Pied Wagtail

[William Dickson]

Canon 7D Mk2
f/8
1/1250
ISO 800
+0,7

It was cold and sunny this evening so I had a walk along the beach with my 7D2 after having recently had it returned to me from Canon after repair.

I would have liked a lower POV but couldn't. Thanks for looking and for the comments on my Red Grouse images.

Will

[Ian Wilson]

Were you using your 500 mm f/4 on this one Will? I think I prefer the IQ you get from your 5DIII although I understand you got the 7DII for more reach. Regards, Ian

[William Dickson]

Yes, Ian using the f/4 500mm with 1x4 attached. Sorry forgot to mention that. I realise the 5D3 has better IQ, but as you said the 7D2 gives more reach. I will be carrying both cameras now

[Jonathan Ashton]

Nicely exposed, now this may well be me being very picky but is the eye perfectly sharp? The chest looks good but not quite quite so sure about the head region?? You did well to get a close up like this, they are wary little devils aren't they?

[arash_hazeghi]

This one still looks a bit soft to me William, can you post a 100% crop from the head?

[William Dickson]

Hi Arash

As Jonathan said, I have looked at this image again and the head does look a wee bit softer than the chest. I have attached 100% crop of the original raw file, same bird, same location, another shot with the focus on the head. My focus was not set on one point, as it should have been. I was shooting BIF at the time, when the wagtail briefly appeared, and I had the 4 pts expansion set.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi William, the focus is soft in the example above. It is not acceptable. An easy subject like this should be tack sharp.

I would do a controlled test to rule out atmospheric issues, and use faster shutter speed. If it persists, I would return this camera and demand a refund. This is not acceptable it's like buying a new car and finding out it has a broken transmission.

Don't let your money go to waste.

best

[William Dickson]

Hi Arash

I have already had the camera sent back to Canon. They said they had calibrated auto focus. If what you say is correct then I now have no confidence whatsoever in the camera. Maybe I need to change the focus settings as I thought the images were good enough. I know they wont be as good as my 5D images because its a cropped sensor.

I will keep using it under different settings and conditions to see if it makes any difference, I have attached the same 100% crop after a quick process.

Will

[arash_hazeghi]

Nope, still soft. the RAW file should be sharp without needing to be sharpened much.

I suggest you take it back to the dealer and ask for a refund. I have seen some sharp files from the 7D2, this is totally unacceptable IMO.

[John Robinson]

Hi William
I have to admit the original looked fine to me, I don't know about the US ones but they certainly arn't easy around here ! I dont think a single shot of mine looks tack sharp at the blow up sizes being talked about.John

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi William
I have to admit the original looked fine to me, I don't know about the US ones but they certainly arn't easy around here ! I dont think a single shot of mine looks tack sharp at the blow up sizes being talked about.John

This image is not sharp for the gear he is using. He has paid good money for this gear and there is no reason to accept a broken a camera (if further tests confirm it).

[John Robinson]

Aresh
It looks to me as though the unsharp section of the wagtail shot has been singled out. There are parts of the shot that are spot on so why cannot the problem be movement or DOF or a dozen other factors etc ,etc, ?
We all have millions of shots like that but don't blame the camera. I am confused. Surely a make of camera doesn,t always ensure perfect pictures. I have taken over a thousand blue tit shots this month and most have been binned due to head movement. only a tiny bit but enough to make them non keepers. I am not blaming the camera though.
JohnR

[arash_hazeghi]

Aresh
It looks to me as though the unsharp section of the wagtail shot has been singled out. There are parts of the shot that are spot on so why cannot the problem be movement or DOF or a dozen other factors etc ,etc, ?
We all have millions of shots like that but don't blame the camera. I am confused. Surely a make of camera doesn,t always ensure perfect pictures. I have taken over a thousand blue tit shots this month and most have been binned due to head movement. only a tiny bit but enough to make them non keepers. I am not blaming the camera though.
JohnR

I think you are confusing the image in pane 6 with pane 1. They are not the same. He said the 100% crop in pane 6 is the sharpest frame he got. The AI-servo will track head movement so that should not be an issue. For a subject like this and with Canon gear, I would expect to get 90+% tack sharp frames.

I don't know about you, but I don't have a million shots like the above. Majority of my frames are tack sharp, in fact I can't imaging getting a soft frame from a non-flying bird. If you need to take thousands of shots to get one sharp, you really need to rework your technique (maybe you are not using continuous focus or fast enough shutter speed ?) or perhaps change your gear if it's not up to the job. That's gotta be painfully unproductive and frustrating to have such a low keeper ratio.

best