Birds of Prey....Your Pictures Wanted!

Thank you Tigerss so glad you liked them

I almost didn't photograph this beauty. It was already very close when I finally spotted it, and quite close to the trees I was under. The beastie was circling, and having seen it do this before, I knew it would circle over the trees shortly and be out of sight.

I gave it a go. Thankfully, the camera settings were at their correct values for this shot. We'll start with the back of the bird, which I consider even more spectacular than the front.

Excellent Angus .... You're getting the hang of the R7 nicely ...

I've got mine back, a couple of days ago, going to post something soon.

Whotcha, BD.

Slowly getting the hang of the R7.

What happened to yours?

Hi Angus, wasn't satified with the results in the early days, so I sent it back to Canon for a check-up - no charge :-)

There was nothing wrong with it, so I have to admit where the fault lies ... . I will try to post later on in the 'Moving to Mirrorless' with their views and mine.

Persevere, mate, it's taken a large amount of practice for me to start getting halfway decent photos. My keeper rate is improving.

I remember it took me a bit of time to get used to my Canon 80D. I'm finding it a huge step up going from the 80D to the R7. Definitely a bigger step than going from my Canon Rebel XT to the Canon 80D.

The AF strategies are definitely different, and I am closing in on one I like i.e. C3. I've dialed down the sensitivity of the AF as well. It was too sensitive and losing focus if you move a millimetre or so off what you want to photograph.

AI eye tracking is very easy to confuse, but at the same time you can use it to your advantage.

One slight advantage I have is that I used to be a software engineer who took an interest in AI technologies. I looked into concepts like edge detection and pattern recognition and machine learning; I even started going through Google tutorials on their AI platform. Very informative they were too. Therefore I know what the R7 is doing or not doing, it's strengths and limitations, and can sort of take corrective action. Turning it off, in some cases - depends what I am photographing

Personally, I think the software is trying to do too much, and modules are getting in each other's way in some cases. You've got 'traditional' AF trying to focus on an object you've pointed the camera at, whilst AI tracking is trying to focus on something else, in the mean time AF is also getting in its own way as it tries to figure if another object should be the subject of AF.

However, I am basically a lazy photographer. I switch between P (Program) or Tv (Shutter priority), depending on how sunny it is. None of this full manual mode for this slothful fella.

I normally switch between Spot AF (for wee things) or Whole Area AF (great for flying things in a clear-ish sky). Occasionally I will use Expanded AF area: Around.

I don't tinker any more than that; though I as I get more used to the beast I'm sure I'll start looking at other features e.g. re-programming the back buttons.

Stunning photos again Angus. I love my R7 and hopefully will be pairing it with the sharper image quality RF 100-500 lens in the next few months. :-)

Very nice photo's Angus, I do like to see the top view.

Deeply envious. Enjoy when you get it.

Asbestos trousers on, Peewit.

The Red Kite continued to circle, and the Canon R7 did a marvelous job of tracking it and keeping it in focus; something my old Canon 80D was never really good at - focusing on a subject heading towards me.

Images are all cropped, but otherwise as is out of camera

I also noticed that the images out of the Canon R7 are so much clearer and sharper than out of the Canon 80D. Hardly surprising. Two clear generations of improvement in both hardware and software, with a lot of innovation coming from mobile phone technology.

Shortly after this photo, the bird disappeared behind trees

This one was flying over our house. Camera pointing straight up, back breaking as I leaned over.

What I like about the R7 (and similar DSLR/mirrorless cameras) is the pixel density. 32MP - 1/3 more than the Canon 80D. Perhaps a little noisy, but allows one to do this sort of thing.

And this