Strathcona County, AB, Canada.
7D2 and EF 300/2.8L IS + 2x | 1/320 sec., f/7.1, ISO 1600, handheld.

It's a snow day today, I thought I should post a Snowy Owl image. It was captured right around blue hour of the day. The owl was tame enough for me to get a near filled-frame shot. The owl didn't do much, unfortunately.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Tags:   Snowy Owl Arctic Owl Great White Owl Ghost Owl Ermine Owl Tundra Ghost Ookpik Scandinavian Nightbird White Terror of the North Highland Tundra Owl Harfang Bubo scandiacus Raptors Bird of Prey Birds Animals Wildlife Nature Winter Avian Photography Photographer Canon EOS 7D Mark II Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM Strathcona County Fort Saskatchewan Edmonton Alberta Canada

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Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Captured with and processed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

The Note 3 has an equivalent focal length of about 31mm. I was able to sneak up on this Pelican without any issues, as long as it stood still for a full body portrait.

"The best camera is the one that's with you." — Chase Jarvis.

Enjoy!

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Tags:   Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis Birds Animals Wildlife Nature Photography Photographer Phoneography Phoneographer Cellular Mobile Phone Cellphone Cameraphone Android Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Iberostar Resort Beach Cancun Quintana Roo Mexico

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Iberostar Cancun, Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico.
5D2 and 24-105/4 @ 105mm | 1/1000 sec., f/7.1, ISO 400; handheld.

Pelicans fly very close to the beach, so 105mm is not a huge issue (see the image in the comment box below).

Enjoy!

Tags:   BIF Flight Flying Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis Birds Animals Wildlife Nature Avian Photography Photographer Canon EOS 5D Mark II Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM Iberostar Beach Cancun Quintana Roo Mexico

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Alberta Terminals Ltd., Edmonton, AB, Canada.
7D2 | 300/2.8L + 2x | 1/2000 sec., f/7.1, ISO 800; handheld.

I had an opportunity to test out the AF system of 7D Mark II with the falcons at the grain terminal. We had a Prairie, an Eagle, a Merlin, then a Gyr that day. The AF of 7D2 was remarkably fast and responsive, making flight captures a piece of cake for everyone; you just have to adjust the proper exposure settings, aim/track and press the shutter! When the lighting is good, I always start my ISO at 640 at a certain shutterspeed and aperture on the original 7D and 800 when the light starting to fade. With the Mark II, I am not afraid to start my ISO at 800 or even 1000 or 1250 to raise the shutterspeed to freeze fast actions. The image above was shot at ISO 800 and the noise level looks equivalent to ISO 400 on the original 7D, and the details hold up pretty well. On the other hand, I find 7D2's dynamic range is equivalent or just slightly better than the original 7D. For photos that require a broad dynamic range, I prefer to use my 5D2 anyway.

I will post more photos that I shot at the grain terminal with the 7D2 later as I try to upload various of photos these days.

Enjoy!

Tags:   BIF Flight Flying Prairie Falcon Falco mexicanus Raptors Bird of Prey Birds Animals Wildlife Nature Avian Photography Photographer Canon EOS 7D Mark II Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM Alberta Terminals Ltd. Cargill AgHorizons Grain Elevator Edmonton Alberta Canada

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Gold Bar Park, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
7D2 | 300/2.8L + 2x | 1/2000 sec., f/7.1, ISO ?; handheld.

Rather than posting ISO comparisons of indoor photos, I decided to post photos of real world shooting. All of these photos were shot in various ISOs in crappy lighting. Feel free to take a guess at each of them! Please see images in the first comment box below, and each can be viewed in large at 1024 px long. Hint: I used either 1600, 3200, 6400, 10000, 12800, or 16000.

Overall, the 7D2 is quite an improvement from the previous 7D. Here's what I observe so far:

Likes:
- Responsive and fast autofocus.
- Focus system tracks the subject well (depends on how you customize the AI Servo Cases and Priorities, and whether or not the EOS iTR AF is activated), but then I never had issues with tracking actions in the old 7D's system.
- 65 focus points and wide AF areas. I actually use all 65 points, not 20 and not 9.
- Shutter lag is less than the 7D...again, very responsive!
- 10 fps to capture very fast action. However, many redundant frames for fast to moderate action.
- ISO improves by 1 stop.
- Very customizable: menu, buttons, autofocus, etc.
- Can lock the mode dial to prevent accidentally shooting in other modes such as Bulb mode, for example.
- AF selection lever to switch to other AF areas (i.e., spot, center, expansion, zone, all 65 pts, etc).
- Ability to focus when the widest aperture is f/8 (i.e., 7D2 with 400//5.6L + 1.4x TC)
- Silent shooting.
- Intervalometer (to allow me to diverse into other areas of photography).
- Decent focusing speed in Live View.
- Supports both CF and SD cards.

Dislikes:
- A battery hog (even when GPS is disabled).
- AF selection lever can only go one direction.
- Exposure indicator on the side rather than at the bottom in Manual mode.
- Previewing photos require pressing the Playback button, then Magnify button, then use the main dial to zoom in/out. I prefer the old system better!
- In low light indoor setting, AF drives the focus motor on my 300/2.8L with 1.4x TC II very slowly. In contrast, 7D with the same setup was fast. Without the 1.4x TC II, the 300/2.8L on the 7D2 is fast.
- Lack of touch screen for live view and video usage.
- Lack of built-in Wi-Fi. They could have added the module where the GPS system is sitting.

Future improvements:
- More buffer. Currently, it's about 20 RAW frames, but with 10 fps burst, you could use up the buffer in about 2-4 secs (depending on the speed of the memory card).
- 10 fps is nice but can produce many redundant frames, and you could only select other burst options giving you 3 or 4 fps. I wish there is a way to customize it (i.e., 10, 8, 6, 4 fps). [Update: You can customize the High Speed FPS, Low Speed FPS, and Silent Shooting FPS.]
- There is room for improvement in noise. The noise is coarse compare to what I see from a full frame sensor. Even other camera brands' APS-C sensors produce files with very good noise level.

Tags:   BIF Flight Flying Mallard Anas platyrhynchos Ducks Waterfowls Birds Animals Wildlife Nature Avian Photography Photographer Canon EOS 7D Mark II Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM Gold Bar Park North Saskatchewan River Edmonton Alberta Canada

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