What’s Up?
On Tuesday past, our first morning with multiple IPT veteran Vasili Chrnishoff, there were few pelicans on the main cliff but we did well with them in flight near the bridge club. With the tripod-mounted 600mm f/4 GM lens/1.4X TC/a-i ii combination, I made my favorite/best-ever flight image of a stunning breeding plumage Pacific race Brown Pelican. I will share that one with you here at some point. It was slow afternoon at Santee but for a lovely leucistic hen Wood Duck that made our afternoon. On a partly to most cloudy Wednesday morning, we did well with the pelicans and some spiffy Double-crested Cormorants . Again I went forth with the hand held 400mm f/2.8 and both TCs. Later in the morning I switched to the tripod-mounted 600mm f/4, again with both TCs. Vasili showed up with the Canon 100-300mm f/2.8 lens and his brand new Canon EOS R1 mirrorless body along with a Canon 600mm f/4 and nothing TCs. The 100-300 is an intriguing rig; with the 2X TC in place, he has a very sharp, very versatile 200-600mm f5.6 lens that is hand holdable for him. At the long end, it is a third stop faster than the Sony 200-600, but is larger and bulkier And with the 2X TC in place, it weighs 1 1/2 pounds more. It is a great rig for La Jolla.
In today’s post, learn how and why the knee pod technique — taught here for at least a decade, can save the day when photographing bird behavior. In more than three decades of photographing Brown Pelicans on both coasts, I have never before seen the attacking behavior depicted in today’s featured image. And then it happened (albeit with a twist), twice in a three day period. You gotta love bird photography.
Today is Thursday 23 January 2025. The tres amigos will be headed out early to Coronado in search of Marbled Godwits and Heermann’s Gulls. Whatever you opt to do, we hope that you too choose to have a great day.
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.
Supporting My Efforts Here
If you enjoy and learn from the blog, are all set for gear, or live overseas, consider leaving a BAA Blog Thank You Gift here.
If you enjoy and learn from the blog, please consider using one of my affiliate links when purchasing new gear. It will never cost you a single penny. To support my effort here, please order from B&H by beginning your search here. Or, click here, to order from Bedfords and enter the discount code BIRDSASART at checkout to receive 3% cash back to your credit card and enjoy free Second-Day Air Fed-Ex shipping. It is always best to write for advice via e-mail.
In many cases, I can help you save some serious dollars. And/or prevent you from purchasing the wrong gear from the wrong shop.
Should You Upgrade to or Purchase a Sony a-1 ii?
I ordered my second a-1 ii four days ago. Every day that I use it, the more I am more amazed by speed and accuracy of the Bird Face-Eye tracking in AF-C.
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 at Bird Face-Eye tracking on the a-1 ii is vastly improved as compared to both the a-1 and the a9 iii and that the 51MP files 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.
|
|
This image was created on 17 January 2025 by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART on the last morning of the 2025 Extended San Diego IPT at La Jolla, CA. Sitting in the red dirt on a sandstone cliff getting my pants filthy, I used the knee pod technique with the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 559mm) and the and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The Exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel; 1/4000 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed the exposure to be dead solid perfect: AWB at 9:59:03 am on a mostly sunny morning. Tracking: Zone AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed with science-fiction-like accuracy. Image #1: Brown Pelican Pacific race breeding plumage attacking a honeybee |
A Knee Pod Technique Advantage
One of the great advantages of sitting and resting your left forearm on the top of your left knee is that you do not have to hold the lens up while waiting for action. I made a few static images of this bird when that very thought entered my mind; if this bird does something neat all I need to do is push and hold the shutter button. Not three seconds after that thought passed my mind, the bird violently swung its bill at a tiny bug.
Sony a-1 ii AF tracked the bird’s eye without missing a beat despite the frantic movement. When I magnified the image, it was clear that the offending insect was a honeybee. Check out the two tighter crop of this image below.
|
|
This image was created on 17 January 2025 by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART on the last morning of the 2025 Extended San Diego IPT at La Jolla, CA. Sitting in the red dirt on a sandstone cliff getting my pants filthy, I used the knee pod technique with the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 559mm) and the and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The Exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel; 1/4000 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed the exposure to be dead solid perfect: AWB at 9:59:03 am on a mostly sunny morning. Tracking: Zone AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed with science-fiction-like accuracy. Image #2: A tight crop of the fifth frame in the sequence. Brown Pelican Pacific race breeding plumage attacking a honeybee image |
The Bee
In this frame, it seems fairly obvious that the honeybee was fighting back and was in no way happy with the pelican’s actions. Perhaps it was trying to sting the bird’s eye …
|
Image 2AB: This is an even tighter crop of the fifth frame in the sequence. Brown Pelican Pacific race breeding plumage attacking a honeybee image |
The Sharpness and Detail
In short, Sony a-1 ii autofocus is indeed beyond belief. Yes, the bee in this photo was pretty much right on the same plane as the pelican’s eye. And in addition, the shutter speed, 1/4000 second, was fast enough to freeze the bee in flight. Anyhoo, the sharpness and detail in all of these images is remarkable.
Note that with the huge crop here, the details are beginning to get a bit crunch.
|
|
This image was created on the magical nearly 9,000 images for me morning of 19 January at La Jolla. CA. Sitting in the red dirt on a sandstone cliff getting my pants filthy, I used the hand held Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens with the Sony FE 2x Teleconverter and the Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel. ISO 1000: 1/2500 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead solid perfect: AWB at 10:39:26am on a blessedly cloudy to cloudy-bright morning. Tracking Zone/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed with science-fiction-like accuracy. Image #2: Brown Pelican Pacific race juvenile attacking a just preened feather |
More Unexpected Action
This young pelican was preening its belly when a preened feather took to the air, caught by a gust of wind. The pelican was pissed and reacted in the same manner as the bird in Image #1 when it was bugged by the honeybee, swinging its bill about violently in an effort to swat it away. Again, a-1 ii autofocus was Johnny on the eye. Both of the action sequences were over in a fraction of a second resulting in about six images. Had I been standing for either of these moments, I would never have been able to hold the lens in place long enough to have the action develop. And if I had to lift the lens from the rest position and frame the image, I would have come up with nothing. Best of all is that it is a lot easier to move around the cliffs with a hand holdable lens and your knee pod that it is to maneuver around with your rig on a tripod.
I’ve never seen a bird attack one of its own feathers before.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
He must have thought that feather was an incoming bee! 🙂
Wonderful images, Artie.