First Shoot – Canon 7D MKII Super Color

I recently made the decision to update my Infrared camera, and after careful thought, chose the Canon 7DMKII.

The IR conversion choice was quite simple, Super Color.  For me, Super Color offers the widest range of creative possibilities for Infrared Photography.   With Super Color I can get more intense color IR, and still have the ability to create great monochrome black and whites.

The 7DMKII boasts some impressive specs, and I’m not going to go through everything, just the “stuff” that I found important.

Keep in mind, my main IR camera previously has been the Canon 50D.

20.2 Megapixel images, a 35% increase.

ISOs up to 16,000! And I did not detect any major noise at ISO 800.

With the 50D, I needed to stay below ISO200 to avoid excessive noise.

This is a big deal to me.

Auto Exposure Bracketing choices of 3, 5, or 7  exposures.  YES!

For HDR imaging this offers the opportunity to blend more exposures.

Along with that, a burst rate of 10 frames per second.  This means, in the perfect scenario, a 7 exposure HDR is possible handheld.  That is exciting.

So, when I received my camera back from conversion, I felt a bit like the five year old boy opening presents on Christmas morning, . . . and finding he actually got the pony!

Here are the test images.

First some Macro of flowers.

 

This was made at f5, 1/60sec, ISO 800.  It was shot shortly after sunset.  A custom white balance was set using grass as a reference.

 

This was made indoors at f3.2, 1/125sec, ISO800.  Once again a white balance was set using grass as a reference.

 

While I was shooting flowers, I thought now would be a good time to try some HDR, so I went for a seven exposure HDR.

This was made at f5.6 1/250, 1/500, 1/400, 1/320, 1/200, 1/160, 1/125sec at ISO100

 

Okay, next some landscapes.

First to capture the full effect of Super Color

The camera was given a custom white balance using grass prior to capturing these two images at f22, 1/125, ISO100

Okay, how about white foliage, and Monochrome?

These were made f22, 1/40sec, ISO100.  Grass was used as a white balance reference.

 

I think I this camera is going to do exactly what I want.

 

Just one more, final test.

 

Yeah, this is the big one.

 

The T-Rex test.

Nailed it!!

. . .  oh, this is at f11, 1/80sec, ISO100.

I think the 7DMKII is going to work well, don’t you?