7D around the Harbor

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I took the 7D and 70-200mm IS f2.8 for an early morning walk around the beach and harbor hoping for a few good shots in addition to a practice session. The image above was the very first shot and is the in-camera JPEG. I’ve decided that I prefer the “Landscape” profile instead of the “Standard” profile. The difference as indicated by the menu is only one more notch of sharpness for Landscape but it seems to me that there are additional differences. Anyway, all these shots were taken with the Landscape profile.

Although the sky was rapidly brightening, a part of the harbor was still somewhat dark so I was tinkering with various ISO, aperture and shutter speeds. A few birds were flying so I increased the shutter speed to 1/800 and tried my hand at BIF (which I learned only recently is “Bird in Flight”!) without much success. The shot below was taken at ISO 400, f8 and 1/800 using AI Servo. Unfortunately, it is about 2 stops underexposed so I decided to push the exposure in the recently released ACR 5.6 RAW converter. The result was quite noisy so Noiseware was applied to reduce the noise. The resulting cropped shot below probably represents ¼ the original image size. Not very good but at least somewhat usable.





Later that morning, I came across some fishermen cleaning their catch and attracting many Brown Pelicans. This became a very active shooting session with many quick shots and much movement. All in all, I was more satisfied with the 7D than with my own skills.

The shots above and below would be more impressive if cropped but give an idea of the scene quickly developing in front of me. I was literally just swinging the 7D to my eye and pressing the shutter button.

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7D: White Pelicans at LSU

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Adjoining Louisiana State University are several small man-made lakes and one larger lake, University Lake. Apparently these lakes were dredged from swampland many years ago. University Lake has a nice walking path – about 4 or 5 miles around, I think. University Lake is a also good place to try new photo gear. One of my favorite photos was taken here. I finally got a chance to try the 7D with the 15-85mm at the lake and got the shot above plus a few ducks. Then the pelicans returned.

White Pelicans are sometimes seen during the late fall in these lakes. Apparently the LSU lakes are a convenient stop-over on the migratory path from Canada to South America.

The White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) is a large bird some four to 6 feet tall with a wing span up to nine feet. Although predominately white, their wing tips are black and their bill is orange.

These large birds are graceful in flight but, unlike the Brown Pelican, do not dive for food. Instead of diving, White Pelicans work together to gather fish while swimming. Watching a flock of White Pelicans swimming, it is easy to imagine that they are herding fish! Each bird is said to need about four pounds of fish daily.

White Pelicans are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1972.

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Rethinking DOF

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For my 7D, I’m recalibrating myself when setting the aperture. One of the complaints – or benefits – of my G9 was the extreme depth of field that was in focus. In fact, getting a blurred background was a challenge when using the G9. Further, because the sweet spot for the G9 was around f4, my choice was usually f4 or so. After two years of primarily using the G9, this choice became habitual.

For the same f-stop, the depth of field with the 7D is considerably less than the G9. For this shot, I was using the 7D with 15-85mm lens set at 70mm and f8. This image was down sampled from the in-camera JPEG. From roughly six feet away, the depth of field is only about seven inches. I focused on the face but clearly the hand is not in focus even in this downsized image. With my G9 at f8, the depth of field (for the same image size) would have been about 22 inches. Even with my G9 at f4, the depth of field would have been about 10 inches.

I’m not particularly bothered by the hand being out of focus here; in fact, that’s OK. I do wish the little bird were a little better focused though. The slightly upward and left-right angle of this shot puts the bird at the edge of focus and a bit soft. I should have shot this one at f11 or even f16 and focused more towards the beard. The depth of field at f16 would have been (coincidentally) 16 inches.

I knew to use higher f-stop numbers with the 7D but habits are hard to break.
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7D Review

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DPreview has posted its review of the Canon 7D. I'm glad I got mine!
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7D and LensAlign

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One of the intriguing features of the 7D is that it can be fine-tuned to match individual lenses. This feature is called AF (for Auto Focus) Microadjustment. Of course, the argument can be (and is) made that such adjustment should not be necessary; however, I’m glad that the 7D has this capability. It just makes sense to me that tolerance stack-up can become a problem as various lenses are matched to various cameras.

On the 7D, AF Microadjustment is made through the custom function menu (the next to last menu shown) as C. Fn III-5. The instructions for making this adjustment begin by stating that this adjustment is not normally required – a comforting thought. There are three basic settings: 0) Disable 1) Adjust all by same amount and 2) Adjust by lens. The default setting is Disable. Go a little deeper into that menu and there is an adjustment scale ranging from -20 to + 20; the default is 0. But how does one know the correct setting?

Basically, the AF Microadjustment is made by trial and error: Take a picture, check the focus, make an adjustment, take another picture, etc. The LensAlign devices are handy when making these adjustments.

Along with my 7D, I bought the Canon 50mm f1.8 prime lens. This is an inexpensive lens that has a good reputation; however, I was very disappointed in my copy. I finally realized that it simply was not focusing properly. That’s when I bought the LensAlign Lite system shown above. In fact, the photo shown above is cropped from a shot made with the 50mm at f1.8. (The 50mm is still soft wide open but gets considerably better about f5.6 or so.)

There’s no point in my going through detailed instructions about LensAlign as instructions are readily available from the RawWorkflow site. Suffice it to say that the LensAlign Lite kit consists of a vertical target and an angled scale. After aligning the camera to the target using a mirror, the mirror is removed and a picture taken of the target using single point autofocus. As seen in the photo above, when focused on the target, my 50mm was actually focused in front of the target.

Instead of exactly following instructions, I simply ran the microadjustment range from -20 to + 20 while the camera was mounted on the tripod. I then examined the images on my computer screen using BreezeBrowser which conveniently displays the AF adjustment for each photo.

The photo below was made using the 50mm with a -10 AF adjustment.

and the image below was made with a setting of +20

I finally settled on a +15 adjustment for the 50mm. Other adjustments with my own 7D were:

Canon 85mm f1.8 at +10
Canon 18-55mm at 0
Canon 70-200mm at -5
Canon 100-400mm at 0

I’ve also tested a Canon 28-135mm but can’t quite find the happy place for the adjustment. I’ll probably keep it at 0 and continue to call it “soft”.

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G11 Review at Luminous Landscape

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At the Luminous Landscape site (one of my favorites), Michael Reichmann gives his hands-on report on the G11. He makes comparisons to the G10, especially with respect to noise, and also to the Panasonic GF1.
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Rural Life Museum

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Within Baton Rouge, the Rural Life Museum is several hundred acres of farm land donated to Louisiana State University by the Burden family in 1964. The museum still includes farm land and flower gardens used by LSU as well as a collection of buildings and artifacts from the 1800s. It is a great place to visit and photograph. I often go there when trying out new photography gear or techniques. One of my favorite photos, made with HDR techniques, was taken at Rural Life Museum.

It was time to take the 7D to Rural Life Museum for a practice session. This was to be a simple session using only one lens (Canon 28-135mm), no flash and no tripod. Since many of the rooms and cabins are unlit, this would be a challenge and would require high ISO sensitivity. Also, I wanted to photograph some scenes having extreme dynamic ranges. Finally, I decided to emphasize the in-camera JPEG (“standard” settings) of the 7D.

The top picture of this post was taken at -1 exposure compensation (from ISO 100, 1/80, Av mode at f5.6) but the grass at left front is still a bit overexposed. The histogram is quite full. This would probably be a good candidate for HDR but I didn’t bracket.

The scene below is an interior shot of a reconstructed school room. The 7D was set for ISO 3200, Av mode yielded an exposure of 1/50, f4.5.

Here’s another shot with very bright and dark areas; ISO 100, Av mode at f8, 1/200 second, -1 exposure compensation.

Another ISO 3200 shot below using manual exposure at f5, 1/25 second inside one of the cabins.

All in all, a good practice session and a pleasant afternoon.

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