Conowingo Dam-Bald Eagle Photography:Canon 7D

Mature Bald Eagle: Canon 7D 500mmF4

On Friday, February 19th, Coy Hill of Country Captures and I traveled to Conowingo Dam northeast of Baltimore, Md. to check out the reports of good Bald Eagle photographic opportunities there.

Conowingo Dam: Canon 30D-17-40mm

Coy Checks Out The 500mmF4-Canon 30D-17-40mm

While this is not the peak season for eagle sightings, we did see at least four different birds. One perched in a tree near a parking area for several hours, and gave several photographers the opportunity to take close-up portrait shots.

Photographing Eagle In Tree: Canon 30D-17-40mm

While I still use the Canon XL-H1 for most of my serious wildlife filming, I find that I am turning more and more to the Canon 7D DSLR for that purpose and I used it extensively on this trip. It does not have the long range ability of the XL-H1, but it does deliver beautiful footage. It is difficult to focus in video mode as one must use the LCD and it is difficult to see plainly in bright sunlight. I recently purchased the "Zacuto Finder" an add-on viewfinder which clips onto the LCD and makes it somewhat like a traditional camcorder viewfinder. This makes the camera much more effective in video mode.

Filming Eagle With Canon 7D: 100-400mm L lens, With Zacuto Finder

I hope to post either some sample clips taken with the 7D or a short film on winter wildlife in the very near future, which will use footage taken entirely with this camera.

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