Eos7D mk2, How EXCITED will you be if . . .?

[Loswr]

Here's hoping they have a much simplified mode dial on the 7D2....

Could I suggest the following layout.....

Add C1-5, and I'd be happy.

Even better!

Wow....that would make it essentially useless for fast-moving subjects in fast-changing light.

M mode with Auto ISO is great for fast-moving subjects in fast-changing light! You pick the shutter speed to freeze or show motion, the aperture to give you the DoF you need, and the camera picks ISO for a metered exposure. On the 1D X, you can bias the metered exposure by setting EC.

 

[jrista]

Exactly! And with five custom settings, you'ed pretty much be set for...anything.

I guess I've never used the custom settings so I don't know what they can do. Not having them on my cameras could be the root cause.

They let you choose...pretty much any setting, such as AF settings, metering settings, etc. including mode (Av, Tv, M, B), save it to a custom user mode profile. You can then switch to that profile simply by moving the mode dial to C1-N (some cameras only have C1, some have C1-3). I guess technically speaking, you would still need some way of choosing Av, Tv, M or B so you could save it when saving a custom user mode...that could be on the mode dial.

If you had a bunch of custom modes, though, you could then set up several Av modes with different AF settings...one for slower moving subjects, one for fast moving subjects, one for erratically moving subjects, one for still landscapes, and one other for say portraiture. Then it would be a simple matter of switching to the right custom mode to instantly change all the camera settings for whatever it is your shooting. The 7D, 5D III, and 1D X all have C1-3. I believe the 6D only has one custom mode.

 

[jrista]

Here's hoping they have a much simplified mode dial on the 7D2....

Could I suggest the following layout.....

Add C1-5, and I'd be happy.

Even better!

Wow....that would make it essentially useless for fast-moving subjects in fast-changing light.

M mode with Auto ISO is great for fast-moving subjects in fast-changing light! You pick the shutter speed to freeze or show motion, the aperture to give you the DoF you need, and the camera picks ISO for a metered exposure. On the 1D X, you can bias the metered exposure by setting EC.

Aye. In the case of bird photography, the primary means of setting exposure is shutter when in manual mode. The shutter is pretty much the only thing you change once you have set ISO and aperture for a given light. For still subjects, you usually use a lower ISO, like 800. For fast subjects, you usually use a higher ISO, like 2000-6400. Whenever the light changes, you generally want to "reset" anyway, and rebase your exposure for the different light (and that can occur if you simply point the camera in a different direction.) Manual mode is pretty awesome once you know how to use it...it's infinitely flexible.

 

[9VIII]

Here's hoping they have a much simplified mode dial on the 7D2....

Could I suggest the following layout.....

Add C1-5, and I'd be happy.

Even better!

Yes! (but make it six, just in case)
Such a thing might even take the steam out of my desire for a Fuji.

 

[Sporgon]

Here's hoping they have a much simplified mode dial on the 7D2....

Could I suggest the following layout.....

Add C1-5, and I'd be happy.

Even better!

Yes! (but make it six, just in case)
Such a thing might even take the steam out of my desire for a Fuji.

Yes but how would you guys remember what your five or six custom settings actually are ? I have trouble remembering which one of three to use.

 

[jrista]

Here's hoping they have a much simplified mode dial on the 7D2....

Could I suggest the following layout.....

Add C1-5, and I'd be happy.

Even better!

Yes! (but make it six, just in case)
Such a thing might even take the steam out of my desire for a Fuji.

Yes but how would you guys remember what your five or six custom settings actually are ? I have trouble remembering which one of three to use.

I agree with that. Canon should add the ability to name them, and when you switch to a custom user mode, it should display the name on the LCD readout, and if it's on, the background LCD display, for a few seconds.

 

[ecka]

Here's hoping they have a much simplified mode dial on the 7D2....

Could I suggest the following layout.....

Add C1-5, and I'd be happy.

Even better!

Yes! (but make it six, just in case)
Such a thing might even take the steam out of my desire for a Fuji.

Yes but how would you guys remember what your five or six custom settings actually are ? I have trouble remembering which one of three to use.

I would trade the mode dial for something useful.

 

[Lee Jay]

M mode with Auto ISO is great for fast-moving subjects in fast-changing light! You pick the shutter speed to freeze or show motion, the aperture to give you the DoF you need, and the camera picks ISO for a metered exposure. On the 1D X, you can bias the metered exposure by setting EC.

I would never do that. I like a group of shots from a single event to have a consistent "look" which means a roughly consistent amount of noise from shot to shot. Many of these shoots have exposures varying by four stops or so. I usually shoot at ISO 200 and f/6.3 at these, but if I chose this approach, I'd end up shooting from ISO 200 to 3200, and I wouldn't want that.

 

[Skulker]

Here's hoping they have a much simplified mode dial on the 7D2....

Could I suggest the following layout.....

Add C1-5, and I'd be happy. ķ

Even better!

Wow....that would make it essentially useless for fast-moving subjects in fast-changing light.

M mode with Auto ISO is great for fast-moving subjects in fast-changing light! You pick the shutter speed to freeze or show motion, the aperture to give you the DoF you need, and the camera picks ISO for a metered exposure. On the 1D X, you can bias the metered exposure by setting EC.

that's my most used mode these days. Works a treat and I just adjust aperture and speed as needed.

 

[Loswr]

M mode with Auto ISO is great for fast-moving subjects in fast-changing light! You pick the shutter speed to freeze or show motion, the aperture to give you the DoF you need, and the camera picks ISO for a metered exposure. On the 1D X, you can bias the metered exposure by setting EC.

I would never do that. I like a group of shots from a single event to have a consistent "look" which means a roughly consistent amount of noise from shot to shot. Many of these shoots have exposures varying by four stops or so. I usually shoot at ISO 200 and f/6.3 at these, but if I chose this approach, I'd end up shooting from ISO 200 to 3200, and I wouldn't want that.

Your original comment was 'useless for fast-moving subjects in fast-changing light.' Useless to you would have been a better way to phrase it. Birds in flight consitiute such a subject that I commonly shoot. The minimum shutter speed is generally 1/1600 s to freeze wing motion, allowing relatively little flexibility in shutter speed (2.33 stops before hitting 1/8000 s). Likewise, one generally needs at least f/6.3 to f/8 for sufficient DoF, further limiting flexibility (often the lens is f/5.6 anyway – 600/4 + 1.4x – and stopping down too far isn't wise). Given that, neither Av nor Tv are really ideal for that situation (although usable on a 1-series body, where it's possible to set min/max for both aperture and shutter speed...and assign them to a C# user setting). But for BIF, M mode with Auto ISO is pretty close to ideal.

 

[Steve]

But for BIF, M mode with Auto ISO is pretty close to ideal.

That might be the case for the 1Dx but I can attest that full manual with a fixed ISO is better for BIF with a 1DIV or 7D. AutoISO is pretty wonky on those bodies. Also, unless I'm missing something, theres no exposure comp and shots against a bright sky will give you a very dark bird. I'm usually metering the sky and bumping between 1 and 2 full stops to get a proper exposure if I've got sky as a background. I guess you could spot meter, but its pretty tough keeping that center point on a moving bird.

 

[Loswr]

But for BIF, M mode with Auto ISO is pretty close to ideal.

That might be the case for the 1Dx but I can attest that full manual with a fixed ISO is better for BIF with a 1DIV or 7D. AutoISO is pretty wonky on those bodies. Also, unless I'm missing something, theres no exposure comp and shots against a bright sky will give you a very dark bird. I'm usually metering the sky and bumping between 1 and 2 full stops to get a proper exposure if I've got sky as a background. I guess you could spot meter, but its pretty tough keeping that center point on a moving bird.

True. Also, 1-series bodies can link spot metering to the active AF point, so I can spot meter on the bird as AI Servo is tracking it (I usually use the 1+8 expansion point selection).

 

[StudentOfLight]

But for BIF, M mode with Auto ISO is pretty close to ideal.

That might be the case for the 1Dx but I can attest that full manual with a fixed ISO is better for BIF with a 1DIV or 7D. AutoISO is pretty wonky on those bodies. Also, unless I'm missing something, theres no exposure comp and shots against a bright sky will give you a very dark bird. I'm usually metering the sky and bumping between 1 and 2 full stops to get a proper exposure if I've got sky as a background. I guess you could spot meter, but its pretty tough keeping that center point on a moving bird.

True. Also, 1-series bodies can link spot metering to the active AF point, so I can spot meter on the bird as AI Servo is tracking it (I usually use the 1+8 expansion point selection).

I was also gonna to mention AF-linked spot-metering as well... . I hope it makes it into the 7D-II, and EC in manual mode. (Nikon has them and RGB metering in lower-than-pro-level bodies.) Then it's all down to how well you track the bird: large smooth-flyers easier, small erratic buggers not-so-easy. Ah well, nobody ever said BiF was gonna be easy.