Canon R7, Worst Case Scenario

Well, maybe not the worst case scenario… Dropping the camera onto the interstate from an overpass might be the worst case, but this was one that was very concerned about. So I was out early this morning, before the sunlight could illuminate my deer friends eyes… I had the R7 set to animal eye focus but the eyes and the nose were just black spots, and the camera latched onto the nose thinking it was an eye. On a side note… the ISO for the deer capture came in at 12,800 and it turns out that DXO Pure Raw made a much better image than Topaz DeNoise could. Looks like I’ll be hanging on to Pure Raw for those tough cases.

Fortunately I still had the AF point button available for reprogramming, so I set it to toggle tracking and non tracking so that in that scenario I can just click the one button and use a single focus point on the eyes like the old days. Also I reprogrammed the M.fn button to toggle the focus points and areas with just a one button click to quickly set the focus points I need.  I also changed the exposure lock button to be a flash control button since I never use exposure lock and I thought the asterisk might remind me of a flash unit 🙂

Lol, come to think of it, I also reprogrammed the set button to toggle from EVF to LCD, that auto detect display switching feature was driving me nuts and my nose on the LCD kept rearranging the focus area every time I looked away from the EVF. Now the camera just stays on the EVF until I tell it to switch to the LCD. Now the camera works the way I want it to!

When I was packing up from my hike through the high country I spotted a red-tailed hawk on a distant power pole so I wandered over to see if I could get a shot. As I neared the raptor I could see that he was eating something, so I found a rock to sit on for a while and observe the action. Got a few minutes of footage that I’ll be sharing later, but for now I’m still working on the stills. I have to say, I’m impressed with how the R7 focusing system handles the video tracking. It’s far superior to the 90D tracking mode which continually loses the subject.

After the great bird finished with the rodent, I just sat and waited for him to fly. I set my focus area to a wide selection across the upper middle of the frame. Finally he flew right through the focus band and the tracking followed him all the way through. Unfortunately the EVF doesn’t seem to be very useful for tracking a subject while shooting. The display was very jerky and and I could only catch a glimpse of the bird every once in a while. I suppose the better method would be to snap a few captures and then recompose, making sure I’m still locked onto the subject.

Anyway, here’s a few of this morning’s image, hope you enjoy!

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