week and never got a chance to try out the camera until Saturday.
The day was dull with intermittent sunshine. The birds weren't around and a flock of gulls agreed to perform for scraps.
I chose the 400 mm. F5.6 as the lens to use. The first few frames I was disgusted with the results. Wouldn't acquire, took too long to acquire and I felt that I'd been had.
So stupid looks at the lens and finds the setting at short focus....duh! Switched over to long focus, the pita bread went flying over the lake and off we went.
Acquired focus great in the air, took just a tad more to acquire the bird with the water background (you know how hard that can be) but once it acquired, it locked on like a missile. I shot sequences of 10 to 12 frames when I locked and each and everyone of them sharp. Even when I couldn't keep up with the bird erratic flight and the bird was just a bit off center, the results were good.
Center point focus with expansion was used. Manual mode, ISO 400 and wide open at F5.6
Please, this was all about tracking and AF lock today in low contrast situation. Noise was noticeable in the shadows but nothing more than usual and easily manageable with noise software.
Hopefully, I'll find the fast flyers next week in California and see what the results are.
Caution: The 7D is not a 1DMKIII. The burst from a 1DMKIII is far more favourable for me personally....it could be a big factor for the fast flyers in terms of wing down or the bird does a quick bank.
1. Locking on the bird with an object flying in front
2. Object behind
3. Flying low by the water - grey on grey....
4. Nice contrast situation
5. Big crop
