Posted by Ed Cordes on November 15, 2014 at 7:00 PM
Well I finally had a day where I could spend some time with the new 7D2. Gail and I first went to the trouble of checking the micro focus for calibration. All our lenses and lens/extender combinations were right on without need for micro adjustment.
I went outside to test the thing in real world conditions. While I do read all the reviews, I mostly care about how equipment performs in our hands making images we make. Today was a pretty good test as it was overcast and kind of cold.
The attached bird image was made with my trusty 500 F4 at ISO 1600. This is about the top we usually shoot at. We have been known to use ISO 3200 for occasional use when the lighting is really bad. Therefore, the 1600 setting was a good test of what we could expect in our “real world” setting.
The image was made in RAW. Since neither Light Room nor PS have their RAW converters set for the 7D2, I opened in Canon Digital Photo Professional. I accepted the default settings and sent the images to PS CS6 as a TIFF file and did my normal processing. I used NIK Define for noise reduction and PK Sharpener for sharpening. The gold finch image is about 40% of full frame. I would have used a 1.4 TC but I didn’t want this test to affected by any possible lens + extender combination sharpness issues.
As an aside, DPP is not ideal, for me at least. I have been spoiled by LR and can’t wait until I can smoothly incorporate my usual workflow with the new camera. I might have to upgrade to PS CC, but it will be worth it.
I did run into an issue with the AF mode changing when I didn’t want it to. With my gloves on I might have moved the back wheel unknowingly. However what happened was that I had the AF point set to center point with 4 surround assist points. On one or two occasions I noticed the AF was using a mode where the point was auto selected – not something we ever do! Getting it back is easy and fast, but it was annoying and in a critical situation may have caused a missed shot. I will have to work with the camera a bit more to see what I could have done to cause this and correct any poor positioning of my fingers.
So, there you have it. Bottom line is that this camera is excellent. Remember, it is a light weight, 1.6 crop sensor, and is “only” $1800. For this price it is really good and meets our needs well. At 20 MP (32 MP equivalent on FF) it produces large images which can be cropped a lot in post still producing images capable of being printed reasonably large. Is it perfect? I don’t think there is ever going to be a perfect camera. Too many variables and too many shooting preferences and styles.
Thanks for reading all this rambling. Hope it helps everyone understand this camera a bit better.
Ed - See more at: http://www.naturescapes.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=249565&p=2356208#p2356208
Posted by Ronald Davis on November 16, 2014 at 6:31 AM
Hi Ed:
Thanks, your info on the 7DII is what I was looking for. I use Adobe RAW with Photoshop CS6 for processing. If I bought this camera, would I be able to upgrade the software to process the 7DII RAW images, without having to buy a new version of Photoshop? I'm going on a shoot (mostly birds) to Ethiopia in January, and would buy the 7DII soon to get a little practice with it before leaving. I now use my 500 mm with 1.4x multiplier on a 7D. The biggest problem for me with this camera is noise at ISOs greater than 400. Like you, I try to avoid higher ISOs, but in some circumstances that isn't possible. (For larger/closer subjects with shorter lenses, I use a 5DIII -- a super camera, in my opinion.).
Ron Davis
Posted by Ed Cordes on November 16, 2014 at 8:51 AM
Hi Ron thanks for commenting. I am sure Adobe will soon have an update to ACR to include the 7D2. What I am not sure of is if the stand alone CS6 will get it or if we will have to go to CC. I am also concerned about Light Room. I skipped LR5 and am still using version 4. So, I am pretty sure if I want to get the full benefit of LR catalog and keyword features i will have to go to version 5 or the cloud. I was once really disappointed about Adobe going to CC but am now leaning that way to avoid the issues we are discussing.
Back to the camera, I really do like it. I was constructively corrected on another forum that the 20 MP of the 7D2 is really the equivalent of 52 MP on a full frame. Those pixels on the subject are wonderful. In addition to the above my wife and I both notice that the camera is much quieter and very responsive with easy, fast shutter button pushing. We use back button AF so we avoid some premature shutter release images doing a shutter 1/2 press. RE AF there is a Canon white paper which is a must read to learn how to set it up for you and get the most out of it.
Enjoy Ethiopia.
Posted by Ron Dudley on November 19, 2014 at 7:31 PM
Adobe has now updated ACR to support the Mark 2. And yes, it works with the stand alone version of CS6. Happy Days!
Here's a nice image management program that works very well. It's called Photo Supreme from IDImager Systems.. It works on Win and Mac, and readily imports LR keywords. It's worth a look if you want to stay with LR 4 and use ACR in CS6.
--P
Posted by Ed Cordes on November 19, 2014 at 11:00 PM
Discussion
5 repliesI went outside to test the thing in real world conditions. While I do read all the reviews, I mostly care about how equipment performs in our hands making images we make. Today was a pretty good test as it was overcast and kind of cold.
The attached bird image was made with my trusty 500 F4 at ISO 1600. This is about the top we usually shoot at. We have been known to use ISO 3200 for occasional use when the lighting is really bad. Therefore, the 1600 setting was a good test of what we could expect in our “real world” setting.
The image was made in RAW. Since neither Light Room nor PS have their RAW converters set for the 7D2, I opened in Canon Digital Photo Professional. I accepted the default settings and sent the images to PS CS6 as a TIFF file and did my normal processing. I used NIK Define for noise reduction and PK Sharpener for sharpening. The gold finch image is about 40% of full frame. I would have used a 1.4 TC but I didn’t want this test to affected by any possible lens + extender combination sharpness issues.
As an aside, DPP is not ideal, for me at least. I have been spoiled by LR and can’t wait until I can smoothly incorporate my usual workflow with the new camera. I might have to upgrade to PS CC, but it will be worth it.
I did run into an issue with the AF mode changing when I didn’t want it to. With my gloves on I might have moved the back wheel unknowingly. However what happened was that I had the AF point set to center point with 4 surround assist points. On one or two occasions I noticed the AF was using a mode where the point was auto selected – not something we ever do! Getting it back is easy and fast, but it was annoying and in a critical situation may have caused a missed shot. I will have to work with the camera a bit more to see what I could have done to cause this and correct any poor positioning of my fingers.
So, there you have it. Bottom line is that this camera is excellent. Remember, it is a light weight, 1.6 crop sensor, and is “only” $1800. For this price it is really good and meets our needs well. At 20 MP (32 MP equivalent on FF) it produces large images which can be cropped a lot in post still producing images capable of being printed reasonably large. Is it perfect? I don’t think there is ever going to be a perfect camera. Too many variables and too many shooting preferences and styles.
Thanks for reading all this rambling. Hope it helps everyone understand this camera a bit better.
Ed - See more at: http://www.naturescapes.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=249565&p=2356208#p2356208
Thanks, your info on the 7DII is what I was looking for. I use Adobe RAW with Photoshop CS6 for processing. If I bought this camera, would I be able to upgrade the software to process the 7DII RAW images, without having to buy a new version of Photoshop? I'm going on a shoot (mostly birds) to Ethiopia in January, and would buy the 7DII soon to get a little practice with it before leaving. I now use my 500 mm with 1.4x multiplier on a 7D. The biggest problem for me with this camera is noise at ISOs greater than 400. Like you, I try to avoid higher ISOs, but in some circumstances that isn't possible. (For larger/closer subjects with shorter lenses, I use a 5DIII -- a super camera, in my opinion.).
Ron Davis
Back to the camera, I really do like it. I was constructively corrected on another forum that the 20 MP of the 7D2 is really the equivalent of 52 MP on a full frame. Those pixels on the subject are wonderful. In addition to the above my wife and I both notice that the camera is much quieter and very responsive with easy, fast shutter button pushing. We use back button AF so we avoid some premature shutter release images doing a shutter 1/2 press. RE AF there is a Canon white paper which is a must read to learn how to set it up for you and get the most out of it.
Enjoy Ethiopia.
Here's a nice image management program that works very well. It's called Photo Supreme from IDImager Systems.. It works on Win and Mac, and readily imports LR keywords. It's worth a look if you want to stay with LR 4 and use ACR in CS6.
--P