Friends old and new

For the past decade plus I have rocked a Canon EOS 7D (Mark 1). At the time it was the best camera that I could find for what I wanted to do, mostly bird photography. I ended up buying it used along with a bunch of used Canon L glass, notably the 70–200 F/4 and the 100–400 “dust pump”. Those two lenses and an EF-S 17–55 were my go to’s for a long long time.

Somewhere along the way I bought a Sony a6000 as a small walkabout and travel camera. Nothing that came out in the interim excited me. Until this year. So many cameras, and such high quality. So in the end, I bit the bullet and ordered the Canon EOS R5 and invested in a number of RF lenses. Turning your entire kit around is a huge change, but given how old my body was, the improvements in tech, how long these bodies and lenses tend to last, and Canon’s clear investment in the RF mount, it felt like the right thing to do. The R5 took its while to get to me (2+ months), so I ended up selling the Sony and getting a Canon EOS RP to use with all the RF lenses and as my backup body. The RP was my first full frame camera, and while it has its limitations, the detail in the sensor, and my improving Lightroom skills ended up in pictures like this one

Finally the EOS R5 arrived. I spent an evening or two getting familiar with the menu and controls. While Canon’s controls are intuitive, technology and focusing systems have evolved a lot, so there was some learning there. I ended up basing my set up on this wonderful video by Jan Wegener, including the twin back button focus system (I use different buttons than he does). Since then I have customized the C1 and C2 photo custom modes for bird photography and the C1-C3 video custom modes for my preferred video options (separate custom modes for photo and video FTW).

I’ve now had a chance to use the R5 a bit, tweak the settings, and started getting used to the workflow. In addition to the autofocus, a camera with good video, amazing autofocus, multiple programmable buttons and dials, and those amazing RF lenses, it’s been a somewhat magical experience. I am just beginning to scratch the surface with the camera, especially the video side, but it’s been a promising start. I have also decided to sell the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 4K. For what I do, the R5 is good enough and I don’t really need 3 cameras. It that ever changes, the C70 and Red Komodo are both RF-mount cameras that would be worth looking into. I’ll leave you with some amazing bird EyeAF.

For more drop by my instagram or photo site. Some day there may be some YouTube videos as well.