Post your best bird shots!

[Jonathan Huyer]

Wow great series Brant! SEOs are so fun to photograph and I'd love to do that with the R5.
Questions:
- I assume you're loving the 200-800. Focal length is probably ideal for this sort of fun. Any performance comments? You're obviously getting a high keep rate with it.
- How on earth did you get the Tern perfectly exposed with that black background? I checked your exif on Flickr and it shows zero exposure compensation. Did you just go full manual?
Thanks for sharing those.

[Kayaker72]

Wow great series Brant! SEOs are so fun to photograph and I'd love to do that with the R5.

Thanks Jonathan! I had never really picked up on the fact that Shortys are such photogenic birds.

Questions:
- I assume you're loving the 200-800. Focal length is probably ideal for this sort of fun. Any performance comments? You're obviously getting a high keep rate with it.

I am loving it. But I do really wish Canon had done just a bit more and charged twice the price. It is a great lens and the real key to me is that it natively does what no other lens out there can do. I do want to note that I have come away very impressed with the RF 100-500 w and without the 1.4tc. The issue with adding the TC is that you cannot zoom out all the way, the extender only fits into the lens at ~300 mm. So, with 1.4x TC, it essentially becomes a 420-700 mm lens, which is very useful, but I got it on loan to test out and often zoomed back into the TC. Plus, one of my primary uses for this lens will be in the kayak, and I do not want to be messing about with a TC while in a kayak.

So, that aside, it is a very good lens. With enough light, the AF is good to very good. As you start dropping in light, even dense clouds, the AF takes a hit. In a side by side test, my 500 II was 100% hit rate...the 200-800 was ~68%. That day was a bit dim (toward end of day), so I do want to mention there have been several times with good light where the hit rate was near 100%.

So very usable for casual shooting, but you do need to be aware of the limitation with light.

I like the size and weight. It handles very nicely. I wish you could remove the foot, but ok. The zoom ring is a bit stiff with a long throw, but I am learning to make it work.

All that said, in terms of IQ out around 800mm and beyond, only my 500 II w/1.4TC is better. The zoom range is great. It takes a 1.4xTC pretty well. The lens is sharpest at less than 700 mm, it is just at the shorter focal lengths, other lenses are also very good, but the 200-800 is right there with them in terms of IQ.

As for the extended reach, what I am finding is reaching out great distances you are still limited by other factors such as heat haze, etc. But getting more focal length for small birds at <15m and large birds at <100 m, it really does add something that I didn't have before.

- How on earth did you get the Tern perfectly exposed with that black background? I checked your exif on Flickr and it shows zero exposure compensation. Did you just go full manual?
Thanks for sharing those.

Thanks...I would say that is a combination of two things: 1) With white birds in sun, yes, I usually do switch to full manual and I try to dial it in so the white is properly exposed. A bit of a lesson after years of blowing out the chest of Common Loons. I do sometimes use manual with auto ISO and spot metering, but looking at the images before and after, they are all the same, so I think I was full manual; and 2) I spent a good amount of time with that one in LR. Some blacks may have been crushed in making of that image.