What’s Up?
I am feeling lot better as I type early on the morning of Wednesday November 25, 2015. I am much less congested but the dry hacking coughing spells that I had off and on yesterday were not fun. My plan is to get a chest X-ray done today.
I will be heading out for sunrise in a few and follow that up with a day of rest. The next IPT group begins on Saturday afternoon. The first group had a ball despite overall bad luck and relatively poor conditions so far. There were lots of goodbye hugs at the crane pool last night….
If…
If you are inspired to purchase a 5DS R by what you read or see here on the blog over the next few weeks please remember to use my B&H product specific links to purchase yours from B&H. Many thanks, and happy bird-day tomorrow.
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Induro $50 Instant Rebate
The Induro $50 instant rebate will last only until the end of this year. Click on the logo-link above to save $50 on our favorite tripods. On our recent grueling trip to the Southern Ocean Denise loved her new GIT 304 and I love my new GIT 304L. Both performed flawlessly in the mud, snow and ice.
Induro GIT 404L Super Sale Correction!
For a limited time only the Induro GIT 404L is being offered for the ridiculously low price of $470 (including the $50 instant rebate). I apologize for the $370 typo that appeared in yesterday’s blog.) The best news is that the $470 price will be offered for at least a few days more.
The Induro GIT 404L is a 4-leg section Grand Series tripod. It is slightly bigger and one pound heavier than the GIT 304L; it is the perfect tripod for those using big glass who would like a bit more stability.
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This image was created on Day 2 of the first 2015 Bosque IPT with the Induro tripod/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/2500 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. AWB. Center AF point (manual selection)/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF on the goose’s eye and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #1: Ross’s Goose vertical head and neck portrait |
Canon EOS-5DS R for Birds: An Overview
I borrowed a full frame 50.6 megapixel EOS-5DS R from B&H for the Bosque trip and used it for the first time on Monday afternoon. To say that I was impressed is an understatement. For those coming from a 5D III or a 7D II there is virtually no learning curve (though there were a few quirky items). AF is surprisingly quick and sure and the AF system is pretty much the same as on the two previously mentioned cameras. Five frames/second seems a bit clunky as compared to the 1D X but for my style of bird photography where I rarely hold the hammer down the slower frame rate is not much of a hindrance. And having what amounts to a medium format DSLR for sports and nature photography is hard to comprehend.
I have been using the 5DS R with my 600 ever since I saw the first image files and right now I am planning on buying a 5DS R as soon as I get home…
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This is a 100% crop of the optimized TIFF for today’s featured image that was sized to 600 pixels wide and then displayed at 475 pixels wide. Image quality with the 5DS R is really hard to believe. |
I’ve never seen image files like these…
At lunch on Tuesday I shared a head portrait of a young blue morph Snow Goose at 100% with the group; everyone gasped when they saw the fine feather detail and the incredible resolution. Some folks were breathless. I have never seen images files with detail like a sharply focused 5DS R image file. I will be sharing lots more 5DS R images with you here in the near future.
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This image was also created on Day 2 of the first 2015 Bosque IPT with the Induro tripod/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 400. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop as framed: 1/2000 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. AWB. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was just above the bird’s eye as originally framed. This image is a small crop from the original. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #1: Ross’s Goose taking flight |
5DS R AF
I was pleasantly surprised by the speed and accuracy of the AF system and AF tracking accuracy. Lots more to come on this topic.
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This image too was also created on Day 2 of the first 2015 Bosque IPT with the Induro tripod/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 1600. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop as framed: 1/1600 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. Color temperature: K8000. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was just below the tip of the bird’s bill so the assist points were likely instrument in the accurate focus. This image is a small crop from the original from the right and below. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #3: Sandhill Crane sunset silhouette/landing gear down. |
High ISO with the 5DS R
I have not done much with the higher 5DS R ISOs yet. The lack of background noise in this crane landing silhouette noise is impressive. After the trip I will get a bunch of 5DS R Raw files to Arash to see what he thinks about the noise. And about the fine feather detail.
What Do You Think?
What do you think of the 5DS R images? Which of the three is your favorite? Why?
Mid-Morning Update from the ER
Two things that I had wanted to mention:
1-Though I never filled the buffer–I rarely do–I did notice that when I took two or three images in a row that it took a few seconds to be able to view the histogram via image review.
2-Seeing the JPEGs here cannot give you any idea of the incredible detail that you see when viewing a sharp image at 100% on a Macbook Pro with retina display.
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Typos
In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).
I was at Bosque and saw you several times, knew you were not feeling well and so left you alone. I went with a friend, who did speak with you, who also used the Canon 500 f4 with both extenders, quite a bit on a 7D II, and I can certainly attest that, using the loupe in Photo Mechanic, that the larger lens always afforded more detailed exposures than the 100-400 II. I have the 5DsR but did not take it because I had not ever used it. It is still in the box. Has been for 2 months but now that you commented on its operation as being similar to the 7D II I’m taking it out, back here in NY, for a trial run. I am wondering if this camera with a canon 400 or 100-400 will provide the same resolution, post cropping, as a Canon 500 will on the 7D ii. After all the 7D II is used because of its focusing and the ability to shoot at 10 frames/sec. If the latter, focuses as well but because sometimes the speed is not needed then it appears that the 5DsR may be a proper substitute, some of the time, unless future testing discovers reasons do do otherwise.
Feel well, Next time take 3 Aleve at once, a Tramadol and a complete day off. Thinking of joining you on a future trip. Not Bosque; I already know it pretty welln
By the way, while at Bosque, I did purchase the Zeiss Victory SF based upon the Zeiss demonstrations. Couldn’t resist it.
Mazel tov. I do not even know what it is 🙂 a
Birding binoculars. Very nice.
Goos luck with them.
a
You wrote, “and I can certainly attest that, using the loupe in Photo Mechanic, that the larger lens always afforded more detailed exposures than the 100-400 II.”
I am not sure that I would be buying that….
There are of course differences in both frame rate and the AF systems. Right now I am using the 5DS R for nearly all of my bird photography. But you always gotta ask, “What does he know?”
a
ps: if you think that you know Bosque 1/10 as well as I do you are quite mistaken 🙂
Hi Artie, Ian and John,
Michael Tapes shows an example of Moiré effect in bird photography at 5:55 in his 5DSR video, check
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLxN83DsGYc
Cheers,
Pascal
Hi, Artie. Glorious images all, and once again you school us in getting such perfect exposures for the whites. My favorite is the portrait of the Ross’s goose. I examined hundreds of geese at the big pond a few weeks ago and noticed no Ross’s. Maybe I neede two eyes. :). Get better soon and happy Thanksgiving.
Thanks. Getting perfect exposures in digital is child’s play; get at least some data in the rightmost box of the histogram without any blinkies on the subject.
a
ps: see in ABP II.
Maybe so, but yours always look better than almost any others I see.
Thanks. It is all on the blog (WHITE RGBs in the mid 230s) and in Digital Basics 🙂
a
You mentioned viewing your photos on a MacBook. I wonder if you could share with us how you store (and view) the many thousands of your photos over the years. Obviously, I imagine, you don’t print them all or even a large fraction of them. They then would be relegated to a computer screen. How would you compare viewing on a screen with a print?
We use a simple file drawer system as detailed in either or both ABP and/or ABP II. The images are stored on a Drobo and viewed on a PC in BreezeBrowser.
We rarely make prints so I am looking at everything on my 15inch MacBook Pro w/retina display.
a
Feel better Artie.
Hope you get to enjoy a great Thangsgiving.
Henry
Thanks times two 🙂
a
I like all three for different reasons, but I could really see the crane photo (#3) framed on the wall of my office. Besides a great photograph that makes you want to look at it, it really looks like a piece of art that needs to be framed and on a wall. (And big!)
Thanks for sharing…
Many thanks.
a
Hi Artie,
I was recently invited to try the 5DS at a Canon demo day. Their guru said the 5DS R can give moire patterns on close-up feather detail. Would be interested to know if you encounter this.
Cheers,
Ian.
I got the same information as you. That is why I now have the 5Ds along with my 1Dx. I will interested to know what Artie has to say
about moire on the R version.
Hi Ian and John,
Moire might be expected if you were doing a tight pattern shot of the neck of say a Waved Albatross which has a tight vermiculated pattern similar to woven fabric…. On the major difference between the 5DS and the 5DS R Canon’s top technical expert Chuck Westfall states:
“The EOS 5DS uses a conventional low pass filter design in which a single point of image data entering the filter is first separated into two points and ultimately into four points by the time the data reaches the image sensor. By comparison, the EOS 5DS R uses a different low pass filter design in which the single point entering the filter is first separated into two points and then the two points are merged back into a single point by the time the data reaches the image sensor.”
Using the optical cancellation technique (vs. complete filter removal) greatly reduces development and implementation costs. The “R” delivers sharper images, but moiré and aliasing are potential side effects, notably in scenes that include patterns repeating at a specific frequency. I would expect that this phenomenon would occur only rarely that if it does, it can usually be dealt with during post processing.”
I too expect that it would rarely if ever be a problem with bird photography. artie
As awesome as those photos look here they are even more impressive in person.
Agree. It was great meeting and working with you and Scott and the rest of the Bosque #1 IPT gang.
a
It was great for sure. Thanks again for letting me take a few shots with it looking forward to working on them back home on a big screen.