# Owls and Swans in flight - 7D mk II



## flyingSquirrel (Dec 6, 2014)

Greetings, all. Here are some bird-in-flight shots I got during a couple of recent trips to one of my favorite birding locations. I used the 7D mark II, 500 f/4 + 1.4x, hand held. All shot in Manual Mode (it's the only mode I use) Thanks for looking

Short-Eared Owl in late evening light - 5.6, 1/2000, ISO 1600







Short-Eared Owl hunting the marsh - 5.6, 1/2000, ISO 1600






Trumpeter Swan pair in evening - 5.6, 1/2000, ISO 1600






Trumpeter Swan individual closeup - 7.1, 1/2000, ISO 800


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## Cosmicbug (Dec 6, 2014)

Nice work. I rather like the first pic


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## fragilesi (Dec 6, 2014)

Very, very nice, all that feather detail, the catchlight in the owl's eye and all on a bird in flight.

Lovely work.


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## mustafa (Dec 6, 2014)

Manual Mode, but autofocus, right? Which focus settings did you use, please?

I can't see how anyone could possibly criticise these terrific pictures, but let's wait and see what the pixel-peepers say.


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## Marauder (Dec 6, 2014)

Beautiful BIF shots.


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## jblake (Dec 6, 2014)

mustafa said:


> I can't see how anyone could possibly criticise these terrific pictures, but let's wait and see what the pixel-peepers say.



Nothing to criticize here, the images are certainly print worthy. The incredible sharpness and beautiful bokeh, come from one of the best and most expensive wildlife lens made, the 500 f/4.0 II. Aside from acquiring auto-focus, the camera can not take credit for these images, that belongs to the photographer and lens only. 

I am sure that the photographer would have captured the same images with the original 7D, or even a 60D/70D. Buy/invest in good glass, although this particular lens is way out of my budget.


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## Click (Dec 6, 2014)

Beautiful series. I especially like the first picture. Well done.


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## fragilesi (Dec 6, 2014)

jblake said:


> mustafa said:
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> > I can't see how anyone could possibly criticise these terrific pictures, but let's wait and see what the pixel-peepers say.
> ...



Run that past me again. The camera cannot be credited with the extremely accurate AF???? As ever, it's a combination of the three and it's pure speculation to assume that other cameras would have grabbed and tracked the birds as well as the 7dII did.


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## jblake (Dec 6, 2014)

fragilesi said:


> jblake said:
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> > mustafa said:
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If you had bothered to read my entire post, you would have read that I gave credit to the 7D II's AF abilities; "Aside from acquiring auto-focus,...". 

I have owned and shot thousands of photo's with a 60D, 70D, 7D, 1d3, 6D and a 5D3, no speculation here, I know the importance of and how to acquire AF. 

The 7D II will produce much better images, (via superior tracking, lens sharpness, Bokeh etc...), from using a lens like the 500 f/4.0 II + 1.4x III, vs than say the 100-400L + 1.4x II/III combo. 

Photographer > quality lens > camera body.


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## fragilesi (Dec 6, 2014)

jblake said:


> fragilesi said:
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Sorry for not making my wording precise enough. Of course I read your whole post. 

However, it IS pure speculation that any other camera, especially say a 60D would have caught those shots just as well. It really is. You have no idea of the tracking modes used, the flight of the birds or how big a part the AF system played in getting that shot or how much it was the skill of the photographer. The 7DII AF is in a different league to cameras like the 60D so it's entirely possible that the AF made the difference in one or more of these shots.


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## AlanF (Dec 6, 2014)

Not to distract from the beauty of the photographs, but flying swans are among the easiest targets as birds in flight because they are huge great lumbering things that slowly sail across the sky and are not a difficult test of AF. As someone wrote elsewhere, it's the chickadees (tits) shooting between trees or a diving kingfisher that test skill and the cameras AF. Apparently, the 7D II comes up trumps for this.


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## Jane (Dec 6, 2014)

AlanF said:


> Not to distract from the beauty of the photographs, but flying swans are among the easiest targets as birds in flight because they are huge great lumbering things that slowly sail across the sky and are not a difficult test of AF. As someone wrote elsewhere, it's the chickadees (tits) shooting between trees or a diving kingfisher that test skill and the cameras AF. Apparently, the 7D II comes up trumps for this.



It does distract a bit IMHO. This is a great series. There are a lot of people who cannot manage even a swan in flight.


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## flyingSquirrel (Dec 7, 2014)

Thanks for the comments, everyone....



mustafa said:


> Which focus settings did you use, please?



AI Servo. Single (center) AF point (multiple point patterns never work for me, as I cannot control what part of the subject is in focus, and they fail miserably when there is a bg behind the subject other than a solid color). The AF case tweaks were: Tracking: -2. Accel/Decel: 1. AF pt switching: 0. I use BBF (back button focus technique). I have set the drive mode to Silent Continuous (4 fps) when I first was testing the camera, and have not changed it since. I love how quiet the shutter is in that mode. I rarely shoot more than a couple shots in a burst, so I don't need the super high speed machine gun mode (though I won't rule it out if I need it in the future).

I can't recall if I had the lens focus limiter switch set to full, or 10m~, though I've mostly been setting it to full range since I'm paranoid I'll miss a close-up opportunity.

I still need to experiment a bit more with the camera and AF settings to dial in what works best for me. Well, I guess I'll just have to trudge back out into the field for more testing. Sigh... ;D



jblake said:


> although this particular lens is way out of my budget.



Same here. So I got a loan 



AlanF said:


> swans ... are not a difficult test of AF



Most of what you said is reasonable. Do consider, however, that subjects that are mostly white (or mostly black) can be challenging for AF.

Thanks again for the comments, everyone!


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## fragilesi (Dec 7, 2014)

flyingSquirrel said:


> Thanks for the comments, everyone....
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Yes, sorry for the diversion!

Thanks for sharing the details, it's a combo that I would love to try. I often think about getting lenses I can't afford on loan and these pictures certainly show how good it can be! For me though I worry about it detracting from the enjoyment of the lesser gear that I can afford afterwards. You don't miss what you've never had.

Anyway, great shots!


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