SECOND OUTING WITH CANON 7D2

Date: 4 & 5th May 2019
Location: Frasers Hill
Gear: Canon 7D2 with Canon 400mm f5.6

This second outing was to further familiarize with the Canon 7D2 body features, and test further the performance of the AF and image quality in the field. For this outing in order to get the best image quality I decided to pair with a prime Canon telephoto lens 400mm f5.6 non-IS. I did the AF micro adjustment in the field and +4 gave me the sharpest image possible. 

The first few images here are of a Malaysian Laughingthrush shot quite close at about 4 meters. I had a bit of problem focusing on this bird as it was too close and very skittish under poor lighting condition, I had to use a single point with 8 point helpers AF mode. The original images was quite dark and noisy, and had to be recovered in Lightroom. I had to bump up the ISO to 6400, used the widest aperture at f5.6, and slowdown the shutter speed to 1/320 second to get as much light as possible. I tried using the speed at 1/640 sec ( 400mm x 1.6 crop factor) but it was too dark. So at ISO 6400 the noise is visible. In this scenario the 5D3 would be a better performer, but I only brought the 7D2.

Malaysian Laughingthrush shot at ISO6400, f5.6, 1/320 sec

Shot at ISO6400, f5.6, 1/320 sec

Shot at ISO6400, f5.6, 1/320 sec

Shot at ISO6400, f5.6, 1/500 sec

I find the 7D2 image quality was not as sharp and clean as my 5D3. There is a bit of softness in the images, lacking contrast even though I adjusted the contrast up in the picture profile in the camera.

The AF locking on the bird sometimes felt slower than the 5D3 despite all my setting was on focus priority. The AF sometimes missed the focus point either in front of the bird or at the back. Sometimes the single point with 4 helper points AF missed the target and I had to use the single point with 8 helper points AF instead. In my 5D3 the single points with 4 helper points AF works the best and the single point with 8 helper points AF not so good. I set the focus priority on my 5D3 and 7D2 the same, and yet I couldn't help but feel the 5D3 AF is more accurate and lock on the subject faster.

The only sharp image of this White-throated Fantail out of so many I took because the 7D2 AF could not lock on this skittish bird despite having a capable AF. The keeper rate is very low.

I finally got record shot of a Slaty-backed Forktail at about 5 meter distance in good lighting condition. However, the image is not tack sharp, a bit soft I might say. ISO3200, 1/640 sec, f5.6

ISO3200, 1/640 sec, f5.6

ISO3200, 1/640 sec, f5.6

ISO3200, 1/640 sec, f5.6

ISO3200, 1/640 sec, f5.6

Well, those are all I have to show you from this second outing with the 7D2. I took a lot of photos but due to the keeper rate is so low I have to discard a lot of unfocused shots, under exposed shots which are not worth keeping, which is due to the 7D2 limited ISO capability of only up to ISO16000 which is not usable due to noise, compared to the 5D3 native ISO of up to 25600. The highest ISO I would use for 7D2 is at ISO6400 with a bit of noise. With 5D3 I can push up to ISO12800 with a bit of noise. However, it is not fair to expect an APSC sensor to have the same ISO performance as a full frame sensor in 5D3. My biggest disappointment with the 7D2 is the soft image quality more than anything else. What did Canon do in the design of the sensor used in the 7D2? How come my 60D sensor produced better images? Is it the quality control in the production line of the 7D2 that caused this or the software algorithm designed by their engineers? What is it? Would sending my 7D2 body back to Canon for adjustment solve this issue? I just do not know yet. All I know is the results so far have not convinced me that the 7D2 can live up to my expectations. Maybe I should invest in the 1DX series instead? That is a million dollar question. Hmmmm......money again!

Until next time, happy birding. Go out there and shoot some bird photos.

Cheers.

FIRST OUTING WITH CANON 7D MARK 2

Date: 30 & 31 March 2019
Location: Frasers Hill
Mission: To test 7D2 performance

In my latest Page: My Gear Part 1 - Camera Bodies posted yesterday, i talked about the various Canon bodies i have used since 2010 up to the latest one i bought and received on 25 March 2019, the Canon 7D Mark 2. I have promised to go for an outing just to test this new body in the field and see how the AF performs in tracking and locking on birds, the ISO performance and noise issue in various lighting conditions. I just want to make a point that a 4 years old body can still be relevant for birds and wildlife photography despite not having the latest features compared to the latest offering by Canon or competitors.

My point is how you use the features in a body to maximize the performance in the field to produce good enough images for the intended purpose. I do not really need 4K features as i do not shoot 4K videos, or extract images from 4K videos. Most of my images are not meant for big prints, they are meant for my blogs which most of the time were scaled down to 1920 x 1080 pixels HD quality which is good enough for monitor viewing. For Wi-fi feature my 7D2 was shipped with a wi-fi card which i can use when the shooting is done at the end of the day.

So with that said, i drove to my favorite Frasers Hill last Saturday (30 March) to test how 7D2 performs compared to my 80D and 5D3. The immediate difference i felt was how much lighter my set up of 7D2 + 70-300mm f4 - 5.6 L lens, and 400mm f5.6 + 1.4x extender was compared to the same combination with 5D3. It was however heavier than the same combination on 80D of course, since the 80D body is made of polycarbonate resin on aluminium chasis while 7D2 was made of magnesium alloy like the 5D3.

AF PERFORMANCE:

I shot some plants and flowers for starters around 1.00p.m in bright sunlight just to see how the AF tracks and locks on the subject which is constantly blown by wind. In this condition i find that using the center AF with 4 helper points locked better on the subject than the center point with 9 helper points. I set the AF locking shutter priority to locked on for 1st and 2nd images instead of release, because there is no point in quick release and get tens of shots in a few second burst but missed the focus on the subjects. It might slowdown the burst rate of 10 frames per second as the camera is always trying to keep track and ensure focus during the burst shots. The 7D2 allows you to change how many shots you want in low continuos shot mode, i put mine to 4 shots per second.

7D2 AF did well on this flower under windy condition. This one is shot at ISO2500, f6.3 and 1/1600 sec.

7D2 focus and sharpness is way better than 80D. This one is shot at ISO3200, f6.3, 1/1600 sec

This one is shot at ISO3200, f6.3, 1/1600 sec

SHARPNESS & NOISE:

I find the 7D2 images shooting under the same lighting conditions to be much sharper than the 80D images when zoomed in. I think it is due to the different sensor design and pixel pitch of the 7D2 which is bigger than the 80D. Bigger pixel gather more light and should be less noise. The images of the 7D2 are not soft and usable even at ISO 3200. It picks details of the birds feathers quite nicely.  These images were lightly edited in Lightroom for brightness and noise reduction. I find the 7D2 starts to show noise above ISO1000 but the images are still usable up to ISO3200 with a bit of editing. If you are lazy on post-editing, you can adjust the picture mode you use in the camera on sharpness, contrast, saturation and color temperature. You can also use noise reduction filter from low, standard to high on all your images shots on high ISO.

This Chestnut-capped laughingthrush was shot at ISO1000, f5.6, 1/2000 sec under shade of a tree

This Rufescent Prinia was shot at ISO1000, f5.6, 1/1250 sec

This was shot at ISO2000, f5.6, 1/1250 sec

FOCUS IN LOW LIGHT

The 7D2 had no problems focusing on a subject in a very low lighting condition deep in the woods or almost sunset. It locked on the subject quite fast even when the subject coloratura is very dark like the bird in the photo below.

Original image converted from RAW in Lightroom. This was shot at almost sunset at the edge of the forest using ISO3200, f5.6, 1/400 sec.. The 7D2 had no problem locking focus on the subject and burst away a few shots

The same image recovered in the Lightroom by adjusting exposure and noise reduction.
I think this bird is a White-tailed Robin

This image was also recovered from a very dark original RAW file shot at ISO3200, f5.6, 1/400 sec above. It shows very good focus ability of 7D2 in the dark

This Rufous-browed Flycatcher was shot deep in the woods with heavy canopy
at ISO 4000, f5.6, 1/250 sec. The image has been edited to reduce noise as the
image at ISO 4000 had a lot of noise. However, the 7D2 did a good job of acquiring
focus in low lighting condition.

I feel the outing is too short to test all the 7D2 features. All of the shots i took were handheld without a tripod or monopod. The lens were not yet adjusted for AF micro adjustment on 7D2 as I did not have the time to do so. I think i  should go for another outing to test the 7D2 using a tripod or monopod, AF micro adjusted lens, and using flash in low light conditions to see how it performs. Maybe i should do it this weekend. I will post more images in my next post. In a nutshell, the 7D2 felt good in my hands and a joy to use, definitely better than the 80D that I have. Image quality wise it is more noisy than my full frame 5D3, but the AF performance and burst rate are better. It is lighter than 5D3 and I did not feel the same tiredness after using it the whole day.

Thanks for reading. Until then, happy birding.

RAPTOR WATCH 2019, TANJUNG TUAN, PORT DICKSON

Date: 9th March 2019
Time: Afternoon
Location: Hutan Rekreasi Tanjung Tuan

Image from Malaysian Nature Society

Finally, after years of procrastinating, I finally attended the Raptor Watch which is held annually in March at Hutan Rekreasi Tanjung Tuan, Port Dickson. It was hard to push myself to make the almost two hours drive alone from Kuala Lumpur, but I did it, slowly. Last year I went to this location, but one week after the event, hoping that the birds were still around but most of them flew back towards China or Siberia. Well I guess even the birds have to keep their schedule otherwise they will miss the spring up North, food, mating, breeding or whatever that keep them going.

Upon arriving, I noticed a lot of school buses parked along the road, hmmm...must be for the school trip for the students to learn about nature and birds. Well, that is good, we must teach our children to love and preserve the environment, flora and fauna, especially birds. The bad part was there were hundreds of them in groups, making loud noises, which for birding is a no-no. Well, I guess I just have to put up with them for just one day. Actually, it was a two days event, but I did not plan to climb the hill twice with my heavy equipments. So, I must get all the photos I could in just one session. Some more, the day was hot and humid, my session was between 11.30 a.m and 4.00 p.m only.

Entrance to Hutan Rekreasi Tanjung Tuan

There were a few stalls at the entrance to the Hutan Rekreasi Tanjung Tuan for registration with the various nature societies, promotional activities, selling books on nature and birds, souvenirs, shirts, food and drinks, very lively.

Registration for visitors

Books and souvenirs for visitors

The walk up the hill was about 500 meters to the lighthouse. Along the way up there were a few more stalls. As the bird waves usually happen in the morning up to noon, and starting again in late afternoon around 3.00p.m, people just took their time off from bird watching and browsed the stalls for souvenirs, and also food for lunch. 

Along the walk up the organiser of the event put up these banners of the species of raptors you might see flying above. I am only familiar with a few species like the Brahminy kites, Black-shouldered kites, Crested Serpent Eagles and White-Bellied Sea Eagles as per the pictures below, Blyth Hawk-eagles and Changeable Hawk-eagles.

While waiting for the next wave I decided to try the jungle track that goes downhill to the left of the lighthouse. There were a few fallen trees that cut the path along the way, and a few gazebos for resting. I heard a lot of birds high in the tree canopies but I could not see them, I guess they were hiding due to many visitors especially the noisy school kids. I also heard the screeching call of the  raptors from the top of the trees, and saw one flying but just could not just take a shot through the tree canopies. It was quite tiring to go down the track and up again carrying my gear, and I was totally drenched with sweat!

Jungle track downhill

Rest stop gazebo along the track

Yours truly totally drenched with sweat after jungle trekking.

At around 3.00 p.m I went up to the lighthouse area after 30 minutes rest. The raptors were started coming out and circling above. However, they were not as many as I expected. There were about 20 to 30 raptors circling high above the forest. I only brought my Canon 5D3 with Canon 400mm f5.6 plus Kenko 1.4x Pro DG 300 extender, giving me a 560mm focal length at f8.0. While this focal range is good enough to get a reasonable size raptor images, it is not long enough to get good details of the feathers, especially during hazy weather that day. My advice is to get a longer lens like 500mm f4 or 600mm f4 plus 1.4x extender giving a total focal range of 700mm or 840mm with a full frame body, or equivalent focal length of 1120mm or 1344mm respectively with an APSC body like 7D2.

The Lighthouse in the background

The crowd gathered on the slope waiting for the raptors to appear

Access to the Lighthouse terrace is only allowed during the Raptor Watch

No tripod to hang my gear while waiting for the raptors to appear

They came out around 3.00 p.m. (Take note of vignetting when use 1.4x extender)

Hazy weather reduces the sharpness of the photos

White-bellied Sea Eagle - juvenile?

Oriental Honey-Buzzard - Male

I stopped the session at around 4.00 p.m as I had taken a few hundred shots already, not to mention I was getting tired shooting without a tripod and gimbal head. I would advise those who are interested to go to the Raptor Watch next year to bring a tripod for sharper pictures, and also to reduce fatigue from holding your heavy set while waiting for the raptors to appear. However, having said that, carrying a heavy tripod up the hill is also a challenge, unless you drive your 4x4 up the hill, which is allowed as I have seen a few 4x4 went up all the way to the lighthouse yesterday. Also, bring the longest lens you have and shoot a lot of photos. You will be surprised that out of a few hundreds you shot only a handful are worth keeping. Use at least 1/1000 sec speed to freeze the movement, and reduce movement blur, although I sometimes shoot at 1/1600 sec or 1/2000 sec if l have enough light.

I also would like to advise all of you to dress for the hot and humid weather, and bring one or two bottles of mineral water. You will perspire a lot and you need replenishment. For birders do not forget your binoculars, at least 8x40 or higher as those birds fly quite high in the sky. 

I think the Raptor Watch is a very good event to bring exposure to our young generation about birds and preservation of their habitats, and should continue definitely. Our government and private companies should support the Malaysian Nature Society and others alike in their work to preserve the birds and their habitats, not only for the current generation but for the future too. It was quite an experience for me to attend, and I would recommend others to attend the future events.

Thank you, happy birding.