New Camera Canon 7D

Canon Eos 7D, EF 500mmF4IS

Golden Eagle in flight, Bighorn Basin

I received my latest camera on Tuesday the Canon 7D. This is Canons latest APS-C or 1.6x cropped sensor offering. There are many sites reviewing the camera and listing it's specs so I won't bother going into that. I spent some time learning the camera and reading the manual. Overall the camera is similar to the 50D which I had prior. Canon has included some really useful upgrades and revamped the AF system so I have high hopes for this camera. I spent some time using the MFA (micro focus adjustment) feature and fine tuned my lenses. Some we're spot on other required some adjustment.

I've been revamping my camera system lately. I sold off my 50D and my 1DmkIII. The 7D is a replacement for the 50D and I hope to have the brand new Canon Eos1Dmk4 before the start of the 2010 Images for Conservation Pro Tour Photo Contest in which I will be participating. In past contests I've always had cameras which each sensor size Canon produces, full frame, 1.3X and 1.6x crop. That strategy has worked very well for me.

Canon Eos 7D, EF500mmF4 IS, 1.4x teleconverter
Rough Legged Hawk, Bighorn Basin Wyoming

I was able to get out yesterday morning with the 7D for some photography.. A beautiful golden eagle provided me with a good opportunity to test the AF tracking of the camera.The 7D performed very well. The 8 FPS allowed me to capturet many different wing positions as the eagle flew by. Also with the 18mgpx sensor I was able to crop the image and retain great detail. So I'm off to a good start with the new camera. Next week in Yellowstone I'll really put it to the test.

Trip Report Arches and Canyonlands National Park

Canon Eos5DmkII, EF16-35mmF2.8L @ 16mm

I just returned from a quick trip to Utah for some winter landscape photography in the slickrock country around Moab. I really wanted to photograph this beautiful area with snow cover which I've never done. Images I've seen from the area with fresh snow are quite stunning. I was accompanied by Lynn Richardson my good friend and gallery partner. With only 4 full days of photography we really hoped that the weather would cooperate. Landscape images in this redrock country really need sweet light. The weather forecast was favorable when we left home but as often happens the weather and the forecast got worse as the week went on.

The above image was taken on my first morning in the Windows Section of Arches National Park. This is Turret Arch. The arch is often photographed through the North Window which is the iconic image from the area. I chose a composition not often seen. By using the rocks in the foreground I was able to achieve depth and balance in the image. I tried very hard to come up with compositions different from the norm during the trip and believe this was achieved.

This next image was taken from directly under the North Window. Again I was looking for an unusual composition. I wanted to show the graceful span on the arch and the beautiful sky. The underside of the arch was very dark and shadowed. To compensate for the high dynamic range presented in this image I shot 3 exposures -2, 0 and +2 compensation and processed the image in Photomatix a wonderful program for HDR image processing. By doing this I was able to show the detail in the shadowed section of the arch while not to overexposing other parts of the image. With so much to photograph in these 2 amazing parks the 4 days we had didn't make a dent in the list of locations we wanted to viist. We tried our best and I'll show some more images soon. Saturday I'm off to Yellowstone National Park to lead my winter photography tour and I'll try to post to my blog while I'm there.