What’s Up?
On Friday morning I met the group in the hotel restaurant just before 8:00am. The forecast was grim: rain with east winds at 21 gusting to 35mph. Looking out the large picture windows did not offer much hope. Except to me. The group met me with a unanimous “We are not going out today for sure!” I said, “Not so fast. There is one large cloud on the eastern horizon and in 45 minutes, the sun is gonna come out.” Everyone scoffed at me. A few minutes later our boat captain called and said, “I am heading down the hill and it looks pretty good. There are no whitecaps in the bay. Crossing will be on the rough side but once we get into China Poot, the photography will be spectacular with wind and sun together.” One of the participants decided to drive back to Anchorage a day early to look for Moose. The three remaining folks agreed to go out. I told the captain that we would be at the dock ready to go by 9:15. When we pulled into the lot and exited the GMC Yukon, one of the participants (who shall remain nameless), pointed to the clouds to the east and said, “It’s coming” (meaning bad weather), and decided to walk back to the hotel.
Crossing Kachemak Bay was a bit nasty, but I have sailed in a lot worse conditions on the same boat. Once in Poot Bay, the wind was so strong that we needed to break out the heavy anchor and use lots of scope. The sun shined and the wind roared right out of the east. It turned out to be one of the best days ever on an eagle boat. How good was it? Between the three of us, we created exactly 24,475 photographs in about 2 1/2 hours. If my math is correct, that averages to more than 55 images/minute for each of the three photographers. I was low hook at 3634 (plus nine flight videos) and BPN-friend Kevin Hice was top gun with 11,320 R5 raw files. He created more than 75 images every minute. The action literally was non-stop. Did I mention that eagles love the wind? Or that all but one of the other eagle boat trips cancelled? Or that we were the only boat out there for more than a solid hour?
Today is Saturday 25 February 2022. The forecast is for cloudy all day with very little wind. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post took about two hours to prepare and makes 1 day in a row with a new one.
Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links on this page and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords. And please consider joining a BAA IPT.
The Eagle-Over-the-Mountain Photo Contest
In Thursday’s The Eagle-Over-the-Mountain Photo Contest blog post here, Image #2 was created by Anita North. This very fine image garnered seven votes as best. I created Image #2 as stated emphatically by IPT veteran Sandra Calderbank (though I am not quite sure how she knew …) With nine votes, it has been declared the winner in this friendly competition. I love Anita’s very fine image a ton and would have preferred it over mine but for the areas of dirt on the mountain near the tail (that several folks thought were shadows). Thanks to Anita for allowing me to use her image in the contest, and special thanks to all who voted.
Your questions or comments on the two new RF super telephoto lenses are of course welcome.
SONY FE 70-200mm f2.8 GM OSS Lens
BIRDS AS ART Record Low Price
Price Reduced $150.00 on 26 February 2022
Anthony Ardito is offering a SONY FE 70-200mm f2.8 GM OSS lens in like-new condition for a BAA record-low $1197.00 (was $1,347.00). Included are the original box and everything that came in it along with a RealTree MAX5 LensCoat (a $94 value) and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower-48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Anthony e-mail.
The versatile 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses have long been big favorites of many nature photographers. They are great for landscapes. I have used this lens with Canon and Nikon and SONY. I used my Canon version to photograph granddaughter Maya’s dance recitals and to create bird-scapes and pre-dawn blast-off blurs at Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico. They are fast and sharp and have 1,000 uses. The 70-200 f/2.8 lenses are a specialty lens for bird photographers. Like the bad little child, when they are good, they are really, really good! I’ve used mine mostly for flight photography at point blank range where their performance is unmatched, especially in low light. I’ve killed with these lenses on the gannet boat in the UK, in Homer for eagles, for pre-dawn and blizzard blast-offs at Bosque, and at Merritt Island on single birds from huge feeding sprees right next to the road.
Two New RF Super Telephoto Prime Lenses
Canon recently announced the introduction of two new super telephoto prime lenses for the EOS R mirrorless system. Further advancing lens design and capability, these L-series lenses are intended for the professional user looking for ultimate reach, performance and operability. The RF 800mm f5.6L IS USM lens and RF 1200mm f8L IS USM lens both offer extreme magnification, optical image stabilization (4.5- and 4-stops respectively), two focus presets as well as full AF compatibility with the 1.4x and 2x RF Extenders (teleconverters).
Relatively lightweight and compact, the RF 800mm f/5.6 lens weighs 6.9 pounds and measures only 17″long making it realistic to use atop a monopod or even handheld for short periods of time. The Minimum Focus Distance (MFD) is 8.5 feet. The list price is $16,999.00. Similarly, the RF 1200mm f/8 is relatively lightweight and compact, weighs 7.4 pounds, and measures 21.1″ long making it realistic to use atop a monopod or even handheld for short periods of time. The Minimum Focus Distance is 14.1 feet. The list price is $19,999.00.
My Thoughts
Several friends wrote this week asking me what I thought about the recent Canon announcement. I checked them out. Their small size and relatively light weight are impressive, as are the seemingly remarkable MFDs. At 6.9 pounds, the RF 800 weighs just a bit more than the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM lens (6.71 pounds). Speaking of 600mm f/4 lenses, the RF 600 III is nothing more than an EF 600 III with an RF adapter stuck onto the back of the lens. It is not a lens that was redesigned for mirrorless. As far as I understand, neither of the two new lenses were specifically engineered for Canon RF mirrorless. The 800 RF uses the lens elements from the Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM lens, and the RF 1200mm uses the lens elements from the EF 600mm f/4L IS III. The elements from the RF 2X are at the rear of each of the new lenses. The latter explains the seemingly remarkable MFDs … Thanks to Indranil Sircar for his explanations of several of the fine points above; he gleaned from the Canon Japan website.
Practically speaking, I am thinking that Canon will not sell very many of either of these new lenses. While each lens accepts both RF teleconverters, working at extreme focal lengths such as 1120mm, 1600mm, 1680mm, 2400mm is a huge challenge for most folks. At such huge magnifications, hand holding or working on a monopod does not seem feasible to me. Many folks will have big problems even finding the bird in the viewfinder. Unsharpness caused by gear shake is multiplied by the square of the focal length. Another problem that comes with working at extreme focal lengths is the negative effect of heat shimmer (AKA atmospheric interference). The more air between you and the subject the more problems you will encounter.
Oh, did I forget to mention the price tags?
The 600mm III with an RF Adaptor and the RF 600mm, both in combination with the two TCs, offer much greater versatility than either of the two new RF super telephotos. That said, Canon did a great job of reducing the size and weight of the two new lenses. In the right hands, in the right situations, both lenses will surely prove to be extremely sharp and will be used to create some stellar images.
If you plan on pre-ordering one of the new lenses, please get in touch via e-mail before placing your order as I may be able to help you out.
One final thought here: while Canon has had and will continue to offer the strongest lens line-up in the game, the continuing massive superiority of the SONY Alpha 1 makes choosing the best system for photographing birds in flight an easy one. Why? The a1 offers Zebra technology for stills, gorgeous 51 MP files, and the world’s best AF system. During our great session yesterday morning, the light changed often as light clouds occasionally covered the sun. Kevin Hice complained rightly of the difficulty of getting the right exposure with his R5 while John Carelli and I simply spun the rear dial to change the ISO until we saw Zebras on the eagle’s while heads. Until Nikon or Canon mirrorless bodies offer Zebra technology for stills, the a1 is the no-contest choice when it comes to photographing birds, especially flying birds.
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This image was created on 25 February 2022, the last day of the first Homer/Kachemak Bay Bald Eagle IPT. I used the hand held Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter (at 189mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. The exposure was determined via Zebras. ISO 1600. 1/4000 second at f/4 (wide open). Raw Digger showed the exposure to be dead-solid perfect. AWB at 10:57:55am on a sunny morning. Tracking: Zone AF/C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #1: Bald Eagles in tandem flight |
Two For the Price of One!
As stressed here often, one of the keys to creating very good or great images is to strive for something different. Over the six days of the first IPT we enjoyed banking, diving, and upside-down eagles. We all captured many dozens of excellent flight images depicting a great variety of poses and wing positions. Until yesterday morning’s amazing session, I had never seen two eagles flying in perfect tandem. I saw the two eagles, raised my lens to the left — to about one o’clock, fired off an eight-frame burst, and exclaimed, “Wow. I got two birds in flight on the same plane!”
I kept four very excellent images with today’s featured image being my favorite by a small margin.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
Great shot. One of the reasons I sold my Z9 after just 2 weeks with it was the lack of zebras and an EVF that was very difficult to even tell if I was under or overexposed despite the Live preview of the exposure. Nothing beats the A1.
Is there a typo for the ISO on that eagle image? On a sunny day I’d think that ISO 1600 seems like it would be way overexposed for f/4 and 1/4000. I was shooting white Trumpeter swans the other day and I was getting f/4, ISO 500, 1/8000 to expose the whites correctly.
Good catch — ISO 500 is correct. Thanks for the info on the Z9. I agree on the a1 …
with love, artie
Image #1 is Cute photos of the two Bald Eagles flying!!!
Thanks for the info re the construction of the new lenses. It does indeed explain the MFDs. For supertelephotos a killer 600/4 with converters is still the best choice for most avian photography IMO.
YAW and I agree.
with love, artie