I had 2 days at the Conowingo Dam with a 3 day old 7D last week. The weather on day 1 was horrible (dark, overcast & rainy) and the activity on day 2 was minimal (I could only stay until noon before a 7 hr drive home).
I am very impressed with the tracking ability of the 7D though. I just could not miss using the following settings:
AF area - Center point with the 4 assist points
AI servo tracking sensitivity - Slow
AI servo AF tracking method - 0: Main Focus point priority
I left C.Fn III-3 on 0, which I wouldn't normally do. After reading the manual a few times. I was afraid if set to 1, and the camera locked on the background (which every Canon I've owned has a tendency to do) it would be difficult to get focus back on the bird. The 7D never jumped to the background on me though, even on the busiest of backgrounds when the bird was just barely covering the center AF point. It locked on and stayed locked unless something got in front of the bird (which is understandable based on my setting of this C.Fn)
I'm still on the fence as far as IQ is concerned. It's certainly not in the same league as my 5DII or my old 1DIII, but most of my images had to be cropped a lot. I'll need some subjects to fill the frame in better light before I can make a fair IQ judgement.
This series was quickly processed in ACR 5.6(beta), neat image 7D iso 1000 profile, usm 250, .5, 0. cropped around 50-60% & resized.
*edit to correct a C.Fn description & number the pics
500 f/4L IS +1.4x, ISO 1000, 1/1250 sec, wide open at f/5.6
The results are what counts Rob and I would be ecstatic to have take these in this kind of light I think when we compare a $1700 body to a $2700-5000 body and get favorable results we should be more than happy at that kind of value!
These all look good and sharp, clean and well exposed, a success in my book, nice shooting Rob with a new camera
Great set Rob and thanks for all the technical info and feedback.
The 7D looks like its performing well in your hands.
Looking forward to hearing your take on the IQ in better light.
Martin
Wonderful eagle fishing series, Rob!! I noticed that you were shooting the series with 700mm of focal length. Do you think that 400mm could be used at Conowingo, or is that not sufficient for the areas that the eagles fly there?
There were certainly some fly-bys that would have been fine with 400mm, but most of the time I was there, 700mm wasn't enough.
Both days I was there though, they never opened the gates up. From what I hear, that's the time the eagles are most active. Others there were telling me the fish either get chopped up in the turbines, or stunned.. So it turns into an all you can eat sushi bar for the eagles. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to witness that.
I have been to Conowingo several times with my 7D and 400mm, and 400 is definitely not nearly enough for decent "fishing" eagle shots. The best I can hope for is to get decent shots of birds flying over the parking lot carrying their meals into the trees. I am going to try to rent a 600 f4 & 1.4 TC next month to try my luck with fishing sequences.
It is definitely true that the best shots are available when the dam is operating at "full power generation" as the water flow is much greater at that time. If anyone is planning a trip to the dam, you can call the Conowingo Hotine at 888-457-4076 after 5:00PM the evening before you are planning to visit. That is when the information is updated for the following day's generation schedule.
The "hotline" is not always accurate though. When I was there it said they'd be opening something like "4 large gates & 7 small" at 7 AM one day, 8AM the next, then something different at 11am. None of the gates did anything both days. There was one small gate (furthest away from the shore) spitting out water the entire time I was there. It never changed.
Rob Whiting wrote:
The "hotline" is not always accurate though. When I was there it said they'd be opening something like "4 large gates & 7 small" at 7 AM one day, 8AM the next, then something different at 11am. None of the gates did anything both days. There was one small gate (furthest away from the shore) spitting out water the entire time I was there. It never changed.
This is true, and it is hard to interpret the information they are giving you. I was there twice last week, and each time the recording said they were operating 4 small units all day. The water was flowing, but not very quickly. When the large units are operating, the flow is much greater, and the eagles are more active in the part of the river closest to the parking lot allowing many more photo ops. I always call before I go, just to get some idea of what to expect.
BTW, GREAT photos Rob. You have shown that the 7D is entirely capable of excellent action shots.
Thank you Rob for taking the time to review the 7D BIF shooting. Very helpful! I think they look wonderful considering the crop, the ISO and weather. I would have called that a banner day!
Do you use 'slow' tracking sensitivity' setting on your 1dIII? Just curious. I've tried them all, and ended up in the middle again. And on any given day or light situation, one change in CF can muff it all. ;~) My old 20D locked on better than my MKIII. I'm tempted to get the 7D for a second body, but hearing a few complaints about misfocuses. Thnx again for a cheerier update!
Nice shots, especially considering the weather. Thanks for the info on the settings too. I just bought a 7D but haven't really studied all the potential settings yet.
What are you using to process? I just noticed there is a Lightroom ver 2.6 "Release candidate" on Adobe's site to support the 7D and other bodies.
Rob,
Impressive images captured using that camera ! Too bad that dam is far, far away from the west coast.
Joshua
JJBub wrote:
What are you using to process? I just noticed there is a Lightroom ver 2.6 "Release candidate" on Adobe's site to support the 7D and other bodies.
Cris, my LR 2.5 can process the files from 7D....
I think when we compare a $1700 body to a $2700-5000 body and get favorable results we should be more than happy at that kind of value!
! Too bad that dam is far, far away from the west coast.