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Archive 2017 · I need advice

  
 
canon.eos30d
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p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · I need advice


DixPix wrote:
I'm gonna try to address everything that's been said to me here but not in great detail and probably not in order.

I do have the same problem with my Sigma.

I just had a long talk with Rich, the guy who sold me the lens and learned a lot: keep the ISO low and shutter speed high, leave IS turned off on the tripod, use One Shot when on the tripod, stop down a bit to get the DOF to cover the whole little bird, and in general be very careful.

My cameras do not have Micro Adjust.

I probably won't
...Show more

Hi Dick

What do you mean by "My cameras do not have Micro Adjust"? Do you mean you haven't done it? You have 7D Mark II right?

I do have to perform Micro AF Adjustment on my 7D Mark II and 500 F4 IS USM Mark 1.

-Tam



Jan 10, 2017 at 10:17 PM
Karl Witt
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p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · I need advice


Hello Dick, this forum can be a bit intimidating and frustrating at times by judging results of others of great experience in photo technique and in photo processing

40ft from a small bird is still quite a long distance to be honest with you.
Get too close and you have other issues that can result.
Each of the lenses you have should give you very very sharp images when used correctly.

I will stay tuned as you give us more info, plenty of good advice and suggestions so far that should get you thinking!
Even if you have not done any Micro Adjusting you should still get an area of sharpness, the MA just moves that focus point forward or back a tiny amount.

Now if your camera was bought used and someone else had a Canon 100-400 or a Sigma 150-600 or a Canon 500 and they did do a Micro Adjust, your camera will revert to those settings as it does not know 'their' lens from 'your' lens so make sure Micro Adjust is actually disabled for starters.

Karl



Jan 10, 2017 at 10:42 PM
DixPix
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p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · I need advice


canon.eos30d wrote:
Hi Dick

What do you mean by "My cameras do not have Micro Adjust"? Do you mean you haven't done it? You have 7D Mark II right?

I do have to perform Micro AF Adjustment on my 7D Mark II and 500 F4 IS USM Mark 1.

-Tam


Well, that's good news. Where do I find it on the menu? How do I go about it? I used it on my old 1DN Mk II but it's been a long time and I only vaguely remember the process.

Wait, Wait -- I found it! I guess my old-timer's brain fade is worse than I thought. Thanks for waking me up.

Dick



Jan 11, 2017 at 07:37 AM
canon.eos30d
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p.2 #4 · p.2 #4 · I need advice


DixPix wrote:
Well, that's good news. Where do I find it on the menu? How do I go about it? I used it on my old 1DN Mk II but it's been a long time and I only vaguely remember the process.

Wait, Wait -- I found it! I guess my old-timer's brain fade is worse than I thought. Thanks for waking me up.

Dick


Yay ... sure you will love that combo when AF is dialed in.

-Tam



Jan 11, 2017 at 02:07 PM
jasonsim
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p.2 #5 · p.2 #5 · I need advice


I recently acquired a 500mm f/4L IS gen1 and got decent shots while on my first outing with it. I got it home and took the time to dial it in using a Lens Align Pro to get the MA just right. Also purchased a RRS long lens kit, which also helps dealing with micro vibrations.

Here are some of the results from my efforts:


500mm + 7D II: @f/4 1/6400 ISO800 -7MA


700mm + 7D II + 1.4x III: @f/6.3 1/1600 ISO2500


700mm + 7D II + 1.4x III: @f/7.1 1/800 ISO1600





500mm setup




Jan 11, 2017 at 03:53 PM
DixPix
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p.2 #6 · p.2 #6 · I need advice


I got confused trying to edit and now I need to delete this post but I can't figure out how.

Edited on Jan 11, 2017 at 09:11 PM · View previous versions



Jan 11, 2017 at 07:07 PM
DixPix
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p.2 #7 · p.2 #7 · I need advice


Well, I got to try out some of the things I learned yesterday and had some improvement. I still messed up a bit but I noticed and figured out what I was doing. It was too late to correct it, though. I was running out of time and light when I had just figured out that I was doing something backwards when a Cooper's Hawk flew over and the few birds in my backyard left in a hurry.

Rich explained how I could set a shutter speed and an f-stop and set the ISO to automatically vary as needed. Well I took a few shots then looked through the lens and saw the ISO was higher than I wanted, so I adjusted the f-stop and shutter speed in the wrong direction then took what would prove to be my last shots of the day.

Fact is, even though the noise was very high (ISO maxed out) I had sharper pictures. It's just a beginning but I'm confident I'll be able to get pretty good images with a lot more practice.

Here is the last image. I'm including the untouched image and the processed one. I attacked the noise with Neat Image then processed the pic a bit then selected out the bird and applied Neat Image again to the BG. Now if I can just find time to go to Inks Lake State Park bird blind on a sunny day I should get some decent results.






Full Frame unprocessed







Slight Crop, processed



Edited on Jan 11, 2017 at 08:25 PM · View previous versions



Jan 11, 2017 at 07:08 PM
surfnron
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p.2 #8 · p.2 #8 · I need advice


It looks like you are well on the way to figuring this out Dick ~ Ron


Jan 11, 2017 at 07:24 PM
steve_a_reno
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p.2 #9 · p.2 #9 · I need advice


Difficult to tell from this photo. I suggest posting a photo of a stationary subject with tripod and much Lower ISO and no tele-coverter.


Jan 11, 2017 at 07:26 PM
jasonsim
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p.2 #10 · p.2 #10 · I need advice


Keep at it Dick. On the 7D II there is a setting in the menu to limit your auto ISO range. You might set it 100 - 1600. Then you can go into M (manual) mode, set your aperture and shutter speed and leave ISO in auto (A). On my 500mm, f/5.6 seems to be the sharpest and f/8 when I use the 1.4x. Though f/6.3 was not bad at all even with the 1.4x on.

Note you can even use EV comp. in M (manual) mode on the 7D II. You trick it by first going into S (shutter priority mode) and setting your EV; for example +1. Then switch back to M mode with ISO in auto and the EV is low-and-behold +1. Nice back door for a feature that is only on 1Dx.

Now if there was a hack to get spot metering on the 7D II. Possibly in a firmware update?

Anyway...also remember to set the AF drive to Servo for the birds as they move around. Even slight position change can cause a focus miss. Second, check your lens settings. If you are on a tripod, set IS to mode 2. If you are really close to the bird (seems since you filled the frame with that little guy) you should check that the distance limiter is set correctly to Full.

You might have all this dead on, just thought I would throw those tis bits out there.

Regards,
Jason



Jan 11, 2017 at 09:24 PM
DixPix
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p.2 #11 · p.2 #11 · I need advice


Thanks, Jason, for a well stated set of suggestions. I deliberately took the ISO limit off because It was keeping me from getting a picture. From my back porch I'm shooting up-sun so I'm basically shooting the dark side of everything. In early morning it's not so bad but I have a lot of other stuff I have to do in the mornings usually. When I can get out into the field I won't be facing the same limits all the time.

In the titmouse pic, I had actually changed my exposure the wrong way out of confusion and driven the ISO up unnecessarily.

Please, always feel free to offer more advice whenever you see my posts.

Dick



Jan 12, 2017 at 05:39 AM
DixPix
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p.2 #12 · p.2 #12 · I need advice


Jason,

I had to check to be sure, and then I almost forgot to get back to you. My 7D Mk II's do have spot metering.

Dick



Jan 12, 2017 at 06:34 PM
jasonsim
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p.2 #13 · p.2 #13 · I need advice


DixPix wrote:
Jason,

I had to check to be sure, and then I almost forgot to get back to you. My 7D Mk II's do have spot metering.

Dick


Right 'O. I didn't clarify what I meant. The 1Dx's can spot meter at any of the AF points, while the 7D II can only spot meter in the center. Wish they would add this feature to the 7D II and 5D III. I am not sure if the 5D IV has this feature; maybe another Canon shooter here can confirm.

Thanks,
Jason



Jan 12, 2017 at 06:52 PM
e6filmuser
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p.2 #14 · p.2 #14 · I need advice


There in no motion blur and sharping, to the degree that I use for all my images, shows it to be a superb image.

Harold







Jan 13, 2017 at 03:31 AM
Methodical
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p.2 #15 · p.2 #15 · I need advice


Dick if you are using One shot (going off your previous post about using one shot) on the Tufted Titmouse shot above or any bird for that matter, you are fighting a losing battle as they are always moving - you should be using Ai servo.

I am in the camp that you need to Micro AF your lenses and cameras, especially the 7D2. The method I found the easiest to quickly check my lenses/camera combo is Dot Tune AF. The thread is around here somewhere.



Jan 15, 2017 at 07:29 AM
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