The 7D Mark II User’s Guide is now available. You can purchase your copy right now in the BAA Online Store here<\/a> for $59.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n BIRDS AS ART is proud to announce the publication of the long-awaited 7D Mark II User’s Guide. You can purchase your copy right now in the BAA Online Store here<\/a> for $59. This is the highest priced user’s guide ever, surpassing the 5D II User’s Guide that is priced at $50. Why? I did twice as much work preparing the 7D II Guide. It required many days of writing, many dozens of hours of study and research, not to mention hundreds of hours in the field trying to figure out the best 7D II setting while doing what I love to do best, photographing birds and nature. The camera is quite complex. Many thanks to both Rudy Winston and Chuck Westfall of Canon USA for their help in getting me through the stickiest parts. <\/p>\n The guide contains 23,196 words in 516 paragraphs. There are 24 photos and screen captures interspersed in the main body of the text and a gallery of 23 additional 7D II images that show what the camera is capable of with a variety of lens and lens\/TC combinations. We would love your feedback. <\/p>\n The very great strength of the 7D Mark II User’s Guide is the coverage of the autofocus system. I review in detail all of the items on the five pink AF Menus. Most important of these is the Custom Case setting (at AF 1) that I have developed over time and currently use for all of my bird photography. On the recently concluded Hooptie Deux Spoonbills and more IPT John Johnson of Naples, FL mentioned that he was having trouble producing sharp flight images. I set up my Custom Case on his camera, and within minutes he was amazed at the sharp results that he was getting…. While skill, strength, fine motor control, and superior hand eye coordination are all factors that will influence your success as a flight photographer, you can have all of the preceding in spades but if your camera is not set up properly much of your effort will be in vain…. <\/p>\n In the 7D Mark II User’s Guide you will learn everything that I know about the important topics listed below, and better yet, I explain the options for each along with my reasons for choosing a specific setting in a specific situation. <\/p>\n Handling the WHITEs The guide is\u2013of course\u2013written in my informal, easy-to-follow style. <\/p>\n Please note: Some Menu items are not covered in this guide for one of several reasons: <\/p>\n \tThey deal only with the creation of movies (not covered) Though I recommend that the irrelevant and confusing items be left at the default settings, I do, in most cases, I refer you to the relevant page in the 7D II Instruction Manual. If you follow up, it just might turn out that you are a lot smarter than me. In those cases I would love to hear from you via e-mail. So far none of the above have prevented me from creating many spectacular images with my 7D II. <\/p>\n Please note that this guide does not contain a table of contents or an index. To search the document for a given topic simply hit Control F to search. When the Find box pops up, simply type the term that you are looking for into the field and hit Next. This will allow you to find what you are looking for quickly and efficiently. <\/p>\n If you purchase the 7D II UG and it helps you to create better images, please feel free to send no more than two 1200 pixel wide or 900 pixel tall sharpened JPEGs to me via e-mail<\/a> along with your comments. I will be glad to do a short critique if so requested. <\/p>\n Otherwise, feedback via e-mail<\/a> or blog comment is always appreciated. <\/p>\n The free excerpt below was adapted from the published version of the 7D Mark II User’s Guide. It gives you an idea of the depth of coverage you can expect. From page 48 of the guide under On “AF1: AF config. Tool,\u201d the first pink Menu<\/em><\/strong> (with the camera set to P, Tv, Av, or M):<\/p>\n Setting this one to 2 allows the camera to switch AF points more quickly if the subject moves dramatically left or right or up or down. Setting it to 0 might be best for highly skilled flight photographers who are able to consistently keep the center AF point on the bird\u2019s face. Though that is not me I have been experimenting here by setting 0, 1, or 2. Note: this setting has no effect if you are using single point\u2014manual selection. I set Case 3 (with my custom settings) for pretty much all of my flight and action photography, heck, for all of my bird photography. Remember: AF point auto switching settings will have no effect when you are in either Single Point or Spot AF. Please note that the above does not mean that every flight shot will be razor sharp on the bird\u2019s eye. While many folks will look to blame the camera\u2019s AF system, the problem often lies with the operator. Did you get the AF point on the bird soon enough so that it had time to track? Were you panning smoothly? Did you jerk the lens at some point? There are times when the active AF point is right on the birds\u2019 eye, face, or neck and the image is not sharp for one of the reason\u2019s mentioned immediately above. And at times, there is simply not enough contrast for the system to acquire and track successfully. The white breast or neck of a Snow Goose, especially in soft light is a perfect example of when that problem might pop up. Lastly, as a sort of payback there are many times when the active AF point is nowhere near the subject but the image is razor sharp\u2026. <\/p>\n
\n![\"7d-ii-ug\"](\"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-content\/gallery\/general\/7d-ii-ug.jpg\" "\\"7d-ii-ug\\"")
<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n \n 7D Mark II User’s Guide Now Available<\/h3>\n
The Great Strength of the 7D Mark II User’s Guide<\/h3>\n
What Else is in the Guide? <\/h3>\n
\nThe top LCD and all camera control buttons
\n7D Mark II drive modes
\nHow to manually select an AF sensor
\nChoosing an AF Area Selection Mode; how and why (includes extensive detail)
\nMoving the AF point or Zone
\nThe creation of in-camera Multiple Exposures and in-camera HDR images (includes extensive detail)
\nLive View Shooting and AF choices (all new in the 7D II)
\nMenu Item Access
\nCoverage of almost all Menu Items and Custom Functions including the following: Image Quality, Auto Lighting Optimizer, Lens aberration corrections settings, Highlight Tone Priority, AF Configuration Tool (as above, this includes details on the custom setting that I use), Acceleration\/deceleration tracking, Tracking sensitivity, Lens drive when AF impossible, Orientation linked AF point (I love this feature), Highlight alert, Histogram display–do you know how to access both histograms at once?, Auto rotate, Image Jump, LCD Brightness, Info button display options, Custom Shooting Modes set-up, ISO Safety shift, using the Q button, setting up rear focus, and setting up your My Menu feature (among others). <\/p>\n
\n They are irrelevant to nature photography.
\n After spending hours studying the 7D II Instruction Manual and consulting others I have no clue as to the purpose or the reason for the existence of a given feature.<\/p>\n7D Mark II User’s Guide Free Excerpt <\/h3>\n
AF point auto switching <\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n
\nMy custom settings for Case 3, and, in fact, all of my AF settings, have worked beautifully for birds in flight with the EOS-1D X, the 5D Mark III, and most recently, with the 7D Mark II. <\/p>\n