My new Canon 5DSr
I am loving this camera. The 5DSr is Canon’s latest, 51 megapixel wonder of a camera. This camera’s focusing system is world class and the image quality is just tops. I did find a deficiency with LightRoom’s RAW rendering algorithms that are keeping 5DS owners from getting the best this camera can offer… so check back as I will be writing a blog piece on this issue and how to overcome it.
A Kingfisher and Two Owls
I was stalking a kingfisher. There was a kingfisher bird that hung out around a little pond off of a salt marsh down in Delaware. She was always there and would sit on a particular stick just off a gravel road that meandered through the marsh and I was determined… no obsessed… with getting a great picture of her. I did my homework. I knew where she lived (Delaware), I knew where she hung out (a stick), I knew her favorite food (fish), and like the most tenacious of paparazzi, I was going to get her picture (a great one). Oh yea, I was on a mission.
I took the two-hour drive down, three days in a row with the singular purpose of getting a great candid. Each afternoon, I would drive slowly around the bend to where the pond would come into view. I drove slowly, appeared unconcerned, showed interest in a boring heron; I had my best game-face on. And there she was. She would see me. She knew what I was after. And then she would play her cruel game. She taunted me, teased me, fly right by me, and then I would catch her hideous, sinister laugh. I didn’t get one good shot of her. I put a few in the carousel above for your amusement, but none are really any good. I will get her one day.
Kindness of Strangers
Then a caring Birder Brain named Julia circled the pond a few times and took pity on me. She saw me staring longingly at an empty, barren stick for hours on end. She pulled her car up near me and gave me that “oh you poor man” look, and let me know of a Great Horned Owl in a tree about 100 yards from where I sat all broken hearted.
Well I would like to tell you I stalked these owls for weeks to get these pictures, but dear Julia pointed me in the right direction. Not only was there a large female GHO, but on the next tree was her mate! Wow! They just sat there in good light and I snapped away. I actually got bored taking their pictures. Within the next ½ hour, other cars came by and we had a group of about 15 Birder Brains all standing around taking thousands of pictures of these smug GHOs. The birds were unfazed, and couldn’t care less.
Sometime you have to work real hard for a photograph and come up empty. Other times, well you just get lucky.
Our Nature Reserves
You really need to get out and experience our national nature reserves. They are fantastic. Just click here and find one near you… and go. Any time of year is just great.
The Equipment:
- Canon 5DSr
- Canon 500mm L f/4.0 IS
- Gitzo 3530LS carbon fiber tripod
- Wimberley II gimbal head
- LightRoom 6.2
