Owls and Swans in flight

[FlyingSquirrel]

Greetings, all. Here are some bird-in-flight shots I got during a couple of recent trips to one of my favorite birding locations. I used the 7D mark II, 500 f/4 + 1.4x, hand held. All shot in Manual Mode (it's the only mode I use) Thanks for looking

Short-Eared Owl in late evening light - 5.6, 1/2000, ISO 1600



Short-Eared Owl hunting the marsh - 5.6, 1/2000, ISO 1600



Trumpeter Swan pair in evening - 5.6, 1/2000, ISO 1600



Trumpeter Swan individual closeup - 7.1, 1/2000, ISO 800

[AB26]

Matt,

This is good, very good.

It has to be viewed in the lightbox to really appreciate it.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[IzzieK]

Matt -- very nice shots here...I particularly like the lighting in the first image of the owls although somehow, this lighting doesn't seem to work well for me in #2. #3 is particularly good. I like that one too. The whites of its feather looks white naturally and you caught the eyes well in it too. Well done! Now, I like #3 more... 'will take another look...yep! #3 gets my vote here...

[dje]

Great work Matt, you've captured these very well indeed. Seems that you have mastered the new camera !

Dave

[bnnrcn]

Very nice series

[terrib]

Very nice images, Matt. I especially love the first one. I'm amazed that you can hand hold that rig.

[Brownbear]

Indeed, a beautiful set! My favourites are the 1st and the 4th. I've never seen a Trumpeter Swan in flight and I think it is very special to see one close-up in flight with such beautiful detail.

[marlunn]

very nice shots - especially like the two trumpeter swans in flight, to get both in focus is really good BIF work, syncronised wing beats

[Nicks Pics]

All great shots. I think #2 is the most artistic of the bunch. I like how you were able to include some of the ground level scenery in a BIF shot. This brings it up a level for me. A short-eared owl in flight- I don't know how common they are there, but that sounds like a good catch!

[Bobobird]

Excellent series. Being able to catch them in this lovely light is a bonus.

About the 7D2 - I am not going to ask you what you like about it. Tell me what you do not like about it.
Thanks.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Thank you very much for all of the comments, everyone! I appreciate the feedback, opinions, kind remarks, etc.

Terri - it is a bit of a challenge to hand hold, but to be fair, I have a tripod/gimbal with me and rest the rig on the gimbal in between runs (not locked in, but just holding it on to support the weight). When the BIF action comes by, I handhold for as long as I can, rest a few seconds, then go again. I am lifting weights now, so soon it should not be much of a struggle

Bobo - 7D2 - easy...the image quality is not still not that great. Yes, there are rave reviews all over the place, yes it is improved, yada yada yada. The fact is, for me, it's not enough of an improvement to really make me overjoyed. But what can you expect, it is a crop sensor. Let me also say something that I've not seen anyone else comment on yet, which is that the "reduced noise" (compared to v1) comes at the cost of a softer image. When looking at images of 7D2 vs 7D, the 7D images are noisier, but they are also sharper. To be expected, I suppose.

Other thing, at first I did not like how they changed the function and buttons for zooming in on images in playback. I liked the + - buttons at the upper right on the v1 body, and you could view the image histogram, info, etc then zoom in. Now you have to press play to view the image info, and a separate zoom button to change to zoom mode, then use the main dial to actually zoom in. However, thankfully I just discovered something that has made this much easier on me and am getting used to it, which is that I programmed the "set" button to be the zoom mode button, and realized if you press set twice, you can view the image and histogram, then press set again and go back to zoom mode. So "set" is a quick toggle for viewing / histogram / zooming mode. With time I think I will like this better than the 7D.

Other thing - the AF "case" settings and custom AF tweaking menus - IMO they are crap compared to the 7D menus. The case settings are jumbled, repetitive, and superfluous. They are made to be dumbed down for the layman. I would prefer one simple screen where you set each of the three tweaks, instead of the multiple case listings (which are really just default settings for various purposes). For someone that understands the settings, you don't need cases. You just need to set each tweak, and you're done. The 7D was straightforward, and simple. However, the settings were spread out a bit more.

Those are the main things that come to mind that I don't like about the 7D2. There might be other minor things but I can't think of them at the moment. However, on a positive note, there are MANY things that I love about the camera. It is a fantastic tool with substantial improvements over the original model- enough to make it well worth the upgrade despite the lacking image quality. For the price, you can't go wrong with this camera. I love it.

*EDIT* - I also just remembered that I had some weird problems with a large percentage of the images being soft and/or OOF. It didn't occur to me to mention that at first, since I am thinking it might have been due to the light and conditions I was shooting in. I will need to do further testing to determine if there really is any problem with the camera or AF, but for now I will assume I need better light. However, many other people have reported similar "soft image" issues.

[NorthernFocus]

Excellent imagery, Matt. Particularly the first owl and the single swan. Great detail and the whites are handled well on the swan. Great light in all shots. Nicely done.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Dan, thank you!

[Bobobird]

Thanks Matt. Excellent info which I will bear in mind if and when a 7D2 purchase takes my fancy. For the time being the 5D3 and 1Dx do their jobs. The only advantage basically is reach especially when I am hand holding a 300 or 400 lens. Some months since getting the 200-400 and still cannot hand hold it paired with the 1Dx. With the 5D3 I am fine so a 7D2 paired to that lens should be just slightly lighter lighter and perhaps a good match.

Regarding the "softness" - I am presuming that is in the actual RAW image on the computer and not the in camera preview. Is that at higher isos or across the board?

Thanks.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Regarding the "softness" - I am presuming that is in the actual RAW image on the computer and not the in camera preview. Is that at higher isos or across the board?

Thanks.

The softness I have noticed is in camera and in raw. Basically, the images are literally softer, period. At all ISO's. I have heard many other people reporting the same issue. Some fixed it by doing lens af adjustments, some fixed it by returning the camera and getting a new copy, and some fixed it by learning how to use the camera correctly (haha). I just ordered a LensCal system and will give that a whirl when it arrives. If the testing and possible calibration that may be required does not fix the issue, then I may have a dud 7d2 body.

I have noticed a significant number of my shots being OOF. Clearly it is not my fault, because with my 7D v1 I was entirely skilled and capable of getting razor sharp images, so the 7D2 focus issues are most likely not due to any lack of skill on my end (I could be wrong, but my reasoning sounds legitimate to me).

Let me say though, that I really believe part of the softness is simply due to the noise reduction processing that the camera does. I am unclear as to whether this really affects raw, or just jpg. Now that I think about it, I should try turning NR in camera to the "low" setting instead of the default setting.

I recall hearing that the newer, higher MP cameras (not this one) can show "micro blur" simply due to the fact that there are so many darn pixels packed in there, that at 100% zoom you see blur from any camera movement more than you would on a lower MP camera...so I heard they require higher shutter speeds relative to lower MP bodies. This is just what I recall reading from people (I believe it was a Nikon body with 36 MP). I wonder if I am seeing something like this in my 7D2 since I'm not used to the 20.2 MP vs the old 18 MP.

Anyway, more testing and shooting should reveal the issue.

[Bobobird]

Thanks. More great info.

NR in camera - I turn off high iso NR on my bodies. Not sure if there is any other NR. Will check.
OOF - it could be just about getting used to the new focus system. I had the same issues early on until I learned about the "cases" and used the one that gave me the best result. Btw, if the "case" thing is anywhere the same as my bodies I would select one as a default and then adjust the individual settings on a as-needed basis.