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Post by peterob on May 9, 2023 16:28:05 GMT
It was a woodpecker nest I spotted, not just imagination. Not the greatest of photos. Standing near the foot of a tree and looking up is a severe test of the lower back (and every thing attached to it). I reckon the nest is 40 - 50 ' up. It is a big tree. To get good pictures needs a tripod set up, a comfy chair, bins and a remote release. They don't hang about the nest entrance. One comes up to the outside and they do a swap. Handholding and hoping for the best isn't a good strategy. Male waiting and female leaving. DSCF3575.jpg by Pete, on Flickr DSCF3576.jpg by Pete, on Flickr Male entering DSCF3579.jpg by Pete, on Flickr
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Post by peterob on May 11, 2023 16:15:39 GMT
Went back with tripod. Not an unqualified success. First time I have ever used the twisty LCD thing to see what is going on as the viewfinder was at about knee height and facing downwards. The bird detect kept thinking that the hole was a head so I turned it off, turned off AF on the shutter release and focussed on the tree trunk. Bad idea as it happened because the dof was too small. I later turned AF-C back on but I also messed around with some other AF settings. Maybe I should have taken the Canon gear instead. It either the Fuji learning curve is too steep for me or I'm expecting too much. Same behaviour as the other day - the birds swap over so perhaps they are still incubating the eggs. It is more clear that both sexes have the yellow bar across the front of the head. On Tuesday only had a clear frontal shot of the female. Lots of shots of them entering the nest but those are rather boring. Male leaving the nest first shot, second shot is a bit later and may be the female. DSCF3674.jpg by Pete, on Flickr DSCF3737.jpg by Pete, on Flickr
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Post by peterob on May 11, 2023 16:40:53 GMT
Totally missed focus - really annoying. At least the forecast downpour missed by a couple of miles. First one - fixed focus on tree, exposure time 1/350 s F8 (ISO 1600) Second one - Continuous AF starting on tree, exposure time 1/900 s F8 (ISO 3200), but it hasn't properly picked the woodpecker up. The apparent slightly better resolution could just be the shorter exposure time reducing subject movement. I can't remember if the subject detection was on or off on the camera. Sticking it on the tripod, pointing it in the air, flipping out the LCD screen really confuses the buttons to press. Interesting in the second shot to see that the bird is removing debris from the nest even if the picture isn't very clear. They do leave the nest very quickly, blink and you miss it. DSCF3655.jpg by Pete, on Flickr DSCF3720.jpg by Pete, on Flickr
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Post by peterob on May 11, 2023 17:14:06 GMT
I don't usually bother but I was trying to figure out why nothing went right today. Just an off day really. Mallard - duck in duck weed DSCF3784.jpg by Pete, on Flickr One because it is cute Moorhen and chick. Odd that there was only the one chick - usually the brood is several. Coots thin the brood out as the chicks get bigger, not sure about moorhens but seeing one solo chick strikes me as odd. Is a small pond. Lots of Carrion crows about. DSCF3790.jpg by Pete, on Flickr
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Post by peterob on May 13, 2023 19:38:22 GMT
Back to the woodpecker nest. Still not as good a result as I'd like but the conditions were challenging. Lightroom enhance details on this one. Shady side of tree, I had hoped it would be brighter today. This still quite a crop - to frame it (on 35 mm) would need an effective focal length of ~1800 mm. DSCF4028-Enhanced.jpg by Pete, on Flickr
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2023 20:11:43 GMT
I had a great afternoon at RSPB Ham Wall (Glastonbury) today. In Jesus's footsteps: jesus footsteps1 by Martin Bone, on Flickr My first BIF with the R7. Something really easy, a Bittern at distance with a very heavy crop: bittern1 by Martin Bone, on Flickr bittern2 by Martin Bone, on Flickr Blackcaps were in full song: blackcap1 by Martin Bone, on Flickr blackcap2 by Martin Bone, on Flickr As were the Whitethroats: whitethroat2 by Martin Bone, on Flickr whitethroat by Martin Bone, on Flickr The Hobbys were about, but I was still getting to grips with the R7 and moving targets, so could have been much better, but still my best Hobby pic to date: hobby by Martin Bone, on Flickr The Marsh Harriers were busy hunting Plover and Lapwing at extreme distance (heavy crop again). This one even had a crack at raiding a Bittern's nest: marsh harrier by Martin Bone, on Flickr I finally got to grips with the BIF pics with this Great White Egret: great white egret by Martin Bone, on Flickr While mum's away, the kids will play. Then mum came back with a snack: heron chicks by Martin Bone, on Flickr heron feed by Martin Bone, on Flickr Moorhen with one of her chicks: moorhen and chick by Martin Bone, on Flickr Robins are always obliging: robin by Martin Bone, on Flickr I have a R7 on hire next week, mainly for bird photography. Any tips on how to get the best out of the AF system or general set up?
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Post by JohnY on May 13, 2023 20:58:39 GMT
Back to the woodpecker nest. Still not as good a result as I'd like but the conditions were challenging. Lightroom enhance details on this one. Shady side of tree, I had hoped it would be brighter today. This still quite a crop - to frame it (on 35 mm) would need an effective focal length of ~1800 mm. DSCF4028-Enhanced.jpg by Pete, on Flickr Keep at it. Finding the nest is meant to be the difficult bit.
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Post by andy on May 13, 2023 21:07:34 GMT
Back to the woodpecker nest. Still not as good a result as I'd like but the conditions were challenging. Lightroom enhance details on this one. Shady side of tree, I had hoped it would be brighter today. This still quite a crop - to frame it (on 35 mm) would need an effective focal length of ~1800 mm. DSCF4028-Enhanced.jpg by Pete, on Flickr Keep at it. Finding the nest is meant to be the difficult bit. Listen for the chicks making a racket.
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Post by peterob on May 13, 2023 21:45:59 GMT
Keep at it. Finding the nest is meant to be the difficult bit. That was pure luck! Saw a movement, found the hole, vowed to go back. The difficult part is that the changeover at the nest takes 3-5 seconds every ~5 mins. The only warning is the approach of the adult who is "out" but he/she doesn't come direct to the nest but works his/her way through the canopy, must be making a call to say they are close. Then the bird on the nest leaves and the one waiting enters. The male occasionally touched down on this branch, giving the opportunity for a profile. It is impossible to hand-hold a camera for long when looking up at a steep angle so even with a hint that the partner is ready to changeover it is rather hit and miss locating the target quickly given the small field of view at ~900 mm (effective) plus the camera goes to sleep! A DSLR "wakes up" more quickly plus you can still see through the viewfinder. The tripod the other day wasn't a huge success - not good for looking up - so I reverted to hand held today. I switched the AF to "react quickly" rather than track but ignore interruptions which is how I use DSLR. I don't think I got any flight shots today like the ones I missed focus on the other day. Still really struggling with the different handling to my Canon gear but I'm not convinced I'd do better if I took it. I might try next week to see but I will get some funny looks because this is a botanic garden not an RSPB reserve. Not so many big lenses around. Folk think a 150-600 F8 zoom looks big but its nothing to a 500 F4 on a teleconverter.
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Post by peterob on May 13, 2023 21:53:40 GMT
Listen for the chicks making a racket. Not a chance! Even if I wasn't deaf it is far too high up (reckon >40') and there is a lot of background noise (I'm going off chiffchaffs in particular - I don't know they keep it up! )
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Post by MJB on May 14, 2023 9:01:51 GMT
I have a R7 on hire next week, mainly for bird photography. Any tips on how to get the best out of the AF system or general set up? With the caveat that I'm still learning how to get the best results from the R7 I'd definitely recommend setting subject tracking to 'on' , subject to detect to 'animal', and enabling eye detection (all on page 1 of the AF menu). AF area selection and servo AF profiles are the same as the 7dii. I'm getting good results with both 'one shot' and 'servo' AF. The one thing I will say is the subject tracking takes a while to get used to if you're used to static focus points.
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Post by peterob on May 14, 2023 16:21:52 GMT
The one thing I will say is the subject tracking takes a while to get used to if you're used to static focus points. Assuming that the behaviour is common across cameras I'll agree to that. I just looked and I've had my [Fuji] camera nearly 10 months and I still can't figure out how to use the subject detection "properly" in challenging cases. With my Canon gear I know that with A1 Servo and a single AF point I need to hit focus and then the camera will do its best to stick to the chosen subject as I pan it. in contrast, and with subject tracking, the AF points indicating "focus achieved" jump all over the place, and I have no understanding how to trigger the camera to lock onto one instant of choice and then stick with it. In a simple case the track will jump onto the obvious subject and stay there - this is especially the case with face detect - no problem at all. For birds it is not so clear what is happening. As I'm waiting to find out how much better the Canon system is, I look forward to Steves "experience" report!
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Post by MJB on May 14, 2023 16:40:55 GMT
The one thing I will say is the subject tracking takes a while to get used to if you're used to static focus points. Assuming that the behaviour is common across cameras I'll agree to that. I just looked and I've had my [Fuji] camera nearly 10 months and I still can't figure out how to use the subject detection "properly" in challenging cases. With my Canon gear I know that with A1 Servo and a single AF point I need to hit focus and then the camera will do its best to stick to the chosen subject as I pan it. in contrast, and with subject tracking, the AF points indicating "focus achieved" jump all over the place, and I have no understanding how to trigger the camera to lock onto one instant of choice and then stick with it. In a simple case the track will jump onto the obvious subject and stay there - this is especially the case with face detect - no problem at all. For birds it is not so clear what is happening. As I'm waiting to find out how much better the Canon system is, I look forward to Steves "experience" report! The Canon system sounds similar. Find focus as you would normally and it will maintain focus on the subject if it moves. It does jump about a bit, but does track the subject, which takes some getting used to when panning. With birds that are small in the frame it will occasionally lose track and you need to re-aquire focus, but on the whole it's pretty effective.
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Post by peterob on May 14, 2023 17:33:32 GMT
The Canon system sounds similar. Find focus as you would normally and it will maintain focus on the subject if it moves. It does jump about a bit, but does track the subject, which takes some getting used to when panning. With birds that are small in the frame it will occasionally lose track and you need to re-aquire focus, but on the whole it's pretty effective. It sounds a lot more forgiving! I'll stick it a while before I buy an R body.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2023 19:01:40 GMT
As I'm waiting to find out how much better the Canon system is, I look forward to Steves "experience" report! Don’t expect too much, I’ll need more than one week to get used to it. Sometimes I still think I am learning the AF systems of the 7Dii and the 1DX. Perhaps if I keep to landscapes, it would be easier and cheaper.
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