steve_byland

<p>@bob - that is a VERY interesting thought. I had a portable heater running hard in the small room (a bathroom). Perhaps with the hand held lens, I think that I was much closer to the open window. On the tripod, the lens was about 2 feet from the open window. Maybe either heat shimmer distorting the shots or messing with the AF. I'll bet you are right. Many thanks!</p>

<p>I am really stumped. I have had my 7d for over a year and love it. Today, I was taking post-storm photos through an open window (birds on feeders) in slightly low light and couldn't get a sharp shot to save my life. I was shooting on a heavy tripod and tried 3 or 4 lens combinations, but no luck. I even tried focusing on large tree trunks with mirror lock-up and photo after photo were far too soft to use. No fog on the lens. I started with a 300mm f/2.8, then 500mm f/4. I was using single shot and center focus point, although I played around with that too - only made things worse.<br>

I finally switched to an old 100-400 and got much better results - even hand held. I'm used to tack sharp bird shots with all of my lenses. Micro adjusting didn't help at all.</p>

 

<p>Scott - something else that might be a factor - I shoot as bright as I possibly can without over-exposing a shot. I feel that this reduces overall noise (although it costs shutter speed). On the histogram, I always try to get something in the right hand box. Your shots seemed nicely exposed. Mine, on the other hand, were probably a bit on the bright side (if I shot the way I intended to). Although I didn't do any other processing on the photos I posted, I almost ALWAYS have to darken my photos a bit in post processing. In my experience, darkening a photo will, if anything, reduce noise, while lightening increases noise.</p>

<p>Scott - I sent the files you asked for. Is it possible that a fisheye lens (or even just a different type of lens) might cause more noise? Maybe different aperture? The angle you shot at relative to the sun? I really don't know enough to say - just putting this out as a possibility. I used a 100 - 400 with hood at 400mm on a tripod using the timer shooting with the sun almost at my back. I'd be interested to know what you think after having my shots in your hand.</p>

<p>I just converted RAW images using DPP at the standard settings (sharpness at 3, NR at 3/5). I didn't apply Noise Ninja to the photos posted. That said, there are a lot of things on the 20d that I liked relative to the 40d. I haven't used the 20d for a couple of years and didn't even try to do a direct comparison in side-by-side tests to the 40d. I just tried to show that, up to ISO 1600 my 7d produced acceptable results for me where I never got a sky shot with my 40d at even ISO 800 that I could salvage enough to get past the reviewers at the agencies where I sell my photos.<br>

I took the camera out to photograph Hawks in flight today. The ability to track moving birds, including Peregrines and Merlins was just stunning. It locked onto moving birds far better than my 40d and kept the focus quite well.<br>

As the the question about low light, high ISO AF. There were mixed results, but managable. Using my 100-400 lens at 1600 ISO in deep shade I found that the AF was useless on distant objects when I did not limit the range of the lens (i.e. 1.8m to infinity). Also, single point spot AF did not work at all. On the other hand, single point AF with the lens limited to 6.5 meter to infinity was flawless.</p>

 

<p>Philip - I haven't given it much of a workout in real low light (very early or late in the day), but it was extremely capable on a very cloudy day. Full disclosure - I really have never been very happy with the 40d AF in ANY condition. I did side-by-side tests with my old 20d and felt that the 20d was far better at locking onto moving images (like flying birds), especially against a busy background and always felt that the 20d tracked moving subjects better. Of course, as my eyes get older, the screen on the 20d gets smaller and smaller ;-)</p>

<p>Mike - I'm not sure how to quantify that, but it is probably a good idea to get a feel for that before I really need to use it in real life. Probably best to try a side-by-side with my 40d and go with a "gut feel."<br>

I do like the numerous variations on AF that the camera has. After using the camera in the field today, I feel that the AF is far superior to the 40d for the kind of shooting I do. Today, I focused on flying birds that were just pindots with ease. I know that the 40d would have had problems. I then tried to focus on a bird feeding on the ground among sticks without changing from AI servo. It locked on perfectly - again, the 40d would have had problems in the same situation.<br>

In my "field test" today, I selected the center AF point and used one of the custom functions to select the points above, below and to either side of the center point, forming a "cross" of 5 points rather than a "square" of nine points. </p>

<p >Another test of ISO vs noise with my new 7D. This time, I focused on an object with the blue sky in the background, which as a wildlife photographer, is a common type of shot for me. All in all, I am very pleased with the results. Some of the comparisons can be seen at:</p>

<p ></p>

<p ><a href="

<p ></p>

<p >

<p >I am VERY happy with this camera. I will be able to use much higher ISO on shots that I intend to sell which means I can shoot longer and faster and crop tighter. All that means money in the bank! </p>

</p>

<p>Eric - Great idea, but I was going for a test that would show how this would effect me while doing wildlife shots. In other words, as I want to get some more shutter speed to help stop the action as light fades, how does this impact noise?</p>

<p>I just got my new Canon 7D yesterday. The weather was overcast today, so I decided to do a little experimenting with ISO to check the noise levels. All in all, I am very pleased with the results. Some of the comparisons can be seen at:<br>

<a href="

I know that an indoor test would probably be more scientific, but I wanted to test the camera under the conditions that I would actually use it in (I make my living selling wildlife photos). I previously used the 40d and never went above ISO 400 for shots that I intended to sell. With the 7D, I feel that ISO 800 will be no problem at all and will most likely go higher if I need to.</p>

 

I have recently feelt that the autofocus on my 40d is getting worse when shooting flying hawks. I took it out

yesterday and it was really having trouble locking onto flying birds. I tried several different "L" lenses with the same

results. Shooting in AL Servo with all 9 points active and lots of light, I could see a bird in the viewfinder. When I

pushed the shutter, the lens would drop down to about 3 meters and hunt back and forth between 3 and 7 meters

until I aimed the camera at a very distant line of trees and tried again. I switched to my backup 20d body and had no

problems at all. Back to the 40d again and the problem returned. I found that, if I used only the center focus point,

while it was harder to lock onto birds, at least the lens would hunt from 3 or 4 meters to infinity and eventually it

MIGHT lock onto the bird if it was not too far away. When it finally does lock on, about half the shots are very soft

focus. All custom functions are turned off.

 

I also take a lot of hummingbird photos at close range and the camera locks onto these fast little birds almost 100

percent of the time and delivers unbelievably sharp shots and tracks them perfectly as they move.

I had all points selected for most shots. A couple of times, I switched to a single point on the 40d which actually worked better that all points selected, but it's darn tough to keep it locked on. There were birds flying right at me that I could see through the view finder, then, with all points selected, the lens started hunting all over the place - very similiar to the review posted by "Correct Exposure"

I was out photographing flying birds yesterday in bright sunlight and made a rather

disturbing discovery. My primary camera was my 40d with a 100-400 IS Zoom.

The backup was my 20d on a 300 f/2.8 (non IS) with a 2X teleconverter. Both were

in AI Servo focus mode, shooting AV at f/5.6 (adjusting for light as necessary).

Because of very dusty conditions, I didn't want to be switching lenses and thought

I would use the 100-400 lens more. I was having some trouble tracking the birds in

flight - although not so bad that I was concerned. At one point, I felt I needed the

extra reach of the 300X2 and mounted that set on the tripod. A few Terns came in

close, so I decided to get them too. I was amazed at how much better this

combination locked on and then followed the birds in flight, even when they had a

noisy background behind them. I chaulked it up to the superior lens and kept

going. After a while, I decided to mount the 40d on the 300 2X combination and

found that it had all sorts of problem locking onto the subjects and kept losing

them when they had a busy background. The light was still very bright.

 

In single focus mode, the 40d has no problems whatsoever, but that doesn't help

with flying birds. I took it out today on the 100-400 and had just average results

with AI servo. Any thoughts? (glad I held onto my 20d)

Carrie

 

There are a couple of situations where I find LV extremely useful. The first is when I stack two teleconverters and have to manually focus on a distant object. It is much more accurate than my old eyes through the viewfinder (especially if you increase the size of the view on the screen). In combination with this, I find that it is a better option than mirror-lockup when you want to reduce vibration as you can take multiple shot bursts using a remote shutter release (which you can't do as well with the mirror lock-up). This is very handy for wildlife photography when you want to have better control over getting an animal or bird in an action situation. I initially thought I would never use this feature (and didn't for the first couple of months that I owned the camera), but now I use it all the time.

Marvin

 

I used a 20d on flying birds and can tell you from experience that it is hard, but doable. My best luck with the same lens is to shoot IA Servo, activate all the focus points and make sure that the lens is set to 6.5 meters to infinity. It NEVER seems to find the bird set to 1.8 meters to infinity! Next, make sure that the camera is initially focused on something distant (tree line, etc). If you just bumped the shutter button at some point to turn off the display, it is probably focused way too close. Just point at something distant a refocus. Finally, make sure you can see the bird through the viewfinder before pressing the shutter to focus or the lens will start hunting and you will definitely miss the shot. If you absolutely lose focus, try to quickly focus on a distant object and try again.

 

If the bird is flying with a very busy background, all bets are off - although I have had some luck using the full-time manual focus to over-ride.

 

Good luck - this is an area where the more you practice, the better you will get, but sometimes you just miss out altogether. I do find that I am able to lock on and shoot now about 90% of the time

I bought the wireless shutter release shown here

 

http://www.gadgetinfinity.com/product.php?productid=16745&cat=0&page=

 

This works from about 50 meters away, from inside my house and through glass. I assume they have models for other than canon. It's an awesome product and has produced some unreal shots for me.

I agree that the flash often makes the hummers that visit my feeder skittish (they are Ruby-throated). Since they move their wings so fast, I want to take a burst of 10 to 15 shots when they visit the feeders. This suggestion won't help much out in the field, but it works great at home.

 

I bought a number of those cheap lamps from home depot that have the clamps on them. I position them around my feeder and turn them on, setting them to one side of the feeder only. I then plug up the holes on all sides of the feeder that are not lit. The birds learn very quickly to come only to the side of the feeder that is open (and well lit). Using this set-up, I can take hundreds of shots in an afternoon.

 

I always use a tripod (the difference is incredible) and I got a cheap pop-up blind off of e-bay for about $30. Before that, I just put a drop cloth over a pole to hide me a bit. Although they aren't at all afraid of people, the less distraction from your movements and flashes, the longer they will spend at the feeder. Using this set-up I get all the full-framed shots I want using a 300mm lens.

 

I even found that you can place a shorter lens on a tripod and place it right next to the feeder with no ill effects.

 

Good luck!

I am using a Sigma 500 DG Super flash on a Canon 40d for fill flash in late

afternoon on birds at a feeder. If I shoot 2 shots in quick succession, the

first shot comes out exposed correctly, while the second (which may be taken 2

or 3 seconds later) is totally overexposed. I would have expected the flash

strength to fall off rather than blowing out the whole photo. If I wait 5 or 10

seconds between shots, the exposure is fine.

 

I have tried several different modes (manual, AV), different exposures on the

flash (-2.0 to +2/3). I am shooting in lower light and using shutter speeds

well below the synch of 250th of a second. I have tried varying the speed and

f/stop combinations (shutter speeds from 1/50th to 1/200th).

 

I can usually tell right away when the flash has fired too hot, as I hear the

high-pitched whine after the photo of the flash. Any help would be much

appreciated!

Rafael

 

I bought a "Cactus" brand wireless remote from China on E-bay for about $40 - it was delivered in less than a week and works from well over 50 yards away. I have even used it from inside of my house through the window (although this cuts down the distance to about 20 yards). I love it and several of my buddies have it as well.

I also use the 100-400 a lot, but my next choice would be a 300mm f/4 IS (it's smaller, lighter and very sharp) with a Canon 1.4 Teleconverter. This gets you to 420mm f5/6 with autofocus. A lot of people will tell you that you'll get sharper photos than with the 100-400.

The 100-400 is my favorite multi-purpose lens. It will work with extenders, but you lose auto-focus. Manual focus is probably not what you want to use for sports.

Mike - have you dialed in the diopter on the camera? This adjusts the way the image appears in the viewfinder to correct for your vision. If it is off, the image in the viewfinder may appear in perfect focus while the camera is actually focused on something else.

Alan

 

Thanks for the detailed information. BTW, when I mentioned speed #3, what I should have said was it is the switch that controls the speed of the MANUAL focusing. Your information about the way the MF works electronically rather than mechanically was very helpful. I think that will help me narrow down the problem. I tried putting it on MF and ran the focus ring back and forth a number of times and it seems to lessen the problem, so you may be right that it is the electric connections (especially since my friend never used the MF ring).

 

Also, the main reason I use the MF is if I'm trying to take a picture of a bird or animal in deep cover where it is difficult to get the AF to pick up the right spot. Also, I often use Extension Tubes when I come across a particularly choice subject that is very close and cooperative and MF helps keeping the lens from hunting too much under very poor lighting conditions.

 

Many thanks to all - any further info would also be much appreciated!

Dave

Thanks for the info. I am aware of the preset focus ring and have carefully avoided that (and have turned the prefocus feature off). This is an older, non-IS model. I tried the custom functions of CF4 and there was no change (good thought, though). Something else I noticed is that, when moving the manual focus ring, there is a slight "ticking" in the lens as if something is going on inside. Also, unlike my other L-series lens, the manual focus ring only works on on this lens when the camera is in the "On" position, whereas my other lenses will move the focus even off of the camera.

Keith,

 

Yes. I occurs when I switch to the manual position (AF is off). The problem is the least pronounced when the autofocus speed is set to "3" which is the fasted position. Using the manual focus when the lens is set to AF and depressing the shutter button half-way seems to work OK, but isn't a good solution when you really want to just use manual focus.