Bird Photography: Flash & No Flash

It always amazes me how much impact the flash can have on photos of birds in the forest.

Palm tanager; with a flash Costa Rica; Sarapiqui
Palm tanager; with no flash; Costa Rica; Sarapiqui

Both were photographed with the following settings: Aperture Priority, F/8, 1/400 sec shutter speed, ISO 800, Canon 580 flash, 100-400mm lens.

The flash is set to TTL and high-speed.

Canon EOS R: My Test Drive

Thanks to the folks at Hunt’s Photo & Video I got to test drive the new Canon EOS R.  This is Canon’s first entry into the full-frame mirrorless camera market.  I am highly impressed.

The camera has a great feel in the hand.  There’s plenty of room for your hand and right thumb giving a more robust feel than the Canon M-series cameras.

The swivel screen on the back of the camera is great for ground-level macro photos.

Hand-feel and ergonomics — give the camera an A+.  The electronic viewfinder is the brightest I’ve seen.  The touch screen on the back is quick and responsive.

Yet, how about the photos.  Last year, I pushed the Canon M-series camera pretty hard when I gave it a test drive so I thought I’d do the same with the EOS R.

Notice in the photos above that there’s no fringing on the leaves when the photo is enlarged to 200%.  The grain structure looks good.

Let’s try another test.

Above is a twilight photo with the Canon EOS R on a tripod.  Enlarged to 200% on the right.

Same scene but photographed with a Canon 5D Mark IV.

In low light I can’t see any difference between the photos taken with the Canon EOS R and the Canon 5D Mark IV.

A simple comparison of photos.  The photo taken with the Canon EOS R is on the left.  Canon 5D Mark IV on the right. Both are enlarged to 100%.   I can’t see any difference in quality.

I like starbursts in my photos.  How does the EOS R’s 24-105mm lens work in the starburst category?  Not bad!

Conclusions:

  • The Canon EOS R is a “real” camera on par with the Canon 5D Mark IV.
  • There does not appear to be any differences in the picture quality between the two cameras.
  • This is not a point-and-shoot or lower quality camera.
  • The Canon EOS R is going to make a lot of people rethink their mirrorless options.
  • First-time camera owners might skip the DSLR body in favor is this mirrorless.

I’m impressed with the Canon EOS R on static subjects.  How does it handle action?  Stay tuned.

Check out the great deals at Hunt’s Photo & Video on Canon EOS R and other products.

Here’s a video I created on the Canon EOS R.  Take a look.

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