Pirouette (iso 2500)

Really nice photo Steve. I love the colors, the pose and the reflection. I'm very impressed with this high ISO shot from your 7D. I'm glad to see it does so well as I'm thinking of getting one myself.

Very impressive noise levels: I think I need a new camera;) Nice action shot, and reflection. A lower angle would have been good to cut out distractions, but it may not have been possible.

Adorable! Love the colors and reflection! Great work!

Great shot Steve and impressive for such a high ISO on your 7D. Thinking about upgrading to one and appreciate the info.

I love that pose Steve.Not sure if you used any noise reduction, there appears to be a bit of detail loss in the head of the duck in the larger post. I am pretty impressed with the quality of these high ISO images.

Hi Steve, very impressed by the high ISO. Did you use a noise reduction? Love the position of the mallard stretching!

Carlette Bragg

Nice shot Steve, it seems to me the head is not as sharp as the breast. I think if you had stopped down to say F8 the head may have been tack sharp as well.

Hey Steve, nice pose you've captured here. I do see a little loss of detail in the head. Nonetheless, these high ISO shots continue to impress. I really want a 7D, although I'm personally most interested in the autofocus improvements rather than the high ISO (it's almost always sunny here in Arizona)--have you had a chance to try tracking any moving subjects?

Really nice detail in the larger image, Steve. The raised foot looks a bit oversaturated. In this case, I think you might have sacrificed just a bit of shutter speed for more dof-to my eye there seems to be a little focus blur in the tail of the duck. If you could have gotten it, I think a bit lower angle would have made this guy pop even more. Very nice as posted.

Thank you all for your very helpful comments. Regarding your questions and suggestions:
i. Yes, I used noise reduction (NR) processing. For more details please refer to my previous posts in this gallery and the topics on the 7D in the discussion forums. Briefly: I prefer to shoot in the raw file format and then have the flexibility of deciding on processing rather than letting the camera do all the processing. I consider post-processing a necessary part of digital photography and analogous to chemical development in film photography. Also, NR is only part of the processing. It’s closely coupled to any other software applications too, especially sharpening: when you change one application’s settings you can affect the results of the others! I’ve started using the Nik software suite as smart filters in CS4 because each software application appears as a layer that can be accessed and re-tuned again and again until the final image is satisfactory. You don’t need to start fresh and do everything all over again each time if you change your mind about how much NR is required, for example. Also, the Nik software control point method avoids the CS4 subject selection process while allowing selective application: I’m still not very good at selecting very finely divided edges in subjects using the CS4 tools.
ii. I agree with those of you who pointed out the need to decrease my aperture diameter with a higher f value. Since some of the bird is very sharp and since the exposure time is so low then any blur that you see is likely due to DOF. [However, I must point out too though that the image that I see before compression and posting as a jpeg looks slightly better than the web version.] Previous to using high iso settings, on cloudy days I generally set the aperture as open as possible (usually f/5.6 with my 400 mm), set the camera on aperture priority and hoped for enough light. Increased confidence in the high iso settings will let me step down to a higher f stop.
iii. Regarding autofocus: I have not yet experimented with the many options available in the 7D. I set it on “AI Focus mode” and use the center AF point. The focus is very fast and seems to be quite accurate. It’s interesting to compare the location of the focus point on the images (visible using the supplied Canon software) with the image sharpness. I did capture some images of flying gulls that were as sharp as any of my stills.

So far, I’m very satisfied with this camera. It will take time to define its limitations. However, I can see that there is enough capability to satisfy me…..for at least a year…

Thank you, Rich. I thought everyone had forgotten about this image by now. Retire NOW (if possible)! I retired after seeing salmon fishermen each year beneath a bridge when I walked to the commuter train station. Each year I would think: some day I will go down and watch them catch salmon. It took me 23 years to realize that I would never do it unless I retired. I did and soon ended up photographing birds.....