For those who are concerned about the R7's ability to find and focus on birds in flight against a confusing background, maybe this post might provide a bit of light. I'd be the first to admit that at times the camera can be frustrating with its predilection to find eyes where they don't exist and to focus on trees, bushes and blades of grass when it feels like it, but it's also a star when it does what it's supposed to.
I'm just back at the weekend from what was, until Covid restrictions and another problem got in the way, my annual autumn trip to the Strait of Gibraltar area for the raptor migration. Hopefully, after the 4 year enforced break, it's going to be annual for some time to come. It was also my R7's first trip to the area in autumn, after a successful outing for the spring migration there in May.
On previous visits, I've been using my 7DII combined with my Sigma 150-600 for birds, but now the choice is the R7 plus the RF 100-500.
One spot I go back to whenever the conditions are right can be particularly rewarding, but also extremely challenging, because it's at its best in a strong easterly wind, which makes photography difficult, even when I'm using a shelter to try to keep out of the wind. The wind gusts catch the lens and blow the camera all over, while the birds, fighting against the gale, are bouncing all over the place, usually in the opposite direction to the camera. Shots against the sky aren't so bad, but I do like to get some against the wooded hillside if I can. With the old camera I'm manage maybe two or three of these shots per trip that were anywhere decent, and even then I was prepared to put up with a slight bit of softness for the sake of shot difficulty and composition benefits. Getting that central cluster of focus points on a bouncing target was a nightmare.
On this year's trip, the normally prevailing and almost constant easterly wind seemed to have gone missing, replaced by light airs and days of constant westerlies, so I had fewer opportunities than I'd have liked to go to my spot. One day I was there was last Thursday, when the wind was good, but there was more cloud than I'd have liked, so the light wasn't great.
Here are half a dozen shots from Thursday, taken when the subjects were whizzing by at a low ground speed, but because of the close range, a high angular velocity, not the easiest to find in the dull light against the dark foliage of the hillside. Some subjects are nice and contrasty, others not so much. You might notice that the honey buzzard in the 2nd & 3rd pics are consecutive frames. That in itself is something I never could achieve with the old kit, but these two were part of a burst of 6, all in focus, unheard of. As I said above, I used to be pleased to come away with two or three of these shots from a trip. This time I've got no fewer than 282 that have so far survived the end of trip deleting cull! I had a lot of shots where the camera failed to lock on, preferring the bushes, but these weren't nearly as frequent as with the old kit, maybe half the time or thereabouts. With the 7D2 it was maybe 1 in 10 on a good day, or usually much less.
Is the R7 better than the 7DII at birds in flight? On this example, it's a hundred times better.
