I really wish that the 7D had audio record capablity

[rpcrowe]

I was at a rescue event yesterday and several fosters who volunteer with our organization brought the Maltese they were fostering and asked me to shoot pictures for posting online.

I set up under a canopy and placed a fleece over a folding chair. I bounced the 430EX flash off the canopy modifying it with my Demb Flash Diffuser Pro. It was assembly line shooting. I would shoot one dog until I was satisfied that I had at least two decent shots and the ladies would switch the dogs. The results were not at all bad for an assembly line. However, I was concerned with shooting, not who the dogs were...



The problem was during post processing. I had asked the ladies to make a listing of the dogs as I shot, but somehow that didn't happen. In my Navy career, I learned that you just don't say something needs to be done, you task an individual with the responsibility to get it done...

Maltese can look very similar to people who don't know them. I can identify my dogs and the ones that my wife and I are fostering but, none of these were included in the mix. I ended up with around a hundred and twenty five pictures of twenty five different dogs, many of which looked very much like the other dogs...

Although I shot a blank frame between each dog, I didn't have the faintest idea who the dogs were and who was fostering whom. Audio record capability would certainly have helped to name each dog. I ended up emailing all the pictures to all the fosters and asked them to identify their foster dogs...

I had not expected to shoot a group of dogs. I just happened to have my camera with the 40mm pancake lens and the 430EX flash. The fleece is one I was going to give to one of the fosters so she could shoot her own pictures. It was my wife who suggested, "Why don't we have Richard shoot all the dogs?" Next time I will carry a deck of index cards and a felt-tip marker. I will shoot one shot of each dog with its name and the name of its foster. Just like a jail mug shot!

When I shoot with a group of models, I use the video record capability of the 7D to identify the models. I video them and ask them their names and their email addresses. But, I don't ever shoot as big a group of models as quickly as I shot these dogs...

[GrahamS]

Taking a shot of an index card between each shot could also result in confusion. When you review the shot of the dog, make a note of the file number which you can read off the LCD screen. Note which dog is pictured in that file number on a notepad.

[Davey]

I know you can record audio with MagicLatern, does it not have it as stock? I don't have a 7D but use 1100D with ML on and audio works on friends 600D too and 7D is supported so may be worth trying if it's your thing and you need the vid or audio features.

Edit. I believe some modes need a mic plugged in to record just audio.

[rpcrowe]

Davey... Thank you very much. I will look into this very interesting information...