Help with 7D and exposure, getting frustrated with this camera

I have up graded from a 40D to the 7D and I am very frustrated with this camera. I use a 100-400L lens. I had a ton more keepers with my 40D then this one. I think a lot of my problem is proper exposure. This camera rarely get the exposure right on its own unlike my 40D. I am sure this is user error on my part as this camera has a larger learning curve then the 40D. I shoot mostly wildlife and it is on the move and rarely setting still to even try to set the exposure. I shoot in AV mode and evaluating metering. I usually use single point focus and expanded. My birds in flight seem to never turn out. The exposure and the focus seem to be off when the subject is not well lit. I went down to the river yesterday and there were some eagles around and waterfowl and almost all my shots were bad. Now I did take some nice photos of a flock of swans but the darker eagles and a mallard that came flying in all turned out bad. Is it just that I need very good lighting for this lens? I even took some shots of a pair of eagles setting in a tree and they were out of focus and under exposed a little. It just seems I can't even get good basic shots from this camera.

I can't advise you specifically as I don't own this camera, but I have a few suggestions. It seems that what you are trying to photograph could be tricky even for someone who knows their camera inside out. I'd suggest perhaps going back to photographing easier subjects, ones that aren't moving so quickly or are not so challenging, and use that time as a process to get to know your camera better. As you become more confident and successful with easier subjects, slowly move up to the types of subjects you are currently having problems with.

As you acknowledge, your current problems appear to be down to user error, as we all know that the 7D is capable of taking stunning images.

I'm not sure I consider a "dark bird in flight" a "basic shot". I've never been able to get good shots of birds in flight in Av with either my (first) Xt or my 40/30D So I always use manual

I have both the 7d and 100-400L which is great for wildlife. I always use TV mode (shutter priority) on moving sujects. I set my shutter speed at 2500 minmun and ISO 1250 or up. Noise, yes but I use a program to clean that up. The position of the sun will determine if the underside of a bird is to dark. Best to try to position yourself where you can take advantage of the light to highlight the greastest part of the bird. Sometomes I'll take 200 or more shots and just keep a small number, but that is wildlife photography. Go to my website www.longhornphotograph​y.net and look at the Eagle album and you will see the lighting is very hard to get correct on every shot

silver912 wrote in post #11789988
I have both the 7d and 100-400L which is great for wildlife. I always use TV mode (shutter priority) on moving sujects. I set my shutter speed at 2500 minmun and ISO 1250 or up. Noise, yes but I use a program to clean that up. The position of the sun will determine if the underside of a bird is to dark. Best to try to position yourself where you can take advantage of the light to highlight the greastest part of the bird. Sometomes I'll take 200 or more shots and just keep a small number, but that is wildlife photography. Go to my website www.longhornphotograph​y.net and look at the Eagle album and you will see the lighting is very hard to get correct on every shot

This is good advice.

My 2 cents - be patient, once you learn the camera, you will be very glad you made the change, especially with the type of photography you are pursuing.
Good luck, and when you have improved some please post us you awesome images.

Your choice of metering may be the problem. A dark bird flying against a bright sky or background will underexpose the bird if your meter is working properly. Likewise, a white bird against a dark background will cause the bird to be overexposed. Evaluative metering will expose for an average exposure for the given scene. If there is too much bright or dark areas in the shot, this will affect the metering.If you could post a few sample shots, it would be easier to evaluate where the problem lays.

KaiserSose wrote in post #11789555
I'm not sure I consider a "dark bird in flight" a "basic shot". I've never been able to get good shots of birds in flight in Av with either my (first) Xt or my 40/30D So I always use manual

That's my solution too. Need an exposure crutch?

Why?
Post #47

When it comes to exposure, if there's a lot of dynamic range in the scene (for example, dark bird, bright sky), then you have three basic choices:
1) Try for an "average" exposure, which may make the bird too dark but also might work OK;
2) Expose for the bird, which may make the sky too bright (white sky syndrome); or,
3) Expose for the sky, which may make the bird too dark.

Only with #2 will you guarantee a good exposure for your subject, the bird. It all depends on what's really important to you in the shot you're trying to get.

The replies so far seem to be missing the point of the OP's lament, "I had a ton more keepers with my 40D then this one. I think a lot of my problem is proper exposure. This camera rarely get the exposure right on its own unlike my 40D. I am sure this is user error on my part as this camera has a larger learning curve then the 40D."

Just what is different about a 7D which makes it behave any differently than a 40D ?!?!?!

^
in terms of how the camera calculates exposure in AV mode, there should be nothing.

I have a feeling that the OP had auto ISO on in his 40D and doesn't on his 7D, which results in him getting blurry shots due to a slower shutter speed.

Ok, I am posting a few samples here. I understand about the sky and a dark bird and vise versa. Should I be using spot metering for that? I have never set either camera to auto ISO. I try to keep my shutter speed up to at least 400 but the shot changes a lot when my subject moves. So that is not always possible. Anyway, here is four shots. I did nothing to these photos except to crop and convert them to jpg. Shots like these seemed to be much better with my 40D.

Your first shot EXIF shows 1/3200 f/6.3 with ISO 400. One can tell that the metering was biased to expose the sky. Ordinarily ISO 400 should expose a subject in sunlight at 1/400 f/16...so your 1/3200 f/6.3 is about a comparable exposure! But your subject is not lit by the sun, it seems to be in shade ...maybe from a passing cloud (there are no visible shadows) where proper exposure is +1EV or even +2EV from the Sunny 16 rule of thumb.

Your third shot EXIF shows 1/640 f/11 with ISO 200. According to Sunny 16, that would be 1/200 f/16. Again, your subject is not in sunlight, there is no visible shadow. The subjects again seem to be in shade....maybe from a passing cloud.

I would not blame the camera, I would put the camera in Manual mode, meter an 18% gray card held at the same angle to the sun and in similar light as your subject would be, and fix that setting on the camera and shoot.

A meter tries to make whatever it is reading to be captured as 18% gray...that is a fundamental understanding that every photographer needs to repeat 1000 times!

Here is an 18% gray card which is not illuminated by the sun (yet there is definitely sunlight visible on the tree in the background)...

Nascar Nut wrote in post #11797357
Now I was more happy with the swans. They are a little over exposed but more then fixable.

If the swans look overexposed to you, I'd suggest you adjust the brightness/contrast of your monitor. They look just right to me on my calibrated monitor.

Running the eyedropper over the birds I found no part of them with a red, green or blue value higher than 244. Pure white is 255,255,255.

Here's a brightness/contrast calibration chart. You should be able to see all 26 bars:

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Actually there is a difference between the two cameras. The 7D now uses a 63 zone system that takes color into account where the 40D does not when set to evaluative metering.

Here is what I suggest for exposure. Go out and set your aperture or shutter speed to your desired value. On a clear sky, meter with no exposure compensation. Now dial in more exposure until you barely blow the sky shooting the same area of sky. Look at how much EC you have to dial in to blow it. Now when shooting birds in the sky, you know exactly how much EC to dial in before you lose the sky. Do that and you will keep a little color in the sky and expose the bird better while minimizing noise in dark colored birds. For the record, with my 7d, i can dial in 2 2/3 stops EC before I blow the sky. I typically limit myself to 2 1/3 though.

Hope that helps.

Spot metering would certain help where the bird is against a bright/washed out sky. Also, with the 7D especially (I came from the 40D/100-400 setup myself), you really need to keep the shutter above 1/640; the sharpness dropoff from shake, for me anyway, is frequently huge even at 1/400-1/500.

Also, you don't necessarily need great light, but you do need to make sure you aren't underexposing your shots at all. If it gets really overcast, I'll generally adjust my settings, manually or via EC, so that I'm shooting at between +2/3 and +1 2/3 just to make sure. Don't be afraid to shoot higher ISOs, either. 800-1600 can be perfectly usable with this camera, where I saw problems that I couldn't correct for on the 40D in that range.

Make sure your AF settings are squared away and if you're trying to shoot BIF, adjust your AI Server tracking down a notch or two to give you some wiggle room for reacquiring your subject when you stray off of it while panning.

Don't jack your aperture down so low, either. F/11 is pretty harsh with the ole "pump"...I shoot between 5.6 and 8 and even then, MOSTLY at 5.6. Give the distances you are from most birds, that still gives plenty of DoF for most shots.

When shooting things that are likely to move, or are moving, etc, I would strongly recommend Tv instead of Av. Your primary concern at that point ought to be keeping your shutter speeds up, and even f/5.6 should give you a reasonable DoF on them should the camera need to open it up to get those shutter speeds.

This weekend was hell for lighting, but still got some decent shots:

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/snydremark/5427​597326/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/snydremark/5426​992225/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/snydremark/5426​992169/