My first 7D and BIF experience - notes.

I did not find the number of birds I usually find but I was able to test out my 2 new 7D and see some results. In general, wow.
1. Using my Sigmonster and AF, I did see one amazing thing happen (that never would have occurred using a previous body (50D, 40D, IIN, III) when I lost the target (BIF against a dull sky) the 7D was able to recover and reacquire the target (and stay on target.) Sigmonster with no limit switches is not known for being able to do this.
2. BIF and the bird suddenly flies against a busy background. 7D was able to track the bird very well. Again, better than any body I have had so far.
3. I did not think of this until I got home. Using 7D - Canon 1.4x TC - Tamron SP 1.4x TC - EF 500/4 lens. No tape on any pins. Smooth, accurate AF. Please note this is all about AF, from a guy who normally does 99% of his pix with MF.

What are you AF settings? For my reference

Gasrocks, this is great! I am still learning all the functions on my 7D. Do you have ane suggestions on custom settings for your camera?

I'm using the AF-on button for AF, all 19 points active, otherwise all defaults.

Pics?

gasrocks wrote in post #8983832
1. Using my Sigmonster and AF, I did see one amazing thing happen (that never would have occurred using a previous body (50D, 40D, IIN, III) when I lost the target (BIF against a dull sky) the 7D was able to recover and reacquire the target (and stay on target.) Sigmonster with no limit switches is not known for being able to do this.

Exactly my experience with the Bigma (50-500mm)!
http://forums.dpreview​.com …rum=1019&messag​e=33635891

The 40D and my Bigma weren't able to recover from a complete misfocus and I either had to re-autofocus on something maybe 20m away or re-adjust the focus manually. I was blaming the Bigma (or my poor technique ) but quite obviously the 7D has helped a *lot*...

gasrocks wrote in post #8983832
I did not find the number of birds I usually find but I was able to test out my 2 new 7D and see some results. In general, wow.
1. Using my Sigmonster and AF, I did see one amazing thing happen (that never would have occurred using a previous body (50D, 40D, IIN, III) when I lost the target (BIF against a dull sky) the 7D was able to recover and reacquire the target (and stay on target.) Sigmonster with no limit switches is not known for being able to do this.
2. BIF and the bird suddenly flies against a busy background. 7D was able to track the bird very well. Again, better than any body I have had so far.
3. I did not think of this until I got home. Using 7D - Canon 1.4x TC - Tamron SP 1.4x TC - EF 500/4 lens. No tape on any pins. Smooth, accurate AF. Please note this is all about AF, from a guy who normally does 99% of his pix with MF.

Sounds like you are using live view. At least, with a Canon lens, quick mode will not focus if the base aperture of the lens + TC is smaller than f/5.6. I have found that focusing with live view is slower when using my 400 mm f/5.6 + TC, but it still works very well even in very dim light. I was shooting just before sunset the other day and it still worked, but did hunt around for a couple seconds.

Bill Boehme wrote in post #8984375
Sounds like you are using live view. At least, with a Canon lens, quick mode will not focus if the base aperture of the lens + TC is smaller than f/5.6. I have found that focusing with live view is slower when using my 400 mm f/5.6 + TC, but it still works very well even in very dim light. I was shooting just before sunset the other day and it still worked, but did hunt around for a couple seconds.

Actually, I think the AF worked because only one of the TCs reported itself to the camera.

This is very encouraging to me because I shoot R/C events.

Not using LiveView.

gasrocks wrote in post #8984787
Not using LiveView.

Sounds like you probably found a hardware Easter Egg (an undocumented bonus feature).

gasrocks wrote in post #8983832
I did not find the number of birds I usually find

The birds were afraid of your 7D, so they flew south for the Winter.

Where are the pics? Or is this a dial-up issue?