R7 for bird photography and birds in flight (1 Viewer)

[Evan Atkinson]

I was down at reculver for 3 days doing a photoshoot for some coursework and got some nice pics of the sand martins. Both with the R7 and EF 100-400 IS II USM


Evan

 

[Mendobirder]

I think you'll find a huge difference in your output at once. The EF100-400 Mk II is a fine lens (and was my initial combination with the R7) but having the RF lens designed for use with the RF range cameras is the business.

John

You were correct! There has been a noticeable improvement in speed of AF and resulting image quality. Keeper rate is higher now. Still learning the quirks of the R7 but now getting images that make me happy. Will get a big test in a couple of weeks when we have an offshore trip... see if I can catch those seabirds whizzing by, going above and below the horizon... I may need to practice manual exposure to keep the AE from alternately under-and over-exposing the birds.
Here's a few images I'm happy with.

 

[Evan Atkinson]

Selection of photos from walthamstow wetlands last Saturday. Will be out photographing house martin and swift on the weekend so will post the best of those when I have time to go through them.




Also, a short eared owl at Elmley a few weeks ago..


Kind regards

Evan

 

[GMS]

.... Will be out photographing house martin and swift on the weekend so will post the best of those when I have time ....

Looking forward to seeing those. I've tried to take pics of hirundines and swifts at a migration site yesterday and it's been a bit of a disaster. Focus lock was very tricky and the camera was hunting a lot. Still getting to grips with the slight delay in seeing the image with mirrorless but would have managed to get on much better with my old 7d2. Lots to learn, hopefully will manage in due course. I had the focus set at flexible zone AF1 but couldn't even get lock on very distant Purple Heron. Any advise much appreciated.

 

[Evan Atkinson]

Looking forward to seeing those. I've tried to take pics of hirundines and swifts at a migration site yesterday and it's been a bit of a disaster. Focus lock was very tricky and the camera was hunting a lot. Still getting to grips with the slight delay in seeing the image with mirrorless but would have managed to get on much better with my old 7d2. Lots to learn, hopefully will manage in due course. I had the focus set at flexible zone AF1 but couldn't even get lock on very distant Purple Heron. Any advise much appreciated.

I did not really achieve any good images of any hirundines unfortunately. Very mobile and did not stick in one area for very long. My advice is to get on them in the blue sky and just hope the camera sticks onto them. If its helpful I can post the af setup I have because it does quite well when it locks on. I have found that it is very difficult to get the camera to lock onto a bird like a jackdaw against a dark background at a distance. I would think with purple heron it was against some reeds?

Evan

 

[Barred Wobbler]

R7+ RF100-500.

A solar-powered Ibis

 

[ApusApus]

Guess that dispels any ideas that the R7 is not good for birds in flight!


Shane

 

[Barred Wobbler]

R7 + RF 100-500 last Thursday.

 

[Barred Wobbler]

R7 + RF100-500, 30th April.

 

[Barred Wobbler]

R7+RF100-500, 3 May.

 

[Barred Wobbler]

Black Kites from 1st May

 

[colincurry]

Very impressive BW. Seems like you get the reach of the RF200-800 at much less cost with the R7. Have you tried this set up with the b1.4 tc, please?

Thanks

Colin

 

[colincurry]

R7 + RF100-500, 30th April.View attachment 1580164

Was in Costa Rica some years ago. At a fairly liquid dinner the discussion turned to pratincoles. I suggested to one of the party that he might be 'pratin' and I could be 'cole'. He was very kind to me and I am still alive.

Colin

 

[Barred Wobbler]

Very impressive BW. Seems like you get the reach of the RF200-800 at much less cost with the R7. Have you tried this set up with the b1.4 tc, please?

Thanks

Colin

I tend not to use the 1.4 converter, especially for flying stuff, but I did for this Osprey last September.

When I'm using the converter it's usually to make close objects bigger, rather than distant objects closer. It spends most of its life in my pocket or, more often, at home. I was photographing waders from the car, in South-west Spain. They were fairly close, but I had the converter on for them, mainly to make a little stint a bit less little. An unexpected osprey came flying close by, so I just had to hammer the shots off with the R7, 100-500 and 1.4X.

The trick for clear photos, as with any kit, is to be as close as you can get. As Brent Hall says in his very useful Youtube videos, 'Physics is not your friend', and all the magnification in the world isn't going to get good detail in a bird that is too far away. Even at this relatively close range, closer than you'd normally see an osprey, with 700mm on a crop body (1120mm), the moisture and dust particles in the air were having a softening effect.

The Caspian Tern, nearby an hour later was taken at closer range without the converter.

I've got a 200-800 since February. It works with the R7 and I'm using it at home, but all that reach on a crop body makes it too hard to track and frame flying birds at a proper range. The R5 is better.

 

[Barred Wobbler]

I'm not saying that the 200-800 is no good for flying birds, just that it's hard to track them with the R7 crop body and all that reach.

These were some of the shots I took with the 200-800 in the first few days I had the lens back in the dark days of the beginning of February.

I found that at 800mm the gulls were almost impossible to track as they whizzed by in the confines of the dock, and I was pulling the focal length back to 500mm or so to follow them. That was fixed by going back the next day with the same lens on the R5 and it was much easier at 800mm on the full frame.

Canon R7 plus RF200-800

 

[KarlK]

R7 + RF100-400
Osprey

 

[mike nesbitt]

Peregrine. R7 + 100-500 @ 500mm

 

[Dave Williams]

Excellent Mike, I didn't realise you were using the R7.

 

[Waxwing007]

Hello Evan Atkinson, you mentioned in an earlier message to GMS about sending your AF setting when photographing hirundines, would you be willing to share this with the rest of us beginners please or any set up use when photographing BIF.

Kind regards

Steve

 

[Barred Wobbler]

Out of curiosity and partly for a bit of daftness, I decided, in the pursuit of science, to dig my old Canon 400mm/F5.6 prime out of the cupboard for only the third time in 9 years to see how it got on with the R7. Canon says in the R7 specs that it's not supported by the camera, but I knew from a similar experiment in 2021 when I tried it on my R5 (also not supported) that the camera should talk to the lens.

I took a stroll down to the river at the bottom of the street, where I knew there would be plenty of subjects.

As expected, just as it did with the R5, the lens severely slowed down the burst rate (First Curtain Electronic) from 15fps to something like 6 or 7 fps (at a guess). It was also pretty erratic at holding onto flying birds, but could lock on. It's a cracking lens though, even though it lacks modern facilities like Image Stabilisation, and for an unsupported lens, I don't think the camera performed badly. Just work within the limitations and don't expect miracles.

I've given these images a normal fairly light touch in editing from CRAW in PS and I've left them completely uncropped for the purposes of the experiment, so ignore the composition.