Well, I've finally done it, and ordered a new Canon R5.
Some of you may have seen my comments about looking into new cameras and gear in another post, A couple of days by the River Deben in Suffolk, and my apologies to Dave for the unintended hijack so I've set up a new thread to keep folks updated.
To continue from my comments, as many of you will be aware, I've been grounded by my falling apart body, but i've nothing but praise for the nurses, consultants, doctors and anyone else involved it working hard to resolve the situation.
We've all heard the old saying, the devil makes work for idle hands, well, include computer and mouse into that, and I've been researching into mirrorless cameras, which is the future, whether we like it or not.
Me, I'm intrigued and like the concept, but not the costs.....
Why the Canon R5?
Well, first and foremost, my son said go for it!
Some of you may be aware his partner walked out on him eighteen months ago, which almost rendered him homeless. While we would happily have taken him back, after a chat with my wife, his mother, I gave him a large chunk of my savings and agreed to be guarantor for his mortgage. I never gave any repayment terms, but he did ask how much, and has transferred some of the money back to me, enough to cover the R5.
I've been using Canon cameras for many decades, and I feel they are on a par with Nikon and the other big brand names, the only problem is, if you change to another brand, then you need to change all your lenses and other associated kit as well.
My research started with the cost of upgrading and also, many camera manufacturers also offer conversion kits, or adapters, so you can use your existing lenses on the new breed of cameras.
Also, my research shown that could I use my existing lenses, the cable and wireless remotes would work, so will the Speedlite flashgun. The only extra items required are the lens mount adaptor, and the memory cards, which are still the existing SD Card, or, the faster and more capable CF Express card, whereas the 5D4 will use a Compact Flash card.
Also, the battery pack for the R5 is the same is the 5D4, which I understand is the same as the 5D3.
This appealed.
However, the cost was still going to be steep.
My local postie, who we had for 20+ years, a very friendly chap, I never realised he did wedding photography, and offered to show me his cameras, which are Nikon, and how he managed to make the change to mirrorless.
We both agreed, Nikon, Canon or any of the other big names, you can't really go wrong.
After a very interesting three hours and numerous cuppas, and some time handling his cameras in the garden, and to play safe, I sat down to use them rather than stand and risk falling or dropping them, I was nicely impressed with what I saw.
There are some trade offs and caveats with electronic view vs live view, but I'm not one to be negative. Obstacles are there to be beaten, not beat you.
The one big downside, if it is a downside, is video. The final quality is good, however, when panning a moving subject, there is a noticeable lag. But then I don't do much video, and to be honest, my current 5D4 has some lag, because that in video mode uses the large TTF screen and not the optical viewer, which is live view.
I said obstacles are to be beaten, not beat you.
The video quality is superb, and a bigger plus, the electronic viewfinder shows the same as the large TTF screen, but the big bonus with the EVF, is you block out all the viewing intrusions that using a TTF screen came impose.
There will be more to this no doubt, as I start a new journey mirrorless, and I will be happy to share.
However, it is costly, and to make things more costly than desired, my nearest emporium haven't stock of the R5, so I've had to order from elsewhere, and not being able to go far, that means no trade in of my 5D4, which if I'm honest, I am reluctant to part with.
The new camera is on order, and should be with me in the next couple of days, all I need is for my leg to sort itself out.
Mike
Flickr: Peak Rambler
Bobs_Retired said:
You may recall that I hired a RF 100-500 lens in an attempt to rationalise my kit and get me a lens that would be small enough to take on holiday abroad or carry with me on cycle rides so that I could do a spot of wildlife photography if the occasion arose. As it turned out I didn't feel that the performance was as good as my EF f2.8 300mm so decided not tpogo down that avenue as the only way I could justify the cost of the 100-500 would be to trade in the 300mm f2.8.
So the hunt continued and I took a close look at t he RF 100-400mm f5.6 - f8. It's not an L lens, hence the £699 price tag and its not the fastest lens lens at f8 at 400mm but again, at that price point its fairly understandable. From my point of view though it is a perfect size for taking on cycle rides or for taking abroad on limited luggage holidays and should be more than capable of capturing shots that I would otherwise miss, even if not of the quality I would normally hope for. As for going abroad standard holidays which might include a bit of wildlife, we are normally going to warmer sunnier climes also the f5.6-f8 range is less of an issue as far as light gathering goes.
I think I'm slowly getting my head around the software in use here.
Back to the topic, good news on the new lens Bob, and such clear images as well.
regards
John
Ed D said:
John, Whatever you do....... do not look at the Canon RF 100-500 Users group on Facebook.
I do not wish to be responsible in anyway for your broken arm or dislocated shoulder.
Ed
Many thanks for the warning. That's almost like saying, shhhhh, it's a secret, don't tell anyone.
Thankfully I leave social media well alone.
But I do look around on Flickr, and................
Amid family tasks, and a couple of unexpected curved balls chucked in the family's direction, I've found some time to sit in the garden, and watch the swifts gyrate in the skies, as they hunt and grab the airborne insects.
i was going to compare my youngest son's long unused (and unloved) 1200D with the R5, but alas, we cannot find the battery charger, but I did slow down the focusing on the R5, or at least I think I have, perhaps I'm just mastering the camera better, or even a combination of both, with other aspects.
Happily, no, ecstatically, I've managed to get swifts on photo, though out of focus, but they stayed within view.
I don't have too much of a problem with swallows and housemartins, but that will be down to the fact I can predict their flightpath and prefocus.
But the swifts, stayed in view..
I'm trying to decide whether the focusing is still too fast, or not fast enough, and not forgetting the operator, who probably isn't anywhere near fast enough....
As I'm certain you'd expect, the eye tracking struggles to locate the subject at the speed swifts fly along with the distance they are from the camera, typically 30-50 mtrs, but can be greater. The 30-50 mtrs is only what I've observed by switching to MF before lowering the camera, so it doesn't focus on buildings etc before I get a look at the dial.
I also had to switch the lens from full focus range to 30-100 mtrs, to prevent the AF locking on objects further away, which was interesting to say the least.
The quest continues, I've only got around 4-5 weeks before they fly south......
The technical basics
There is more around the AF settings, but I need to take note each time I try the settings before trying others.
Unknown said:
End of quotation manually inserted because of this rubbish software *****************************************************
***********************************************************************************************************************************
I'm a bit confused by your settings.
You say "
AV is Aperture Priority not Shutter Priority so we need to clear up which you were using. Either way for Swifts I would be trying to get a higher shutter speed than 1/1000.
The picture that you posted - was it the full frame ora crop?
Are you shooting in Full Frame mode or Crop Mode?
Bob
I'm still trying to get my head around this software, just when I think I have, a spanner is thrown in.....
More importantly before bed, your queries regarding my miss-typing.
As you correctly say, it should read TV, time value, not AV aperture value.
Given the cloud cover on the day, and getting a 1/1000 sec shutter speed would very likely give a very dark image and require considerable, probably almost impossible, editing. Thinking more about those settings, that would probably require setting to manual to override.
That is another reason for using 1/1000 rather than what I'd consider a preferred 1/2000, was due to the cloud cover.
I shoot in full frame, not cropped. The only time I shot in cropped was soon after purchase, I tried the 18-55 EFS lens from the 1200D to see what would happen, and the R5 defaulted to cropped. Back to the EF lenses and default returned to full frame.
A quick check on the original RAW image, and no image crop to make the subject clearer.
I apologise for the misleading typo, and hope all is clearer.
Bobs_Retired said:You can see from your exif that you could easily have shot at 1/2000 or more as your aperture was f10 and tour ISO was 100. Perhaps you ought to give manual a go - set the aperture to wide open, and set a shutter speed that you really want and Auto ISO. Then as you are shooting you can adjust the shutter speed if the ISO goes too high. Also if you are using an RF lens you can set the control ring to adjust exposure compensation.
The previous ones taken just before the one I shared, were at 1/2000 and were dark, and when I tried to brighten them up, the noise made the images grainy.
That's an interesting point about shooting in cropped mode, and one I will try.
Shooting in manual was to be, and very likely will, be my next attempt. I was hoping today would be a day to try, the swallows were active at the farm near my Mum inlaw, but the cloud was too heavy.
This could be the last year for swallows there, the farm is to become a housing estate.
Bobs_Retired said:So what was the exif data on one off the dark ones and please post one of the pictures it came out of the camera, if you don't mind.
Unfortunately Bob I no longer have them.
I don't keep unwanted photos and the only copy of the swifts now is the one on here, the RAW and jpg ones are also deleted.