A night at the race!

Since Digi’s thread is full, I am starting a new one . I may repost when Digi creates a new one.

Again I was at the right place at the right time with the right gear.

1. No, these ain’t birds!

2. Yes, this is the 7D with 400 mm of white lens.

3. No, the iPhone cannot take race shots.

4. Yes, the iPhone can take pictures that I am sure my 7D couldn’t.

What you are seeing here is why every owner in Lac Simon with a land directly on the lake knows his/her house is worth a lot: boats. Our lake is located between Ottawa and Montreal and is the biggest lake in Southern Quebec (aside from a lake in the Eastern Township and the Saint Lawrence River). Pure water, 300 feet deep, beaches, big enough for speed boats. I must admit, what gives properties value here is the size of the lake and the opportunity to do some boating (and not turning in circles).

Four guys decided to do a show of speed tonight. Do not be fooled, these boats were doing at least 60 mph. Sea-Doos go fast too but they’re tiny. If you zoom the images you’ll notice that these boats have 300 horsepower engines. I caught the first one at 1/640 (TV mode), ISO 400 in burst mode. Then I switched to AV and in AI Servo mode and I just kept pressing that shutter. The 7D remains a great camera for these kinds of shots. I did some testing today and the 7D at telephoto easily beats my 40D and 350D. I’m still having issues with very small birds however. I’m using the center focus point in evaluative mode but results are not sharp enough. I am also now systematically doing exposure compensation by +1/3 or +2/3 thirds, depending. I programmed Custom settings on the dial.

Then after the boats, the iPhone gave me some splendid pictures that I doubt a DSLR can do. I was told to never shoot at the sun directly. Well it seems that the iPhone doesn’t care; it can handle it easy.

Canon 7D shots

An evening by the lake (on the cool side)

First boat showed up (I heard it coming naturally).

Second boat showed up.

Then another!

And the last one!

It all happened in less that two minutes. Probably these guys were clocking themselves.

iPhone pictures

Never bet against an iPhone 11 capabilities!

I tried that shot yesterday with the 7D. Couldn’t be done.

Tomorrow will be another day.