Bassnectar & the continuing story of the 7D

Fans wave glow sticks on the balcony of the Blue Note at the start of the Bassnectar concert, fashioned to be like a rave party.
Fans wave glow sticks on the balcony of the Blue Note at the start of the Bassnectar concert, fashioned to be like a rave party, on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009 in Columbia, Mo. / Canon 7D and 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens @ 24mm; exposed 1/8 sec. @ f/2.8, ISO 4000.

Last Friday I was assigned by Vox Magazine to go to a pseudo rave at a Bassnectar concert held at the Blue Note, a theater-like venue here in Columbia, Mo.  I decided to pack the 1D Mark III and the new 7D, leaving my 5D II on the shelf at home.  While it is a great camera in low light, I was more interested to see how the other two would perform as they are both relative “unknowns” to me.  Risky?  Sure.  But I figured it made sense to have one pro body with me, and my own 1D IIN is terrible in poor lighting conditions.  The only rule imposed on me was “no flash.”  This was going to be ISO 3200+ territory.

More photographs after the jump!

Luba Korshunova, a student from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, twirls glow sticks before the start of the Bassnectar concert.
Luba Korshunova, a student from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, twirls glow sticks before the start of the Bassnectar concert. / Canon 1D Mark III and 50mm f/1.4 lens; exposed 1/40 sec. @ f/1.4, ISO 3200.
Jamie Echols waits for her friends to arrive before the start of the Bassnectar concert at the Blue Note on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009, in Columbia, Mo.
Jamie Echols waits for her friends to arrive before the start of the Bassnectar concert. / Canon 1D Mark III and 50mm f/1.4 lens; exposed 1/250 sec. @ f/1.4, ISO 2500.

People in the crowd wave to Bassnectar up on the stage.
People in the crowd wave to Bassnectar up on the stage. / Canon 7D and 16-35mm f/2.8 lens @ 16mm; exposed 1/160 sec. @ f/2.8, ISO 4000.

While the 7D certainly outperforms the 1D III in noise performance, I was impressed that the autofocus abilities were very similar in the dark theater.   This certainly speaks well of the new 7D’s autofocus abilities.

2 thoughts

  1. So you’ve found them to be very close in low light? I’m having trouble deciding between a used 1d mk iii and a 7d for photojournalism. Lovely images by the way.

    1. Hi Mike,
      Honestly, I think you’re in a tough position choosing between the two cameras. On the one hand, the 1D is a pro series camera: it is built to endure a lot of the rough handling that comes with photojournalism. On the other hand, the 7D is a lot like a “miniature” pro body, and it can make good-quality video. While the AF in the 7D is very good, I would give the nod to the 1D Mk. III, although the funky AF-point selection scheme in the Mark III makes the 7D stand out. As for low light, I’d say that they’re reasonably close, but the Mark III has a larger sensor and fewer megapixels so it does produce cleaner results at ISO 1600. The 7D is great up to ISO 800, but I think it trails off pretty quickly after that. It should have been a 12 megapixel camera, not 18!!!
      Best of luck in making your final choice. Both are good tools and you can make excellent images with either so long as you employ good technique!
      Cheers,
      David

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