scyrene said:fussy III said:Talys said:ritholtz said:If some one wants to buy Canon M camera for wild life, isn't M50 better choice than M5. It has latest version of DPAF and improved focusing system. I think it can also shoot with faster FPS.
I understand why someone may want to buy a Canon M, and I understand why someone who has one would use it to photograph wildlife. But I can't imagine why someone would specifically choose a Canon M for wildlife photography.
If you do not comprehend the need to combine truly silent shutter with workable AF in wildlife photography, you are simply not experienced in wildlife-photography. So why do you comment?
I had stated I had invested into the Ef-System already. But no matter how fast or rugged of a Canon-Camera I employ, all of them make some kind of shutter noise. Silent mode just has not been truly silent with Canon so far because electronic shutter was missing from the system until now. Ruggedness and fps I can sacrifize in many situations, especially sitting in a hide photographing shy and alert mammals. So the M50 would have been "ok" for my needs if it had not been for the stupid and exclusive implementation of electronic shutter into SCN-mode.
None of this means to say that I applaud Canon for not offering a fast and rugged mirrorless pro-level camera with electronic shutter for bigger money.
Crippling silence into the SCN-mode must seem like a stupid move by Canon to any experienced photographer or intelligent being. No soup for anyone! I simply do not understand why Canon seems to be embracing incompetent fools only and to noone's benefit. IMO people who do not understand manual exposure should not be messing with electronic shutter.
Out of interest, do the mammals not also respond to the sound of the focus motor in the lens? I tried to photograph my sister's cat, and it ran away the moment I half-pressed the shutter button. (I shoot plenty of wildlife, but I've never known an animal flee at the shutter sound, but it's mostly not mammals and perhaps it varies with the area of the world you're in). Still, this camera is probably not aimed at wildlife shooters, so it's a bit beside the point. It's for beginners, or early enthusiasts focused on video/small size, surely?
Individual pets will have concerns about a camera, because they either see an unfamiliar being in it or because they associate the experience of being molested. The sound of the USM may be judged or associated in that same context and it is usually very nearby and easily detected in a closed environment with ceiling. If one was to hide in a small cave in order to photograph a hunting wild cat there, upon hearing the USM it would probably respond in a similar manner as your sister's cat did and for similar reasons: a) unfamiliar sound likely caused by an unfimiliar being b) confined space making any threat more immediate
However I am dealing mostly with wild animals in the open (as most wildlife-photographers would): In North American or in Subsaharan National Parks, many mammals do not pay attention to shutter sounds because they are familiar with them and have long categorized them as this insignificant noise associated with the insignificant presence of an insignificant sort of humans. In fact the shutter may aid them in saving energy and in categorizing these particular humans as not being harmful. In the same way noisy Americans, Israelis or members of otherwise easily exited cultures may be easier to assess for African wildlife (as being harmless) than a safari-bus containing respectfully whispering Norwegians. So noise may indeed have a calming effect on some animals under certain conditions - of course only until a certain point - one might call it the annoyment-threshold, which is reached the moment that other potential hazards are dangerously being subdued.
On my part I am photographing mainly in dry North African and Eurasian environments where hunting is either badly controlled or permitted and where animals are not accustomed to wildlife-photographers or even hikers. Any sound unknown or human is seen as a potential or immediate threat. So there is a regional aspect about my need of employing electronic shutter. However I would assume in North America in areas where coyotes are being hunted, despite their initial curiosity, they would move away after hearing a shutter-noise just as a Golden Jackal would in Algeria.
Regarding the effect of USM in the open from my experience I can report that a USM-motor mostly goes unnoticed (unless very proximate) whereas a sounding shutter alerts or flushes the animals once it is being released (with or without mirrorslap). I have for example been photographing with EOS 1n, EOS 1D IV, EOS 60D, EOS 80D, EOS 5DsR and they all alert wolves, gazelles, drinking sandgrouse when my silent Sony A7s (focusing manually out of technological necessity) does not.
Of all the mentioned EOS cameras, the 5DsR is the least noisy, but when there is no wind in the desert, a gazelle will still pay attention to its shutternoise even from 250m distance while the USM Motor it will only pay attention to from appr. 20m (when the reflection from the lens-front element will already play a bigger role). Sandgrouse are notoriously alert when drinking/bathing and I had to switch from the silent mode of the 70D to the A7s at a distance of appr. 12m. Foxes and wolves will pass my hide ignoring USM at anything beyond 15m unless they stand and listen, which they will upon registring a shutter-noise. Just to give you an idea ...
Shutternoise alone suffices to alert and scare the mentioned species in the described manner, however when I am working with the current EOS-DSLRs I cannot resort to liveview (which would avoid additional mirrorslap) because at one point the mirror would slap anyway (when I have to lift it) and slap back in an uncontrolled manner sometime later when the camera decides to save on battery. Further, responsiveness in Liveview is terrible (blackouts etc.). All this contributes to the need of employing a mirrorless for wildlife. I can live with a bit of rolling electronic shutter as in the A7s (the faster the readout the better) and I dislike having to deal with the imperfections and the weight of a blimp.
As repetition of my main point: The fact that the EOS M50 was not intended for wildlife-photographers does not justify to make the silent-mode useless by crippling/scramming it into SCN.
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