EOS R – Doing my best to Get to Grips…

Testing Continues Using the EOS R…

The purpose of the testing is more to do with familiarising myself with the very different way of working with this camera, and two things cropped up today which, for the present I am putting down to my ignorance. Certainly, I am not confident enough to use it for a live job, for I do not have the confidence I can deliver, to the same degree of certainty with which I know I can, when using either of my other two Canon bodies; the full-frame EOS 5D MkIII, or the smaller framed EOS 7D MkII.

I have found that despite being set to AF, two of the Canon lenses need sometimes to have their focus changed before they snap into locking on correctly. Also, I need to work out how to stop the delay when shooting, caused by the processing of the frames, which seems odd when I have little interruption when using a mechanical shutter on my DSLRs. So, as I say, this is a criticism of ME – obviously too old in the tooth! I am determined I will get there though, as the results I am seeing suggest the quality of the images is there.

After a morning spent doing some delayed housework, and definitely missing the best of the sunshine, I set off towards the lake at Brogborough for hopefully some windsurfing action, but seeing a lone pheasant as I turned into the road leading to the lake, I pulled into a layby and took the camera with the EOS R body and 100-400mm MkI lens locked it onto the monopod, and headed towards where I spotted him, but he was wily enough to have spotted a photographer, and despite looking around and taking the likely direction he may have taken, I entered the field beyond the hedge where I had lost sight of him through the marked Public Footpath. It was nowhere to be seen, but now I was here and there was a pathway through the high weeds, I decided I would venture further. I did take a few shots, but my heart was not in it, so I headed back to the car and the windsurfing lake, meeting one of them who was leaving!

Before any more left, I took the camera on the monopod out and took a few shots of the remaining three sailors out on the water, before they came in and headed off too. Using the monopod in an occasionally gusty wind and grey overcast meant that I was using 2000˚ ISO, but, a test was what I sought, so I grabbed a small number of shots, and again was pleasantly surprised. The extra megabytes over say the 7D MkII with its small frame size, despite the high ISO does give a cleaner result. Had I the luxury of more sailors on the lake, I could have considered shooting at a wider aperture and lower ISO, but I started at f/5 which also gave me 1/2000 to at least compensate from my waving monopod!

I have made duplicates of the few shots I took with some fairly tight crops to illustrate the inherent quality relative to the full size, so the first of a pair of images is full-frame or close to that after straightening the horizon! You can tell when they are from the same frame by the filename. And the very last image I have done an extra and tighter crop, to show that even at this high ISO, the image holds up.

I am waiting on the delivery of the adapter ring that can provide presets and will likely use this for either an ISO change or Exposure compensation when shooting Sports activities as in Britain non-stop bright sun is rare! If snow is on its way, then I can see just what this body can do.

Brogborough Windy Tuesday

                    My car was collected to get a service, but there was sunshine and quite a strong wind blowing, so I packed my camera and three lenses, and took the camera bag to the lock-up and my bike; I had hoped that I could put the camera bag in the front basket, but sadly it was not possible, so instead I put the individual items in separately, in so doing did not add any extra compact flash cards as I was not expecting to have large numbers of likely images; it was after all a Tuesday afternoon. 

                    I returned the camera bag to the house, donned my helmet and folded my trousers into my socks and set off for Brogborough Lake, and the fact that I have had a cough and cold for a week now meant that I found myself noticeably weaker on the pedals and I was heading into the wind. Assuming that the wind was unlikely to shift through 180 degrees that at least was a crumb of comfort for the return trip.

                    On arrival, I found the gates were open, but there were not too many vehicles, however there were several sailors out on the lake and the wind was definitely of a reasonable strength, but the overall number of visitors was not large, so I was not reckoning on there being much photos ahead, but I got out my camera and headed towards the water’s edge, and having taken just a few shots on my general purpose 24-70mm, swapped it for the 100-400mm, and soon found some more enticing subjects for the longer lens. Having no support, not even a monopod, I soon drew up a wrought iron chair and sat down to shoot which was less of a strain, as the wind was strong enough to be noticeable when holding the camera to my eye for any length of time.

                    I was also having to take more shots due to the amount of wind that was affecting my framing, and this was where my failure to bring a spare CF card was going to limit  the time I was going to spend shooting. That lack of foresight really made me feel very annoyed with myself! The card had 32GB which in my pessimism had seemed more than adequate, but I had made no allowance for my taking more shots due to the wind, or that the weather might be conducive to my taking a greater number of images. That was poor professionalism and it really irked that I should make such an inexcusable mistake.

                    I soon packed everything back onto my bike and headed back with a following and very welcome wind behind me, and once back settled into levelling horizons, lightening deep shadows and holding highlights when I had been shooting towards the sun, it was certainly noticeable that shooting handheld did make for more out of kilter horizons compared to shooting from a tripod.

                    Altogether, a satisfactory afternoon’s shooting, with albeit more images left on the metaphoric cutting room floor!

An Abundance of Berries – Portent of Cold Snap?

In Marston Moretaine currently there is a strong showing of berries; red and gold, in the past this has been interpreted as a forecast of a cold Winter, so I wonder whether the bush telegraph is foretelling this as an outcome? Certainly as I took a late afternoon stroll to see whether the bridge over the old A421 might prove to be a good viewpoint to capture a future sunset, the birds were certainly very active and vocal, was their chatter all to do with their reading of the berries, and the possible onslaught of a harsh winter, and Nature’s response in offering the berries to fortify them in the time ahead?

As the sun broke through clouds then hid again, I captured the last of the leaves that still clung to the bushes as the majority now carpeted the ground, the berries provided foreground for the path that tunnelled beneath overhanging branches, and added colour to the black and rust, hooped railings of a bordering garden that shielded the trellis beyond.

As I returned with last of the sun’s rays only catching the very topmost branches, house sparrows flitted back and forth between adjacent bushes chattering incessantly amongst themselves and woodpigeons gently murmured but generally stayed hidden and stationary, geese overflew as did starlings and gulls, and the geese in the gardens of Moretaine Manor occasionally squawked in some local squabble by the water’s edge behind the hedge. I had hoped that as I was out and about with a camera I might be graced by a reasonable sunset, but that was not to be, but on hearing the chatter from the sparrows I had nipped to the nearby car and changed from the 24-70mm to the 100-400mm before there activity subsided for the evening, thus getting a few shots of them and a lone well-preened robin, which had he courtesy not to hide behind the tangle of hawthorn branches.

November Windsurfers at Brogborough

Sometimes I get time to play, so here is another jump, in black and white:

Saturday morning brought rain and wind, but I had learned that it was due to dry up later, but I welcomed the wind as it held the promise of there being windsurfers on the lake at Brogborough, and I was hoping I might be free enough to go down there, but this time by car, not bike!

The rain took a while to stop and the wind remained unabated, but the sky brightened so I gathered camera and lenses and loaded them aboard my car, and was soon on my way more in hope than certainty; it was quite a relief to see a fairly full car park at Brogborough Lake. I did not delay, but immediately brought out the tripod and set the 7D MkII and 100-400mm onto the Acrotech head and made my way to the lakeside. I was surprised by just how waterlogged the grass was; much more so than the I had experienced just two miles distant – there were even large puddles of water in the grass.

Initially I set up right by the water’s edge, but after shooting from there I soon found my feet slithering in the mud as I swivelled to follow the windsurfers, and retreated to more level ground a bit further back, I little realised that I would be moving many more times as each spot became a morass of slippery mud due to my frequently moving my feet.

Shortly for a while the sun broke through the cloud cover, but at first this was short-lived as it began to spit with rain. Fortunately it did not last too long and the sun returned  giving some good lighting for a spell. I was blessed with a few taking advantage of the gusty wind to jump, but I did not manage to capture every instance as there were too many people to cover and in every direction, but despite my lack of knowledge as to when any one person might choose to leap, I did capture  a few sequences.

It was such a wonderful opportunity as for several weeks there has been very little signs of wind except when it was tipping it down and was very dull, there had bee n sunshine but on days when there was not a breath of wind. I hope that what I have captured meets with approval from those who did do some jumping.

Tring Reservoirs' Birdlife

Sunday promised fair weather with just a chance of a shower, so I decided that as I had not visited the Tring Reservoirs in a while, I would take myself off there with just the one lens and camera, the 5D MkIII and the 100-400mm lens. I intended travelling very light – not even the monopod.

I went to Tringford initially and met up with a couple of anglers, took a few shots of Common Tern as they swooped and dived for small fish close to the jetty. I did catch a quick glimpse of a pair of kingfishers skimming the water's surface before parting from the anglers and taking a wander a short way along the Trout stream, on the offchance I might catch sight of them there, but all there were were damselflies, a single dragonfly, a butterfly, and a multitude of insects.

I crossed the road and took to the path between Marsworth and Startops End reservoirs, stopping occasionally to capture more Common tern, black headed and common gulls. Eventually I took to the reeded area to patiently wait to see whether I might catch sight of a kingfisher at the far end of Marsworth reservoir. I was in luck, as after forty minutes a pair actually circled a bush on the far side from me, before beating a hasty retreat back across the main lake.

 I waited another twenty minutes before getting another chance when a singleton landed on a far bare branch before flying off; I just managed to capture a shot on the edge of my frame as it disappeared, and that is the shot that heads this text. More than an hour passed before I made my way back towards Tringford and capturing a few more shots of the gulls and tern.

Wendover Woods via Mansion Hill

Having had a hand in rolling the pitch for Bamville Cricket Club, and knowing that they play most Sundays in the season, I thought it very likely that they would be playing this Sunday, however, unbeknownst to me the season does not start till May! So where I was thinking of apologising for missing the first hour of play, it was not the case as, on arrival the pitch looked exquisite, but bare of stumps or players, the pavilion was still shuttered and two dog walkers had taken the place of spectators. The significance of this preamble was that I had come to give my 100-400mm lens  sports airing!

I had learned that woodpeckers could be found deep in Wendover woods, so I changed plans and headed there, because this was a lens that might do such subjects justice. I headed not to the main entrance but to a small car park beyond at Mansion Hill, and began the long ascent through the woods. There were the first signs of greenery appearing, and there were numerous small clumps of primrose in a wide expanse of grass, before the track narrowed.

The beauty of the woods is that however many visitors might arrive, you only have to keep taking tracks away from the main one, and the woods become your own. I saw just one couple ahead when I started, but soon they were lost to sight, then I would meet cyclists and dog walkers descending past me. Almost all exchanged greetings, and some even were happy to converse; often by mentioning my cameras or my lens and assuming that I must be in search of some exotic species, and what might that be?

My reply was the lens choice was more in hope. In return I would enquire as to what they might have seen, and in the case of those also armed with cameras had they found anything of special interest or specifically woodpeckers, but the answer was always negative. When I reached an open spot with a memorial plaque giving a map of the scene beyond, I was rewarded by the spotting three buzzards having a dog fight above the new housing estate, but they were sadly moving off even as I arrived. What surprised me was the overall dearth of birdsong, there were occasional spots where you could hear chatter for a minute or so before silence returned with only occasional breaks for the soughing of the wind in the trees. By far the loudest sound for much of the time was the Ice Cream Van’s call or aircraft overhead.

I took the elliptical Fitness route, but did not have the energy to take part; instead I took the sign’s message about taking care not to over-exert myself (after all I needed my energy for the return trip!) When I did finally turn back I managed to miss the correct turn and found myself dropping down far more than I remembered, but decided once I had realised my mistake, to just continue – what I did not know was that having dropped a good deal, this path then climbed and climbed back to the original route, so by the time I reached that point I was very much out of breath! It was at that point that I met a very chatty group of friends who were also descending, they were very easygoing and I walked alongside them and joined their conversation and I slowly got my breath back as we all made our way to the bottom. I pointed out where they might see primroses, and sadly did not get a shot of the squirrel that one of them spotted. We parted in the Car Park.