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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Canon 7D Mk II is announced and available for pre-order (1 Viewer)

The courage to make a bank transfer and save a further 5%?

Bear in mind this is a grey import from Hong Kong and legally you will be obligated to pay VAT on top, but Panamoz claim the price is inclusive so if you get stung or volunteer to pay you will need to seek redress.
 
The courage to make a bank transfer and save a further 5%?

Bear in mind this is a grey import from Hong Kong and legally you will be obligated to pay VAT on top, but Panamoz claim the price is inclusive so if you get stung or volunteer to pay you will need to seek redress.

Thanks for clarifying that. They don't mention anything about grey imports and that's no doubt why they offer a 3 year manufacturer's guarantee. I'm tempted to get the 18-135 kit lens with it for only £204 more. WEX are selling the same lens for £359.
 
I will be interested in how much hdew will be charging once they get stock - I would guess £1150-£1199 (ish).
 
As of 15 minutes ago I possess a 7D Mk II.

It'll be tomorrow before I get to use it (light fading already in a heavy autumn overcast), but two things stand out immediately.

1. The computer USB connection cable doesn't have the standard connection at the camera end - it's a sort of double plug, so no more just leaving a standard USB cable plugged into the computer to plug into any camera that I happen to be using. The 7D II is fussy in that respect.

2. To avoid waiting to charge the battery I took the charged battery out of my 7D (which happened to be a generic battery) . I got the message that the camera couldn't communicate with the battery and a OK/Cancel window popped up to ask if I wanted to continue with the battery anyway. I switched off, took out the generic battery and inserted my old Canon 7D battery instead.

The generic battery issue will need further examination once I'm up and running.

I get exactly the same with non OEM batteries on my 1DX. Just tell the camera to shut up and get on with it! The non OEM batteries for my camera have only about 70% of the capacity of the Canon originals, but they are about 10% of the price, so it's a bit of a no brainer really.
 
Thanks for clarifying that. They don't mention anything about grey imports and that's no doubt why they offer a 3 year manufacturer's guarantee. I'm tempted to get the 18-135 kit lens with it for only £204 more. WEX are selling the same lens for £359.

Quote from Panamoz website:

2. Are there any hidden charges?

Not at all. Our prices are all inclusive. What you see is what you get. You will not be charged any credit card or PayPal processing fees. In addition, all import and customs charges will be covered by us fully, and will be billed to our shipping account directly. You will not be billed.

I haven't dealt with them myself but they claim there will be no additional expenses.
 
Quote from Panamoz website:

2. Are there any hidden charges?

Not at all. Our prices are all inclusive. What you see is what you get. You will not be charged any credit card or PayPal processing fees. In addition, all import and customs charges will be covered by us fully, and will be billed to our shipping account directly. You will not be billed.

I haven't dealt with them myself but they claim there will be no additional expenses.

Oh yes, thanks for pointing this out.
 
A few shots from today with the new toy and it must be said that the conditions were challenging to say the least. Any other day I'd have stayed in the house. There was a heavy low overcast all morning, combined with a general murkiness. After lunchtime the sun made a half-hearted attempt at breaking through the cloud, but there was always a veil of cloud, sometimes thicker, sometimes thinner, never clear.

Shot 1. The mallard was on a river shaded by high trees on the banks. Heavy cloud. ISO 800. Lightened a bit with levels to correct underexposure. Some sharpening, light noise reduction in Neat Image.

Shot 2. Even worse conditions. The cloud if anything was thicker and the bullfinch was sitting in deeper shade on the lower branches of a tree. ISO 3200, some camera shake at 1/320 sec. About the same sharpening and noise reduction as on the mallard.

Shot 3. The light was slightly better for the gull, but only just. ISO 400.

Shot 4. The curlew came straight over the hide I was in. The viewing slot limited my action, but I managed to keep on it for a few shots. ISO 500.

Shot 5. This was as good as the light got. The mute swan was being its bullying self, but the whooper was having none of it and saw the mute off. ISO 400.

All shots were on Single Point Spot or Single Point focussing and all cropped, particularly the bullfinch, which was rather shy.

Lets hope for better conditions tomorrow.
 

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A few shots from today with the new toy and it must be said that the conditions were challenging to say the least. Any other day I'd have stayed in the house. There was a heavy low overcast all morning, combined with a general murkiness. After lunchtime the sun made a half-hearted attempt at breaking through the cloud, but there was always a veil of cloud, sometimes thicker, sometimes thinner, never clear.

Shot 1. The mallard was on a river shaded by high trees on the banks. Heavy cloud. ISO 800. Lightened a bit with levels to correct underexposure. Some sharpening, light noise reduction in Neat Image.

Shot 2. Even worse conditions. The cloud if anything was thicker and the bullfinch was sitting in deeper shade on the lower branches of a tree. ISO 3200, some camera shake at 1/320 sec. About the same sharpening and noise reduction as on the mallard.

Shot 3. The light was slightly better for the gull, but only just. ISO 400.

Shot 4. The curlew came straight over the hide I was in. The viewing slot limited my action, but I managed to keep on it for a few shots. ISO 500.

Shot 5. This was as good as the light got. The mute swan was being its bullying self, but the whooper was having none of it and saw the mute off. ISO 400.

All shots were on Single Point Spot or Single Point focussing and all cropped, particularly the bullfinch, which was rather shy.

Lets hope for better conditions tomorrow.

Without knowing what lens and how much you cropped the shots it's difficult to judge. If they are big crops than single point possibly isn't the best to choose. As yet you haven't challenged the ISO capabilities other than shot 2 so the jury is very much out still.
 
They were taken with the 400/F5.6

And on the basis of taking what shots I could in crap conditions on one day, I wouldn't expect the jury to be anything other than out. They are illustrations, not a report and I'm making no claims.

Here are the full frame jpegs (I use RAW + S jpeg), unedited other than resizing. Judge the crops for yourself.
 

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The point is that you were shooting in crap conditions with a 7D - I don't think you would have done that with the Mk1!
Happy new camera, it looks like a significant upgrade - keep us posted.
 
There is an online calculator for import tax which allows you a fixed number of uses before charging for the service. I used it when I bought my SX50 and I believe there is no import duty on cameras - I could be imagining it but think that's right. You are definitely liable for VAT though if it hasnt been paid.

Not trying to discourage anybody just sharing info :t:
 
My arrived this evening. The menu system is very different to the 7D, the first week or 2 will see me blundering around (I don't have an English printed manual).

The weather forecast is terrible the next 2 or 3 days but hopefully I can go out and post some shots.

In the meantime a SOOC shot at ISO 1600.
 

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Another selection in better light this morning. The swan caught me by surprise. I forgot to change the settings (shooting in manual) and the highlights blew out on on the breast beneath the wing. 1/1600 sec at ISO 400. The swan should have been 1/2000.

The sun went in at mid-day so I went home to watch the football. A good move as it turned out.
 

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Another selection in better light this morning. The swan caught me by surprise. I forgot to change the settings (shooting in manual) and the highlights blew out on on the breast beneath the wing. 1/1600 sec at ISO 400. The swan should have been 1/2000.

The sun went in at mid-day so I went home to watch the football. A good move as it turned out.

They look good, the fine spot AF would have been ideal for the Water Rail in all that reed.
Have you tried the Auto Iso feature and can you add EV when in manual ? The easy way is to use the Q button, select and use the main dial to lighten or darken your shots.The top dial is used for bracketing.
The 1DX allows this feature but the 5D3 doesn't.
What does the silent shutter sound like and how good is the multiple shot mode in silent ?
Wish I had gone out with the camera instead of watching the match. Liverpool were dire again.
 
The normal shutter sound is, I believe quieter than the 7D, although I've not done a direct comparison (correction. I've just done a comparison and the 7DII normal shutter is quieter than the 7D). The 'silent' shutter is very quiet - almost like the sound you can dial into a bridge camera to let you know a picture has been taken.

I was using Auto ISO with TV for some of my shots in poor light yesterday. If I'd had my wits about me this morning I'd have rolled the shutter speed using the top dial to 1/2000 or even 1/2500 for the swan, but I'd forgotten I'd changed it to 1/1600 for the rail and some other less reflective stuff.

I tried to do a noise comparison with the two cameras yesterday morning in poor light, but the subject I chose was a bad one - a tree trunk. Unfortunately when I got home I realised that the trunk had too much texture to be much use for the purpose, so I'll maybe use a brick wall or something else plain and try again.

What was interesting in that experiment was that at all ISOs that I used (400, 800, 1600, 3200 and 6400), the 7DII gave lighter images than the 7D. I don't know if this is normal to the sensors, or if it was just my camera, but all photos were taken on AV auto with the same aperture, tripod mounted with the lens fixed on a particular blemish on the bark. I changed the camera bodies over without disturbing the lens. (edit, I've just pulled a couple of the shots from the recycle bin and the 7D opted for 1/400 sec, while the 7D chose 1/500. Both in similar light and both in this example at F5.6 ISO 3200 (see below) The same thing happened at all other ISOs).

I believe you can add EV compensation in manual, but I've not tried it. I tend just to adjust the shutter speed or ISO to get the same effect. I can do the former without moving my eye from the viewfinder.
 

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