technic
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 Re: RF 600mm F11 DO and 800mm F11 DO | |
cpe1991 wrote:
technic wrote:
cpe1991 wrote:
technic wrote:
cpe1991 wrote:
technic wrote:
cpe1991 wrote:
technic wrote:
arbitrage wrote:
I guess all situations are different. Most of my waterfowl are somewhat skitish ducks and I shoot them at 840 and even 1200 all the time.
Most of my shots are over relatively small ponds around noon and in summer. I can imagine it's different in winter and probably the stronger mid-day sun doesn't help with thermals. I'm not sure where the frequent problems with partial image softness when shooting over water come from, as it doesn't always happen and some spots seem to be worse than others, especially with the lens just a few cm above the water surface. When conditions are good I would love to try even longer focal lengths than my current 560mm max. (usually around f/11 effective, out of necessity because of focus and IQ issues with the 100-400).
The low shots over the water sure allow nice background blur. Images below from 80D (APS-C). These examples remind me of another question: do these DO lenses have good MFD (usually doesn't help to keep the lens compact) and good closeup image quality?
560mm, f/11:
280 or 300mm, f/8:
Beautiful shots! The odds are the mfd will be ~3m. I know you have problems with the 100-400mm II, but it's going to be a difficult one to beat for close focussing. Probably the upcoming 100-500mm f/7.1 is the lens for you if you go R series.
If the price is acceptable and the closeup image quality is really good (maybe using extension ring when MFD is insufficient) I might even be interested, but I consider that possibility extremely unlikely. Also, I don't have much hope for closeup image quality of long zooms, my experience is that traditional long primes have better closeup IQ and more importantly much better working distance (the 100-400 set at 400mm is just 200mm near MFD).
By the time these new DO lenses are available I will probably have moved to Nikon, using their 300PF and 500PF lenses (new gear decision on hold because there are too few opportunities in my area for dragonflies due to changing weather patterns, general nature destruction and lockdown idiocy; plus insufficient clarity from Canikon about where they are going).
I now shoot a lot with the D500 (and D850) + 500mm PF. The MFD is ~3m but the image is so sharp and the depth of field deeper at that distance that I find it good for dragonflies as well as being unbeatable in its price range for BIF. I bought mine at the beginning of the year used at very low prices, but the used market appears to have dried up.
Sure sounds like a great combo for dragonflies, but I think I would primarily use the 300PF because I prefer flying ones and that is probably difficult with the 500 (just finding the subject quick enough in the viewfinder ...). I had planned to purchase a D500 with PF lenses this spring, but it's a bad dragonfly season due to epic drought and the lockdown conditions are creating additional trouble. D500's are too expensive over here (either new or used) but maybe prices will come down in summer?
I guess one could use the 500PF with a small extension ring (like 25-36 mm) and still have excellent image quality; for dragonflies I don't need focus to infinity 
I bought a used D850 to get the wider field of view for DIF .
I assume a wider field for viewing/tracking the subject in the viewfinder, not because it allows you to take the DIF picture from closer distance as suggested a few posts back
I would consider the D850 if it were significantly lighter; even the D500 is already a bit heavier than I like. Maybe D850 would still work thanks to the lighter PF lenses and good VR, but I have no way to try it in practice in my shooting conditions, and D850 is too expensive to take a gamble. There is no one in my area that I know of who uses a D850 for wildlife (and just one person using D500, but with the slower Nikon 80-400 and not for "action" shots).
Today I had several Emperor dragonflies battling in the air over me for some time, and I tried taking pictures with my 80D and 2.8/200 lens using MF. But none of the many images was really sharp, they move so fast that MF doesn't work, even if you shoot a small burst in almost every case all images are out of focus (front or back). I would love to see if D500 or D850 AF can handle this; with the background far away this should be easy for GroupAF but I don't know if locking/tracking is fast enough for this subject. With my 80D it makes no sense to try AF - AF is so slow that by the time the AF tries to lock on the subject the dragonfly is already way out of the frame, so the AF moves focus to the background (infinity), fails to lock and it's impossible to take a picture 
I don't post images here, unfortunately, but I do a lot in canonrumors as AlanF. There are lots of my shots of dragonflies in flight there. The earlier ones are with the 5DIV or 5DSR and 100-400mm II and most recently with the D850 and 500PF - see https://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?threads/dragonflies-and-damselflies.35543/page-30 of an Emperor and Four-spotted Chaser flying.
Those D850 DIF images are a good start but some of your older 100-400 Emperor images are better IMHO, I think focus on the recent shots could be better.
As you already mention in that CR thread there are many issues with DIF like you need to have the dragonfly moving in or parallel to the focus plane, otherwise the AF system may focus on the wrong part. The main problem when using AF is to have the camera lock focus fast enough (and to keep the dragonfly in the frame when it is moving quickly ...). If AF gets a lock having the camera track is the next issue but that's irrelevant for my 80D because it only locks on hovering or gliding dragonflies (and even that is tricky).
There are some great DIF images in that CR thread, will have to check the full thread later on (I may have posted there some years ago, not sure though). Apparently a 1DX2 with the right L lenses works pretty well for DIF shots but that's quite expensive and heavy gear. Haven't been able to see what gear others in the thread are using. Most dragonfly photographers I know who shoot DIF use a camera like 80D or 7D2 with the Canon 4/300IS lens and manual focus, similar to what I do. Photographers tend to use pretty modest (often a bit older) equipment for dragonfly photography, quite different from what you see with e.g. birding. But I noticed a few photographers are now using the D500 or D850 with the 300PF(+TC) or 500PF for DIF, and they have some great shots.
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