Post your best current shots

[Jonathan Huyer]

I'm back from a week-long trip to Manitoba, during which time I spent a few days in Riding Mountain National Park searching for lynx with another photographer. It took quite a lot of effort, with a persistence and stubborness that bordered on obsessive-compulsive, but it paid off with several sightings and a couple of very nice photo opportunities. I used the R5 almost exclusively (I also have the 1DXIII) and I have to say it worked very, very well. For wildlife I kept the focus on single-point mode, since I don't always trust the eye-detect to find the face in every encounter. The 12 fps maximum shot rate was slow for my taste but still quite okay. I think what I liked the best was the exposure brightness in the viewfinder, making it obvious when I needed to add or subtract compensation. That is hugely beneficial and takes away a lot of guesswork. So slowly but slowly, I think I'm turning into a mirrorless fan!

The nice thing about Riding Mountain park is that in the winter, it is pretty much abandoned of people. It helps that the place is a 3-hour drive from Winnipeg. Really, the only ones out there are photographers, looking for lynx! And there were just 3 other vehicles during the time we were there. We got along great and shared information with each other, working diligently to track the cats down. It helped immensely.

The lynx population rises and falls with the availability of snowshoe hares, on about a 10-year cycle. The thought is that the local peak happened a couple years ago, and the numbers are on the decline at the moment. March is a good time to go, since it is mating season and the males can be heard calling (an incredibly wild sound), and will be more active during the day.

Male lynx
Canon R5, 500 f/4 lens, 1/1250 s @ f/5.6, ISO 1000




Male lynx (pretty sure it's the same one)
Canon R5, 500 f/4 lens with 1.4 TC, 1/3200 s @ f/5.6, ISO 800




Female lynx (notice she's about half the size!)
Canon R5, 500 f/4 lens, 1/320 s @ f/4, ISO 6400 (this was taken after sunset)