A bit more on the Canon 7D mk 2

Since my last post I've not actually been out very much due to the gloomy weather and the near total lack of anything to point the camera at locally (here I am assuming there are people, less sensible than me, who are out there looking). I keep seeing and hearing comments about the mk 2 some of which are complimentary some less so, some from people who have one and some from people who don't. Here's where I am to date.

As I said in my previous post, straight out of the box the focus was clearly off and I had to do some work to sort out the best setting on the focus micro adjustment - I settled for +7. I have since adjusted that to +8 (I did this whilst photographing the great grey shrike - it wasn't moving so I had a chance to experiment in the field). It seems a few people have had trouble with the focus straight out of the box.

Noise and Resolution:
To my mind the noise is noticeably less than the old 7D to the extent that I'm happy to use ISOs above 400 with the mk 2. I have no idea just how high I can go because I haven't tried it but I have taken what I regard as decent shots at ISO 640, and 800 and reasonable shots at ISO 1000.
However increasing the ISO isn't only about noise. It also affects the resolution.
The Review by Techradar assessed the drop off in resolution with ISO setting
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/digital-slrs-hybrids/canon-7d-mark-ii-1264977/review/3#articleContent

Using raw at ISO 100, 200 and 400 the mk 2 scores 30, at ISO 800 this drops to 28, at ISO 1600 it's 26 and at ISO 3200 it's down to 24. Up to ISO 1600 these are better than achieved with the old 7D by 2 points i.e. at ISO 800 the old 7D scores 26 but at ISO 3200 the old 7d scored the same as the new. The resolution differences are larger using JPEG but since I don't shoot in JPEG and I don't know what in-camera processing is going on I have ignored these results.

So when choosing an ISO setting I consider the shutter speed, noise and the resolution.....as a consequence I tend to shoot on lower ISOs and shutter speeds than I really should and hope that by taking enough shots some will catch the bird not moving. For the Chilham great gery shrike I used ISO down as low as 160 to try and maximise resolution - the bird wasn't moving so a high shutter speed was not required. Other factors that come into the equation are whether or not I'm hand holding and how close is the bird. The closer I am to the bird the more relaxed I am about choosing a higher ISO because resolution will be less of an issue.

The other factor that will impact the apparent noise level is what size of image is required. A lot of the time my post cropped images are 2,500 to 3,500 pixels wide. Reducing the pixel count to 1800-2000 (my typical Flickr size) has a beneficial effect on the apparent noise level. The extra pixels of the mk2 therefore has an additional beneficial effect on noise.

Focusing.

First up I must say the mk 2 is a lot qicker to focus than the old 7D.
I'm still getting to grips with the focus settings but I think I now understand what is going on. There are 2 "spot" settings and an additional 2 settings where the center spot is surrounded by either 4 or 8 adjacent focus points (called "AF point expansion" settings by Canon). In all 4 of these settings it seems that it's only the center point that actually does the focusing. In the 2 "expansion" settings it seems these additional focus points only "help", the focusing is still only done by the center point. I naively thought they were all actively focusing and couldn't understand why the outer points weren't being used when the center point had slipped off the subject (eg when in flight).

There are 2 other settings where large blocks of focus point can be selected. In these all the spots can focus and when looking through the viewfinder you can see the active focusing point jumping around. The problem with these settings is you have no control which one will be used when the shutter goes off. If you have a decent depth of field it may not matter that much but if the DOF is short the shot could still be unsatisfactory eg focused on the nearest wing tip and the head is soft.
So in general if the bird is on the ground/perched I use the most accurate spot setting. I did try the AF expansion on the snow buntings but they were rubbish and went straight into the bin. I assume the camera couldn't decide whether it was the bird or shingle I wanted to focus on.
Successful flight shots have been best with the AF expansion options though I've not tried the block options when the subject is difficult to keep the center point on (swallows for example).
Some final thoughts on this section. There were often times with the old 7D when it really seemed to struggle to get an accurate focus (for example high contrast situations or unfavourable light direction - had a lot of this with the juvenile peregrines). This doesnt seem to be a problem with the mk 2; when it has focused it seems to have been very accurate. Whilst the 7D mk 2 can shoot at 10 frames per second there are times when I think the focus is struggling to keep up with the shutter. This, to me, was a very obvious problem with the old 7D where almost every other shot was soft. It is less of a problem with the mk 2 but it still seems to be there. I can't show any examples because I delete all the shots I'm not happy with. I'll have to try and remember to keep some sequences that show this for a future blog.

Tracking Options.

Still in the dark with what's best here. Need more time. I will say the tracking even on the basic setting is superb and far superior to the old 7D and it seems to hold onto the image even when the background gets confusing (using the AF point expansion) as shown in this gadwall shot:

Shot at 1/800th sec at ISO 640

Below are some shots I've taken over the last few days with the ISO listed. I think they are not too bad. In all I have cropped in a lot further than I would normally do for my Flickr posts.

Shot at 1/200th at ISO 800

1/2000th at ISO 400 - these were quite a long way away so pleasing.

1/500th at ISO 400

1/1000 sec at ISO 400

1/160 sec at ISO 640

1/250 at ISO 640

One final thought.

With greater pixel count comes the ability to zoom in further during the processing .......and the more you zoom in the worse the picture will look (same is true for noise). And nobody zooms in as much as a bird photographer. Could it be that (some of) the softness being suggested with the mk 2 is actually down to the inherent sharpness of the lens or even the individuals ability to hold a camera steady enough as these greater magnifications..
On the former point I use the 400mm f5.6 because it's the  sharpest lens at that focal length for the price I'm prepared to pay. On the latter point people have asked me whether I will hand hold now I have more ISOs (and hence shutter speed) to play with. Simple answer..... no. I know how much worse my hand held pictures are to those on the tripod at any shutter speed. The extra ISO/shutter speed may mean I get a few more (hand held) flight shots that are acceptable but it won't change my use of the tripod. I know my limitations.

Great Grey Shrike and Canon 7D mk 2

For some of you this is old news but since my last posting I have been into hospital and had the salivary gland plus it's resident stone removed leaving me with a 2.5 inch cut and I daresay scar but overall things went well, I didn't suffer any nerve damage to the nerve that controls the left side of my mouth so I can jabber away just like I used to. Whilst I felt pretty fragile for a week or so I am now feeling pretty good; better in fact than for 4 months (the time it's taken to get the problem sorted).
To aid my recovery I invested in the Canon 7D mk 2. The on-line reviews seemed good and Steve Ashton and Mike Gould seemed to think it did what was advertised so in I jumped. The camera only arrived Monday afternoon so my experience with it to date is limited.
Straight out of the box I slapped my 400mm f5.6 on it and fired off a few shots Ahhhhhh......they were rubbish. So it was out with the ruler at 45 degrees to check the focusing. Same as with my old 7D - it was front focusing (so is probably the lens and not the camera that was at fault) - so it was time to locate the AF microadjustment. A quick look suggested the degree of correction required was very similar to before at +7.
The next day I spent a little time at Restharrow trying out the tracking - which is superb,  and the focus array options - which I'm still trying to work out. What I will say is that once it has locked onto a subject (ie flying bird) it does stay on it superbly my only problem is that with the wider arrays of focusing points I have no control of where it actually focuses and it's as likely to be the wing tip as the birds head/beak/eye. Still if it was easy.............
On the noise front I was hoping for an improvement and I've got one. Thus far I would say that ISO 800 with the mk 2 is similar to ISO 400 with the mk 1 but there may be more to come in that ignoring the noise controls the amount of noise is very dependent on the "Threshold" selected on the DPP sharpening tool. Certainly the shots I've taken at ISO 800-1000 have been usable with only the minimum of work (and this was before finding the "Threshold" adjustment).

Now for the shrike.
Today was the third time I've gone to see it. The first was a couple of days after my op and I was too tired to hang around waiting so I missed it when it returned for the afternoon. The second time was a week after the op and I dropped in on the way to the William Harvey (to have the stitches removed) and again on the way back but it was a no show for most of the day so I missed it again.
Today I arrived around 8.45, it was cloudy and murky but Ron (I've forgotten his surname) had been there since dawn and pointed it out in the hedgerow adjacent to the playing field. Tick achieved; now the wait for it to come close and hopefully for the sun to come out.
Around 9.00 it came out of the hedge and flew into the large hawthorn by the stream (on the Canterbury side of the bridge). Ron got his scope on it and saw that it was ripping a mouse/vole apart that it had impaled there - I'm sure it had nothing in it's beak when it flew across so this must have been an earlier kill. The shots I got were rubbish but here's one for the record:

Mouse breakfast...yummmy

It stayed there for 10-15 minutes then moved further away to another bush by the stream then onto the top of a small dead tree that was quite close (relatively) to where the stream goes under the A28. I went off to see how close it was. The answer was closer but still not close and the traffic flying past and lack of pavement meant it was not a comfortable place to be. Still I fired off a number of shots and got quite enthusiastic as the sky started clearing.
Whilst there I tried a few changes to the micro adjustment ranging from +7 to +10 but ended up at +8.

It stayed there looking around and attacking the top of a twig for about 15 minutes then at 9.30 it flew to the wires by the Branch road bridge. I was actually relieved to get off the A28.

Caught in the act!

The distance to the bird was very similar to that I had from the A28 but at least I wasn't dicing with death. After a while it flew off and when I refound it it was in the row of bushes over towards the Bagham road. From there it went back into the playing field hedge where it stayed for quite some time though at one point it was on a post in the middle of the field then in the hedge quite close to the playing field pavilion.

Trying to look innocent

Then I lost sight of  and was scanning the distant hedges when some people who just turned up pointed out it was right above me on the wires (I was down by the pavilion where the wires are closer to the road). Fill your boots time the only problem being wires don't make great pictures.

It continued to fiddle about in it's original hawthorn bush, tried chasing a couple of long tailed tits who seemed to want to torment it after it had failed and even chased a snipe but eventually it returned to the wires near the Branch road bridge. The light was now brilliant but those wires are further away than you think.

On it's way back to a distant hedge

All in all a pretty pleasing morning.
A bit of sun, the bird came close, a few people to chat to, (though I'm left wondering whether Mark threw his camera into the river as he threatened) and even Mr Ashton couldn't spoil the fun - despite phoning me every time he drove past along the A28 in his truck..........and his tooting of his horn as he went past.

Desert Wheatear at Reculver

My day started in the hide at Restharrow seeing a lone Mr Ashdown who was busy counting teal - there were a lot to count. I then wandered off to the sea front hoping for some snow buntings to go with my recent Lapland (and not so recent Ortolan bunting) shots but I'd only seen a short-eared owl come in-off when I got a text alert saying there was a desert wheatear at Reculver.

I have seen desert wheatear before,  the one at Sandwich a few years ago,  however after constantly complaining nothing ever turns up locally (I always manage to forget anything good I've seen) and in the knowledge they normally hang around I went.

As I passed the towers I could see a group of people up towards Cold Harbour and another loose group opposite the oyster farm........obviously it wasn't preforming for the crowd and when I reached the oyster farm contingent they told me it was on the roof of the shed. Well I could see something on the roof but the light was right into my eyes so couldn't tell what it was.
After a while the bird disappeared from the roof and I was just about to make my way around the back to look for it when it was spotted on the sea wall.
Half a dozen scurried off after it stopping evry so often to get some shots then moving closer. We actually got very close though the light direction was somewhat sub-optimal being side on.

A few walkers were trying to get along the wall and very kindly hung back until we had got shots as good as we were going to get and when they went past the bird they walked on the inland side of the road (as we'd asked) so increasing the chance it would be flushed onto the shingle.....which it duly was.

Now the bird was down-light of us but it rapidly moved down to the rock pile about 400 yards east of the towers. The bird stayed there for a while (everyone staying on the sea wall) then it made it's way back west towards the towers along the shingle.....we all followed.

Once back at the towers it moved onto the rocks beside the railing and it was here it was the closest and the light direction was good. Unfortunately it didn't stay long in any one place and when it did it was facing us but I managed my best shots here.

After a short while the bird flew back along the beach to the eastern rock pile and everyone moved after it. I did think about leaving because I doubted that I would improve on what I had in the bag but I wanted to catch up with Steve and Mike and probe them about their new 7D mk2's.
We sat on the shingle as the bird fluttered around the rocks and shingle but it never came quite close enough (in comparison with my earlier views).

If it stood still it was very difficult to see on the shngle

Eventually it went back to the tower rocks and sat for a long time just watching us watching it - brilliant views but just a little too distant for my 400mm lens. It did however have a scramble up one of the rocks and showed off it's tail brilliantly.

It sat on the rocks for quite some time then disappeared west which was when I gave up.

Turning out to be a good week really .......and I've ordered a 7D Mk 2

Lapland bunting at Swalecliff

As most of you will know I've not been out much these last few months but the light is well and truly at the end of the tunnel.
I have been suffering from a stone in my salivary gland and it's a whopper - 1.7cm long and 1.2 cm wide. It's blocked the salivary duct so saliva builds up in the gland and the result is I have a lump on my throat the size of an egg but the real problem has been the infections. Since this started (July 18th) I've had 6 weeks on anti-biotics and a week on antifungals (I managed to get oral thrush; a common problem with prolonged antibiotic treatment).
Anyway I'm to be operated on next week when the salivary gland will be removed and hopefully that will be the end of the matter. It will mean one night in hospital (possibly 2 depending on how much bleeding takes place and when the drains come out.........to much detail?)

Today started at the hospital for a "Pre-assessment clinic" where blood tests, an ECG were run and a lot of forms filled in. After it was over and because the sun was out and because you can park close I drove up to Swalecliff to try my luck with the Lapland bunting.
I've not had a lot of luck with Laplands over the years, I've never found my own one and normally I can't find the ones other people have seen and when I have located one I've either failed to get clear shot or the weather has been poor (normally both).
Anyway as I arrived a guy with a camera was leaving but he told me where it had been - near a white sign -  and where it had gone - out onto the shingle. I could see another case of  "you should have been here 10 minutes ago" looming along with the disappointment.
I wandered along the seaward path past the white sign and on to the wooden bridge (where all the reports on Bird guides say it is) and back several times then finally found it back near the sign. It was on the small bit of shingle between the path and the water but it flew off onto the seaward shingle banks almost as soon as I'd spotted it and certainly before I'd got the camera onto it.
Still, I now knew where it was so it was a matter of waiting and hoping. I didn't have to wait too long before it returned and I was as happy as Larry clicking away to my hearts content.
It did return to the shingle banks a couple of times as people/dogs wandered past but always returned pretty quickly. The last time it was in camera range I was clicking away some 6-8 yards from it when 2 dog walkers (plus dogs) walked past and it totally ignored them!!! They couldn't have been more than 3 yards away from it.
This was by far the closest I have got to a Lapland bunting and the only time I have seen one when the sun was shining. All my previous shots have been binned!!!!

A shot to show it's red neck

The chap I saw first up had also told me of some black redstarts in the church yard so after taking some 300 shots of the bunting I went over there. As I approached I could hear a black redstart calling and on the fence - 20-30 yards away - was a cracking male. Only downside I was facing into the sun.
Anyway I moved into the churchyard and sneaked up on him - still on the fence.

Male black redstart

He actually spent a lot of time in the trees, sometimes very close, but getting past the foliage without spooking him was a struggle as was shooting into the sky.

I did take a few pictures of the female but most of the time was spent on the male.
By now it was 3.00 pm I'd been in the field 2.5 hrs and after a morning at the hospital I was well and truly cream crackered.

Some difficulties with Ortolan Bunting identification

This week I have had the good fortune to see the ortolan bunting at Fan Bay on 2 occasions. The first time getting fleeting and/or distant views and a couple of record shots and the second time getting brilliant views and some pretty good photos.

As this was a new tick for me I've spent a little time looking at what makes this bird an Ortolan and not a Cretzschmars.   Why?.......... Because if I had found this bird myself I’d have had no idea which it was.

There are some references that suggest the juveniles of these 2 species are inseparable in the field. In the tomes where differences are listed these include the beak of the Ortolan being slightly larger than that of the Cretzschmars, the head streaking being stronger, and the eye ring of the Ortolan being yellowish to whitish whereas the Cretzschmars is whitish.
Some of these descriptions might be useful if one was familiar with both birds (which I’m not) or if they were sitting side by side (which they weren’t). I was looking for something a little more absolute.

So I thought I’d share what I saw in the field and what I can see in my photographs compared with what is down in 2 field guides – the “Collins Bird Guide” mainly,  plus some contributions from “The Advanced Bird ID Handbook”.

The overall impression I got of the bird from my first view (rear view only) was of quite a pale bird with the feather fringes being very pale/white with obvious streaking on the mantle, faint but obvious brown streaking on the buff/peachy flanks and with a clear red-brown colouration on the tertials. It was this red brown colouration which got me asking myself why is this bird an Ortolan and not a Cretzschmars:

The second time I saw the bird the views were far better and below are a series of pictures to help gauge the overall colour of bird and the colour of the tertials in particular.

The better quality shots were taken late afternoon (around 4.30) in bright sunshine and due to possible colour distortions from the incident light the shots have been processed using 2 different temperatures – Canon’s Daylight,5500C and at 4500C.

Processed at 5500C

Processed at 4500C

In both shots the colour of the bird is considerably warmer than the illustrations in Collins. Using the cooler temperature the head in particular becomes more grey but whatever temperature is used the tertials retain a significant amount of the red-brown colouration that from the illustrations in Collins looks more like a Creztschmars though the text does say Ortolans have red-brown outer edges to the tertials even if the illustration shows them to be a dull brown. 

I have a number of shots (more distant) that shows the back and rump of the bird. The Cretzschmars is said to have a red-brown tinge to the rump whereas the ortolan is uniform colour along it’s back and rump. Again these shots have been process at 2 temperatures, as shot (5750C) and slightly colder at 5000C (the shots being taken around midday)

Processed as shot (5700C)

Processed at 5000C

From these it is clear that this bird is uniform in colour across the mantle and rump indicative of Ortolan (though it does look warmer than the grey brown bird of the Collins the illustrations).

This close up illustrates some of the other point of possible difference.

Beak – well it’s pinkish but as to whether the size is of any use in determining species I’ll leave that for you to decide.

Eye ring – whilst not terribly clear I think I’d go along with the eye ring just about having a yellowish tint but whether this is significantly different to the “whitish” eye ring of the Cretzschmars. It's certainly not something I'd bet the family savings on.

Greater and median coverts -when I looked at my pictures in detail I thought the greater and median coverts might present a clear cut difference between the two species. These feathers obviously have very distinct and broad pale fringes -  far more obvious than the Collins illustrations (for either species) though the Advanced Bird ID Handbook states 1^st winters of both species can have well defined white tips…. so not as much help as I'd hoped.

Looking even more closely at the coverts you can see they are dark brown with heavy off-white fringes but the brown has a point and there are differences to the detail of the pointy bit between individual coverts and between the greater and median coverts. When searching the internet  I did initially find an illustration of the tips of the coverts of an ortolan bunting but I can no longer find the reference – I think it was in a book review but stupidly I didn’t "book mark" it on the computer. So if anyone has a detailed illustration of the coverts could they send me a reference and/or photocopy?

Breast and flank streaking. Nothing much to say but an image to illustrate.

Tail – whilst nothing seems to be said in the text of the two reference books the illustrations in Collins show the Ortolan to have a slightly deeper fork to the folded tail than the Cretzschmars. The Fan Bay bird had a marked fork in its tail.

Primary projection.

Advanced ID Handbook seems to indicate there is a clear cut difference in the primary projection of the 2 species with the ortolan having a primary projection of 30-60% with 2-3 primary tips being visible beyond the tertials whereas the Cretz has a projection of only 20% with usually only 1 or 2 primary tips being visible.

I've posted 2 views of the primaries. Now I calculate the primary projection from this pictures to be around 21% and there are only 2 primaries showing beyond the tertials which would suggest the bird is a  Cretzschmars however looking at the illustration in Collins and a selection of photographs on the web of both the Ortolan and Cretzschmars I'm begining to doubt the generality of the 30-60% PP for the Ortolan. From what I can see  the PP of the Ortolan seems to be quite variable with birds having a PP of between 20-40% (most at the lower end of this range); Where the PP can be seen with the Cretzschmar they to seem to be similar to the Fan Bay bird.

One feature that was noticeable in all my reasonable shots was the yellow tinge to the pale edge of the primaries. It can be seen on both the PP shots and on the general close-up shots above (though it shows better with warmer processing). I've found nothing about this in either of the available tomes

So there you have it. From the images you could say it's probably an Ortolan (mainly on the the lack of a redish rump) but I can't provide unequivocal proof despite having some pretty detailed pictures. I’m not arguing with the id it’s just that I'm still in the position that if I found one I wouldn't be able to say with confidence what I had found.

Finally, on the first day I did hear the bird call twice – a chiup like call. At the time this was of no use because I had no idea of the call of either species however on listening to tapes the calls of the Ortolan and Cretzschmars are quite distinct and I'm pretty sure it was the Ortolan’s call that I heard.

Ortolan bunting is still around

Last Wednesday I got a text from Phil Smith alerting me to the presence of an ortolan bunting (uncooked) at Fan Bay. I duly went up there but things didn't start too well - the whereabouts of the bird was pointed out but before I could even get the bins on it it had flown and disappeared into some scrub with a couple of yellowhammers. The next hour or so was spent trying to relocate it and once that was done trying to get close enough for a picture.
The first opportunity came when it popped up on some concrete rubble - I got the bins on it, it turned side on so I got a clear view which confimed the id then fired off a few shots then it flew. On checking the shots it was looking away in all of them!!!!

Rear view of an ortolan bunting

The searching/waiting continued (Phil had given up by this time but he had a card full of pictures) and eventually I managed a few record shots where I could see what it was - which was pleasing as it was a first for me.

Ortolan bunting

I spent Thursday morning around the same area but there was no sign of it; all I saw were yellowhammers and they were as flighty as ever..
Fog during the next couple of days reduced the time I had in the field but today I checked out Kingsdown then walked from South Foreland to Langdon Hole.
A few blackcaps and chiffs at Kingsdown and along the clifftop a lot of mippits and hirundines were on the move. Around Fan Bay I found around a dozen yelowhammers of various ages and colours and a reed bunting but no sign of the ortolan.
On the way back to South Foreland I walked past the rubble piles - nothing - but as I was passing Fan Bay a great white egret came in off the sea but it was a long way off so only poor record shots.

Very distant great white egret

I then went over to Restharrow to check the scrape for snipe (no luck) but there was a stonechat and 2 whinchat along the fence line as you approach the hide. Despite being half in the reeds I still couldn't get close to them though.

Whinchat

I was back home when Birdguides issued a report of the ortolan being spotted again on the rubble pile so I returned. After around 2 hrs of searching/waiting it was finally spotted where it was first found last week!
When it first showed I only got distant shots as we waited for the others searching the cliff top to return but eventually we got closer and hence better shots.

Initial distant views

Most of the time the bunting was on the north side of the rubble so you were looking into the sun and/or the bird was in the shade. At first I stayed on the south side but everyone else was getting great views (I couldn't see it) so I relented and joined them..........I'm really glad I did!!! Getting the shots below was a bit tricky becasue there were quite a lot of stems between me and the bird but with the brisk wind these parted ever so often and I managed some decent shots.

It did drop onto the sunny side for a few minutes so I returned to the south side and took a few more pictures. Here I had to chose between a stem obscuring the head or rubble partially obscuring the tail - I opted for the latter.