EOS R on night drives (Kruger National Park)

Some feedback if you want to use the R on a night drive on an african safari. The best camera for autofocus at night with just the light of a torch or spotlight. I struggled previously and this time I brought a 70-200 iii 2.8 with. It worked excellent with the R. I then used the 400 DO ii 4.0 witch did not work well previously and the same results. The moment you have a bit of light on the subject the focus is aquired almost immediately. With animals as far as 70m away. I would strongly recommend taking an R with on an african safari as you will eventually go on a night drive or two and the R REALLY makes a huge difference. I do not know why. On paper it should not be that much better than the 6dii or 5div but it does. Keeper rate for in focus shots went up from approx 20% to 90% plus. And focus aquisition 4 or 5 times faster.
 
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Nov 12, 2016
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The R's autofocus ability in low light is the one thing that has led me to use it almost exclusively now. Despite preferring the controls and the ease of use on the 5D4 very much, the low light autofocus on the R completely blows it away. Put an f1.2 prime on the R (even an EF lens), and it will focus on things too dark for me to even see, and it does it without hesitation or inaccuracy.
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
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I fully accept that the AF of the R works with less light than that of the 5DIV and that can be a good feature, but I am very surprised that the light levels are limiting for AF for torch-illuminated wild-life on safari. The guides use torches to illuminate well enough that the human eye can see the wild life easily, and the 5DIV AF works in the near dark and the R when you can hardly see at all. What were you using to illuminate the wildlife - a match at 100 metres? I have never found the 5DIV AF deficient when the guide has been using a torch at night and I used centre spot focus. Here are two from a North Borneo trip. The top is a buffy fishowl eating a rat, taken hand held standing from the top of a bus at 1/20s and iso 6400, the lower of a buffy owl taken from a rowing boat at 1/15s and iso6400, both at 400mm and f/4 and cropped. Any less light than that would not have given me the quality I wanted, and that degree of light is virtually floodlighting compared to the -3ev lower limit for the 5DIV.
2B4A7541_DxO_buffyfishowleatingrat20.jpg2B4A6891_DxO_buffyfishowl_15th.jpg
 
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@AlanF. I agree, the 6dii and 5div autofocus is really really good with torch illuminated wildlife with the proviso that they are near, not moving and you have enough light and contrast. But try and focus on the lowly little shrub hare with its yellowish colour, yellow grass and the yellow light and it becomes very difficult to focus, and almost impossible when the hare is moving. The R still focus instantly, or nearly so, no matter far or near, still or moving, high or low contrast, yellow or white(led) light. As long as you can have the faintest of light on the animal it will focus.
Once again, the difference in autofocus performance, for me and what I am doing, is huge. Much much better than the spec sheets suggest. Like I said before, maybe I was using the mirrored cameras incorrectly?
 
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Thank you. And how did you set up the AF? Was it center focus, for example!? What was the size of the AF area? If you want to show more detail, just crop the bird or hare and load that. It’s was useful seeing what you have uploaded so far.
Hi Alan,

Digging up an old thread here. I am planning a trip to Borneo. What did you take? What camera fees did you have to pay? The rules seem a bit weird to me.

I was thinking of taking my r5, 100-500, 70-200 f2.8 and 15-35. I was thinking about leaving the 24-70 at home and am up in the air about my 100mm macro.

I am interested in wildlife, landscapes and bugs. Any tips?
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
12,352
22,525
Hi Alan,

Digging up an old thread here. I am planning a trip to Borneo. What did you take? What camera fees did you have to pay? The rules seem a bit weird to me.

I was thinking of taking my r5, 100-500, 70-200 f2.8 and 15-35. I was thinking about leaving the 24-70 at home and am up in the air about my 100mm macro.

I am interested in wildlife, landscapes and bugs. Any tips?
It was 6 years ago, visiting Sabah. I had a 5DIV + EF 400mm f/4 DO II + extenders, my wife a 5DSR + EF 100-400mm II. I don't recall paying camera fees then. The only thing that worried me was keeping the weight of the hand luggage for the plane within limits as we were told the cheaper internal flights would weigh the cases. If we were to go again, I would take the R5 and 100-500mm and my wife the R7 and RF 100-400mm for birding and also for bugs. We paid for an excellent local bird guide who arranged it all for us.
 
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