www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi everyone, I need some advice and would be grateful for any help given.

I'm thinking of buying the canon 7d : is it any good for butterfly photography?

What would be the best lens to use with it for general use in the field?

Many thanks

Hi Hoggers,

Quite a few photographers on the forums use the 7D (including me) and I personally love it, especially the video too. But there are much cheaper options you might want to consider (e.g. Panasonic Lumix)?

I personally use a Sigma 150mm macro lens for the simple reason that it has collar that allows me to switch from landscape to portrait, while using a tripod, in seconds. But there are other excellent macro lenses around too.

I'm sure (and hope) you get other opinions.

Cheers,

- Pete

Hi Hoggers, the 7D when coupled with a quality macro, is perfect for butterfly photography. Unfortunately how good the results are very much depends on the person behind it. I would strongly recommend the 7D, to anyone looking to buy a DSLR. If I was in the market for a macro lens, I would go for the new image stabilised Sigma 150.

Not sure how experienced as photographer you are Hoggers, but if this is going to be your first venture into the world of Digital SLRs. Don't expect instant great results, they are complected beats, and it may be quite a long frustrating journey before you start getting the results you are no doubt hopping for.


Regards Gruditch

A friend of mine recently purchased a 7D with a 100-400mm Canon lens and was getting images that were not as sharp as would be expected.

I know the 7D can be a little grainy when at high ISO settings but images should still be sharp. It turned out to be the filter. Even though it was a Hoya filter it caused blurring of the images. I have had the same problem and resorted to purchasing one of the new filters specifically designed for DSLR's. Problem solved.
Sorry to go off at a tangent but thought it was worth mentioning.

Hoggers,

I've used the 7D for some time for butterfly photography. It's a great Canon SLR with good file sizes (if you want to shoot on big image file size) good multiple-frame speed for sports or action photogaphy (about 8FPS). Initially I found some shots with it of butterflies weren't as sharp as I'd like but it may be down to the larger size of the Canon body (i.e. more weight and slight camera-shake at lower speeds without tripod) but I found that shooting through the 'live-view' option solved this (maybe with live-view there is no shutter-sake from the shutter coming up). Also with live-view if a Butterfly is above your head, you can still get a good shot of it (or at least try!). I use a 100mm Canon Macro with my 7D, but it isn't the newer one with Image Stabilization. I've always enjoyed using this lens for butterfly photography.

I've never noticed a problem with the higher ISO's and resultant grain. I find that all the newer Canon digitial SLR's are really good using slightly higher grain (i.e. an ISO of 400-800 etc). But then some people are more picky (and I always thought I was a perfectionist!)

So if you get the 7D I'm sure you'll be happy with it. However, if it really is stretching your budget, I feel that for Butterfly photography some of the slightly cheaper Canon digital SLR's will be excellent (around the £500 mark).

Good luck with whatever you chose.

Michael


Example of a shot taken with Live-view where the butterfly was 'above my head' (Brown Hairstreak, Oxfordshire, 24th July 2011)

Cheers guys, very helpful indeed. My first reaction is that I'm best off with a simpler camera - I enjoy taking the photos but I'm not much in to the more technical aspects of photography ( not at the moment anyway )

Thanks guys