Hello everyone!
First of all, english is not my first language and I apologize for any mistake.
I've been doing bird photography for the last 10-12 years but I'm getting somewhat desperate with my new R5 these days... I got some serious buffer issues and the image sharpness is really bad compared to my old 5Dmkiii.
First, the buffer issue : whenever I do burst shots, my buffer starts around 40-45 pics available and after the first 3-4 shots it drops down to 20 before I can take maybe 10-12 shots if I'm lucky. This could be tolerable, but the buffer takes up to 90 seconds (timed it) to get transferred to the CFExpress card (Sandisk) and even when I'm up to around 13-15 shots I can only take one shot before it goes down to 0 again! I've tried this with multiple CFExpress cards, SD cards (300mbps) and the result is always the same. I shoot raw and save on a single card. The only time the problem seems to be somewhat less present is when I shoot without a lens and with the cap on and it seems to be worse when I continuously need to focus on my subjects. Needless to say, I missed a lot of shots this way.
As if this wasn't enough, picture quality with my 100-400 ii, which was super sharp on my 5Dmkiii, is really bad or at least hit or miss with mostly misses. I'll include pictures below to illustrate what I mean (100% crop). I'm also using the Canon TC1.4x iii, but was also using it before without any problem on my old camera, getting super sharp shots.
Yesterday I saw a Boreal owl (quite rare where I live), and it flew towards me before landing no more than 10 feet from me (was not baiting). With my 5Dmkiii I would have nailed that shot super sharp since it was really an easy shot. When I looked at my pictures I was really frustrated with the results since they were really not sharp at all. I tried using servo AF and one-shot AF, animal eye dectection AF, spot AF and got mostly the same results (RAW, IBIS on, ISO AUTO (2000), f/8, 1/800s to 1/1600s). Attached below is one of many "missed" shots and one of the few where the feathers are a bit sharper (less than 5% of the files). I also added a picture of a duck in a different setting, but again with the same softness problem. I was wondering if the use of the 1.6x-cropped frame mode sometimes could be the culprit, but even when using full frame I get this problem.
Stores are closed right now where I live, but I'll send the body to Canon to fix the buffer issue when they open back. However, I'm curious to see if anyone else had these problems. I'm also worried that even if they fix the buffer issues, I'll still end up taking pictures that are not sharp.
(560mm, f/8, 1/1000s, ISO 2500)
(560mm, f/8, 1/800s, ISO 2000)
(560mm, f/9, 1/3200s, ISO 1600)
First of all, english is not my first language and I apologize for any mistake.
I've been doing bird photography for the last 10-12 years but I'm getting somewhat desperate with my new R5 these days... I got some serious buffer issues and the image sharpness is really bad compared to my old 5Dmkiii.
First, the buffer issue : whenever I do burst shots, my buffer starts around 40-45 pics available and after the first 3-4 shots it drops down to 20 before I can take maybe 10-12 shots if I'm lucky. This could be tolerable, but the buffer takes up to 90 seconds (timed it) to get transferred to the CFExpress card (Sandisk) and even when I'm up to around 13-15 shots I can only take one shot before it goes down to 0 again! I've tried this with multiple CFExpress cards, SD cards (300mbps) and the result is always the same. I shoot raw and save on a single card. The only time the problem seems to be somewhat less present is when I shoot without a lens and with the cap on and it seems to be worse when I continuously need to focus on my subjects. Needless to say, I missed a lot of shots this way.
As if this wasn't enough, picture quality with my 100-400 ii, which was super sharp on my 5Dmkiii, is really bad or at least hit or miss with mostly misses. I'll include pictures below to illustrate what I mean (100% crop). I'm also using the Canon TC1.4x iii, but was also using it before without any problem on my old camera, getting super sharp shots.
Yesterday I saw a Boreal owl (quite rare where I live), and it flew towards me before landing no more than 10 feet from me (was not baiting). With my 5Dmkiii I would have nailed that shot super sharp since it was really an easy shot. When I looked at my pictures I was really frustrated with the results since they were really not sharp at all. I tried using servo AF and one-shot AF, animal eye dectection AF, spot AF and got mostly the same results (RAW, IBIS on, ISO AUTO (2000), f/8, 1/800s to 1/1600s). Attached below is one of many "missed" shots and one of the few where the feathers are a bit sharper (less than 5% of the files). I also added a picture of a duck in a different setting, but again with the same softness problem. I was wondering if the use of the 1.6x-cropped frame mode sometimes could be the culprit, but even when using full frame I get this problem.
Stores are closed right now where I live, but I'll send the body to Canon to fix the buffer issue when they open back. However, I'm curious to see if anyone else had these problems. I'm also worried that even if they fix the buffer issues, I'll still end up taking pictures that are not sharp.
(560mm, f/8, 1/1000s, ISO 2500)
(560mm, f/8, 1/800s, ISO 2000)
(560mm, f/9, 1/3200s, ISO 1600)
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