outdoor photography

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 ...

Bald Eagle This morning at Central Winds Park I had a pretty good morning. I saw my first Blackburnian Warbler, but was unable to get a sharp image of it.  A Bald Eagle was more cooperative; it flew not too far away from me, so I could photograph it.  I also found a couple Yellow Warblers by the shore of Lake Jesup.  The Yellow Warblers were somewhat uncooperative.  They teased me from fairly high up in the trees, and they never came low enough for a very nice look. But they're such beautiful birds, I can't help but show the photos I was able to get. Yellow Warbler My camera also disappointed me this morning.  These photos were taken at ISO 400, and on my older 40D my photos probably would have been fine.  But with the newer 50D, there's a fair amount of visible noise.  I did a little work to minimize it in the leaves and sky, but I remain somewhat unimpressed with this camera's performance even at moderate ISOs.  The higher resolution ...