Bird Photography

[gilded yarrow]

my kingfisher spot is around 30 mins away, dont have a good raptor spot for photos but I see them out of my window like every 2nd day

pheasants are on every field and well flamingoes dont exist here lol

[grizzled nebula]

I have raptors (buzzard, kestrel and short toed eagle), green and great spotted woodpeckers and pheasents where i am rn

And some small birds

[magic crown]

At 30km radius i can have almost all species of my region

Fucking op

[grizzled nebula]

Kingfisher 10 mins away

1h30 to the route des crete at the gorges du verdon for raptors

[magic crown]

Btw is there a lot of ppl actually ?

[grizzled nebula]

Idk havent been yet

Its closed atm and you have to walk to it for 12 mins

So idk if there will be loads of people since you cant currently park right next to it

[magic crown]

Ik that in summer it's extremely overtouristic but in winter idk

[grizzled nebula]

Nah winter it should be fine

[magic crown]

Verdon is pretty popular so idk

[magic crown]

Yeah pretty common for a forest

[grizzled nebula]

Where are the damn woodpeckers

Can hear them peck but cant see them

[fast knoll]

Prob in the trees

🤣

[grizzled nebula]

Nooo i scared it away

Found the branch it was on

Imma camp here

[grizzled nebula]

Another one was right there in this tree but i couldnt get an angle where i could see him

[grizzled nebula]

Just imagine a bird on it

[tough hull]

Lucky that a bus comes

We have idk three 8buses that go per day

[tough hull]

The tits are everywhere😭

I can’t get any other bird here

I want robins

But nah

[grizzled nebula]

This fucking woodpecker is playing with me bruh

Makes noises but doesnt show itself

[tough hull]

I see robins only when I am at my kingfisher spot

And there they are scared

[tough hull]

Relatable

Last time I was in reach of a woodpecker I accidentally still had -5eV from some experimenting I did and then I put my shutterspeed slower to the point where the woodpecker flew away and I couldn’t get him because of Slow shutterspeed

[grizzled nebula]

Saw 2 woodeckers on the same tree but they flew off

Theyre always on this tree and i smh never manage to get a good pic of them

Theyre always to high up

[tough hull]

Bro I’m driving right now but I don’t have my cam cuz our cars key is broken and so it opens the car randomly

And when I go shopping it’s not optimal to leave my camera in the car

[tough hull]

And I saw four herons walking in shallow water

[grizzled nebula]

Oh i can hear some pecking again

Kestrels have arrived!!!

[tough hull]

Nice

Literally can’t wait for summer

I hope the kingfishers return

I spent literally around 20 hours in this cold weather at my favorite birding spot already

I did not see a single kingfisher

Even though they aren’t the birds who travel away in winter

[grizzled nebula]

I have a kingfisher spot

Theres always some there

Everytime i go

[tough hull]

Some????

I see like two

Idk

Only one at a time

Wait what country again?

[grizzled nebula]

France

I only see 1 or 2 aswell but they make themselves visible every 5-10 mins

Its a small river connected to the sea

[tough hull]

Ok

If these kingfishers don’t return to my spot I will need to ride my bike for 20km

I think it or they left because 80% of the lake they were at were frozen and only the creek was free. And a ton of ducks where in that little water plus herons and cormorants at the sides and idk but I think a heron or cormorant could eat a kingfisher or at least kill it

[green canyon]

no idea if can do something nice with it but we'll see

[tough hull]

Those stupid cormorants are destroying our waters

[tough hull]

Nice

[green canyon]

200mm

time to go now
im already shooting at 12.8k iso

[tough hull]

Here where I live those idiot guys protecting the birds say oh no cormorants are endangered, don’t shoot them, then how come our fish populations decreasing so fast which they didn’t before the cormorant populations exploded

[tough hull]

How

It doesn’t look that dark

[green canyon]

i saw a cormorant in this exact spot today

[green canyon]

the sun is barely above the horizon

covered by trees

[tough hull]

Bro I always when I get close scare them on purpose to get them while flying

And then wait till they come back and scare them again

[green canyon]

yeah that works lol

[tough hull]

I’m not letting them eat all the fish from our waters

It was like one cormorant eats about five fish per day

Or something like that

[green canyon]

i can feel the humidity rising good time to pack up my camera

[tough hull]

We had a ton of big trout in my creek but when the cormorants came they all vanished

[tough hull]

lol

[tough hull]

Btw did you want to upgrade your camera?

[grizzled nebula]

Theres herons, cormorants and some ducks in the same river as the kingfishers

[green canyon]

yes

[tough hull]

What camera

[green canyon]

a6700

[grizzled nebula]

R5ii RF 600 F/4

[tough hull]

Yeah but the ducks were all basically covering the. Surface

[tough hull]

K

I’m upgrading to a7 V 😭

Just because it’s a lot cheaper in kit with 200-600

[green canyon]

makes sense

[tough hull]

So now would be the chance to save if I wanna upgrade

[green canyon]

a7iv is quite a bit more expensive than the a6700, not even including full frame lenses

[tough hull]

Bro don’t get it trust me

[green canyon]

so its the a6700

[tough hull]

I would only recommend it if I was already selling it lol

[green canyon]

haha

[grizzled nebula]

A7iv has ass readout speed

[tough hull]

I know bro

2sec at high continuous shooting and boom I’m down to 1fps

I’m moving to idk photo lounge now

[green canyon]

wtf

even my zve10 hold up better

[tough hull]

Yeah well also slow as sd card plus bigger file size than Zv-E10

[grizzled nebula]

R6ii 14ms a7iv 27ms 💀

[green canyon]

fair

[tough hull]

Also I shoot uncompressed

Raw

[green canyon]

i dont even have that option

[tough hull]

lol

[remote remnant]

27?

[tough hull]

A7 III better

Heck no

[fast knoll]

yea a7 series isnt that good for bird photography

a7v is a nice step up tho

just ball out on the a1ii

[tough hull]

A1 too expensive

Tbh I also don’t like the feeling of a1 in my hands

I was at a camera store and tested them lol

A9 was weird too

[grizzled nebula]

R5II clear

[grizzled nebula]

the A1II or A1?

[magic crown]

What a spectacle

Got some pretty good things today (only water birds)

[tough hull]

The newest one btw I’m too lazy for all the IIIIIIII

so a1 mark 2

[grizzled nebula]

get a pic of the plane

[grizzled nebula]

ew

but A1II is meant to have better ergo lol

but idk cause i've never had a sony in my hands

[tough hull]

Well I didn’t like it

It felt a bit weird

It’s just my opinion

[grizzled nebula]

canon cameras ergo >

[tough hull]

Also I don’t remember which of these two it was but either the a9 or a1 was ugly asf with the buttons and dials

[tough hull]

Nah

Mid

[grizzled nebula]

just jealous

[tough hull]

No

I held them too

[grizzled nebula]

well you're weird 😭

anyway i need an R1 so i can do 68s burts at 20 fps

[tough hull]

But like I am used to my Sony probably it’s just the unusual feeling of the cameras

Because they are almost identical th Sonys when it comes to grip but I preferrred my a7 IV grip

[tough hull]

Burt

[magic crown]

Useless

Just learn the bird pattern

[astral saffron]

A1ii is fantastic to hold

Fits my hand perfectly

[tough hull]

Yeah but I hate the look of it

It looks so cramped together

[astral saffron]

I have small hands 🤷

[tough hull]

No not that

It just looks like someone threw magnetic dials on an a7IV

[green canyon]

swan

[grizzled nebula]

mid

(totally not jealous)

why the fuck can i not have a lake near me

[magic crown]

nooo absolutly not

with fog

[grizzled nebula]

gonna try this

i'm either gonna die by getting hit by a car or i'll be too tired

some mfs on that road are crazy

taking sharp corners at 100kmph and going onto the other lane

atleast the road is nice

and not bumpy

should see some nice birds there

[fast knoll]

do u bike with ur 600 f4 attached to u

[wise trench]

yeah I could never do this

[grizzled nebula]

i have it in the bag

can only take the 600 F/4 and 24-105 tho

100-500 has to stay home

🙂

got this little fella last time i went

had to leave cause of hunters 😭

[unborn frost]

Probably my sharpest photo taken while out birding. raw for comparison. will post the rest of the batch once ive done editing them. Generally finding it difficult to nail focus when im out. running a sigma 150-600 with an 80D, so if anyone has tips for that set up it would be great. Cant seem to dial in settings, usually between 1/800 and 1/1600 f/8 and auto ISO.

Out of a days worth of shooting I end up with 20 usable images, most seem to be just slightly off and i cant figure out what it is :I

Also i've found that I NEED to denoise everything cause at that shutter speed the noise is insane. any lower and i start to see camera shake creep in cause of the weight of the lens 😢

This shot was at 400mm f8 1/800 1600ISO

[spring vault]

I think youre better off overall shooting wide open vs stopping down your tele since stopping down means raising iso

and idk how dslr people focus on eyes without eye af

[finite flower]

this image is focused on the center of the bird

the eye is a touch out of focus

im p sure they just get good and center spot the eye

[finite flower]

you can both open up your iris like tort said, and also drop ss abit

1/800 is quite excessive for a perching bird

depending on how skittish it is, i have found luck with even as low as 1/60

[fast knoll]

sheesh that's nice

[fast knoll]

yea half of the eye is out of focus prob cause it's not looking directly to the side

[fast knoll]

with modern stabilization and burst youre bound to get one sharp photo lol

[left brook]

i usually go to 1/400 for still birds with my sigma 150-600, the VC is pretty damn solid

[left brook]

also yeah just spot it

[unborn frost]

Appreciate the comments. My main issue with dropping the ss is that I then lose a ton due to camera shake; the lens is quite hefty, and I'm not quite used to using a monopod/tripod. It seems to be quite clunky, especially when walking around. I get the use of them if you're set up in a hide or a fixed point, but I tend to be on the move, so handheld is convenient.

going to try and get more mileage in once the weather clears up, hopefully

[left brook]

how do you hold it?

[unborn frost]

usually through the view finder, gripping the camera body and the end of the lens

[left brook]

end of the lens?

the best thing you can do to minimize shake is to not hold it in the air. I squat down a lot and rest my elbow on my thigh, or lean back and rest on my stomach if i can

also hold your breath

stuff like this

[unborn frost]

yeah, though i have the sports one which is slightly heavier. Im also going out with a jacket and stuff one which does limit some movement so i guess theres other factors invovled

yeah, ive tried a bunch of stuff. I suppose it gets down to just spending more time with it. next time i go out ill try to see how low shutter speed i can get to and work from there. Going with the intention of just dialing in what works is looking to be the best bet

[unborn frost]

point and pray you hit it. hoping to upgrade soon subject/eye AF seems like a game changer

[left brook]

use single point (dumb) AF for stationary birds

and place it right on the eye

dynamic or group or whatever canon has can't be trusted to find the eye, and usually just lock on the nearest thing like the body

[unborn frost]

thanks, ill keep that in mind!

[scarlet tulip]

many ducks today

[shut hazel]

printed some photos for the rest of my spare frames

a lot of people say they like the duck lookin thing next to the crows

i forgot what its called

female wood duck?

[scarlet tulip]

wood duck, yeah

that's the female

really like that crow shot

[fast knoll]

is there anywhere specific u print from

trying to find an affordable high quality printing site

[shut hazel]

walmart

all 5 photos was 21 cad total

[fast knoll]

how's the quality

[shut hazel]

pretty nice

although i thnk printing in gloss made them a bit brighter than they were supposed to be

idk how it works

[shut hazel]

thanks

i hve powerlines close to my deck in my backyard

so when its raining i go there and get cro photos

i got this trio

https://giphy.com/gifs/crow-brains-rgull1t-Olj6AuGkvwBWlLETTH

[scarlet tulip]

"man why didn't we find an awning"

[shut hazel]

lmao

[gilded yarrow]

Lmao what

Saying a7iv is bad is insane

[grizzled nebula]

must be nice having lakes 🙄

[grizzled nebula]

managed to fix the weird reflection it had on the wing and re edited slightly

[tough hull]

its bad for wildlife lol a6700 cheaper and better for the preice

[gilded yarrow]

How is it bad for wildlife, it was literally the newest a7 series till like 2 months ago

if you cant get good wildlife pics with it thats definitely either your of your lenses fault

[tough hull]

no its just its expensive, no precap and slow fps

[gilded yarrow]

Its 5 years old, at that time barely any cams in that price range had precap

a6700 also only has 11fps

[tough hull]

a6700 cheaper and its 1,5x crop so more zoom and 11fps

[gilded yarrow]

thats 1fps more

💀

[tough hull]

but it is cheaper

a lot cheaper

[gilded yarrow]

apsc, ofc its gonna be cheaper

[tough hull]

yeah

also a7IV is less than a year older than R6 II and R6II is way better

it already had raw precap

so comparably its bad

and raw precap is just one of the superior things on R6 II

[grizzled nebula]

it's shit but it works lol

[tough hull]

how isit shit

[grizzled nebula]

it goes into a folder type thing in the camera and you have to extract them 1 by 1 on the camera or on the canon app which is just very annoying (no software can read the folder)

also when you press the shutter you need to wait until the bar goes back to 0 before u can shoot again

[tough hull]

bruh

[grizzled nebula]

it's in a CR3 folder

but it does work

[tough hull]

but precap is precap aint it?

[grizzled nebula]

ig

[tough hull]

lol

[grizzled nebula]

i do get some banding with it tho

look at the top of the right wing

tbf might be cause i had the wrong shutter speed

oh wait A7IV can only do 10 fps lol

[gilded yarrow]

Ye thats banding not shutter speed

[scarlet tulip]

This guy is wrong a lot

[gilded yarrow]

a7v came out in dec

before that there was no newer a7 cam

a1, a9 etc ye ofc

But I was talking abt a7 lol

[scarlet tulip]

I know, you’re right

[gilded yarrow]

Oh you mean the other dude

[scarlet tulip]

Yeah, sorry

[gilded yarrow]

Ohhhh my bad

[scarlet tulip]

Coffee isn’t working yet

[gilded yarrow]

Same here

[scarlet tulip]

A6700 is nice but it’s not comparable to a newer mainline A7

[tough hull]

so you are saying half the server who convinced me to that is wrong abou this

[tough hull]

but still since 2022 a7IV gets outranked by R6 II and is therefore worse pretty much

[gilded yarrow]

r6ii is a bit better maybe, but lenses are more expensive and darker and just because one cam is a bit better that doesnt make the other one a bad camera

[tough hull]

yeah lens selection is why i did not go for canon

i didnt mean saying a7 IV is bad that its bad in general alright

[grizzled nebula]

i wish canon had a 200-600

even tho the 100-500 is very good

[tough hull]

yeah

[grizzled nebula]

i wish it wasn't so bad with a tc

(you lose 300mm with a TC)

[tough hull]

how

[grizzled nebula]

you can't put a TC except if it's extended above 300mm

[tough hull]

why

[grizzled nebula]

ask canon

[gilded yarrow]

Ive been thinking about getting the 1.4x, think its mid on the 200-600 tho

[tough hull]

yeah idk

[grizzled nebula]

1.4x should be fine

2x would not tho

[tough hull]

teleconverters reduce sharpness a lot i heard

[grizzled nebula]

that's why i got a prime but i still haven't bought a TC

[grizzled nebula]

they do but 1.4x tcs are usually fine but 2x can destroy IQ of some lenses

[tough hull]

ok good to know

[grizzled nebula]

especially the ones that already are F/6.3 etc

cause it will cause diffraction

[tough hull]

i was always like why 1.4x if you can get 2x for same money

but now i know the reason lol

though maybe different for sony?

[grizzled nebula]

usually 2x tcs are more used on big primes

[tough hull]

ok

[grizzled nebula]

not really but btw it doesn't make the lenses unusable but you just can't expect perfect sharpness

[magic crown]

just get aps-c lmao native 1.5x crop (or 1.6x crop for canon)

[grizzled nebula]

no

[tough hull]

im not saying unusable just like less cropping capabilities

because when theres no visible sharpness without cropping there still can be when you zoom in

[grizzled nebula]

200-600 with 2x doesn't look TERRIBLE

but kinda dark

[magic crown]

yeah you have a f/11 lens

[spring vault]

200-600 on 1.4x is similar sharpness to canon 200-800

[magic crown]

better to get the new 400-800

[magic crown]

yeah but with more overall sharpness start to end

[spring vault]

400-800 is a lot sharper than 200-600 on 1.4x but also 💸

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah esp because of f13

Eh, next purchase will prolly be the a7v

Not so sure on that yet tho, better af etc seems great but 30fps only when using e shutter is meh

[grizzled nebula]

would have liked to compare the 200-600 to the 200-800 but on digital picture the Canon is on the R5 with 45mp and Sony on a 24mp A7III

so not really fair

[gilded yarrow]

I dont like e shutter unless its a global shutter, dont want a great shot to be fucked by readout speed

[grizzled nebula]

i use mech most of the time

[gilded yarrow]

yee thats not a great comparison

[gilded yarrow]

same

[grizzled nebula]

forced to use electronic shutter for pre cap

[magic crown]

crazy stats

[grizzled nebula]

what website is that?

[spring vault]

there's yt vids directly comparing em

[magic crown]

https://www.photozone.de

[gilded yarrow]

Yee I like not having to stop down to have best sharpness

some say its a tiny bit better at 7.1 or 8 but I shoot wide open all the time lol

[magic crown]

having a gain of 1% sharpness but more iso nah bro

[spring vault]

I stop down a little at min focus distance if there's good light just so I have more than 10% of the bird in focus

[scarlet tulip]

Yes

I would take an A7IV over an A6700 for birds in all cases with no caveats

[tough hull]

good

[scarlet tulip]

Big sensor better

[tough hull]

k

[scarlet tulip]

Put a 200-600 on it and it’s perfectly fine

[tough hull]

yeah with that ofc

[scarlet tulip]

Sigma 500 as well, it’s the only reasonable prime

[gilded yarrow]

Lmao fr

[tough hull]

which

f5.6 or f4

[scarlet tulip]

The 5.6, f/4 is pretty old afaik

E-mount is relatively poor as far as legacy lenses go, so realistically it’s better to be on Z or RF here

[tough cipher]

old, slow and amazing image quality

also fucking gigantic

[charred holly]

I have been eyeing the Sigma 500. Considering pretty much all my photos are at this focal range, it sound great

[tough cipher]

also has pretty significant focus shift which is weird in a lens that expensive

[charred holly]

2 times the price of a 200-600 and FPS cap though...

[scarlet tulip]

Sounds like a Sigma then

[gilded yarrow]

If I'd upgrade my wildlife lens I would buy the 300 2.8 with both tc's

[spring vault]

on a 2x it's not rly better than 200-600

[gilded yarrow]

Damn really?

eh, sigma 300-600 then

Same price

continuous f4

15fps limitation ofc but thats fine, usually enough

[tough cipher]

im too old to hear 15 fps and limitation in the same sentence without getting at least a little pissy

[scarlet tulip]

It’s one of those problems that is only annoying because the manufacturer makes it annoying

[tough cipher]

yep

[gilded yarrow]

Didnt mean as in its a limitation photo wise, just that it limits the cam

[spring vault]

paid for 30fps I want 30fps

[gilded yarrow]

Man I'm happy with the 10 fps my a7iv has

Wouldnt wanna cull through 1000s of photos

[scarlet tulip]

Birds are totally doable at 15FPS, but also it’s my camera and I don’t want it limited because I didn’t put the DRM-less lens on

[gilded yarrow]

I think something between 10-20 is ideal at some point it becomes useless

[gilded yarrow]

Yup

[tough cipher]

i tried 20 on R5, i hate it

[scarlet tulip]

20 is where I’m pretty happy, it usually puts enough frames on the card that I catch what I need

Anything more is a waste of space and culling time

[charred holly]

Imagine having to cull a9iii photos

[spring vault]

I'm thinking I might do a7rvi depending on what its specs are. If I can't do over 15fps might as well max out res

[scarlet tulip]

That makes a lot of sense

[gilded yarrow]

Sounds reasonable

but like

any higher mp become kinda stupid on ff no?

mf res on ff just wont work as good I feel

Too much noise

[spring vault]

idk 500 5.6 is sharp enough

[gilded yarrow]

Yee more because of noise not because of sharpness

I wouldnt want my max useable iso to be like 3200

[spring vault]

that's not rly how it works

a7rv isn't a lower max usable iso than a7iv

[scarlet tulip]

New denoisers also benefit from more data

[gilded yarrow]

I'd really like to test an a7rv

[scarlet tulip]

You want as many pixels on the target as possible so you can denoise and preserve detail

[gilded yarrow]

a7rv +300-600 f4, ideal wildlife setup fr

[spring vault]

if a7rvi is boring a7rv is still excellent and will b cheaper

9m dot evf and the good tilty flippy screen

[scarlet tulip]

God the tilt screen would be so nice

Tracking with a flip is so bad that I’ve stopped trying, I just lie down and shoot from the viewfinder

Which is better anyway

[tough hull]

well for normal birds but if you do that with precap and then a kingfisher diving you wnat the moment where he hits the water, but is not in the water fully, so you can see the action and the bird

but this is very specific

[scarlet tulip]

#🦀・creatures message

Worth it, but the drive home was soggy and cold

[gilded yarrow]

Nice, I should go to some lakes again

Will prolly go somewhere on saturday

hoping for some great crested grebes, maybe a few gulls that I can practice in flight shots on

[grizzled nebula]

i have no lakes near me

which is annoying

[gilded yarrow]

Just waiting for the bluethroats and swallows to return, Winter birding is mad annoying

[tough cipher]

this is in the middle of the forest like 15 minutes from me

i wonder wtf that is

has to be wildlife related some way, might be worth popping over some early morning

if i was a bird id hang out there

[gilded yarrow]

thats the whole forests chill Spot prolly lmao

[scarlet tulip]

Check your local ebird

[grizzled nebula]

the plaines des mures lake is the closest one to me and it's a 1h20 bike ride away

[scarlet tulip]

If it’s a good spot there will be a bunch of photos, which helps for scouting

[gilded yarrow]

you'll find wolves smoking weed with birds & deer

[gilded yarrow]

Doesnt work when theres no birders there

or only 60+year old birders that dont use ebird

[scarlet tulip]

Oh right you Germans have ornitho.de

Does that support photos?

[gilded yarrow]

Yee

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah but only up to like 2mp or something lmao

And its pretty much exclusively normal birders, not photographers

So the photos are, well

Not good

[scarlet tulip]

Sounds very much like the local groupmes here

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah

Theres overall just not a lot of birders where I live

But the place is also insanely ass for birds compared to other places

[grizzled nebula]

found a nice little river, gonna go check it out

[spring vault]

my states birding discord has 2400 members and its 99% spotters but sometimes they find cool birds

they have it split up into two separate chats for every county in the state lol

so I have every chat muted except the overall ones and the counties near me

[scarlet tulip]

At least you have a birding discord

The Maine server is basically dead because all the retirees and middle-agers use GroupMe

They run a “rare bird alert” group that’s supposed to self-limit to state-level reportables, but it really gets used for anything that could pop up as “rare” on ebird

Except TUVU or RTHA, apparently those are simultaneously rare enough in winter to be notable and common enough that people get mad if you mention them because god forbid a 53-year-old white dude have his phone go off before 11AM on a Saturday

[tough cipher]

There are birds here allright

Theyre having none of my shit tho

Getting yelled at

[spring vault]

they want snacks

[tough cipher]

Idk what this is that hunts them but that fucker was 2 meters wide easy

[grizzled nebula]

I was exploring and i ended up gettîg chased by a mastiff

[gilded yarrow]

Looks very white tailed eagle like

huuuge wide wings

only photo I ever got of one lmao but you can see what I mean

Actually nah, wing tips look too pointy

hmm

Eh, I think that would still make the most sense

[wide flint]

yeah I also think white tailed eagle

Could be golden eagle as well, but def a lot less likely in Eastern Sweden

[gilded yarrow]

Hmm, wing form would fit better tho

Man I desperately need more songbirds to come back

Saw like 20 skylarks yesterday, that was already so nice

yesterday was great even tho I got no good pics

skipped school, rode my bike for 14 km and saw tons of different birds

[grizzled nebula]

I need to move out

Only place with water that isnt the sea near me is blocked by a big mastiff

[tough cipher]

googling the area it seems the best place in the whole municipality to spot golden eagles is a forest lake 5 minutes from me, but the likelyhood to see white tailed/sea eagles is about 50x higher because this region is just one long coast of small islands and creeks

it says the golden eagles specifically hang out here in the winter

idk why

[gilded yarrow]

I feel like its a golden eagle then

Theyre a bit smaller than white tailed and their wings are more pointy

would fit

White Tailed are HUGE

Like you just know when you see one

[grizzled nebula]

idk if it looks good or not

[green canyon]

i would include more of the legs and crop the top

[spring vault]

masking is a lil sloppy

whats the original pic

rly hard to edit in a black background if the background on the original pic isnt already darker than the subject

[grizzled nebula]

🙃

[spring vault]

yeah good luck lol

cant use shortcuts to get a good cutout u gotta manually do it

[grizzled nebula]

imma just give up ngl

[fast knoll]

I had a similar one but the black part of the beak blends in with the background so it sucks

[grizzled nebula]

the biggest issue i'm having are the feathers on the neck

[magic crown]

[gilded yarrow]

u just need to get lucky, this is almost sooc lol

[magic crown]

nah this one is really good

[gilded yarrow]

With the funky eyelid closed lol

[gilded yarrow]

Thanks!

[magic crown]

what about this one ? (from the falconry)

[gilded yarrow]

Man a7iv detail is so amazing

[magic crown]

all camera sensor sharpness is good (especially Sony)

[fast knoll]

u cant beat 45mp

[grizzled nebula]

sharpness

[gilded yarrow]

33 vs 45, not fair

[fast knoll]

yea this is also almost uncropped lol

[gilded yarrow]

Lmao

[fast knoll]

this one's decent

was like iso 8000 tho

[gilded yarrow]

I barely have pics like that with my a7iv, I had such a tiny amount of time last year

[grizzled nebula]

this is uncropped

kingfisher is a 10.7mp crop i think

[grizzled nebula]

https://tenor.com/view/bruh-gif-17563483835665589874

[magic crown]

zoom in to see the 24mp sharpness

even more sharp

[magic crown]

gannets have so much details on neck feather it's crazy

[grizzled nebula]

damn that is SHARP

[magic crown]

now do the same with your prime lens

[grizzled nebula]

i think this is uncropped but not 100% sure

[fast knoll]

ngl 100-500 is so sharp i dont see how the prime lens could be much better in terms of sharpness

[grizzled nebula]

it is a bit

[fast knoll]

of course definitely better backgrounds

[grizzled nebula]

noticable when cropping

but 100-500 is still incredibly sharp

close to prime level

gotta fine a close up uncropped image with the 600

[magic crown]

the only real good thing of it better f

[magic crown]

blud need to go on ground/eye level

[grizzled nebula]

c'est une image random

gotta find that egret pic

only denoised

lots of detail

[green canyon]

i want to but i cant at my local lake

there's one decent ish spot and thats it

[gilded yarrow]

Yeahhhh I might need to upgrade to a7rv

61mp

[gilded yarrow]

whos dis

some kind of merganser

[scarlet tulip]

Red-breasted merganser, yeah

[gilded yarrow]

Nice, looks cool

[scarlet tulip]

They’re fun

The crests make them look like punk rockers

[gilded yarrow]

Lmao yeah

Just like crested tits

ignore the softness and overall trashyness, pic is 3 years old and taken with a 20 or so year old tamron lens

[scarlet tulip]

That’s a fun set of colors

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah it was pretty cool, sadly that was before I switched to sony and it was the only time I saw them

[scarlet tulip]

Are they rare?

[gilded yarrow]

Where I live I feel like everything is rare

The only birds I regularly see are blackbirds, robins, great and blue tits

[scarlet tulip]

Not even ducks?

[gilded yarrow]

Insanely trash birding spot

Eh I got one lake

theres like 4 mallards

[scarlet tulip]

Winter is a sad time

[gilded yarrow]

Nah its like this year round

But now that I got my drivers license itll be easier to get to better birding spots

[gilded yarrow]

y'all I just missed an insane shot cuz I'm stupid

moon

Also, @grizzled nebula

[grizzled nebula]

damn nice

i'll get a pic of one soon

(i hope)

[tough hull]

i barely see these

only one so far this year

[wise trench]

brooo rip

[finite flower]

nice shot

imo you can crop tighter if you didnt want to show the pink stuff

because the luma of the bg is abit distracting

[fast knoll]

bottom or top

[finite flower]

idk the circumstances of this shot, but you could also place the bird whr the green is

[fast knoll]

i kinda liked it that's why i kept it wide

[finite flower]

cut the left and bottom

[finite flower]

i see

[fast knoll]

the top was like some very pink tree

but the bottom was a fence painted diff colors lol

[finite flower]

yeah id say you can keep the top

[fast knoll]

bottom is kinda annoying

[finite flower]

the bottom and left can be cut off

just to keep more emphasis on the bird

what bird is that though

[fast knoll]

allen's hummingbird

[finite flower]

idk much abt birds in other countries (tbh let alone my own)

[finite flower]

:9 cute

[fast knoll]

i have a lot from the same spot lol

[finite flower]

im more of a photographer first birder second

[fast knoll]

me too

this is one of maybe <50 species i can identify

[fast knoll]

i was looking for hummingbirds

and these guys kept flying in front of me

[gilded yarrow]

Manipulating my gf into birding

[gilded yarrow]

WOOOOO WHITE TAILED EAGLE

SAW TWO OF THEM

Oh its upside down lmao

[grizzled nebula]

small crop

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah just an id photo lmao

[magic crown]

Birb sticker

[spring vault]

nice

[grizzled nebula]

breh

nice pic

[wise trench]

Could use like +5 contrast but really good lighting work

[grizzled nebula]

going to see this kingfisher again tomorrow

[gilded yarrow]

Its working guys

[grizzled nebula]

which crop?

[green canyon]

2 but less space at the top

[grizzled nebula]

problem is it's already cropped down to 8mp

should've gotten an R5

[green canyon]

smh

[gilded yarrow]

No more space on the left?

[grizzled nebula]

nah i wish there was but not the case

[gilded yarrow]

Merganser in flight!

And nesting kestrels

[dark ermine]

my fence looks like it has a raccoon face

this chickadee 😂

[green canyon]

kestrels are so cute

[magic crown]

DEDEDEDEDEDE

[grizzled nebula]

groot

[fast knoll]

smh why is everyone hating on my bee

[wide flint]

bc it's not a bird

[gilded gale]

When you lose a contest to 2 coots 🙁

[sharp ether]

I think it’s because it looks likes it’s taken on a phone

The other one is beautiful

[fast knoll]

lma

lmao

the quality is nice tho

[sharp ether]

I think it’s the angle which makes me think that

idk I’m just guessing

[fast knoll]

yea youre right

not very cooperative

[fast knoll]

i have officially caved

a brand new r5ii for $1000 under market price on facebook marketplace

[light valley]

Nice. What do you have now?

[fast knoll]

r5 lol

it's great for perched birds and big birds in flight

but the AF really struggles with action

my r5 is still in perfect condition basically so i will sell it

[light valley]

Your going love the ii. Picked one up a months ago. Focus tracking is pretty amazing.

[fast knoll]

yea i seriously can't wait

plus faster readout speed and blackout free viewfinder

[light valley]

Precapture.

[fast knoll]

YES precapture

[light valley]

It burns batteries get extras and a a grip.

[fast knoll]

haha thats what i heard

i already have a spare lp e6p

[light valley]

Good. Old batteries lock out stuff like pre capture

[fast knoll]

the only thing im a tiny bit worried about is low light performance because i heard it's a bit worse due to the stacked sensor

and i use 100-500 so im already at f7.1 wide open

[light valley]

I don’t know how it compare to the r5.

[fast knoll]

i doubt i'll notice it

[light valley]

Probably not

I upgraded from a 5D. Seems like most of my pictures are in focus now.

[split path]

Which one do you prefer?

[green canyon]

3

[fast knoll]

woohoo

[grizzled nebula]

Camera connect screenshot

Gonna edit when i get home

[grizzled nebula]

2 months earlier i would've been able to cross the river and go on the beach next to where he was

[left brook]

what a last one

[grizzled nebula]

[tough hull]

I definitely need the 200-600

First time seeing long tailed tit and no zoom with 300mn😭

[grizzled nebula]

i love long tailed tits

[tough hull]

And that’s what happens if you forget you have set 1/20 shutterspeed

[tough hull]

First time ever seeing a bull finch

[tough hull]

If only the stick wasn’t blocking the tail

[green canyon]

@grizzled nebula why did you make him shit 😭

[grizzled nebula]

I made him shit?? 😭

[green canyon]

i have some long tailed tits on my 200-600
not on my phone though

[green canyon]

yes you did

[grizzled nebula]

paid actor

[gilded yarrow]

Look at this guys

fuck that wood infront of the feet tho

[green canyon]

what a nice background

[dark ermine]

I think you could get that block out with some editing and gen ai. its riiight at the edge of the foot. then once it's gone, some contrast / color correction to fix the haze leftover on the foot

i'm fixing to try once my beta photoshop updates for the 50th time in a week

[grizzled nebula]

Found this while looking for birds

Ik not to bring my dog here now

[dark ermine]

yh you could get it out. after removal masked the foot and used dehaze, clarity and buffed contrast

[gilded yarrow]

Oh yooooo

Insane

Didnt think it'd be possible lol

thanks!

[dark ermine]

np! awesome shot

[tough hull]

Niceeee

[grizzled nebula]

i smh managed to fuck up focus

[tender galleon]

4

[fast knoll]

@gilded gale @narrow rose sorry to bother. do u guys notice any AF issues for perched birds? i heard the r5ii is great for action

but is sometimes weird for stationary subjects

[narrow rose]

Not really, but sometimes it’ll focus on the tree branches in front of the birds for a second and switch back to bird(if you don’t enable tracking) But I think that’s normal.

[fast knoll]

ok great

do u just use the "auto" mode for autofocus?

[narrow rose]

No bird. Because I have a custom mode specifically for birding.

[fast knoll]

very cool

im excited

[narrow rose]

I observed this “switching back and forth” because I shoot a lot of birds in very dense bushes, they are hard to find even with naked eye, so I think it’s normal. If it’s a bird with very clear sight it will stay locked on

[fast knoll]

yea i noticed with the r5 i usually have to guide the eye AF onto the subject by switching to spot AF first and focusing on the bird

[narrow rose]

Yeah sort of. I often use manual focus to find it and let it identity the bird

You can enable manual focus overwrite or something like that. Then you can manually focus even in AF mode

[grizzled nebula]

Ur getting r5ii?

[fast knoll]

yes

i found one for $1000 off brand new

[green meadow]

Bohemian waxwings 🤩

[gilded gale]

no worries! and like Artisan said, it still does the standard cannon shit where it will try to focus on vertical oriented sticks but it's not too bad. It's eons better than the r7 and r6mkii that I had used before. Something that i noticed while capturing video of tree swallows yesterday is that it really enjoys latching onto the background when taking video. the AF servo mode in video taking is SO DAMN STUBBORN

[fast knoll]

have u ever used r5?

[gilded gale]

I rely on manual focus a TON because I use a big white prime, and the manual focus ring is just so convenient. I keep double back button focus on all my custom modes as well as a "recall shooting function" button on the back for instantly dropping my shutterspeed down to like 1/250

I havent used a base R5 sorry 🙁

I always forget, are you in canada?

[fast knoll]

nah im from the US

[gilded gale]

oh ok, PNW?

[fast knoll]

nah socal

[gilded gale]

ah ok

[fast knoll]

but overall the autofocus is good? i heard it's much better for action

ive gotten nice shots wiht the r5 but it struggles with action

always locks onto the wing or just misses completely

NO SOMEONE BOUGHT IT

[grizzled nebula]

how much does that make it?

[fast knoll]

bro he sold it to someone else

we literally scheduled a pick up time

[grizzled nebula]

lmao

how much would it have been tho?

[grizzled nebula]

same with R6II sometimes

[fast knoll]

2900

that's a steal for r5ii

fuck bruh

[magic crown]

The 3rd one

[fast knoll]

whatever im saving money

[grizzled nebula]

holy shit

dayum

2700 euros new in france

3.2k USD i think

[fast knoll]

yep

im angry at this guy

[grizzled nebula]

fucking scam bruh

i've seen those exact pictures 50x now

UHHHH wtf

the lens sells for 800 euros

[gilded yarrow]

Tried it myself just to see if I can do it too lol, werent able to fix the feet quite as well but thats soooo much better than the wood block lol

Portrait crop is pretty cool too

Only like 4 mp or something but enough for insta

Oh its actually 1mp

900x1200 px

[grizzled nebula]

i need to get myself an R5II soon

[gilded yarrow]

I've been thinking about saving up for an a7rv, but I almost feel like 61mp could be too much

something around 45mp but with the new ai focus etc the newer bodies have would be insane

a7v shouldve had more mp smh

[grizzled nebula]

Get R5II

[gilded yarrow]

eeeew canon

Nikon might have something interesting not sure

[grizzled nebula]

[gilded yarrow]

z8 has 45mp

[grizzled nebula]

yh but it's nikon

[gilded yarrow]

nikon has proper lenses atleast

[grizzled nebula]

so does canon?

[gilded gale]

@fast knoll quick example from what I was seeing yesterday

[fast knoll]

aw man

middle of the video looks great tho

[gilded gale]

in the first bit, you can see it tries to grab onto the stick and I stopped it with manual focus, but then it went right back to it

then the 2nd part, it was following the swallow pretty well but would drop here and there, but did grab onto it again

granted, this is a pretty demanding scenario considering the size and speed of the subject, the constant need to focus on sticks annoys me though lol

[fast knoll]

yea that's annoying

turns out i got baited the dude sold the r5ii to someone else

so i am keeping my r5

[gilded gale]

i saw that 🙁

[fast knoll]

it's ok i'm saving money

[gilded gale]

another will surely pop up

[fast knoll]

maybe in the future it'll be cheaper

[gilded gale]

mhm

[fast knoll]

but $2900 is quite the deal

[gilded gale]

for sure

[gilded yarrow]

f9 & up, aint no way I'm buying that stuff

Not gonna adapt 30 year old lenses either

[gilded yarrow]

Man I cant wait till the swallows & swifts are back

[charred holly]

Guys, I have the finger on the (checkout) trigger

Sigma 500mm f5.6 for 2279€

Should I do it

[gilded gale]

this past week was the first flocks that I've seen this year

[gilded yarrow]

Cool, it'll prolly take another 1-2 months till theyre here in germany I think

[gilded yarrow]

what lens do you have rn

and what body

forgot

[charred holly]

a6700 and 70-350mm, I also want to upgrade to FF in the near-ish future

[gilded yarrow]

Would be a nice choice then, remember that it limits the body to 15 fps tho if you were to buy one that can do more

[charred holly]

Yeah, I know about the cap

[gilded yarrow]

Why not 200-600? Size iirc?

[charred holly]

I like to hike

[gilded yarrow]

Being able to zoom out is definitely nice ngl

[charred holly]

And 200-600 is total hike death

[gilded yarrow]

You can with the 200-600

[gilded yarrow]

nah not really

Its not that bad

[gilded gale]

ya, i want a 60-600 for video stuff lol

[spring vault]

I have a6700 and sigma 500

it's a good combo

[charred holly]

I feel like the sigma 500 is a bit wasted on a a6700

[spring vault]

a7rv would be good

[charred holly]

Yeah, my plan was either that or a7v

[spring vault]

if I upgrade cameras I keep the lens or sell the lens no real loss either way

[dark ermine]

Nice! Yeah not bad with the portrait crop, though I might give it some more room, that creamy background is worth keeping in imo

[charred holly]

Well I guess I'll go for it on the a6700 first to see if I can handle a prime, and upgrade my body if I do like it

[tough hull]

Not good for wildlife I heard

a7 V is probably a lot better than r

[spring vault]

subject detection should be the same

a7v sensor readout is way faster tho so tracking prolly more accurate when things are moving fast

[charred holly]

a7v seems to handle low light way better than a7rv

Like, 2 stops at best and 1 at worst

(sorry for turning this channel into #🐒・gear-discussion lol)

[grizzled nebula]

100-500?

[grizzled nebula]

i wonder why

[charred holly]

Stacked sensor

[grizzled nebula]

[gilded yarrow]

darker than my 200-600 for almost twice the price

[grizzled nebula]

33mp vs 61 mp

[grizzled nebula]

barely any darker

sharper

smaller and lighter aswell

[gilded yarrow]

I definitely notice the difference when stopping down to 7.1

[fast knoll]

sharper tho

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah and missing 100mm

[gilded yarrow]

barely

[fast knoll]

thats all i care about lmaoo

but yea i wish it wasnt f7.1

[grizzled nebula]

it starts at F/4.5 tho 👀

not like i use 100mm a lot but still

[fast knoll]

yea the short end really doesnt matter imo

[grizzled nebula]

also does sony have an affordable teleprime???

[fast knoll]

they have the 300 2.8

[grizzled nebula]

answer is

https://tenor.com/view/gohine-hohino-no-hohineee-gohineee-gif-17792172174678204487

[fast knoll]

which is actually really good with the 2x

[grizzled nebula]

Yh but short

[fast knoll]

good for owls lol

[grizzled nebula]

do they have a 600 F/4 under 10K tho?

the answer is no

[fast knoll]

oh they dont have old ones?

[grizzled nebula]

no

[grizzled nebula]

EF IS II is cheaper and just as good btw

[fast knoll]

300 2.8?

yea it's nice

[grizzled nebula]

sony 300 is much lighter and smaller tho which is nice ig

but optically they are pretty much the same

ef actually has better CA control

[spring vault]

there's sigma 300-600 f4

$6k and new!

15fps tho

[grizzled nebula]

imagine buying a 2.5K euros camera and it being limited by your 6K lens

[gilded yarrow]

Its huuuge but I'm actually thinking about buying that at some point

[grizzled nebula]

can't even take a TC smh

[spring vault]

viltrox tc works

I think the electronics on it are like an extension tube they just go straight through

so ur exif is wrong but otherwise it works

[grizzled nebula]

seeing it's sharpness at 600 F/4 surely the TC doesn't perform amazingly on it

if u stop it down it could work ig

[spring vault]

I haven't seen any serious testing w it yet

I'm waiting for a viltrox 1.4x tc

[grizzled nebula]

but i doubt it's amazing

[spring vault]

the actual tc optics r good apparently

sharper than native z 2x

lil sharper than native e 2x but little more ca

[grizzled nebula]

600 IS II is close to 300-600's sharpness with a 2x TC

[grizzled nebula]

how bad is the CA normally

[spring vault]

adds very little

but there's noticably more if u compare viltrox

[gilded yarrow]

Back to birds for a sec, what do we think?

[spring vault]

nice

[gilded gale]

Not bad, flying away, but the catch light makes it appear that its looking back at you.

[fast knoll]

it has an issue where it can't focus while zooming

not that youll use that too much

it's also pretty heavyu

[green canyon]

such smooth feathers

very pretty

[charred holly]

yup

[hidden wyvern]

strange to see a canada goose in basically winter here, but its almost their time

happy to find the sandpipers again before they get less common here (different types in spring/summer that i can find at least)

[tough hull]

I mean it has a way bigger size per pixel so you could have expected that

[charred holly]

Yes my bad, I thought this chart was normalized and not influenced by pixel and pitch size.

Dynamic range chart is better to judge if a sensor is good for low light

[gilded yarrow]

Use high pass sharpen in ps guys, its a cheatcode frfr

[dusty fog]

high pass sharpening is really top for sure

i wonder if there's a way to do masking like lightroom

[tough hull]

I will see

maybe

but i think I will be so amazed by photolab that i am staying there

[charred holly]

Not of fan of high pass/micro contrast for feathers and fur

It turns fluff and softness into something rough and messy imo

[spring vault]

yeah that's toasted

[grizzled nebula]

Can see the individual pixels

[fast knoll]

these tiny ahh swallows r so hard to photograph

[tough hull]

Yeah sad

It’s a bit better without discord compression

[magic crown]

Final boss of panning shots

I think the worst i did is the goldcrest
Small and cute but fucking moving everytime

[gilded yarrow]

DETAILS tho

[magic crown]

That light

[charred holly]

That isn't adding details, merely deep frying existing ones

[gilded yarrow]

Thats far from deep fried, just a very cropped Screenshot

[gilded yarrow]

For insta etc its okay to do a bit more cuz it gets compressed anyways

[fast knoll]

I only sharpen photos that r already quite sharp

To avoid an artificial look

[charred holly]

To be fair, I may have become allergic to sharpening after seeing too many people destroy their photos with it

[gilded yarrow]

Same

[fast knoll]

I barely even use it

[grizzled nebula]

Got one in flighr

Warra phone quality 🔥 🔥 🔥

[green canyon]

imo you can eyeball the line to that artificial look quite well
i usually do somewhere around 75 (40 is base already)

[charred holly]

On quad digits ISOs, I wouldn't get past 40 else artifacts start popping up

[charred holly]

Sick portrait by the way, this one looks impressively close to the camera

[magic crown]

yeah it was like 3 meters away

they are really used to humans

(and tried to steal my food lmao)

[charred holly]

That is close to the minimum focus distance, impressive

[magic crown]

yeah and the sharpness is really nice

[charred holly]

And especially impressive is that pretty much all the bird is in focus

I had my fair share of out of focus beaks haha 😅

[magic crown]

it's not 100% but still good

[grizzled nebula]

Pas mal

ça me clc d'avoir trop de foret autours de moi

tous les oiseaux se cachent dans les parties inaccessibles

[gilded yarrow]

Edited another one

[grizzled nebula]

I HAVE FOUND A LAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am going tomorrow

[magic crown]

Imagine there's nothing

[grizzled nebula]

i might kms

and burn everything before

[grizzled nebula]

CHROMATIC ABERATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

my CA alarm went off directly

[magic crown]

[grizzled nebula]

these mfs are scary

[half yacht]

[finite flower]

@mint warren you come to singapore tmrw right

[mint warren]

Yee

Seeing that dwarf kingfisher pop up

Bibidari i think?

[finite flower]

@hardy fox

[finite flower]

theres also oriental darter sometimes

[mint warren]

Darter not that interesting to me as our own darters super common

Is fun watching them eat fish clearly too large for their mouth

[finite flower]

i see

if you want kingfishers, theres ruddy and whitethroated afaik

need to ask chili sos

[hardy fox]

collared, white throated, ruddy, common

odkf i nvr go and see

[mint warren]

Blue ears back this year?

[finite flower]

i think its p much a resident

lmao