Tim Timmis Photography

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Self Healing 7D?

I decided after my 7D started showing error 20 last weekend that I’d live with taking my battery in/out for a few weeks before sending it back to Canon for the 3rd time. It’s prime time at the coast and I didn’t want to be without a camera for another couple of weeks. Went out on Sat morning and shot around 1200 pictures and it only locked the mirror up about 10 times early during the shoot. Went out again today and took about 1700 shots and no issues what so ever. Not sure if it was a fluke or if the shutter needed some breaking-in time. What ever the case, I’m going to keep using it until the problem comes back. Hopefully it won’t. Probably wishful thinking on my part…

Update: my 7D is still working OK after several outings and several thousand shots. Not going to send it back again.

Posted by Tim Timmis | May 15, 2011 | Categories: Birds | Tags: 7D | Leave a comment

Spoonbill Silhouette

Here is an early morning silhouette of a Roseate Spoonbill at the High Island rookery in Texas. I’m a big fan of silhouettes so you may see a few of them on my blog.

Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens

1/4000 sec @ F5.0, spot metering, ISO 400, at 250mm.

Posted by Tim Timmis | May 13, 2011 | Categories: Birds | Tags: Spoonbill silhouette | 2 Comments

7D Saga Continues

I thought that the second time that I sent my 7D back to Canon for service would be last, but I was sadly mistaken. Got the camera back a week ago from Canon and they replaced the same “mirror box assembly” as they did the first time. Took it out on Friday to shoot and everything was looking good for about 600 shots and then it started acting up again with the same error 20 message and locked up mirror. Hoping that the 3rd time is really the charm. I love this camera but this is getting old very fast.

Posted by Tim Timmis | May 12, 2011 | Categories: Equipment | Tags: 7D | 4 Comments

Mating Terns

Here is a shot of some Terns mating just after sunrise from Bryan Beach, TX. This is where a high frames/sec camera comes in handy. Got several shots but only one with the wings spread like this.

Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens with ground pod.

1/640 sec @ F5.6, ISO 200, spot metering, no flash

Posted by Tim Timmis | May 7, 2011 | Categories: Birds | Tags: mating Terns | 5 Comments

My Back-up 40D Died

Had my back-up camera die this weekend while waiting for my 7D to be repaired. Not unexpected however. The shutter on my 40D was sounding real funky about a year ago which led to my 7D upgrade. I had already replaced the shutter once. It completely crashed this weekend while taking some shorebird photos. Hoping to get my 7D back this week. Still waiting on the e-mail from Canon to say that it shipped. Not sure if I’ll put $216 into the old 40D or not to repair it.

Posted by Tim Timmis | May 2, 2011 | Categories: Birds | Tags: 40D | 8 Comments

Changing Light – Get There Early!

What a difference 50 minutes can make for morning light. I always encourage everyone to shoot around sunrise or sunset to get the best light for wildlife photos. Here is an example of how quickly light can change early in the morning. The first shot, taken at 7:30 a.m., shows the golden light that you can get around sunrise. The second shot is of the same Great Blue Heron only 50 minutes later. Which one do you like better? My preference is the first one. In order to get a more pleasing shot on the second one, I moved to my left to get more of the sun in the background so that it would be a silhouette shot. Reduced the exposure compensation by -1 stop and got the last picture.

The lighting in your photo’s can make all the difference. So get out and shoot early or stay until sunset and take advantage of the good light while it lasts.

7:30 a.m. around sunrise

8:20 a.m., 50 minutes after the first shot

Just after second shot

Posted by Tim Timmis | April 27, 2011 | Categories: Birds | Tags: Great Blue Heron | 6 Comments

Spoke too soon about 7D being fixed

Took my newly repaired 7D to Brazos Bend yesterday to test it out. It was great to be shooting with it again until the mirror started locking up with the same error 20. Sent it back to Canon for another round of repairs. Hopefully second time is the charm.

Posted by Tim Timmis | April 24, 2011 | Categories: Birds | Tags: 7D | 2 Comments

7D Repaired

I got my 7D back today from Canon. The repair ticket said: “mirror box cam gear assembly, back cover and CF cover assembly was replaced and product functions were confirmed. The image sensor assembly was cleaned. Other electrical adjustments, inspection and cleaning and parts replacements were carried out.”

This ended up not being a warranty repair because they found “rust on the body”. Apparently salt water and cameras don’t really mix after all. Total cost including sales tax and shipping was $216, which is about the same price that I’ve had to pay for previous shutter replacements on my other cameras. Must be a universal price for most repairs.

Here is a timeline in case anyone is interested in how long it may take for Canon to repair a camera.

4/8 – Camera started acting up with error 20 and mirror kept locking up

4/9 – Tried camera again but still had same problem. Came home and went to Canon website to fill out the repair request form. Got an e-mail from Canon very quickly with authorization/repair order number. Boxed up the camera and dropped off with Fed Ex for 3 day delivery

4/14 – camera arrived at Canon factory service center in Irvine, CA

4/18 – Received e-mail from Canon with estimated repair cost and notice that it wouldn’t be a warranty repair. The e-mail said: “Error 20. Also rust on body, CF door sticks – difficult to open, specified issue not covered under warranty”

4/19 – Called Canon to discuss warranty repair issue. Didn’t win the argument and wanted my camera repaired/returned ASAP so I went on-line and paid for the repair via credit card

4/20 – Received e-mail from Canon that the repair had been completed and the camera was being shipped that day back to me via Fed Ex

4/22 – Received camera around 11:00 a.m.

Now going to take some time to reset all of the custom functions back to where I had them. As stated in my other post, when they repair a camera, they reset every setting back to the original factory settings. Hoping to get out this weekend to try this puppy out. All is right with the world again. Well, my little part of it anyway…

Posted by Tim Timmis | April 22, 2011 | Categories: Equipment | Tags: 7D | 4 Comments

Mating Laughing Gulls

It’s never good when your partner is laughing during mating activities but apparently these birds can’t help it. Hence the name, Laughing Gulls. Took this shot at San Luis Pass. Lots of gulls, terns and skimmers hanging around with the occasional mating going on. My philosophy is that if they want to do it in front of me, I’m going to take their picture. Circle of life type moment which makes for some good action shots.

Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens on Skimmer ground pod

Posted by Tim Timmis | April 22, 2011 | Categories: Birds | Tags: Laughing Gull | Leave a comment

Nest Building at High Island

Made another trip to the High Island on 4/17. Hardly no one around and very few skeeters so it was a nice change of pace. I was hoping to get some decent back-lit shots at sunrise but the birds weren’t cooperating except for a couple on the manmade platforms, which make such a lovely perch in the photos. I was going to leave early but decided to stick around. The action got better as the light got worse but it was still all good. There were one pair of Great Egrets that were putting on a good nest building show. One was sitting on the eggs when the other would fly to the ground to pick up what you would think was the largest stick in the world with all of the fanfare when he got back to the nest. This guy wasn’t finding much from a size perspective but it seemed to be all for show anyway. They did this several times in a row and I spent about 1/2 hr focused only on them.

Since my 7D is in the shop getting repaired, these were taken with the ‘ol 40D and my 100-400 lens. I usually use aperature priority but decided to switch to manual mode this time for last half of the morning. Worked very well as the sun got higher in the sky and the lighting changes were less intense than right at sunrise.

1/100 sec at F5.6, ISO 500, spot metering, aperture priority. The red dots is the sun poking through the trees.