Great Grey Owls LOVERS

Happy Valentine's Day

This image was made in Ontario, Canada, on January 26, 2005. I have a series of about 80 images that I kept from this incredible moment in a field behind a water treatment plant in Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada. Witnessing the affection, vocalizations, and gestures these two Great Grey Owls performed was incredibly touching and unforgettable!

Great Grey Owls LOVERS (Strix nebulosa, Chouette Lapone, GGOW) Ontario, Canada January 26, 2005. © Christopher Dodds All Rights Reserved. Canon 1D Mark II with Canon 100-400 zoom lens @120mm. ISO 250 f/6.3 @ 1/1,600s.

Bird Photography Intentional Blur and Q&A

Q:

Christopher,

I am constantly gobsmacked by your exceptional images. The details are captivating to me. I do wonder if you ever slow down your shutter and create artistic blurs? - Peter Wentworth

Hi Peter,

Thank you. Yes, I am not typically a fan of intentional blurs, but I do occasionally play around and slow my shutter speed down. Here is a Great Gray Owl I recently photographed at 1/40s with the new Sony a1 and 200-600mm lens. I find the key to my liking an intentional or artistic blur is having the eye(s) relatively sharp.

Q:

Hello Christopher, I liked your comments on the new alpha 1. How did you find it with the 200-600 zoom. I use this lens with the a7r3. The combo I found a bit slow to focus with wildlife. Where you happy with it on the a1. I have preordered the a1 and hoping to not have to upgrade the lens. Best, - Steve Aidelbaum

Hi Steve,

I think you will notice a significant autofocus performance boost with the focus acquisition speed and AF responsiveness of the 200-600 with the a1 vs. the a7RIII.

Q:

Thank you for responding to my query (Antman) in the comments. I would value your opinion on the following.

If you could buy either the 600MM f4 or A1 what would you go for based on the pairing

A9 + 600mmF4 or A1 + 200-600MM.

I own the A9 + a7R4 and 200-600mm and am wondering what makes more sense. My gut feel says go for the 600mm f4. However, I have never used either and I cannot get to see or feel the 600mm f4 in Australia. Both options have advantages. - Thanks, Anthony Heuver

Hi Anthony,

The most practical and financially sensible direction here is to invest in glass and buy the 600mm f/4 GM lens that you will have for the rest of your life. Camera bodies are refreshed at a staggering pace and the used value of them seems to be diminishing at a faster and faster pace with each new release. You can get a great deal on a new a9 (the version I), or take advantage of the "depressed" market and get a lightly used one: remember the shutter count is much less relevant for a mirrorless camera body and if you use the electronic shutter to achieve the fastest capture rate of 20 fps, there are no moving parts. The a9II has better ergonomics and connectivity, but I see little reason to spend the extra cash at this time. Holding off on the newly released a1 until we see promotional discounts or used bodies on the market will give you time to save money toward the purchase and save on the initial investment.

Sony 200-600 with Sony A1 Image Quality

There has been a lot of chatter about the image quality of the Sony 200-600mm zoom lens when used with the new high-resolution Sony a1 camera body. My observations were limited in time and opportunity, but I don't see any issues with the incredible level of detail in this full-frame image of a Great Gray Owl in a snowstorm. I purposely tested the camera in the field as I typically use my equipment to produce the kind of images that excite me.

What I can tell you is that this may not be the best example to clearly define any issues that the lens may have when paired with an ultra-high-resolution camera. If I were to try to find a weakness, then I would test it for edge-to-edge sharpness, chromatic aberration, image degradation, and barrel distortion on something as simple as a black and white chessboard; an image with lots of contrast and linear lines. To test that most accurately and rule out any interference from traffic or ground tremor vibrations I would have to use one of only a very few seismically stable platforms that are typically used to test/measure helicopter or jet engine vibrations.

My advice is to completely ignore the critics who are photographing outside of their usual genre and posting bird pictures that most of us would throw in the trash: always to test equipment under the conditions that you would normally use it - smile.

Sony a1 Bird Eye AF The Real Test

To truly test the bird eye AF of the newly launched Sony a1, I needed to find a moving bird against a distracting background that would normally confuse the camera's AF system into focusing on the background. Sounds easier than it was, as I first had to overcome my natural reflex of finding birds and animals against nice clean out-of-focus backgrounds. This image is perfect to demonstrate the ridiculous accuracy of the bird eye autofocus of the Sony a1: Not only is the background close and cluttered (photographing the subject further from the background would have made the background more out of focus and made the whole test easier for the camera), but the subject is relatively low contrast against it. The random scattering of snow covered branches is harder for most autofocus systems to negate when compared to the predictable vertical tree trunks on the edge of a deciduous forest. It was remarkable to see the camera lock onto the eye and follow it through a sequence of 40 images that were all razor-sharp.

Sony a1 Bird Eye Autofocus ROCKS

I have been lucky to have had several shoots with this beautiful Great Gray Owl relatively close to home in Southwestern Quebec. It was the perfect model for my recent test of the Sony Alpha A1 for Sony of Canada. It is amazing to think back on all of the owls I have photographed over the years and I can’t remember the last time I got to photograph one completely alone without a group of eager winter owl workshop participants, so this is one silver lining of the Covid-19 pandemic that has wreaked havoc across the travel/workshop industry.

In truth, this is a big and relatively slow moving owl. I would have loved to test the camera and it’s built-in and industry leading bird eye auto-focus on some small and fast moving Auklets in The Pribilofs or Atlantic Puffins in Quebec.

The a1 locked onto the owls eye instantly and stayed locked-on to the eye until the owl’s head turned away from the camera; that is when a larger focus target locked-onto it’s head, and quickly regained it’s lock on the eye as soon as it looked back towards me. The bird eye autofocus in extremely impressive and when combined with the camera’s ability to verify focus 120 per second (twice as often than the a9 & a9II) it truly is a game changer! Does it work every time? Almost; the only time it had a little trouble so far was when pointed at a dark bird in low contract light when it tried hard, but ended-up choosing the bird’s shoulder instead of it’s dark eye.

Great Gray Owl PEEK-A-BOO

I love being in the woods looking for owls and I love feeling that something is watching me even more, as was the case here - smile.

The most remarkable moment with this Great Gray Owl was a group of about 14 birders who walked past me and the owl without even replying to my “hello”. No reply, eyes down as if they had already decided that they were not going to see an owl; so they didn’t get to see the owl :)

Great Gray Owl in November Sleet

Another recent Great Gray Owl image made with the incredibly versatile Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS Lens as I zoomed out to 210mm. The Sony a9II eye autofocus locked onto the eyes immediately and tracked the owl with ease.

Rechargable hand warmer battery pack review

I have accidentally found an incredible solution to my cold fingers that result from Raynaud’s Disease. The OCOOPA Fast-Charging 10,000mAh back-up battery and handwarmer with PD & QC 3.0 has three temperature settings and heats both sides of its excellent Ergonomic Design: The upper-wide, lower-narrow design is more suitable for grasping than the oval shape, fits the natural curve of your palm and is anti-slip. High-grade silicone oil surface coating, soft and delicate to the touch, also has superior thermal conductivity.

The hottest setting is almost too hot to handle and the units I tested lasted for nearly four hours on high, and more than 12 hours on the lowest setting.

Recharging is super fast; I used an 18W USB wall charger, and it only took three hours and 12 minutes to charge a completely drained unit.

These are an excellent power source and back-up battery for your mirrorless camera and mobile phone as well.

I have now have four of these with me at all times while in the field: one for each loose fitting mitten, and two extra fully charged units as backups in case I accidentally forgot to turn off or charge them. On the coldest of days, I can use the two extras as heaters in the inside pockets of my parka.

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