Canon Stuff in Stock at Bedfords!
The personable, helpful, and always eager-to-please.Steve Elkins let me know yesterday that Bedfords has a decent supply of Canon R5-s and several R6-s in stock, a very few RF 100-500 lenses, and lots of the new Canon RF 100mm f/2.8 Macro lenses. He expects the 100-500mm to be gone soon. Spend more than $7500.00 and use the BIRDS AS ART code at checkout to earn a free copy of the R5/R6 Camera User’s Guide. Spend less and shoot me an e-mail to learn of your discount. The R5 and R6 are Canon’s best-ever bodies for flight photography and makes a great all around lens for bird photography. And the 100mm focal lengths, long the favorite macro focal length of Denise Ippolito, is both hugely popular and effective for small subjects like flowers, insects, and more.
What’s Up?
As always, wind against sun for bird photography made things very tough on bird photography at Nickerson on Thursday morning. I had to buy some new charging cords at the Apple Store on the way back to Lissy’s. I stayed up very late picking my keepers from the last three days:
TUES 8/11: kept 60 out of 1687.
WED 8/10: kept 71 out of 1926.
THURS 8/12: kept 3 out of 64.
74 out of 3677 is a lowest-ever 2% keeper rate. It does not show that I am getting worse. The trick when shooting 30fps is to edit very, very tightly. If you kept every sharp image your storage capacity would be overwhelmed. Along the way, I deleting more than 2000 perfectly framed, well exposed, super-sharp flight images. Most of the keepers featured a variety of different and dynamic poses and wing positions. Head angle, subject-to-sensor-plane juxtaposition, and the visibility of the bill of the tern were also important factors.
I ripped off a long series of a juvie Osprey that flew right at me directly overhead and was kind enough to look down at me. Strategy and photo (s) soon.
Be sure to learn by scrolling down and taking a catch at the Head Angle Question item.
It is supposed to be sweltering here on Long Island again today. I have lots of catching up to do. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day.
Remember that you can find some great photo accessories (and necessities!) on Amazon by clicking on the Stuff tab on the orange/yellow menu bar above. On a related note, it would be extremely helpful if blog-folks like me, who spend too much money on Amazon, would get in the habit of clicking on the Amazon logo link on the right side of each blog post when they shop online. As you might expect, doing so will not cost you a single penny, but would be appreciated tremendously by yours truly. And doing so works seamlessly with your Amazon Prime account.
This blog post took about an hour to prepare and makes 226 consecutive days with a new one. Please remember that if an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, and is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to save 3% at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And doing so always earns my great appreciation.
Please Remember
With income from IPTs now close to zero, please, if you enjoy and learn from the blog, remember to use one of my two affiliate programs when purchasing new gear. Doing so just might make it possible for me to avoid having to try to get a job as a Walmart greeter and will not cost you a single penny more. And if you use Bedfords and remember to enter the BIRDSASART code at checkout, you will save 3% on every order and enjoy free second-day air shipping. In these crazy times — I am out at least forty to sixty thousand dollars so far due to COVID 19 (with lots more to come) — remembering to use my B&H link or to shop at Bedfords will help me out a ton and be greatly appreciated. Overseas folks who cannot order from the US because of import fees, duties, and taxes, are invited to help out by clicking here to leave a blog thank you gift if they see fit.
New and Better Bedfords Discount Policy!
You can now save 3% on all of your Bedfords photo gear purchases by entering the BIRDSASART coupon code at checkout. Your discount will be applied to your pre-tax total. In addition, by using the code you will get 2nd day air shipping via Fed Ex.
Grab a Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III and save $14.99. Purchase a Canon EOS R5 and your discount will be $116.97. Purchase a Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and save a remarkable $389.94! Your Bedford’s purchase no longer needs to be greater than $1,000.00 for you to receive a discount. The more you spend, the more you save.
Money Saving Reminder
Many have learned that if you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H and would enjoy free second-day air shipping, your best bet is to click here, place an order with Bedfords, and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If an item is out of stock, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell phone at (479) 381-2592 (Central time). Be sure to mention the BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order to save 3% and enjoy free 2nd-day air shipping. Steve has been great at getting folks the hot items that are out of stock at B&H and everywhere else. The wait lists at the big stores can be a year or longer for the hard to get items. Steve will surely get you your gear long before that. For the past year, he has been helping BAA Blog folks get their hands on items like the SONY a9 ii, the SONY 200-600 G OSS lens, the Canon EOS R5, the Canon RF 100-500mm lens, and the Nikon 500mm PF. Steve is personable, helpful, and eager to please.
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs (remember those?) and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear, especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.
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This image was created on 13 December 2020 at Indian Lake Estates, FL. I used the handheld Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM lens (at 343mm) and the highly touted 45MP Canon EOS R5 Mirrorless Digital camera body. ISO 2500. Exposure determined via the in-viewfinder histogram and highlight alert evaluation. 1/800 sec. at f/9 (stopped down 2/3-stop) in Manual mode. AWB at 8:03am on a cloudy fairly-bright morning. Face Detection + Tracking/AI Servo AF was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #1: Sandhill Crane adult head portrait |
Tight Work
With it’s less than four-foot Minimum Focusing Distance (MFD) at 500mm, the RF 100-500 is an ideal lens for creating tight head portraits of relatively tame birds. It is of course, amazingly versatile, and kills with the RF 1.4X TC (albeit at f/10). Sunny days, therefore, are best for that combo. And the image quality of sharp R5 images is fabulous offering superb FFD (fine feather detail).
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This image was created on 13 December 2020 at Indian Lake Estates, FL. I used the handheld Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM lens (at 500mm) and the highly touted 45MP Canon EOS R5 Mirrorless Digital camera body. ISO 1600. Exposure determined via the in-viewfinder histogram and highlight alert evaluation. 1/2500 sec. at f/7.1 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 8:41am on a mostly sunny morning. Face Detection + Tracking/AI Servo AF was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #2: Black Vulture taking flight |
R5/RF 100-500mm for Flight
These two Canon mirrorless bodies feature the best-ever AF system that performs superbly for those like me who want to become better at photographing birds in flight.
Head Angle Question
One of today’s featured images needed a bit less head turn, and one of them needed a bit more head turn. Which is which? And why?
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Cover Image courtesy of and Copyright 2021 Brian Sump (Sump scores!) The BIRDS AS ART Canon EOS R5 Camera User’s e-Guide |
The BIRDS AS ART Canon EOS R5 Camera User’s e-Guide: $75.00
The guide is 82 pages long: 21,458 words. It includes more than 50 DPP 4 AF system-depicting screen captures. And a 31 minute 44 second educational video. This guide took three and a half months of hard work and a ton of help from at least seventeen very helpful and generous folks.
The guide covers — in great detail — all Menu Items that are relevant to bird, nature, and wildlife photography. It does not cover video. The section on AF methods and the AF Gallery is simply superb and will allow you to get the most out of your R5/R6. This sections is one of the great strengths of this guide. I share my thoughts on what I am sure is the single best AF Method for photographing birds in flight. As most of you know, the guide includes a simple and easy way to change AF Methods that was introduced to me by Geoff Newhouse. In the AF Gallery you will see exactly how Face Detection plus Tracking AF works. In the Educational R5 Gallery video, I share my favorite R5 images along with dozens of bird photography tips and techniques.
In addition, I teach you how to get the best exposures with your R5. Detailed instructions on using the great In-camera HDR and Multiple Exposure features will be appreciated by creative folks who like to have fun. The three shutter modes are explained in detail as well. Bruce Dudek solved the can’t-get-to-Auto ISO problem that had stumped everyone at Canon. This information is of course shared in the guide. You will learn how to set up your EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) and Screen toggle options. Not to mention that the mysterious performance of the Q Button is revealed and simplified. Brian Sump’s images reveal how well you can do when using the R5 with EF lenses using one of the three Canon EF-EOS R Mount Adapters (as Donna did with Image #1 below). You will learn how I use Customize Dials to put either ISO or EC on the Thumb Dial and how to set up and save Custom Shooting Modes (C1-C3) that can remember both your Customize Dial and Customize Button settings! That is something that none of the SONY bodies do. 🙁 Near the end of the guide I share my all-important MY MENU items with you.
Like all BAA educational materials, the R5 guide is written in my informal, easy-to-follow style. I am quite proud of this guide and look forward to hearing your thoughts on our hard work.
You can purchase your copy of the BIRDS AS ART Canon EOS R5 Camera User’s e-Guide for $75.00 here in the BAA Online Store or by calling Jim in the office weekday afternoons at 863-692-0906 with your credit card in hand.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
I liked the vulture photo not because of its head position but because you framed it wide enough to give it space to move forward many people fram their birds in flight as tight as possible and forget to leave space around the bird to show the enviorment or to leave it space to look like it is moving forward.
Thanks, David. Many folks capture and crop much too tightly.
with love, a
Hi, Artie. I guess Teus is a new weekday. . Typo in your list of keepers. For me, the crane’s head could be turned a little less toward you and the vulture’s a little more.
Thanks for catching my typo. And good work on the head angles.
with love, a
Typo in first paragraph: “…..shoot me an to learn of your discount.”
I presume you meant email.
Thanks, Joel. I forgot to paste the e-mail code.
with love, artie
What surprises me is that you guys still use Fahrenheit when most of the rest of us, apart from the very stubborn in the UK, use Celsius!
Where are you Kevin with no humidity? ND? Sounds wonderful!
North Dakota.
Artie received notice being shipped my 100- 500 from Bedford’s yesterday. We won’t be sweltering here in ND as we seldom have any humidity. Of course, the locals will tell you otherwise. They have no clue as to humidity. Tomorrow, we will be in the hundreds again; that makes like the twelfth day this year over one hundred. Hottest this year July: 107 degrees. What is crazy is 39 degrees this morning when I went out to shoot Goldfinches. That is hardest to understand for people back east is we cool off even on the hottest days and no humidity so not too bad. Have a great weekend.
Thanks, Kevin. I will see you in Homer!
with love, artie