Morning at the pond

[Doug Brown]

A handsome male Ring-Necked Duck from yesterday morning. I'm really starting to get into the groove with the 7D's AF. For ducks swimming on the water, I've been moving my focus points around to maintain focus on the eye (much more than I ever used to) with great success. The detail in sharply focused 7D images is really impressive IMO.

http://birdwhisperer.smugmug.com/Animals/Birds/BPN/20091105-MG8688-Ring-Necked/704361606_F86TF-O.jpg

Canon 7D, 300mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO 400, -2/3 EC, hand held

[Danny J Brown]

Hey Doug: Great shot of a beautiful diver. You've done well to show the sheen on the side of the head without losing detail and as usual with this type of duck, the yellow eye provides an awesome focal point. Another thing I like is the choppy water - something a little different than usual. I really like using my different focus points, even on my little 40D when I can, especially for static subjects so I don't have to "recompose and shoot" so much. By the way, what little noise the 7D produces at ISO 800, you have put the kibosh on here. Thanks.

[Stu Bowie]

Good job with the exposure, what looks like an extremely difficult fellow to expose. The eye stands out so well from the darker plumage, and this is certainly very sharp. Well captured.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Considering the light and the colors of this birds, exposure is excellent. Swimming ducks are harder than what it seems for AF. Well done.

KD

[Mital Patel]

fantastic exposure and capture doug. like the way eye popping out.

[Clement Francis]

Lovely looking duck and great exposure and environs seen

[Randy Stout]

Doug:

Excellent exposure, detail in the darker areas, shooting angle, eye.

Perhaps a smidge tight in the frame for my taste, front and rear.

Do you find the 7D meters differently from your previous Canons? That amount of EC is pretty close to what I would shoot with the D700, and in the past the Canons were using sig. less minus EC than the Nikons.

Just curious.

I about wear out the focus point selector ring on my bodies. I am constantly changing it as the bird turns and moves around in the frame.

Cheers

Randy

[Harshad Barve]

Lovely image , great control of over techs
TFS

[John Blumenkamp]

Nice work as usual Doug! Great detail and exposure as mentioned. I've been working with moving the AF point around as well for ducks, mammals, etc on the 7D and am liking the camera more and more each time I put it to use.

[Bonnie Block]

Nicely done, Doug. Great job on the exposure. Fantastic detail and colors.

[Doug Brown]

Since there seems to be a fair amount of interest in the 7D, its AF abilities, and detail vs. noise on an 18 MP sensor, here's a 100% crop of the RAW file. As I've stated before, 7D detail is very impressive. No sharpening applied to the crop.

[Doug Brown]

Do you find the 7D meters differently from your previous Canons? That amount of EC is pretty close to what I would shoot with the D700, and in the past the Canons were using sig. less minus EC than the Nikons.

I can't say that's it's metering appreciably differently than say the 50D Randy.

[Harshad Barve]

7D seems to be very impressive camera for sure

[John Ippolito]

Impressive exposure and detail captured, Doug. I like the dark rich colors contrasted with the wet highlights and water droplets.

[Jim Fenton]

Doug....

What would that 100% crop look like actually processed / sharpened?

When I look at the original you posted, it is "sharp" but it also shows lack of what I call "fine detail"?

[Doug Brown]

Check back tomorrow Jim and I'll post a processed 100% crop. To give me a reference point, maybe you could post a 100% crop of an unprocessed and a processed version of an image that you consider sharp. Use this thread please.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

I can't say that's it's metering appreciably differently than say the 50D Randy.
Hello Doug

I just want to make sure that I understand what you are mentioning here.

Is the 7D better than the 50D in metering?

Now one more question, is the 7D better than the 50D in fast focusing? I am really fond the new 7D, it sounds like a great upgrade from the 30D!

Thanks so much for your help.

JC

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Since there seems to be a fair amount of interest in the 7D, its AF abilities, and detail vs. noise on an 18 MP sensor, here's a 100% crop of the RAW file. As I've stated before, 7D detail is very impressive. No sharpening applied to the crop.
Well, I can see lots of ''fine'' details here!

[Doug Brown]

Here's a 100% crop of the processed image.