The R5 is shaping up well. I'll take it to a nature reserve tomorrow where there is a good chance of seeing some birds. The D850/500PF is a winning combination but the R5 is well up there with phenomenal AF. The full frame coverage of AF is awesome.
R5+RF100-500 vs D850+500 PF
- Thread starter Codebunny
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You might want to check out the Youtube video from James Quantz
. He's a sports photographer and discusses the differences he sees as he's learning to use the R5 over his D850. He feels the autofocus especially eye autofocus is superior to the D850's capabilities. While his subjects are a lot bigger than birds, he faces some of the same problems wildlife shooters do.
Last day of testing, got a few pictures of this snookums. This location I would have more interest in the RF 100-500, but the Z6 and 500mm f/5.6 PF didn't skip a beat. The R5 + 100-500 is going to come entirely down to raw IQ as I had no problems getting eyes in focus.
Edit: All pictures would still have been taken at 500mm, the 100-499 part would have just been to make finding the wee speed demons faster.
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I did some limiting testing today of the R5 with the 100-400mm II, +1.4xTCIII and +2xTCIII.
The R5 focusses surprisingly fast with the 100-400mm II at 800mm. The lens is somewhat soft but with some sharpening there are some reasonable shots. Here is a couple of shots at 800mm, both 100% crops.
The R5 focusses surprisingly fast with the 100-400mm II at 800mm. The lens is somewhat soft but with some sharpening there are some reasonable shots. Here is a couple of shots at 800mm, both 100% crops.
A couple at 560mm with the 1.4xTCIII. The eyeAF works fine with dragonflies. And something I have never got previously: butterflies in flight. These are tiny Small Copper butterflies.
At 248mm without the TC, a Cattle Egret doing what it should be doing, with cows. The full frame reduced to fit and 100% crops.
So, what do I think? The R5 is more convenient to use than the D850, with the C1, C2, C3 modes in particular. The AF is lightning fast and latches on to animals incredibly well, even at a distance, and focusses fine at f/11 with the Canon lens (very slow with my Sigma 150-600mm C). The IQ is comparable to the 5DSR and better than the 5DIV. It captured the flying butterflies which I couldn't do on the D850, and it did the same with a small fast bird. The D850, on the other and gives sharper and more contrasty images with the 500mm PF and also at 700mm with its TC. It does most of the birds in flight just as well so far. Both systems are absolute winners. One thing I didn't like with the EVF is that I generally underexpose, either with an offset allowing the camera to choose the iso or by a stop or two in manual for BIF and then correct in post as for these great sensors there is no noise penalty and so I never bleach highlights. With the EVF, the image was very dark for my BIF shots. I did like being able to adjust iso while shooting, on the other hand.
My BIF preference until now is 1. D500/500mmPF and 2.D850/500mmPF. Although I understand they do have the same AF module it is my impression that my D500 behaves better in BIF than D850. Having said that D850 is a must if the flying targets are close enough. In that case I wouldn't even be able to see them using a crop camera. A zoom gives versatility but I had some occasions (user error of course) with my 100-400 where after zooming out say to somewhere between 200 to 300 I then forgot to zoom back in to 400mm. In that case 500mm wins with a difference.
What's going on with the neck of the right bird? Looks like sky in place of the white band.
thanks for that bit... was curious on the Sigma 150-600mmC.. I have it, so :-/ but will stick with it for a while. I don't have enough funds to buy everything I want
Oops, I moved it closer to the one on the left so I could post the two without shrinking the size for posting here. Heres what I should have done, 100% crops plus full size reduced.
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I do not have an R5, but I had heard that you could turn this off. Looking at the manual, maybe Photo menu tab 7? There you can disable the exposure simulation or flip it to be associated with the DOF button. Then on the tools tab 3, you can control VF brightness.
This works on the M6II. Hopefully that works for you.
Thanks for the heads up. There is so much to be learned and all tips are appreciated.
@AlanF turning off exposure preview may improve performance a wee bit too. I do this on my Z6(every wildlife person does) and suddenly AF performance takes a noticeable jump and you get a comfortable exposure. Though I would like a custom button on any camera that lets to turn it on and off on the fly as it is very handy when the subject is backlit in a tree.
The R5 doesn't need the jump in AF performance like the Z6. The best thing for me about the R5 is its spectacular AF. By many accounts, it's up there with the Sony A9 and has nearly twice the number of Mpx to process.
Hows the raw IQ between it and the D850? I didn't have any real AF with all my eyes in focus and the only OOF images being due to MFD or me just being physically too slow to keep up with a squirrel. My first thought is holding of Canon RF until a prime I want comes out, that rumoured 500/2.8 would do it if it fits in a backpack and is under £20,000.
At mfd of the 500PF of 3.0m, the D850 at with the PF at 500mm is much sharper and with more contrast than the 100-400mm II at 560mm and a distance of 3.0m, and the same is true with the PF at 700mm and the 100-400mm II at 800mm. I might some images. At, far distances, the prime is somewhat better than the zoom, but not as marked.
One of the test shows of some kind of wee bird.
Another wee bird
I know this one is a wee blue tit at least
One of the wee squirrels I was shooting.
And another wee en.
This poor wee en seems to have a tick in his ear.
500mm f/5.6 PF on the Z6, still not a fan of birds but I won't pass one by if I see it. I look forward to trying out the R5, I have more than enough comparison shots to compare now.
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We'll convert you to bird photography yet, slowly. If we had red squirrels down south, I'd shoot them too.
One of the test shows of some kind of wee bird.
Another wee bird
One of the wee squirrels I was shooting.
And another wee en.
500mm f/5.6 PF on the Z6, still not a fan of birds but I won't pass one by if I see it. I look forward to trying out the R5, I have more than enough comparison shots to compare now.
The buzzards and eagles give me a wee buzz, but nothing like the thrill I get from a fox or a badger. And just a wee musing I am having, I got my subjects about where I wanted them with very few images needing crops on my 24MP. Not feeling the more MP thing. What I am feeling is that those 24MP are much better MP's than what my 5DII had.
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