What’s Up?
We finally struck gold with the pelicans on Wednesday morning with many dozens of them flying in and landing right below us. No matter, the Extended 2025 San Diego IPT is winding down. Multiple IPT veteran Judy Stepenaskie had to leave a day early so say goodbye to her beloved cat. New friend Adrian Whitchelo-Scott and the Irish Lass, Colleen O’Connor, were done after our Wednesday morning session. Colleen, somewhat overcome by how much she had learned and improved, was quite emotional as we said goodbye. Adrian is headed back up to the LA wildfires. We are all praying for his safely.
Today is Thursday 16 January 2025. Multiple IPT vets Warren Robb and Dietmar Haenchen are doing one last morning with Bob and me, a post-IPT session at La Jolla. Warren is flying back to Texas this afternoon and we are dropping Dietmar at the Rental Car Center as he is staying on a few days with friends. Whatever you choose to do, we hope that you too choose happiness.
If an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, 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 earn 3% cash back at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.
Should You Upgrade to or Purchase a Sony a-1 ii?
I will be purchasing a second a-1 ii quite soon.
Aside from the improved ergonomics as compared to the a-1, other nice features include the fact that the rear screen tilts both ways. Pre-capture will surely prove to be a plus while in my option, the Speed Boost feature is a total waste for bird photography. In addition, the resolution on the rear monitor has been improved dramatically. Not to mention that Bird Face-Eye tracking on the a-1 ii is significantly better than on the a-1 and that the 51MP file are to die for. And don’t forget the Pre-Capture feature!
So, the big question is, is the a-1 ii “worth” a gear upgrade. Remembering that I can never know whether or not something is worth it to you, I can say that I was not floored when using my a-1 ii. The differences between the a-1 ii and the original a-1, are neither huge nor eye-opening. The huge difference between the new camera body and the a9 iii is, of course, the 51MP a-1 raw files (as compared to the 24MP files rendered by the a9 iii).
With the price of a new a-1 having recently dropped $1500.00 to $4,998.00, the decision for new Sony buyers is a very tough one. The a-1 ii sells new for $6,498.00. And the price of used a-1 bodies will continue to drop (but surely not as much as I had thought before using the a-1 ii).
If you do purchase an a-1 ii, be sure to use one of my two affiliate links so that you will receive my a-1 ii settings (in the form of a CAMSEa1ii.DAT file), the Buttons and Dials Guide, and an Info Sheet. Folks who do not purchase their new a-i using my B&H link or from Bedfords here and entering the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout will be able to purchase the a-1 ii guide for $227.43. If you are at all confused and do not want to screw up your order, please get in touch via e-mail.
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This image was created on 15 January 2025 by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART while leading the 2025 San Diego IPT at La Jolla, CA. Standing at full height, I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 397mm) and the and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. Multi Metering +1.0 stop. The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with Exposure Compensation on the thumb dial. AUTO ISO set ISO 400: 1/15 sec. at f/6.3. RawDigger showed the exposure be perfect: AWB at 6:49:47am in the shade two minutes before sunrise on yet another clear morning. Zone AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed perfectly. Image #1: Brown Pelican Pacific race breeding plumage braking to land |
Hard to Believe I
After noting the EXIF data for each image, it is hard to believe that each of today’s three featured images was created with the same versatile, hand hold-able for most rig, the Sony 200-600 G Lens & a-1 ii. As noted previously, the Bird Face-Eye Tracking with the a-1 ii is vastly improved as compared to both the a-1 and the a9 iii. Though not shown with any of today’s images, one area of huge AF improvement is the ability of the camera to track the eve of a pelican or other large bird that is flying away from you and turning. It is quite remarkable.
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This image was also created on 15 January 2025 by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART while leading the 2025 San Diego IPT at La Jolla, CA. Crouching a bit, I used the braced, hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 481mm) and the and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. Multi Metering +1.0 stop. ISO 800. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel; 1/640 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed the exposure to be dead solid perfect: AWB at 8:43:21 am on a sunny morning. Tracking: Zone AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed perfectly. Image #2: Brown Pelican Pacific race breeding plumage on rock |
Hard to Believe II
It is hard to believe that you can make a hand held image of a static bird at 1/8 second. Even with my arm securely supported and braced by the wooden railing above the cliff. Why such a slow shutter speed? When I saw the waves breaking behind the subject, I knew that they would look swirly-sweet at a ridiculously slow shutter speed (if and only if the subject was sharply rendered). I attribute the success of this image to the remarkable improvement in the Sony Optical Stabilization System (OSS) that had previously been somewhat lacking as compared to Canon and Nikon.
To prove that point, I was amazed when (after being inspired by my comments in the field), Dietmar showed me a sharp pelican photo that he had created at 1/8 second with his EOS R7 (also hand held and also securely braced).
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This image was also created on 15 January 2025 by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART while leading the 2025 San Diego IPT at La Jolla, CA. Standing at full height, I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 404mm) and the and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. ISO 800. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel; 1/4000 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure to be dead solid perfect: AWB at 9:22:02am on a sunny morning. Zone/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed perfectly. Image #3: Brown Pelican Pacific race breeding plumage dorsal view in gliding flight |
Hard to Believe III
It is hard to believe the consistently accurate Bird Face-Eye tracking with the a-1 II. If you get and keep the bird in the middle of the frame as you half press the shutter button, it will grab and track the bird’ eye accurately 99% of the time. While picking your flight shot keepers, it is no longer necessary to enlarge the image and check the eye for critical sharpness. When I was using Canon dSLR (for 34 years, 19 of them as one of the 55 original Explorers of Light, and still a Canon Explorer of Light Emeritus — whatever that means),I would be shocked when a flight shot was sharp on the eye. Since switching to Sony, I am now even more shocked when a flight shot is not sharp on the eye.
Please understand that my comments above refer to dSLR gear. The current high end Canon and Nikon mirrorless camera bodies feature superb, vastly improved AF systems (though perhaps not quite as good as with the Sony bodies). Zebra technology for stills and the light weight of both the Sony bodies and lenses are the main reasons that I feel Sony is currently the best system for bird photography.
After enlarging Image #3 by clicking on it, most will find the color, clarity, sharpness, and fine feather detail also hard to believe considering the low cost of the Sony 200-600: $1998.00. Pair a new one with a used Sony a-1 and you are right there for less than $6K. With my settings on your Sony mirrorless camera body and five minutes of instruction, you will be able to begin creating superb images right out of the box. Please be sure to use one of my two affiliate links to reap the benefits of doing so.
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Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
This DP agrees with the other DP on # 2. As I’ve mentioned before, my Canon R7/100-400 RF/5.6-8 STM combination reminds me of the little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good she was very good indeed, but when she was bad she was horrid. I get shots with the combo I never could have got with any other camera gear I’ve ever owned, and I miss some shots that my Canon 7DII/Canon EF 100-400 f/5.6L IS II combo would have nailed in its sleep. But even at its worst, it weighs less than half the DSLR combo.
LOVE #2 – absolutely beautiful, and creatively executed, portrait.