p.1 #1 · Fighting eagles - Steller's sea-eagle and white-tailed
I recently bought the 5DsR as a "combo" camera - much of my shooting is landscapes so the 50MP allow the big prints I favour. With the pixel density of the 7D2-ish, I hoped it would double as a birding camera - not the best one, but adequate in a combo The slow RAW buffer write and poorer high ISO were known limitations but I think I am reasonably happy with the outcome. I was prepared as these two went at it in Rausu, Hokkaido, recently (more of the trip in the link below). The light was lower than the day before so I was shooting at 1/1000 and ISO 1600 so perhaps a bit faster might have been better (when viewing at 100% - not quite as good as here). The white-tailed eagle has the Steller's sea-eagle by its bill and is about to slam its head to the ground before letting go - the fight was about 3 seconds at ~5 fps with a Canon 5DsR and 100-400v2 with 1.4xV3 at ~200 mm and f/11 for DoF. I had decided to shoot jpegs for the action series, mainly of eagles swooping in to pluck fish from the sea. The frame here is cropped a bit (I had widened the FoV to keep them in the frame as they thrashed around) but is about 30MP.
p.1 #6 · Fighting eagles - Steller's sea-eagle and white-tailed
Thanks. Incredible indeed - fortune favours the prepared and I'd spent the previous few days trying to hone the AF system and "action" settings, and there they were. Mark Brazil (the tour leader, who lives in Hokkaido and has been going to sea eagles for the last ~15 years) said he had never witnessed anything like it either.
p.1 #9 · Fighting eagles - Steller's sea-eagle and white-tailed
Congrats on capturing a really intense moment, I like the composition and BG.
Excellent exposure and processing showing beautiful color and detail in the White-tailed Eagle.
Very well done.
Thanks Martin - your trip covered many of the same locations and you have many spectacular shots from it. Amazing how much difference there is between bright sun in yours and dull overcast for mine. We didn't see the pack ice for the sea eagles, but we were in Kyushu for the hooded and white-naped cranes. (Can you imagine your 200-400 in a 1D series body with a 50 mp sensor? One day maybe.
The slow RAW buffer write and poorer high ISO were known limitations but I think I am reasonably happy with the outcome. I was prepared as these two went at it in Rausu, Hokkaido, recently (more of the trip in the link below). The light was lower than the day before so I was shooting at 1/1000 and ISO 1600 so perhaps a bit faster might have been better (when viewing at 100%
