These are a long way from being the best photos of goldfinches you’re likely to see, but they are a great illustration of the very sophisticated auto-focus settings on the 7D Mark II. The flock came in quickly, passed overhead and disappeared. Maybe 7 or 8 birds in total. It’s absolutely the kind of shot that I would have missed with the old camera.

I had the camera AF mode set on the ‘Case 6’ setting which is ‘for subjects that change speed and move erratically’. The AF area covered all 65 points, and the setting means that the camera will track movement and automatically select the correct focusing point from among the 65 available. Both these shots are heavily cropped.

I managed around a dozen shots in a burst, all with birds in focus. This bodes extremely well for the annual summer challenge of photographing swallows and swifts, and possibly even dragonfly.

Photographing ducks lazing on the water is altogether easier. It was nice light though, so I couldn’t resist this lady.

The last shot this evening is a fox. Finally. Just one frame, taken this evening in drizzle.

Camera note: bird photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. Fox photographed with the EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM lens.