Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
still yes as the 7D2 AF's up to f8.
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Canon 7D Mk II is announced and available for pre-order (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Ashraf Kotb
- Start date
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
That's nice BW, I have had some reasonable shots with the 400/5.6 + 1.4x tc but the single AF point (+4 assist) can be very restrictive I find.
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
I wonder why they call it silent Rob as non of them are silent for sure - would be better if they described them as Quite mode I reckon lol.
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
Jes :eek!: I doubt if I could even manage 4 yards with that let alone 4 miles. How good are these cotton carriers, would you say they are more comfortable than a Black rapid for something like the 7D2 and 100-400.
boingbirder
Active member
Thanks Roy and BW for the confirmation. And apologies for getting the name wrong (Barred Wobbler).
Cheers
John
Cheers
John
Barred Wobbler
Well-known member
I find that its biggest drawback is the fact that you're limited to focusing at the centre of the frame without, for instance the ability to move the focus point higher to take advantage of the eye as a focus point on a bird that's quite close.
It's a choice of focusing on the centre and hoping for the best or focusing on the centre, then recomposing before pressing the shutter in the often folorn hope that the bird will hold the pose while you faff about.
Here's a more recent one. This one was last week. It was a fine day, so I spent the day wandering around with the 1.4 fixed and managed to get quite a few reasonable shots.
Attachments
Using Back Button for af would solve that restriction I think. Roy can confirm I guess.
Phil
Barred Wobbler
Well-known member
No it wouldn't. I use back button all the time. The active autofocus is limited to the centre spot and four surrounding spots when using the teleconverter.
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
As previous mentioned I too find it restrictive being limited to the centre point only. Centre point is fine when the bird is small in the frame as you can always crop to suit the right composition. But when the bird is large in the frame as you say its a matter of hoping that the birds eye/head is along the same focal plain as as the point that you have focused on OR recomposing after focusing on the eye/head which even if the bird stays absolutely still is not ideal because recomposing can lose the focus point anyway.
The answer is buy a f4 or faster lens or a longer focal length to begin with :eek!:
Barred Wobbler
Well-known member
My new Sigma seems to fill that slot - at least on the focal length aspect. I can't get it to be happy with the Canon MkIII 1.4x teleconverter though. I think I might have an inherent problem with the telecon.
I had to microadjust the camera to -14 to get shots in focus with the 400/5.6 and when I tried it out the other day with the Sigma it still seemed to be rear-focusing at the maximum adjustment of -20. The body is fine with both bare lenses, with only modest microadjustment with the Sigma and none with the Canon, but putting the extender on sends the focus off the map.
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
I have just got the Sigma 150-600 'C' and I have only briefly played around with with a tc (canon 1.4x MkII) but was surprised at the AF speed considering it is at f9. I have yet to test out the IQ with it though - it could well need some AFMA. On the 7D2 my 400/5.6 is fine with the bare lens but with the 1.4x tc it has -7 AFMA so it could be a similar case with the Siggy.
Dave Williams
Well-known member
But then you want to stick a 2x tc on the lens Roy and you are back to square one.
Nick Leech
Well-known member
...gimme more reach, more reach...... LOL
Ooops misread!
Barred Wobbler
Well-known member
Joe52
Well-known member
A cracking set Isaac :t:
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
Yep you are right Dave, in bird photography one could always do with more reach no matter what lens you have 8-P
Sorry Dave, but I must disagree with you on the subject of Jays. If I swing my lens onto them then they are gone! If I am well positioned beforehand then they pretty much ignore my very noisy 1 DX at about 7 meters or a little less - even in machine gun mode!
On Jays I have found that any movement is a lost opportunity, a noisy camera is just noisy!
I must agree though that I would prefer it to be quieter - but this is for Human considerations - wildlife couldn't care less. So far!!!!!!!!!!
petemorris
Well-known member
Surely you can use your thumb to focus, take your thumb off, recompose and fire the shutter. I thought this was the major benefit of back button focus?
Barred Wobbler
Well-known member
Surely that's what I described that I had to do in the absence of variable focus points in my post above.
It's a benefit, but sometimes not as good as being able to select a different focus point. As I described in that post, birds move and time is of the essence.
