Tundra Swans and 90D dillemas

[Paul Kammen]

Would really appreciate a bit of thoughts on the images and also if you can tell anything from the focusing of these images.

I had been shooting with the 7DII and 800 set up and have been pleased with my images.

As there is apparently no 7DIII planned, I picked up a 90D body thinking newer technology and more megapixels.

Have only been out a few times; hummingbirds were turning out good, but these swans I'm not so sure about.

That being said, I was shooting at noon, so I'm wondering if this could be more of a haze issue even though the sun is lower all day this time of year? I did have the lenses microadjusted, and did go into the menu to set it up to stay locked on subjects similar to the set up I have on the 7DII.

I was actually looking at a 5DIV but with Canon launching a 1DX III next year, I'm hard pressed to get a 5DIV after thinking it over. My hope was the 90D would be doing better locking onto the eye; I use AF surround with 9 points and follow the bird, and at least initially it seems the older 7DII is doing a better job with it, but I need to use it more before any verdicts.

Thank you for any thoughts - all taken with the 90D, 800 set up on a tripod. Not sure if it's just me, the time of day, or the camera, but I've been shooting BIF with the 800 for 6 years now and have it down, but maybe I'm missing something or just the time of day is too much for any camera to deal with and need to shoot more with better light. Also I understand with multiple birds it can be quite hard to get them all in focus if focusing in one one bird's head.

- Paul

[Paul Kammen]

Again, these were the "best" of 400 - so I'm a little confused as to what's going on, why they would not be more tack sharp on the eye if I'm shooting 1/2000, using the 800, on a tripod - maybe this just was the time of day but I'm a little concerned the 90D just isn't as good as it's predecessor the 7DII and that the 1DX III will hopefully do better. Frustrated, thanks for any insight here.

[dankearl]

Other than the Pano frame, they look pretty terrible to me....
Noisy, exposed poorly, not in focus.
You asked....

[Paul Kammen]

Other than the Pano frame, they look pretty terrible to me....
Noisy, exposed poorly, not in focus.
You asked....

Yes, I agree, they aren't that great at all. Just trying to figure out if it's me or the camera body; I normally don't have that much trouble with BIF. Trying to figure out if the autofocusing on the 90D just isn't what it's supposed to be, as the 7DII seemed much better. As I said I shot at 1/2000, microadjusted the lenses, adjusted the menu settings for tracking sensitivity, so in theory it should be locking onto the eyes, not sure why it's not?

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Paul I am moving this to the gear forum, this forum is for image critique one image at a time

[arash_hazeghi]

I agree with Dan, these images are completely out of focus, dark and noisy, for such easy subjects a 7DII should work well.what lens are you using? I think these are mostly from user error to be honest.

I suggest you work on your technique to get the best out of the the gear you have before upgrading. I would starts from a BIF guide, post processing guide etc. once you master the techniques you can decide which camera to upgrade to

hope this helps

[Paul Kammen]

Yes, they are out of focus and I am concerned that the 90D isn't focusing as I'd expect. I was using an 800 5.6 with it. I have worked on technique and used Artie's guides as well for my gear.

So the point is I think the 7DII was handling subjects better thus far than the 90D, I posted these to see if anyone might have insight as to what could be going wrong.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Paul these images look like user error to me, shooting in harsh light with the sun over your head and in strong heat shimmers is not going to give you sharp shots. these images just look like they have been taken over a BBQ pit :bg3:. Even a digital rebel from 1999 should be able to focus on this subject. Also, shooting off a tripod is not going to get you far in BIF, if you want quality shots like the ones you see posted here you need to dump the tripod and hand hold your rig, that 800 is a heavy lens and pretty much useless for BIF, there are many new lenses from Canon and other brands that will do a much better job at BIF.

The 90D is a cheap low end body and not really suited for BIF but it should focus on a subject like this with no issues.

best

[Daniel Cadieux]

Certainly looks like heat shimmer to me as well on a few of those examples. I've had numerous shots ruined by that when photographing birds over water or snow - especially when it is very cold. I now just avoid these situations altogether. Like Arash says, this camera should be able to handle flying swans with no trouble.

P.S. The farther the subject is, the worst the effect of heat shimmer becomes as theret is much more of it between you and the bird(s), so if you are photographing with an 800mm lens these large subjects tend to be very far away.