Canon EOS 7D: My First Photos

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Ovenbird
Canon EOS 7D with EF 400mm f/5.6L (f5.6 | ISO 1600 | 1/125 sec)
I just received a new (used) Canon EOS 7D yesterday afternoon.  I was eager this morning to test it out at Central Winds Park.  It was a pretty good morning, but nothing like it's been earlier this week.  There was a small group of people there, and between all of us we found 9 warbler species: Yellow, Prothonotary,Yellow-throated, Black-throated Blue, Prairie, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, and Northern Parula.  I didn't see all of these myself, partly because I wanted to go back into the woods to find an Ovenbird and challenge my new camera at higher ISOs.  Compared to the 50D I've been using, I was extremely happy with the results.  If you want to compare these shots to what I've been able to get on th 50D, see my Ovenbird photos from Sept. 5th. In those shots, I decreased the sharpness and clarity in the out of focus leaves and background to minimize noise in the image, but if you look closely at the Ovenbird, you can see substantial noise in the photos at ISO 1600.

Things are greatly improved on the 7D.  Here's a series of images I took at ISO 800, 1600 and 5000.

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Ovenbird
Canon EOS 7D with EF 400mm f/5.6L (f5.6 | ISO 800 | 1/50 sec)
At ISO 800, I was very pleased with the results.  The Canon 7D at ISO 800 clearly outperforms the 50D at ISO 400.  For the above shot, I did not apply any noise reduction, and I did not reduce sharpness and clarity in the out of focus areas of the image.

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Ovenbird
Canon EOS 7D with EF 400mm f/5.6L (f5.6 | ISO 1600 | 1/100 sec)
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Ovenbird
Canon EOS 7D with EF 400mm f/5.6L (f5.6 | ISO 1600 | 1/80 sec)
At ISO 1600, my results were still pretty usable. In fact, I can see little difference between 800 and 1600 except in the darker portions of the image.   For the above shots, I again did not apply any noise reduction, and I did not reduce sharpness and clarity in the out of focus areas of the image.  I suspect if I played with these a little, I may be able to improve the images some more.

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Ovenbird
Canon EOS 7D with EF 400mm f/5.6L (f5.6 | ISO 5000 | 1/100 sec)
At ISO 5000, things became more difficult, as I expected.  For the above shot, I did not crop the image as tightly, I added noise reduction, and I reduced sharpness and clarity in the out of focus areas of the image (leaves and background). At the same time, I must say that I'm quite pleased with what you can get from the camera at this ISO.  I'd certainly rather be able to come home with this than look at the bird, think "that's an impossible shot," and keep on walking.

Comments

  1. Didhyou ever consider using a better beamer with a flash? If you tried it I think you would be sjurprised at the rresults. Set the flash to 2/3 stops under & your camera to either 1/3 or 2/3 under. Dave Cesari At dcesari@twcny.rr.com

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  2. I have one for my flash, and I do like the results for smaller birds. But I don't like to use it because it tends to freak out the birds at times.

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  3. Congrats on the new 7D Scott! Not surprised by it's superior ISO performance. And... Nice shots!

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