All quiet on the western front - PM 2023

[PeterHG]

That was certainly a worthwhile birding drive! Thanks for sharing your Namibia tales and photos. They brought back many good memories!

[Kitsafari]

a nice total for a week of desert! 

[xelas]

Excellent week in Namibia, great birds, thanks for sharing. And congratulations on the total so far!

[Peter Connan]

Congratulations Pedro.

 

Seems a lot of names have changed since I last got a new book!

[pedro maia]

Last weekend I went to Cáceres, Spain, there was some birding in nearby Llanos de Cáceres, the steppes of Cáceres, most of the species that occur there I can see them in Castro Verde except for one that is close to extinct in Portugal, there is an area here where that species may occur but last sighting was 2or 3 years ago.

 

W698, Pin-tailed sandgrouse (Pterocles alchata)

 

 

Crappy EBC pictures was all I could take when a group of 3 passed by, I had to stop the car, get out, wait for them to pass by the sun and take the pictures as they flew away, but a tick is a tick and this species is not easy to photograph.

 

Anyway, the decision is made, I´m going to buy a new camera, so I won´t have more excuses.

 

A couple of other species seen in the Llanos de Cáceres:

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

2 minutes ago, pedro maia said:

Anyway, the decision is made, I´m going to buy a new camera, so I won´t have more excuses.

 

A good - and tough - species to get indeed. Which camera are you buying? 

[pedro maia]

3 minutes ago, michael-ibk said:

 

A good - and tough - species to get indeed. Which camera are you buying? 

 

Canon R7

[PeterHG]

A good species indeed to find and photograph in the llano de Cáceres (and some nice bonus birds, too! ). Looking forward to future additions with the new camera!

[TonyQ]

Some good additions @pedro maiaand the Pin-tailed Sandgrouse was a difficult capture indeed.

 

I think you will enjoy the Canon R7 (I have been using one for this BIg Year). It does take some learning - at least it has for me

 

I got this ebook

https://www.eos-magazine-shop.com/understanding-the-canon-eos-r7-camera-by-nina-bailey-reprint-c2x38768234

I found it useful in thinking about how to use my camera. (The handbook you get with the camera is not great as a user guide)

If you want to ask anything about it, feel free to PM me

 

[pedro maia]

1 hour ago, TonyQ said:

Some good additions @pedro maiaand the Pin-tailed Sandgrouse was a difficult capture indeed.

 

I think you will enjoy the Canon R7 (I have been using one for this BIg Year). It does take some learning - at least it has for me

 

I got this ebook

https://www.eos-magazine-shop.com/understanding-the-canon-eos-r7-camera-by-nina-bailey-reprint-c2x38768234

I found it useful in thinking about how to use my camera. (The handbook you get with the camera is not great as a user guide)

If you want to ask anything about it, feel free to PM me

 

 

Thanks Tony, I know you´re using the R/ and you seem to be pleased with the camera and your pictures are very nice, which lens are you using?

[TonyQ]

@pedro maiaI am using the EF100-400ii with the canon adapter - I already had this lens with my previous camera and it works well with the adapter. I haven't bought any new lenses.

I am pleased with it and I like the images it produces. The main learning is around small birds amongst lots of twigs where it does take some work to get focus accurately.

(I have a button to choose a single focus point for this situation ) When I started I had some frustrations but I think I am improving with it

[xelas]

8 hours ago, pedro maia said:

Canon R7

 

Congratulations on zour new camera, Pedro! Indeed it was time to upgrade. The benefits of a new camera will show quickly, and the learning curve is almost flat. You just have to trust the camera!

 

Regarding the lens, Canon has RF 100-500 zoom that is not over the moon expensive, and Sigma Contemporary 150-600 (with RF mount) is also a very good lens.

Edited May 2, 2023 by xelas

[pedro maia]

4 hours ago, xelas said:

 

Congratulations on zour new camera, Pedro! Indeed it was time to upgrade. The benefits of a new camera will show quickly, and the learning curve is almost flat. You just have to trust the camera!

 

Regarding the lens, Canon has RF 100-500 zoom that is not over the moon expensive, and Sigma Contemporary 150-600 (with RF mount) is also a very good lens.

Well, I haven’t bought the camera yet, just decided to do it, and I’m thinking of the Canon 100-500 lens, let’s see what happens in the end.

[TonyQ]

@xelasI agree that the benefits will show quickly, but I found that there was (and is) a learning curve. After learning how to set up the camera to work in the way I want it I think the most important bit of learning for me was knowing when "to trust the camera", and when not to

 

[xelas]

Exactly, @TonyQ! Zvezda is now in phase 2; phase 1 was solved thanks to @PeterHG😀! 
Anyway after only a few outings with new camera I can say it is an important step forward, even coming from D500 which is considered as the best birding camera.

[pedro maia]

3 hours ago, xelas said:

Exactly, @TonyQ! Zvezda is now in phase 2; phase 1 was solved thanks to @PeterHG😀! 
Anyway after only a few outings with new camera I can say it is an important step forward, even coming from D500 which is considered as the best birding camera.

Zvezda has the R7? What do you mean with those phases?

 

I already have the camera but I can’t try it yet because I won’t have the lens until next week.

Edited May 3, 2023 by pedro maia

[xelas]

14 hours ago, pedro maia said:

Zvezda has the R7? What do you mean with those phases?

Phase 1 is to set the camera to your preferences. Phase 2 is to understand when you can trust the camera, and when you need to keep it under your control, as @TonyQhas stated in above post.

 

Not a Canon R7 (although it was one of the contenders) but an Olympus OM-1 with Zuiko 100-400 zoom. The weight and the cost prevailed.

[pedro maia]

So, first outing with the new camera and lens and first impressions, it´s definitely another level, nothing to do with the gear I had, but I quickly found that I have alot of learning ahead and it won´t be easy.

 

I also have to learn a lot regarding the camera settings, I chose two, one for perched birds and one for BIF, in perched birds the difference is huge and obvious, in BIF it´s obvious that I will struggle, locking the bird is not easy nor is focusing, results weren´t brilliant.

 

And 30 fps in silent mode is a scary thing, sometimes I don´t even realised I was shooting and I ended up with more than 2000 photos of not so many birds, and a high percentage of the pictures is just garbage.

 

Best pictures of the day (least bad in what BIF are concerned):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More to come...

[michael-ibk]

Looks good to me Pedro, particularly the Lark is excellent.

[xelas]

These are very good, Pedro! About silent mode, I am not using it, as I prefer to hear the clicks! There is no need for high speeds, 10 for perched and 25 for bif seems reasonable fast for me. I am sure that your learning curve will be a steep one; trust yourself and trust the camera.

So now I can congratulate you on new gear?! 

[pedro maia]

3 hours ago, xelas said:

 

So now I can congratulate you on new gear?! 

I’ll answer that in a few months.

[Kitsafari]

the photos from the new gear look good to me too, especially the lark

[Galana]

Setting a new bar for your photos. If you can nail Swifts in flight it must be working for you.

(Oooh. but all those wasted shots. does it come with auto delete buttons?)

[michael-ibk]

The number of shots these new cameras are taking is really something I'm afraid of. Seriously. 

[pedro maia]

The number of pictures is overwhelming, today I reduced to 15 ffs, it’s a bit more reasonable, I’m going to check the results.