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Anna M. Wood · February 04, 2015, 09:13:10 AM

For battery life turn off the lcd display review while shooting. Not really needed when ripping off 10 FPS.

That will help your battery life a lot.

Mike Margolis · February 05, 2015, 06:26:03 PM

Good point Anna!

Scott, the batteries (LP-E6 and LP-E6N) do cross between the 5d MkIII, 7d MkII, and 6d (for me) - no smoke yet anyway. And, I picked up a cheap (non-Canon) grip for the 7d MkII but have not tried it out yet. I normally stick with name brand, we'll see what happens.

The 7d MkII with the 100-400 MkII is an amazing combo!! The IS mode 3 is pure magic! Fast and steady focus, the twist is better than push-pull, the lens is very sharp to 400mm. And, with the extra reach (crop sensor) both airplanes and wildlife keepers are going through the roof. Very impressed!!

Anna M. Wood · February 05, 2015, 08:15:26 PM

Also, you can use the 1.4x Mk III extender with the 7D MkII and the 100-400 MkII. The 7D2 will auto-focus at f8. Looks pretty sharp from what I can see with my versions of both pieces of kit. No go with the 2x extender. Just a bit of backyard testing this weekend to test if I needed some micro-adjustment for the combo.

Mike Margolis · February 06, 2015, 04:38:16 AM

That's very good to know about the extender Anna! But I shall blame you for the $448 hole in my wallet...

My next question (don't want to use up too many of my own shutter cycles finding out though): Is the data bus limited like the 5d MkIII? Anytime there is an SD card in the slot, both data buses are limited to SD write speeds and not the faster CF write speeds - even if the SD card is only there for possible overflow and not being actively written to. If that answer is out there and somebody knows, great. Otherwise I will leave the SD card slot open if shooting any action and continue to research.

P.S. I think I might slow the FPS a bit - it's adjustable. Takes forever to cull a session now. I know, tough problem to have. Lol!

Anna M. Wood · February 06, 2015, 07:28:15 AM

I don't know..... I have 64 gig high speed CF cards. Do not want to throttle the buffer and write speed capability of the 7D2 with slower memory cards. Kinda defeats the purpose of the camera in my mind.

I hear you on culling. I am getting much more aware of trigger discipline with the 7D2. It is easy to rip of 30 frames of a high speed pass, all in tack sharp focus.

scottcolbath · February 06, 2015, 10:20:27 AM

Regarding battery part numbers for the 7D Mk 2 and original 7D. I see they are not the same, which is why I said what I said. I recall (although maybe incorrectly) that the 5D Mark 3 and 7D original share the exact same part number.

Anyway, I think that lens is the way to go for me this year.

S.C.

Anna M. Wood · February 06, 2015, 12:22:27 PM

You can use either battery, they are interchangeable. Same chargers as well. The LP-E6N just has more milli-amps of stored power available than the original LP-E6. It would be like you buying the after market batteries that have more milli-amps then stock batteries.

Mike Margolis · February 06, 2015, 04:07:32 PM

Quote from: Anna M. Wood on February 06, 2015, 12:22:27 PM
You can use either battery, they are interchangeable. Same chargers as well. The LP-E6N just has more milli-amps of stored power available than the original LP-E6. It would be like you buying the after market batteries that have more milli-amps then stock batteries.

I should have consulted with Anna and saved myself some time... It looks as if we have come to the same conclusions on a number of topics through independent research!

I just picked up a couple of those cheap after market (Wasabi 2600ma) batteries to use in my cheap after market grip - will test it all next week and report back.

One question Anna... Knowing good glass is almost always better, and not having the best of luck in the past with extenders on non-Canon cameras. Do you find you can get better final results with the 1.4x extender vs a crop in post?

Even with the one stop loss, a resultant 896mm sure is tempting - if it's sharp.

Paul Dumm · February 06, 2015, 04:46:12 PM

Hope this helps Mike.
http://cameraplex.com/teleconverter-stacking-9600mm-five-2x-extenders/

Anna M. Wood · February 06, 2015, 07:25:25 PM

Quote from: Mike Margolis on February 06, 2015, 04:07:32 PM

One question Anna... Knowing good glass is almost always better, and not having the best of luck in the past with extenders on non-Canon cameras. Do you find you can get better final results with the 1.4x extender vs a crop in post?

My experience is it is better not to use extenders. (Not that I have a huge amount of experience) I have heard of people going through multiple versions of extenders to get a good one that works with their set-up. There is slight amounts of build variation and environmental factors with all of our pieces of kit, thus the micro-setting functions in our cameras.

It depends how much you need to crop and the intended end use of the image for how many final pixels you will want to have. There are trade-offs and compromises that one needs to sort through on the best technique for the situation.

Mike Margolis · February 11, 2015, 03:07:46 PM

So, I went ahead and got the 1.4 III extender. Paired to the 100-400 II on the 7d MkII it is better than I had expected (backyard test)! Loss of a stop will affect my favorite time of day for shooting - near sunset. But the sharpness and clarity is better than I thought it would be and should be fine for wildlife. However, at "full power" - an effective 896mm - likely not so good for dynamic mechanical subjects under less than full sun. I might try using a monopod - but that might confuse Mode 3 IS? Maybe I got lucky with the combo? So far very happy with the set-up!!
~ Will test this afternoon at YUM and report back ~

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