Canon 7D Mk II

[The Hat]

That was taken from my armchair, but I am looking forward to more active use and experimentation!

@Emulator I have heard of couch potatoes but I could never imagine @3dogs hauling an armchair up Kings Canyon just to get a more comfortable shot..

Carrying the weights is not the problem so much. At Kings for example I carried a graphite tripod with 5D ii and the 70-200 f2.8 slung over my shoulder whilst also carrying a backpack.

As you can see from the even a monopod can require IS.

I think it’s high time you moved the armchair, you’re scaring away the birds again..

 

[Emulator]

Can't do that, I wouldn't be directly in line with the centre of the television.

 

[Emulator]

Hi Andrew, having looked into the new lens behaviour a little more, I am inclined to agree with you, the focus on distant objects is a little off.

I will have to turn on focus micro-adjustments for the lens and set it up properly. I see there are two options for this lens, wide and tele, so you can set it up at both ends of the zoom range.

More later, I think I will use this - http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/cameras/1ds3_af_micoadjustment.html

Ian

 

[Emulator]

Tried out focus checks with northlight facility, see post#103 and the lens doesn't seem to need adjusting with micro-adjustments and testing outside in good light rather confirms this.

I think the issue is more a question of where the super sophisticated 65 point focusing system (depending on how you have it set, I was using centre and four surrounding points) chooses to lock on. If you examine that shot of the vent pipe you can see that it has locked on the lowest roof tiles near the gutter. It was not a fair test really, with all the tree branches over the image, I had to struggle to get it to focus on the vent through a small hole in the tree foliage and it was a long way away.

With a bit of bright light today the full images look very good to me. The image stabiliser is quite remarkable, makes me realise how shaky I am!

 

[3dogs]

Tried out focus checks with northlight facility, see post#103 and the lens doesn't seem to need adjusting with micro-adjustments and testing outside in good light rather confirms this.

I think the issue is more a question of where the super sophisticated 65 point focusing system (depending on how you have it set, I was using centre and four surrounding points) chooses to lock on. If you examine that shot of the vent pipe you can see that it has locked on the lowest roof tiles near the gutter. It was not a fair test really, with all the tree branches over the image, I had to struggle to get it to focus on the vent through a small hole in the tree foliage and it was a long way away.

With a bit of bright light today the full images look very good to me. The image stabiliser is quite remarkable, makes me realise how shaky I am!

200mm hand held takes a bit of practice, and really that's all it is . I have my focus set on spot 99% of the time even when shooting at HFL for landscapes.
That centre spot can be fooled by intervening foliage quite easily. Went down a similar path with the 24-105mm and eventually found that like you all was 100% and it was 'Tweens' causing misfocus?, and as you observe probably due to wobbles. The stack is a tiny feature. Glad all is well with the lens still.

 

[Emulator]

I have often wondered why the Canon camera "standard" setting is 3 for sharpness, whereas I find 7 is the setting I chose in post processing most images. Anyone know whether there is a reason for storing the initial image at a lower sharpness level?

 

[3dogs]

I have often wondered why the Canon camera "standard" setting is 3 for sharpness, whereas I find 7 is the setting I chose in post processing most images. Anyone know whether there is a reason for storing the initial image at a lower sharpness level?

Think in RAW.
The image you capture is VERY different from the old film. In film lens resolution was 98% of the finished image. The remainder was in the quality of the enlarger lens and the eyesight resolution of the print maker.

So the digital camera manufacturer has carried that idea forward from his past in film cameras and knows that the general public, in general, thinks that what they see is what they get. General Public looks at the camera back and immediately connects the image there to the finished product. You and I know its a .jpg look alike and is nothing LIKE the possible finished product.

The menu caters for all comers, from the BEST photographer to the least the snapper. Manufacturer has no way of knowing who, or which is going to be buying their product. By setting a Banquet (Menu settings) they cater for all tastes, and exclude non.

Back to raw, it captures almost everything, so a setting of absolute neutral is the order of the day, applying the menu options is meaningless in raw. However if you select .jpg format chances are you are going to want to apply controls pre-shoot so that the image you make is processed as it is made.
.jpg is very lossy, so post processing is best kept to a minimum, hence the settings so that can be done where there is going to be a minimum of loss.

Set your Camera on RAW 1,2,3 and only the MPix are different e.g. Small may be 5MP, Med 15MP and Large 25MP. Pre sharpening is best done at Raw, and final sharpening done in easy stages as you prepare you image for printing. Adobe gurus, and others, say that (today LR6) has the BEST sharpening tool that Adobe have built, much much better than PS??? seems odd to me but there you go!

If you don't have it, look at a book Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop , Bruce Fraser and Jeff Schewe Second edition....... ISBN 978-0-321-63755-0

As to STORAGE, if you mean as in long term storage one would have 100% completed images stored for sale, the images to be reviewed for later use may have light sharpening done in the RAW processing and the rest just as is.

For the .jpg shooter, and lots do in camera sharpening is of benefit in the final product, However, I have read countless arguments about the merit of post processing .jpg.........so much so that I got thoroughly confused by it all and opted to shoot all Raw very early on.......

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[Emulator]

Think in RAW.

Thanks Andrew, I thought you might know. Yes, I work in RAW all the time, except when posting here! I think I will have to get LR, it also has soft proofing which Elements doesn't.

It was just one of those issues that you are aware of, but never bother to change, then I thought - there must be a reason!

Anyone else have a view?

 

[Emulator]

If you can't stop them eating the bird seed, feed 'em some peanuts of their own. Seems to work. Through the double glazing and the EF70-200L f4 IS USM.

 

[The Hat]

Play with peanuts and you get squirrels, a smashing shot Ian..