It's been an interesting period of time in the battle between Nikon and Canon for the hearts (and cash) of wildlife photographers.  The Nikon D3 (full frame) really raised the game in terms of high ISO performance and is very useable at ISO 1000 and above - very important for wildlife photographers who often need to operate at dawn and dusk. An area in which it has been less than ideal is that it is short of pixels compared with some cameras.

In contrast, Canon released the ID mkIII (1.3 x crop factor) which had to have a sub-mirror fix and a series of software patches to sort out AF problems.

This year Canon released the 5D mkII full frame camera and, in the last few weeks, the 7D, a 1.6 x crop camera.  Both feature high quality video and according to some reviewers have much improved high ISO performance on a par with the Nikon D300.  The 7D having the 'extra reach' of a 1.6.x crop body and the lower pricing point that tends to go with it has caused particular interest amongst hobby photographers.  To a certain extent, having a crop body allows one to get away with shorter and threfore cheaper lenses while still getting useable results.  I'm definitiely not talking about the professionals here who have a somewhat different set of criteria by which to assess cameras.  The other major feature of the 7D that has proved attractive is a totally revamped AF systed with 19 cross-type sensors and allegedly excellent performance which might apply to tricky subjects such as birds in flight (BIF).  As a user of the Canon 1D mkII, the AF performance was particularly improtant to me as this now elderly camera set the standard for AF by which others are often judged.

The question is, has Canon produced a camera that has great high ISO performance like the newer Nikons, fantastic AF and tracking like the 1D series and some fun extras like video and all at a price that many hobby photographers can afford??  I've now had three outings with the camera and would like to share some initial impressions.

High ISO performance

I haven't done any formal tests so here's an anecdote.  The first day I was able to get out with the new camera we had gale force winds and the rain that caused the flooding in the Lake District.  Not to be put off (LOL) I went to Catcott Lows nature reserve and sat in a hide.  Some shovellers kindly came failry close.  The picture below was taken at ISO 1600 and a shutter speed of 1/160th, Canon 500mm at f5.6 with the lens resting on the edge of the hide window being buffeted by wind and rain.  The head has some minor motion blur.  This is about 75% of the total area and has been processed with a mild lift in levels, 2 passes of NR over the background with noise ninja and some selective sharpening and levels to the duck.  Pixel peeping at 100%, the noise looked poor. For web presentation I think this makes a reasonable record shot for my blog.  Most importantly, I wouldn't have bothered to leave the house with a camera if I'd only had the 1D mkII as there's little point in shooting at 1600.  I'm sure that a properly expose picture at a decent shutter speed in nice light would have looked very much better.

AF performance

I have no complaints.  I spent an hour photographing flying gulls at ISO 400, shutter speeds around 1200 handholding the Canon 500mm.  The only time I lost the birds was through my lousy tracking and not the camera messing up.  I chose centre point expansion which means the central point is the main one but it will lock onto something in the expansion area if there's nothing for the centre point to find.  You can choose how quickly the camera looks for a new target by customising the  'AI servo tracking sensitivity'.  I have it set half way between the default and slow.  I may well push it all the way to slow as I'm so bad at panning.

The shots below are selected on purpose with a bird that's small in the frame against a busy background - that gives the camera a challenge.  I've attached the crop to show the bird is in focus.  The full frame shot has had no processing.  The big crop below has the right half processed and the left has been left unprocessed.

Conclusions

Better high ISO performance and good AF and tracking were two of the main things I wanted from the 7D along with the detail potential that the high pixel count offers.  Other features like the video are likely to be a lot of fun.  So far I feel this camera will have been a good choice for me.  Now I just need to get out and take some decent pictures with it...