Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

I just took the plunge and purchased a Canon 1D Mark IV. I like my 7D too. However, the ability to use autofocus with my 1.4 X extender (still an advantage despite the lower 1.3 X crop factor for the Mark IV) coupled with the improved low light sensitivity were particularly important to me. I'm learning to use the camera now. Here is my first posting using it.

There is less bird variety around here these days. I see many cardinals. The female in this image struck me as being particularly attractive. There are some "extra" branches around in this image. However, I think they add realism without being too distracting.

I decided to treat this image with the same process workflow as my 7D images: including NR, exposure touch ups and sharpening. I tailor the post processing to the image. As you would expect, the 1D Mark IV images require less intense processing and my impression is that this camera's less noisy pixels are easier for the software to deal with for whatever processing is applied.

All comments most welcome.

1D Mark IV, 400 mm, 1.4 X Extender: ISO 400, 1/640 S, f/10, -1/3EV, usual NR, exposure adjustment, sharpening). This image is 5.4 MP after cropping.