R7 First Shots

[antoeknee]

Back from holidays (3 weeks) and just starting to have a play with the R7.

Changed a few settings, lots to learn and tweak, and stuck on my trusty Sigma 150-600 C.

Initial impressions are the camera focuses quickly and the eye detection locks on well and seems to hang on to the subject.

These 2 images are of a nuthatch that was 25-30 feet up in a tree. The camera locked onto the eye and focused on the bird when it turned its head so the eye was hidden.

I have read that Lightroom, did some basic editing in LR - noise and sharpen, isn't good at processing the images so might be more detail etc to be had with a different workflow. But that's something I'll investigate soon.

Thes are quite large crops and don't look too bad at all. Other users have reported improved image quality processing with DxO PureRAW so something to try too as well as adjusting some other camera settings.

ISO 1000
R7-1 by tblake2007, on Flickr

ISO 2500
R7-2 by tblake2007, on Flickr

Full frame of the second image
R7-2a by tblake2007, on Flickr

[Farider]

Good to see your first shots, good pics and detail. Interested to how you get on

Ian

[Trev B]

You look to be on the right track Ant, nice shots

[ST-EOS]

They look god to me Ant

[Lavenderhill]

They look good pics to me, interesting to see your experience with the R7.
Once you are a bit more familiar with the R7 I’d be interested to know if it is a camera you would recommend.
Rose

[antoeknee]

Thanks for comments. Early days but the higher resolution sensor does seem to offer more scope for cropping.

The electronic shutter, I used here, is completely silent. If it wasn't for the visual clue in the viewfinder, a white.frame shows very briefly for each exposure, you'd have no idea you'd taken any pictures.

Out tomorrow visiting an RSPB and plan to get some more experience with the camera. Some tweaking of the AF might yield even better results.

The camera isn't especially small but a grip of some sort would be nice. Feels a bit strange not to grip with all my fingers.

[antoeknee]

They look good pics to me, interesting to see your experience with the R7.
Once you are a bit more familiar with the R7 I’d be interested to know if it is a camera you would recommend.
Rose

Hi Rose, I'll certainly post about my thoughts as time goes by. Another outing tomorrow.

Thinking back to when I was getting a 7D2 a lot of advice was not to get one due to noise. Glad I ignored the 'advice' as I have got many good images with it. Sure noise is an issue at higher ISOs but you learn to live with it. All cameras have limitations and I'm sure the R7 will be the same.

I did consider an R5 but wasn't sure about mirrorless and its not inexpensive. The R7 seems quite cheap, it costs far less than my 7D2 did a few years ago. With my interest in bird photography an R3 might be a good option but it's expensive and not APS-C.

The R series has a major issue though, 3rd party lenses with R mount. Not sure why Canon are being so obstructive.

[Bill53]

They look excellent to me Ant, looking forward to more of your thoughts - looks like I will have to start saving my pennies.

[antoeknee]

They look excellent to me Ant, looking forward to more of your thoughts - looks like I will have to start saving my pennies.

First impressions are encouraging. Off to RSPB Old Moor tomorrow so hope to try the camera under conditions I've shot before with 7D2.

[antoeknee]

Todays visit to Old Moor was good and I was able to spend more time with the R7.

Using it as I would my 7D2, manual with auto ISO. Today was about trying to learn more about the strengths/weaknesses of the AF.

As I'd seen before the camera was fast to lock onto a bird or its eye. One thing I did discover (no I haven't read the manual) if there is more than one bird in the frame the camera can focus on you can select which is used with the joystick, quite useful. The AF was good at keeping focus on birds in flight even when they might fly in front of trees, my 7D2 would often refocus on the trees. Not yet looked at the images, plan to do this tomorrow.

One slight issue was the AF might focus on something like a plant in the foreground and then it was tricky to get it to focus on a bird somewhere else in the frame. Might try programming a couple of buttons, one to initiate focus with a small central group then once focus is acquired use a second to focus full frame so that focus is retained as long as the subject is in the frame.

Overall feels another positive outing.

[Bill53]

Sounds very encouraging Ant.

[antoeknee]

Just started to look at the images from Wednesday. This is one of the first and looks another good result from the R7.

juv little grebe with 3 spined stickleback
R7M_0711-Edit by tblake2007, on Flickr

[Bill53]

That looks excellent Ant, very sharp with exceptional detail.

[antoeknee]

That looks excellent Ant, very sharp with exceptional detail.

Thanks. Starting to be impressed with the R7.

[Bill53]

Thanks. Starting to be impressed with the R7.

Yes I can certainly understand that, seems to be an excellent piece of kit and good to see such amazing results in combination with the Sigma 150-600 C.