Well, I tried to withstand the temptation, but face it my
main interest is wildlife photography and filming and I am almost as
interested in the tools of the trade as in the actual filming and
photographing, so at the end of the day I just had to try the new Canon
7D MK II that so many are raving about. It arrived late Tuesday
evening--too late for any shooting.
Wednesday morning
was the first opportunity to use the camera. There was no chance to
micro-adjust it with any of the lenses before pressing it into
action.but this is no worse than using a camera that does not have the
micro-adjustment feature so I went ahead and used it to photograph
whitetail deer with the 70-200mm f2.8 L IS II.
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| Whitetail Doe: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS II @200mm - ISO 1600-1/400 sec.-f 4.0 |
On my way
out to photograph that afternoon I used the camera with the 24-105mm
lens to take some scenic shots and it worked well for this purpose.
 |
| Canon 7D MK II-Canon 24-105mm f4 L IS @24mm - ISO 100-1/25 sec.-f 8.0 |
It was brutally cold that afternoon, but nonetheless I
set up the equipment and micro-adjusted the camera with the 500mm F 4.0
lens. As it turned out it needed to be adjusted -5, which is the same
amount the 5D MK III requires with this lens
 |
| Canon: 7D MK II-Canon 500mm F 4.0 |
.
Now it was
time to try it on some wildlife and I turned my attention to the nearby
bird feeder, where the usual assortment of winter birds was busily
feeding. As it was getting late and I was primarily interested in the
low-light performance of the camera, I used ISO speeds ranging from
640--6400 and the ones posted today are taken at 1600 and 6400. Also I
shot with the lens completely wide open to verify if the
micro-adjustment was successful.
 |
| Female Cardinal: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 500mm f 4.0L IS - ISO 1600-1/320 sec.-f 4.0 |
 |
| Female Cardinal: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 500mm f 4.0L IS - ISO 6400-1/1000 sec.-f 4.0 |
|
Experienced photographers will note that I could
have successfully used slower shutter speeds and therefore have used a
lower ISO which should have given somewhat better images, but the reason
I shot at the speeds I did was to get an idea of the cameras' potential
at high speeds. This is still not the best test of high ISO
performance though as even very high ISO settings will likely look much
better in better quality light than they do in murky, dim light. I also
want to point out that all of the images with the exception of the
scenic shot are cropped a moderate amount, which also influences image
quality.
The last photograph for today is one taken
with the old 7D on the day before the MK II came. This is in ideal
light conditions and the photo is cropped a moderate amount.
 |
| White-throated Sparrow: Canon Original 7D -Canon 500mm f 4.0L IS - ISO 1600-1/400 sec.-f 4.0 |
This post is not presented as proof of any particular
point of view, but simply to show what I have gotten from the 7D MK II
to date with a limited amount of shooting. I like the solid
professional feel of the camera, the performance of the auto-focus
system and the image quality looks to be very promising. I think the
last photo does demonstrate; however, that good lighting and focus, etc.
are more important than the features of the camera being used to take a
photograph and that the old 7D as well as older cameras such as the 30D
and 40D are capable of taking excellent professional quality
photographs that are still competitive today.
Originally published at
Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.
