7DII noise and focusing improvements

I am not a gear head but I have over the years produced a lot a salable and usable pictures. I have done sports

since 1997 both for a paper and in the last seven years for the club I shoot for now. Previously in swim meets

the best I could comfortably do was ISO 3200 with a 70-200 2.8L shooting mostly at 3.2 or 2.8. I am always

dealing with dual WB from window and artificial light. My earlier pictures were acceptable for the web but it was

hard to get real sharpness because of minimally acceptable shutter speeds like 1/500th shutter speed or even a

250th in dark corners both with a 7D and a 70D. I just did a three day meet at Agannis Arena at BU with a

7DII. All pictures were taken at 6400 ISO. These pictures were exceptionally clear with good color because I

was able to obtain shutter speed of a 750th to a thousandth or higher. I applied some noise reduction globally

in LR. This increased ISO capability combined with improved focus, capture and tracking capability have really

improved my work. Today after earlier web posting of pictures I printed some pictures for certain swimmers.

The prints in color, sharpness and clarity exceeded my expectations. My keepers have gone up. I ultimately

bought the 7DII because I wanted at least a stop better acceptable ISO for the conditions I sometimes shoot in

and I wanted better capture and focus capability than I had been living with. The camera exceeded my

expectations. I shot without flash in bad light for the first time in several meets. I work from the deck and can

get quite close. I found the 7DII highly intuitive and it worked in all focusing modes and the tracking on starts

was accurate and consistently in focus at 10 fps. As a long time cynical user of Canon products I thought some folks what like to hear about actual use of the camera.

<p>Nice to hear a good report on low light capability. That's a big deal to me. Thanks.</p>

<p>Good to know, thanks.</p>

<p>I have seen similar remarks, but although I do a fair amount of low-light work, it rarely involves anything moving very fast. That's why I'm sticking with my 50D for APS-C work, for now.<br>

Maybe when the mark iii comes out? ;)</p>

Can you post and sample images?

Perhaps of the same or similar venue

with the old and new camera?

Can you post some sample images?

Perhaps of the same or similar venue

with the old and new camera?

 

I have too many shots of sharp splashes in front of faces using a 7D and 5D mark II shooting swimmers head on and from the side. Can you talk about AF improvements in this regard? (Although, I understand it may be the nature of the beast)

I am a swimmer myself. So I move in motion with the swimmers on the fly and breast stroke. I

miss my share but that has nothing to do with the camera. Getting swimmers has to do with

technique not the camera. I did well with the 7D. I'll try and post a couple with the 7D.<div></div>

One more<div></div>

This is really one of a string of five missed the number above<div></div>

one more can't seem to get my numbers straight<div></div>

This arena is not that bright. These pictures are all taken at ISO 6400. That means I got fast

shutters. Look at the quality of these pictures at this ISO. I used NR but they are pretty damn

sharp compared to what I got in the same arena with the 7D at 16 and 3200. The tracking is truly

an advancement over my previous 7D and 70d. All of the above were taken with the 7DII. I got a lot

more of that quality.

Lupo it was case 2. I used some single point, and all others including tracking. I thought, after I got

going that the camera was easy to use and responsive in all modes.

Fantastic, thanks for posting those. I

am very impressed with the noise level.

Shooting indoor basketball and night

football with the original 7D left me very

disappointed at 3200 & 6400 ISO. This

camera shows some promise in that

respect. May I ask what you use for

noise reduction? And are you shooting

jpegs?

I shoot raw only. I do convert to jpegs for the web. I just use LR noise reduction at about half. I

never got over ISO 3200 with the 7D and preferred 1600. I have not yet tried other sports or wilfife

yet with the 7DII.. .