EOS 7D experiences?

With 313 succesful uploads and 383824 hits I do not consider myself to be a 100% rookie, but I wonder why I have not been able to succesfully upload any photo since my switch from an EOS 10D to an EOS 7D...........

Have the screeners become harsher or is there someting in this camera type that made things go bad?

Aerovet

I don't have full access at the moment but is there something that can be learned from the screeners comments?

My gut reaction is perhaps your workflow needs to change to accommodate the higher spec camera.

I am experiencing the same issue. From Jan. 2012, for aviation shooting, I have been using a very old camera of Fuji film FinePix S3 Pro 2004 model which is not ideal for aircraft shooting but good for studio portrait shot for professional camera man. Believe or not, it allows continuous RAW shot only 3 ! and 1 shot per second !!! It is very similar to Nikon D100 based on F80. My first accepted image was in June 2012 and then, thanks to Photoshop powerful function, I have more than 350 pictures accepted in last 10 months.

Then I have added Nikon D7100 3 weeks ago due to malfunction of FinePix. For now, I was told from one screener that my image is now with all over-sharpened comparerd to previous upload. I know the reason why. It is due to the same workflow being applied. Since 9 years of electric and camera device progress is huge and it provides much more sharpness, dynamic range, resolution to shooting image. Due to such enviromental change, I should update my workflow. I know that. However it is not easy to change already established workflow without concern. I need to be familiar with moden camera's performance, I discovered.

Regarding 7D's noise performance, my friend also told me that 7D is not good at this area. So that he also said ISO100 is only good/valid to use.

Let's sharpen up process tech ! .

I am using a 7D for approx. 2 years and never managed to get pictures like I got with my former 40D (or the 50D & 5D, MkII or III).

Not necessary to explain that my acceptance ratio fell radically ... especially because of sharpness issues; Is it me or the screening process, nobody knows; My answer would be ... both of them but what I am sure of is that the 7D does not forgive so much mistakes as the others.

I had one, it suffered from noise problems but I got around it with different exposure settings and use of noise editing programs and was quite pleased with the results from then onwards. I say its definately a camera where you have to work a little harder to get the overall quality just right, but as a whole its a great camera. I got a 1D MK4 now and my overall acceptance ratio hasnt changed hardly from the 7D on any of the websites on the internet, the only difference the 1D producing an overall better image. The 7D is a camera where you have to also look into the editing side of things and think about changing your workflow to accomadate the known noise problem

This post has been edited by Darryl Morrell on 13th May 2013 - 20:42

Take a look at this test http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-III-DSLR-Camera-Review.aspx

They have testpictures to show the difference in noise between some Canon types.

I also considered to buy the 7D but now I save a little longer for the 5DMK111.

Rgds.

Gerard

I see so many people complain about the noise on the 7D but I've never, ever had a problem with mine for aviation. I can shoot at ISO400-800 and with good exposure and a little careful NR I still get clean images at 1600 pixels wide. I very much disagree with never shooting above 100, if you're having such massive difficulties anywhere above 100 then I'd suggest the problems lie somewhere other than the camera.

Sure, my 7D isn't as clean as my 5Dmk2 but they're very different cameras. I still don't feel the 7D is too noisy for aviation even though I'm now more used to the 5D2.

Darryl, funnily enough since getting the 5D2 I'm actually editing my 7D files less and they're looking much better for it. When shooting at lower ISO I essentially do the same to both 7D and 5D2 RAW files and I'm very happy with both. In fact in some cases when viewing a small 1600 pixel wide edited image it's difficult to tell them apart.

Aerovet, as Wallace suggests you probably need to amend your workflow slightly, a 10D to a 7D is a massive jump in resolution so you'll need to treat the images slightly differently. Do you have any examples of rejects?

This post has been edited by Paul Nichols on 14th May 2013 - 16:54

Aerovet - I sent you a PM with an offer, it's still open so for now I'll speak in general terms

Your 7D has an 18MP sensor measuring 5000x3000 pixels so the first thing that I am going to suggest is don't use 1024 pixel images. You are compressing too much and something has to give and it is your image quality. use a much larger image size, 1400 or even 1600.

I have had a look at some of your Cuban photos and apart from image size the other problem is colour and contrast.

The pictures lack deep shadows and bright highlights and in the case of one it has is a blue haze, which is also indicative of a white balance and or colour correction problem.

Workflow problems.

Guys,

thank you all for your positive reactions to my request.. Isn't it human to start doubting about my recent acquisition, although the type of camera was advised to me by colleague spotters.....

I hereby attach a recently rejected photo....

Maybe the advice to upload larger size will help somebit, but that is probably not all..

I would be grateful for any of your advice, which is truely appreciated!

Regards from Holland..

Aerovet

Attached photos:

First of all, I am not a specialist, so take my comments for what they are, only a personal opinion.

I would follow Wallace's suggestion and work on a larger picture; Compressing too much may cause some quality issue and increase the risk of "oversharpening" some zones, which is my second opinion ... the cheat lines or more generally the zones with more contrast. There are traces of (over)sharpening between the white and the blue and red zones and that may certainly be a reason for rejecting a picture for "over-sharpening" reason (I know it because I got plenty of them).

I do not know if you use a selective sharpening method but it could also be a good idea to avoid these zones in the sharpening process (or at least to apply less effect on them).

For the rest ... I do not know ... but I am sure some others will have good advises for you.

Have a nice day.

The screeners comments about needing a rotation are correct as it needs a 1.35 degree rotation, it's obvious from looking at the blue building in in the background.

It is also over sharpened. The dead give away is the registration, there is a halo around the high contrast boundary between the dark registration and the white fuselage. Pay attention to the histogram there is a spike of clipped whites at the right hand side caused by over sharpening.

I have seen the word noise applied on a few occasions, please believe me that sharpening is an absolute curse when it comes to noise. Amongst other things, noise is created by incorrectly applied sharpening.

Sharpening works by increasing the difference between two contrasting colours so if you have a slight variation in the sky, say with a subtle cloud then sharpening will want to sharpen that and it will even try and sharpen variations in blue or grey and create noise.

Time to think differently about your workflow, use edge sharpen, or selective sharpening or my own personal favourite High Pass Filter Sharpening but don't use Unsharp Mast, that causes more problems than it solves.

Wallace, thanks for sharing all that know how in the first place. Now you can see that that building needs 1.35 degree rotation I'am very curious on what kind of screen you are working when you are screening the pictures. Can you share that info with us as well? Screensize and resolution and how do you determin so exactly that 1.35 degree?

Thanks in advance!

I can't vouch for the other screeners but I copy the image in screening into Photoshop and run it through an action to Equalise (view at 100% for dust spots,) check the black and white points using a Threshold layer, before finally ending with a Levels layer to check for clipped tones, sharpening colour correction issues. At the end of it I can call up the Ruler command and drag out a guide to check for levels. The 1.35 was determined using the "I" command.

Generally screeners will develop an eye for things not being level.

As for a screen, I am using an old Nokia 19" CRT monitor. It has been colour corrected with the convergence and moire adjusted to their optimum settings.

Thank you all for joining my topic and trying to help me in figuring out what might have gone wrong...

Especially Wallace' advice to start with High pass filter sharpening sounds interesting......

So for now, time for radio silence from my side, which will give me some time to experiment with this technique....

To quote Schwarzenegger: " I'll be back!!! "

Aerovet

I have uploaded another example of PH-SHL.......

Following the rules of high pass filter sharpening, this one should be better.................

Just another 5 days of patience ;-)

Aerovet

Sorry, here it is.

Can you give me your opinion?

MTIA...

A

Attached photos:

The larger image size works in your favour.

Quality wise it is much better but what about the verticals?

If you look on the left hand side the light blue building should be running parallel to the edge of the frame and it's not. This is a dead give away that it needs rotation.

Attached photos:

Hmmmmm

The picture is the result of a correction which received the advised 1.35 rotation..

Frankly I am not satisfied with it myself either

I think I will try again with the original levelling ;-)

Aerovet, I downloaded your image and turned it 1.35 degr. tot the left, Guess what happened.....perfectly right, good luck to do the same!

Attached photos:

Gerard,

hartelijk bedankt: in eenvoud schuilt de perfectie!

Nu nog zien dat de aangepaste variant geaccepteerd wordt.

And to all the others: Gerard obviously figured it out!

Thanks everyone for the support!