Wiltshire Wildlife Hides

A visit to Wiltshire Wildlife Hides to meet Matt Minnis and his Little Owls. Matt is creating a paradise for bird and wildlife photographers. This video was largely filmed using the Sony A1 and Sony FE 200-600mm.

[@derricksalisbury7631]

Phil absolutely brilliant 👏

[@joachimreiner7924]

So amazing video!! Dreamy background music!!

[@MarieBrownCottageGarden]

What a joy to watch. THANK YOU Phil for sharing with us.

[@philgowerbirdphotography]

Thank you for watching Marie!

[@markhalling9195]

Great video!!!! I’m going on Monday 1st August hopefully we see some great things

[@geofffield7805]

Beautiful footage of those little owls. Amazing how quickly their irises adjust to the changing light! Made a note of Matt's setup and website.

[@philgowerbirdphotography]

Thanks for the feedback

[@forced_perspective]

Very cute. They almost look like the burrowing owls we have on this side of the pond. Greetings from Southern California.

[@philgowerbirdphotography]

Very similar species. Thanks for commenting

[@stevecolwill9761]

Terrific stuff Phil and hats off to Matt. All his hard work is paying off! 🦉

[@philgowerbirdphotography]

Yes, Matt is doing a terrific job

[@martinpettinger]

Thanks for the opportunity to see Matt's work on this project Phil.
Great work on the video by you... well done all round :-))

[@philgowerbirdphotography]

My pleasure Martin. Thank you for watching.

[@jennyusherwood1355]

Wow! Incredible footage and photos of this gorgeous bird! Watching their eyes is mesmerizing, Matt has a great set up there.

[@philgowerbirdphotography]

Thanks for the comment Jenny

[@robbrackimp]

Excellent video Phil, Little owls are great subjects.

[@philgowerbirdphotography]

Thank you Robin

[@michaelwallwork7482]

Great to see you back Phil. Best wishes Mike 👍

[@onkar096]

Just woww!!!

[@barrycrowley5791]

Great video super subject, what was the Little Owl eating.

[@philgowerbirdphotography]

Mealworms

[@TatraScrambler]

Thanks for sharing, Phil. Wonderful bird, great setup. Kudos to Matt. I wonder if the animal Eye AF would work on a6100 (6000-series obviously having no dedicated bird eye detection). I suspect they might. Those huge owl eyes are very reminiscent of cats'. Gotta try it some day. If only I could find some owl to photograph...😂

[@philgowerbirdphotography]

I don’t know the answer to that one Tetra, but thanks for watching!

[@michaelwallwork7482]

Brilliant 👏

[@brianpereira3755]

Hi Phil, great video again. Do you use Teleconvertors? I have recently acquired a used Sony E mount 1.4x. I use this on my A7Riii and the Sony 200-600mm. However, I find the A/F when set to Wide or Zone only works when the focal length on the lens barrel is set to 320mm or below. The lens works fine without the TC attached,using all the same camera settings. ( Most of which are your Sony A7RIV settings, thanks b.t.w!) Any ideas what to try if you used this TC and lens combo. Thanks Brian

[@philgowerbirdphotography]

Hi Brian, I have never used the A7R3 but I’m guessing there is an aperture limitation in terms of the phase detect focussing. With the 1.4x on you effectively lose 1 stop of light. So at 320mm when the lens is wide open the aperture is f5.6 with then 1.4x on the effective aperture is f8. At 600mm the when the lens is wide open the aperture is f6.3 with the 1.4x on the effective aperture is f9. I’m guessing phase detect focussing works at f8 but not f9. You could check this in you user manual or online. Nothing you can do about it other than shoot at 320mm or lower or upgrade the body sorry. I hope this helps.

[@brianpereira3755]

@@philgowerbirdphotography thanks for that comprehensive reply Phil. That all makes sense 👍🏾