Splendid Fairy Wren @ Desert Park

So I've had the camera for more then 24 hours and although I'll go into a bit of detail about the nitty gritty of the camera I will start by saying its a wicked camera.

Lets start with the ISO test

ISO 200ISO 400ISO 800ISO 1250ISO 1600ISO 2000ISO 3200

 As you can see the ISO performance is pretty good I'd certainly be happy with these levels if this was my camera and its within the range I'm after. Although if I have my 70-200 and the 2x extender on the front making a grand focal length of 640mm I'm going to need a shutter speed of at least 1/640th of a second but more realistically 1/1000th of a second to make a good image. If I need to get to this speed to make a shot I'm going to need to use every bit of that ISO even in good light. forgetting about the addition of aperture in that equation of course....

List of Awesomeness  

• The photos straight out of the camera look really, really good the colour and tone is noticeably better when compared to the 5D2 which I find always needs a bit of a push in post.
• Yep its fast, the frames per second is the bomb
• The user interface is a bit friendlier than the 5D2
• Feels good in the hand and easy to hold for a long time

List of Beige 

• Although everyone seems to rave about the auto focus I found it a distraction, difficult to change and the high tech AF zones really pissed me off. Within 10 minutes I switched it all off and just used the ever trusty centre point and recompose method. I found that the super dooper AF system worked a treat with smaller apertures and simple subjects like a bird. It sucked when I was zoomed in and wanted the eye of the bird, it just went for what ever was closest so I don't know what the ho ha is about with the new AF system. I guess its a system designed to get a focus quicker not more accuratly.
• BOKEH... too noisy all around. The subjects can be real crispy but the bokeh is consistently noisy even at ISO 300 so much so that if your planning on doing even a mild crop you'll see it pretty quick. This was a big problem when I was using my 50mm f/1.4 @ f/2 the bokeh was not attractive at all.
• Diffraction was a huge issue, with such small pixel sights on that 18mp crop sensor finding and using that sweet spot for the lens was necessary for a sharp photo. This dramatically reduces the ability of the camera, I wanted to shoot my 200mm @ f/3.2-f/4 but its only getting super crispy around f/6.3 - f/9 and most of the shots outside that crispy zone were throw away and delete. I shudder to think what it would do to a landscape @ f/16 and don't even dream about f/22 unless your after a soft focus image.
• High ISO noise, this was the deal breaker for me it does a very good job but anything over ISO 1000 is looking pretty rubbish once again especially if your cropping.

So for me the camera would be a good backup to the 5D2 and it did eactly what I wanted with the frame rate and lens extension but these are no images related features. However, and its a big however, the combination of the last 3 issues - bokeh noise - diffraction limits - high ISO noise - which do effect the image has me re-thinking.

You see none of these issues by themselves is a major downside to the camera and I still think that this is a freakishly good camera for the price. But for what I am aiming to use the camera for - birds - event (usually dark rooms) - these 3 issues add up to it plain and simply not doing what I want which I fully admit is very specific. If I wanted a camera that could do a bit everything this camera would be a good choice but I don't want a bit of everything.

It looks like I'll hold off and wait for the next 7D model or the next full frame camera that is in the $2-4000 price range perhaps the 1D4 - IN MY DREAMS - right?

Well it looks like the Epson 3880 will be my next item to add to the kit.

Here are some shots from Desert Park

Whistling Kite

Black Cockatoo

Rainbow Bee EaterWhat the Duck

Canon EOS 7D & 70-200 f/2.8L IS

Today I'm gong to be taking a 7D for a bit of a spin around the town to see how it preforms because I'm in the market for a second camera.

I love the 5D MK2 and it will always be my primary camera but there is a few places it falls short for me namely the frame rate (fps) and the full frame sensor.

Frame Rate?

The 5D MK2 shoots a solid 4 frames a second which is more than enough for 90% of my work - commercial - event and landscape as these tend to be well thought out compositions and one frame a second would be enough for these. But where I would like a bit more speed is wildlife most importantly birds. Birds, especially small twitchy birds move very fast and when you holding on to 2.5kg of camera trying to keep it still and or moving fast to follow the action a 4fps camera will get something but only a small slice. 

Crop Sensor?

Why the hell would I want a crop sensor when I spent a whole lot of money on a full frame camera? simple... the crop sensor will give me 1.6 x magnification on all my lenses effectively turning my 70-200 F/2.8L IS into a 112-320 f/2.8L IS and just as if you don't know how much a 300 f/2.8L IS costs let me just casually inform you that the Canon 300mm F/2.8L IS will ship from USD $4340.00. Yep, I know, as soon as you start getting into really big L glass the price escalates dramatically much more dramatically than I can justify at the moment.

So you can see that these two reasons alone add up to a whole new set of photographic possibilities and with a reasonable price tag of a camera, grip and battery for around USD $2000 it makes sense to at least have a real close look. The main deal breaker for we will be ISO performance which after a few quick looks is nowhere near the 5D MK2 which is both understandable due to sensor size and pricing.  

So stay tuned for the results.

Sunrise on Mt. Sonder

Its good to be back in the desert after an extended holiday down to Melbourne, Tassie and Brisbane.  I was feeling pretty down when I first arrived back two weeks ago but as soon as I left town on my first tour of the year I was back into it in a big way.

The Centre had changed dramaticly while we were away with the summer rains drenching the landscape and the rivers flowing. We left a dry dead desert and returned to a very green living desert with the West MacDonnell ranges that surround the town of Alice Springs covered in Green spinifex. On my last tour we visited Ormiston Gorge which was still full of water which was quite unbelievable. I really do have to get out there and spend a few mornings getting those once a year photos that I will regret if I don't.

The touring schedule is pretty manic tho and this is preventing me from getting out there while its in its prime. The alarm was set for 3am this morning but after a 2am wake up call the day before to climb Mt. Sonder I just didn't have it in me.

Still the opportunities continue and all are waiting for the camera, next week we have forecast rain so I'll be sure to get out to the spots and spend the early hours having some fun.

A few iPhone shots of the start of our Tassie times.