canon 7D or T2i (1 Viewer)

[owl4one]

Hi all. I've purchased a canon 300mm L 4 IS lens, but I'm using an old canon rebel XT. My pics don't seem to be as sharp as I'd like them (this certainly could be "user error," as I'm fairly new). I'd like to upgrade, and was wondering if the T2i will be sufficient or is the 7D that much better? I'm primarily interrested in bird photography, both "still" and flying. Is the 7D's primary edge a faster focusing system? Will it provider sharper pics? Since I'm not a pro, I'd sacrifice a few missed shots due to focus speed if it meant saving 1/2 price on the camera. Thanks for any feedback!

 

[Kevin Conville]

After buying an EF400 f5.6 and using it on my XT, I also wasn't getting consistent results in the form of soft focus. After googling a bit I came across the much controversial front-or-back focus issue associated with longer Canon lenses. On the XT I did the "mirror box" adjustment which takes time and patience but corrected the front focus the 400 exhibited on the XT. This adjustment also caused my EF70-200 and EF-S60 to back focus. Clearly this isn't an elegant solution to this problem.

I read about MFA (micro focus adjust) which the 50D, 7D, and all other xD series cameras have, BUT not the 60D or any of the Rebels. After borrowing my neighbor's 50D and testing the MFA with both my 400 and 70-200 I became convinced this isn't a luxury, but a necessity. The MFA will remember up to 20 different lenses and every time you replace a lens, the body knows what to do with it. Pretty cool.

In addition to having MFA, the focus system is far superior to the Rebel series. The Servo mode on the 7D works well and isn't just something to fill out a spec sheet as in the Rebel series. This is what you want for those birds in flight.

You also get 1/8000 instead of 1/4000 shutter speed over the Rebel, and very fast frames per second when you need them.

There are lots of other little features and handling advantages the 7D has over the Rebel that make it a more satisfying photographic tool. Overall I think it's the best choice for the birding photographer amongst Canon's line.

Take a bit of time and look into the front-back focus I mention above. Some would claim it is mythology but I've proven to myself it is not.

Cheers,
Kevin

added: I forgot to mention that I bought the 7D

 

[Nikon Kid]

The 7d is a great camera, but more importantly get closer, aim for 1000/1 sec perched birds 2000/1 sec BIF

 

[h14nha]

Hi all. I've purchased a canon 300mm L 4 IS lens, but I'm using an old canon rebel XT. My pics don't seem to be as sharp as I'd like them (this certainly could be "user error," as I'm fairly new). I'd like to upgrade, and was wondering if the T2i will be sufficient or is the 7D that much better? I'm primarily interrested in bird photography, both "still" and flying. Is the 7D's primary edge a faster focusing system? Will it provider sharper pics? Since I'm not a pro, I'd sacrifice a few missed shots due to focus speed if it meant saving 1/2 price on the camera. Thanks for any feedback!

I went from a 450d/XSi to a 7d. I chose to change for primarily 2 reasons,

1) frames per second - from 3.6 to 8 is a huge jump. Some people frown on the 'spray and pray' technique, but, with bird photography the subject sometimes doesn't hang around for long. When its gone its gone. You will find with twice as many shots to choose from, your 'keepers' will improve.

2) My walk around ISO setting on my 450d/XSi was 400. When I had to push it to maintain my shutter speed, I hated the noise ISO 1600 produced. With my 7d my walkaround setting is 1250. I have no fears in pushing it higher if the light levels drop when I'm out.

Your XT can produce great images, but, your keepers will increase with a higher frame rate, better ISO capabilities and a superior auto focus system. What lens did you have previously ? Did you expect your images to improve when you bought the 300f4 ? I did when I bought my 100-400. Instead I was forced into learning the camera and lens from scratch.

I love bird photography too. What I learned is you have to be CLOSE CLOSE CLOSE to get great feather detail. No lens or camera will can improve upon that. Don't forget post processing and the effect that will have on improving your images too. If you can find reasons to spend out for a 7d then go ahead. Its a lot of money to find out that the problem is you and a thousand pounds doesn't resolve your issues.

What modes are you using on you XT ? What is your ISO settings ? What shutter speeds are you getting ? How close are you to the birds ? Are you using any support on your camera/lens ? Are you cropping heavily ? If you can give us answers to these, then perhaps we can help you to improve your shots.

These are 2 shots from last week. The first is straight out of camera, no processing except resizing for the web. The second is after some work in Lightroom 3. It was shot in low light at ISO 2500 from about 15 foot away. You must get the bird as large as possible in the frame to give yourself the best chance of zooming in and re-sizing and retaining detail.

Hope I've helped you somewhat :h?:
Regards.
Ian

 

[owl4one]

Thanks for your tips and questions, Ian.

The 300 f4 L is my first long lens. I read that it can produce some very sharp, clear images, so I wanted to get a lens that I could grow into and improve with. I’m doing a lot of experimenting with shutter speeds and apertures etc. I’m using aperture priority a lot, and hope to do more complete manual shooting.

I don’t have any special post processing programs just yet. I’m starting to use the canon programs that came with the camera, doing a lot of trimming/cropping, and tweaking saturation, brightness, etc.

I find that even with my back yard birds, where I might be 25-30 feet away, my shots aren’t as clear and sharp as I would expect. I’m using f4 and getting nice depth of field but that minute detail I see in other photographer’s pics is not there yet. I’m trying to keep ISO down hoping that will help- 400 to 800- maybe that’s incorrect? An I guess I need to try to get even closer to my subject.

I’m thinking about a 1.4 extender to see if that helps.

It’s all been very fun and has helped me get out in the field more- now I want to improve my skills and hopefully see better results!

Mike

I went from a 450d/XSi to a 7d. I chose to change for primarily 2 reasons,

1) frames per second - from 3.6 to 8 is a huge jump. Some people frown on the 'spray and pray' technique, but, with bird photography the subject sometimes doesn't hang around for long. When its gone its gone. You will find with twice as many shots to choose from, your 'keepers' will improve.

2) My walk around ISO setting on my 450d/XSi was 400. When I had to push it to maintain my shutter speed, I hated the noise ISO 1600 produced. With my 7d my walkaround setting is 1250. I have no fears in pushing it higher if the light levels drop when I'm out.

Your XT can produce great images, but, your keepers will increase with a higher frame rate, better ISO capabilities and a superior auto focus system. What lens did you have previously ? Did you expect your images to improve when you bought the 300f4 ? I did when I bought my 100-400. Instead I was forced into learning the camera and lens from scratch.

I love bird photography too. What I learned is you have to be CLOSE CLOSE CLOSE to get great feather detail. No lens or camera will can improve upon that. Don't forget post processing and the effect that will have on improving your images too. If you can find reasons to spend out for a 7d then go ahead. Its a lot of money to find out that the problem is you and a thousand pounds doesn't resolve your issues.

What modes are you using on you XT ? What is your ISO settings ? What shutter speeds are you getting ? How close are you to the birds ? Are you using any support on your camera/lens ? Are you cropping heavily ? If you can give us answers to these, then perhaps we can help you to improve your shots.

These are 2 shots from last week. The first is straight out of camera, no processing except resizing for the web. The second is after some work in Lightroom 3. It was shot in low light at ISO 2500 from about 15 foot away. You must get the bird as large as possible in the frame to give yourself the best chance of zooming in and re-sizing and retaining detail.

Hope I've helped you somewhat :h?:
Regards.
Ian

 

[Cardamom Pod]

I would suggest a blind to get closer to your backyard birds. Also, I have the XSi/450D, which is 2 generations ahead of your xt, and I don't exactly love noise levels even at iso 400, so I would really try to use the lowest level you can. A tripod would help with that, but then bird movement can still blur a shot, so maybe the 7d with its excellent high iso would be a good next step. Also, a 1.4x extender would definitely be a good idea no matter what you decide about a new body.