GEAR TESTS: CANON 7D MKII

Robin Dodd Backscatter Team Member

This year I had the privilege of being able to attend The Digital Shootout on the stunningly beautiful island paradise of Little Cayman. This was my first year in attendance and I truly experienced firsthand why this event is, without a doubt, the best underwater imaging workshop in the world. As someone who has been diving and shooting underwater for less than 2 years, I can definitely say that I am walking away from this event with a massive increase in my understanding of the concepts, principles, and execution of nailing that perfect underwater shot.

During the week I primarily shot the Canon 7D Mark II in the Nauticam NA-7DMKII housing. A pair of Sea & Sea YS-D2 strobes provided supplemental lighting. The system was configured for wide-angle shooting with a Tokina 10-17 lens. The 10-17 behind a 10-inch dome port ensured that I could capture the widest of shots when set to 10, a necessity for our trip to the wreck of MV Tibbetts. The ability to zoom in to 17 when I needed to get in tight with a grouper or turtle was an awesome asset in such a subject-rich shooting environment. There were dives when I actually had to decide whether to go for the resting nurse shark, lazily swimming turtle, or friendly grouper all present at the same time. Talk about tough decisions! I found the 7D Mark II and 10-17 to be extremely snappy and sharp when it came to auto focusing which was critical for those split-seconds where an animal was displaying unique behavior or interaction with its environment. The camera, lens, and strobes working together gave me excellent color and beautifully detailed images under all shooting conditions regardless of depth or ambient light. I decided to use a fiber-optically triggered connection for the strobes, which surprised me in that there was a very fast recycle time for the 7DII's pop-up flash. I especially liked that I could manually set the flash power, so cranking it down to ¼ power ensured quick recycle time while still being plenty bright to trigger the YS-D2s. The only negative experience that I had was due to a camera battery that had reached the end of its service life. I was previously unaware of checking this lifespan, and found that even though I had to sacrifice a few shots due to this malfunction, it was great being able to connect face-to-face with our representative from Canon, Ed Meyers, and learn that the 7DII has a menu option to tell you exactly how much life your battery has left and how reliable it may be. All batteries lose performance after so many cycles and time, so now I'll be sure to check this before packing for the trip! Fortunately, I brought a few spares and was not without a functional system for more than one dive.

The NA-7DMKII really made me appreciate the intuitive control schemes and innovative techniques that make shooting a Nauticam housing an ergonomically great experience. With only one or two control exceptions, I never had to take my hands off the handles to change settings on the camera. The critical controls of shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and image review are all located right at your fingertips. This makes adjustments on the fly second nature and effortless. I found this to be a huge relief when there are already so many other factors to consider when going for that perfect shot.

The most valuable accessory on this system is an expanded 45-degree viewfinder. The expanded viewfinder not only provides magnification so that you can clearly see your shot before taking it, it also allows you to get your face back from the rear of the camera for more convenient shooting position and convenient quick image review. You can't really make a great image unless you can see it and line it up before snapping the shutter, so the investment in an expanded viewfinder carries a critical value that all shooters of any experience level can instantly utilize.

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