I absolutely love these videos. It's so great to hear practical solutions to real-life issues from real photographers. Thank you both for the amazing content and awesome photos; they're truly inspiring.
Enjoyed the show! Almost fell off my elliptical trainer (watching while working out!) when my image was one of Jan's picks for image of the week! Thanks for the constructive feedback! My gear accident... I thought the camera was attached to my strap... but it wasn't. I let go and it hit the concrete. Aargh. Lens was OK. A little crack in the R5 body, but everything still worked for the remainder of the trip. Fortunately I had bought the CarePak and it was covered.
Bought Glen's eBook and Jan's masterclass a few days ago. Really enjoying applying what I've learned to some of my old images and getting to know Photoshop 😁
I was in Thailand on a (mainly action-portrait) photographers trip, when the head and eye focussing systems on my 90D stopped working. I had to touch the screen to point and shoot, which brought its own issues, especially in a place with lots of sunlight. Then I fell over tree roots, which made the HDMI useless. Back home Canon replaced the motherboard and everything works fine now. Thanks for the post.
Leave alone camera gear .. I myself fell out of the safari vehicle on my back with the tigress about 30 feet away . Had concussions.. had to drive 3 hours for CT scan and 24 hours observation only to be told that all is ok .. the camera fell along on my chest got saved
Was this in Ranthambore by any chance? I was there a couple of years ago maybe and saw a photographer fall out of the vehicle next to ours. Luckily, the vehicle was between the tiger and him!
My disaster was arriving in Egypt for a long tour to find my only lens was completely dead. My backup was a cheap underwater camera, but it was a group trip, so my disaster recovery was to get everyone else to send me their photos in exchange for my Red Sea underwater shots... teamwork!
Glenn ..I'm still not sure how to access them and use them. They sound like they would be really useful. Maybe you could do a demo video. Glad thins worked out OK and you got off the island. That location has been on my bucket list for years but too old now. Love your shows. Best ..Foxy 🦊
Great video guys. Its a 'hoopoo' by the way. I managed to break the top plate of my brand new Z9 dropping onto rocks in Ecuador! Couldn,t adjust any of the controls on the top left, but the camera just kept on working without missing a beat!!
On the first day of a trip to Costa Rica. I put my backup R7 on the bed and then lent on the bed it causing the R7 to drop to the floor. The battery door popped off and a tiny piece of plastic snapped off the door. That bit of plastic is a tag that presses a switch on the camera body to tell the camera the battery door is closed. The battery door itself was easy to refit. I had to jam a piece of paper in the switch hole to make sure the camera would turn on.
I was carrying a 7D Mark II and EF 400mm F/5.6 on a monopod balanced on my shoulder. My shoulder popped the Manfrotto 200-PL quick release lever and the camera fell off, landing on the dirt. The media compartment door broke off, and I had a hard time finding it. I was able to jam the door back on and secure it with Krazy Glue. The camera worked! And it kept working. The media door came off once in that time but I just glued it back. I did swap out the monopod head, and all my tripod heads, to Arca-Swiss.
Hi Jan & Glenn, thank you for this once more absolutely awesome show, full of stuff us birders can easily relate to ! Even when this show got me used to what Glenn can do, these shots from beyond Alaska strongly impressed me ! Last month we visited Scotland (were the weather was only 30% as bad as with Glenn ;-) ) , including the inhabited island Lunga where 10k of puffins live. It was (after Iceland) my third session with puffins, and the first time I managed them in flight. But never (large enough) in those sublime poses Glenn managed! And I never knew some puffins had hair braids 🙈😛 Regarding gear issues: my old 70D stopped focusing then stopped working in Norwegian rain (cured by hairdryer), before first time using my RF1.4x dropped its glass in the mud, and last year in Bali rain, airco, then hot humid air conspired to internally fog my 100-500 for nearly 2 days but was cured in time to spot the Bali Starling.
Thanks for the video once more and sharing your horror stories... I always love to watch and learn from you guys. Let me share my disaster. Last year I had quite some struggles with my health (heart) and when things cooled down a bit a things where getting back to a sort of normal, I decided to treat my wife and I on a trip, to fulfil a lifetime wish to visit Costa Rica. In preparation of that trip I bought myself a brand new R6mkII, a RF100-500mm and a 1.4x teleconverter. It had been years when I last bought new camera gear, I normally opted for used gear from an economic perspective. So I was chuffed with the new gear as a dog with 7 tails. On the third day we had planned to visit some hanging bridges near our lodge and we left before sunrise. As always I had the camera gear hanging on my hip using a special harness/strap so I had my hands clear in case we needed to climb. So far so good. Then disaster strikes... Only 5 meters away from our lodge, the ball jount connection between the camera strap and arca swiss plate connection decided to fail and both the body and the RF100-500 dropped to the ground.... In milliseconds I thought my photo-trip was over and out and I didn't dare to look... My heart was pounding in my chest and adrenaline rushed through my veins. Somehow miraculously it dropped just like Glenn described on the lens hood, so the initial blow was absorbed by the plastic hood. When I calmed down I picked up the gear and realised what happend. The metal balljoint of the connector had worn out and failed. After checking the gear I realised that everything was still in working order and the only real damage I had, was the ring of the plastic lens hood had cracked. Eventually we could continue our trip and I still was able to make some amazing shots in Wonderfull Costa Rica! After we came back I bought a new camera strap (actually from the same brand) however this new model strap actually now comes with a fail-safe.... (lessons learned).
I find the discussions over other images very helpful. I wish they had access to the raw files for the best shot of someone else's image and then edited it to show the difference in outcome.
Just now my R6 and RF 100mm to 500mm focus froze... A quick turn off then on - still frozen. Turn off, pop out the battery tray out, leave out for 10 seconds, back in, turn on and all is good. Around 20 seconds and I was back to filming the small native birds in our back yard at Grampians Paradise. Thank you Jan and Glenn for your quick fix suggestion. It save the session. But the camera acident story I wanted to tell was from 2009. It was our wedding weekend, I'd loned my only digital camera for the weekend to one of my best friends. When there was a quiet patch, he went for a walk along the coast... He's pretty adventurous and manage to fall down a 3 metre cliff, landing on a ledge above the main cliff. We nearly lost him and my only camera. Fortunately being a rock climber he was able to climb back to to escape. The damage - some lost skin and a brocken lense hood.
Another superb session..thanks for sharing the inputs..just a suggestion, you used to edit and show before and after images. Can you pls continue to do so?
4:21 This shows the importance of lens hood. So many photographers are not getting this. I often see photographers (even on UA-cam tutorials) who are showing / testing gear, giving "advice" while never using a hood or their lenses.
Yeah man! I've shot 18 years in photography and always use the lens hoods, and never use uv filters. Lens hoods can improve IQ and is usually included with the lens. UV filters degrade IQ (even if it's minimal) and can cost a fair bit of money and can be problematic at times when it comes to removing them. Yet most UA-camrs I see don't use hoods but always use filters.
@77dris Same here! When I bought my 1st "non kit" lenses, I bought UV/Clear filter for additional protection (salesmen recommended that... no surprise...$$$) but I quickly saw that the only time these are really useful is for wet or dusty conditions, mostly on zoom lenses ... Since I almost never shoot in these conditions, I did only use them for a few months, and then they went to sleep in one of my cases. I also did some tests with them, which confirmed they affect autofocus (on my DSLR at the time, may differ with mirrorless; I never tried), even if they were high-quality B+W filters. The very few times I would take the hood off my lenses (besides on my EF 8-15mm), is for adjusting a circular polarizing filter, and then the hood kickly goes back on. Some hoods allow adjusting the filter through an opening, so I dont even have to take it off on some of my lenses. As you mentioned, hoods also prevent flaring and other degradations that can occur when "unwanted" ray of light enters the lens. The importance of lens hoods is indeed neglected by too many photographers
@markcoleman4635 Yes, it reduces the risk, but it won't prevent the front element of the lens from accidently hitting something. And straps may detach or a clips could fail. In which case, the hood will take the hit instead of the lens' front element
I went to Iceland last year with a group , on the 4th day we went to Diamond beach where the seas can be very unpredictable , and as you try to capture a good shot of the Ice , the water can and will sneak up on you. I was lucky enogh to get only my feet wet by a senaky wave that literally came out of nowhere. Another photographer was hit by the same wave got swept off his feet (he went further) , somehow he was able to hold the camera above the water , so all we saw was a hand holding a camera. Not sure how it happned but it was both scary and funny at the same time. the camera survived.
Another great video, thanks. I had a similar equipment accident experience. I was setting up a Canon 5D Mk IV with a 100-400 lens on a tripod with a remote flash to get 2nd curtain photographs of goldfinches in flight in my back yard when disaster struck. I had just put my camera on the tripod and was moving quickly to set up my remote flash when I heard a crash. In my rush I didn’t properly tighten my arca-swiss plate to my tripod so my camera fell off and broke my lens. An expensive lesson.
Jan, will your brush set ever be available for lightroom? I'm loving them in Photoshop but would love them more in lightroom. The masking in lightroom so much better! right clicking to increase the brush size and changing the opacity slider is a pain in photoshop. your actions like cleaning up the white and blacks is just a must working with my hummers! blue beaks and yellow spots behind their eyes is a no no. hehehe
Awe man, I’ve only had one camera lens combo really smash the ground, and it was exactly what Glenn described. Looked away for one second, and a leg decided to slide in. I was on pavement too ! Ouch. Nowadays on my cross country trips, I always carry two bodies, and at least two long lenses, but I will be getting the 200-800 any day, so I will have the option to carry 3 long lenses 🙂 A backup, for my backup 🙂👍 Oh, and I’d suggest using a safety lanyard to connect your rig to your tripod head. Last year, on a trip 2000 miles from home, I was jumping across concrete rip wrap, with mud and water all between, when my combo came loose and fell, only being stopped by a $2 lanyard ! I never felt so smart… or lucky ? In my life 😀👍 Great video guys 👍 TY.
25:58 Cheers from Finland! Thank you for featuring my Loon/Diver photo. @jan_wegener @glennbartley I totally agree with you that the colors are not as good as I hoped. It was a warm sunset/backlit scene where distant dark forest affected the low-angle reflection by adding dark greenish and brownish cast there. Thanks for the tips! I will try to improve it for sure. And you Glenn did exceptionally well with my surname! The first name though is something similar to that you would say for Jan (but with a shorter a) and then add "ne" (similar than in the word "net" but obviously without the t). Keep up the great work and happy birding! Luckily no disasters here
Great show today guys! One thing I often see on photography videos and articles is traveling photographers packing their cameras and lenses connected to each other. I might have even seen you two doing that. DON'T DO DAT! I have a friend who in the Galapagos had his bag knocked over, it then fell down the ladder to the next deck down, with his 1DXii, 1.4x, and 500/f4 all connected inside the bag. All 3 pieces were destroyed on day 1 of the trip. All were easily repaired back at Canon, but he had to borrow cameras/lenses for the whole trip. The problem is that the periphery of the camera body is cantilevered off the base of the lens, so there's a lot of leverage on any impact, and its really easy to damage the connection interface. Another thing I try to do before a photography trip is to look at what I'm bringing with an eye towards seeing 'single point failures'. That is, what single things can fail that would ruin the trip? Bringing a backup camera body is critical, as that's the most likely thing to fail. Its the most complex thing that you take out into the elements. But having a backup lens is almost as critical, and I don't stop there. I bring 2 (or more) chargers, 2 card readers, an extra cable of each type you need, 2 power supplies for the computer, and, as you gents have talked about earlier, enough storage devices to make backups. That said, it also depends on who you're traveling with. I do not take 2 computers, but then I've never traveled alone to some remote place. I've decided that if there are other people on the trip, worst case is that I can use their computer to transfer images from my cards to my storage. If I were traveling alone, I'm thinking I'd accept that single point failure risk, but extra camera bodies and lenses aside, most of the rest are small items that can be packed with minimal inconvenience.
You can't prepare for everything. Bringing and extra body, yes; but bringing two 600mm lenses, no. Glad Glenn found a creative solution to the problem!
I had my only camera drop into the lake while shooting aurora (northern lights), right as it started looking good. And we almost never get aurora here...
Climbing steep cliff slopes in order to get a more level view of Peregrine Falcons. On the way down I slipped on my backside, and my Canon EF 100-400 version 1 clocked me in the head. Somehow seized up the smooth ring on tight, instead of paying half the lens own worth for repairs I upgraded to the version 2 and was much more satisfied
My R7/RF100-500 recently started showing "double vision" with duplication of feather edges, eye beams, and squirrel whiskers. Initially, I worried about heat haze and humidity on the Canadian prairies in July, since it looked just like a burry image until I started pixel peeping after returning home 2 weeks later. Moreover, the problem persisted even as temperatures improved. This was disappointing, since they are less than 18 months old. When I sent the gear to Canon Canada for assessment, it turned out that an image stabilizer chip had failed, which required an R7 motherboard replacement. I guess it could have been worse if the lens elements were at fault, but it is still disappointing in a relatively new camera that has never been jostled or exposed to extreme conditions. I should also add that my retailer maintains a national customer database and told me this is a "known issue". The good news is that my gear returned yesterday and all appears to be fine with the new motherboard.
Excellent timing with this one! Because yesterday for the first time in the 13 years or so that I've been shooting... I dropped my camera. I thought it was attached to my strap, I just let it go and it went straight to the ground from about hip height. Nikon Z7 II with the F mount Tamron 70-200/2.8 G2. Luckily the camera and lens are fine. The lens hood took the impact. The battery door of the camera is busted though, the little plastic tab that keeps it closed snapped off. But a replacement is on the way already. But I really am glad that I never listed to those who kept saying you don't need a lens hood and that a UV filter offers better protection! Because then the lens would have been toast! 😁
Hello Glenn, I had the same issue with my 600 mm f4.0 version 1999. What happens is that you wore out your aperture ring, so it won't stop down. Thus, it will only shoot wide open, the ring that controls the shutter diameter is not working properly any more. My 600 mm f4.0 went out of service like 6 months before so Canon wouldn't service it. I had to take it to a old camera service guy in Stockton, California. He must have been in his 80s. He replaced the ring by manufacturing another metal ring, but the heat generated by the metal piece warped the ring, so the fix didn't last very long. I took it back to him, he created another ring withepoxy resin material, and drilled holes to stop down the shutter. He never had work on a 600 mm lens before, either. I have the RF 600 mm 4.0 lens now, because its half the weight, but have my old 600 mm f4.0 (1999 version) still, and its still working. Not sure what version 600 mm f4.0 lens you have, but hopefully Canon is still servicing your version. Good Luck, I hope they can repair it for you. This was about 2017, I not sure this guy is still around or even alive now. What you describe is exactly what happened to my lens.
"Never delete" is easily achieved nowadays - I copy ALL my raw files onto the cheapest high capacity media (eg slow SDs, thumb drives, whatever) I can find before I start processing, and just mark it with the date and throw it in a drawer... I guess a pro would need a bigger drawer, though!
2013 in Varanger Norway a SD card was stuck in my main camera body. The stucked memory card was broken so it was not working to take any images and when I took it out the card destroyed parts of the camera body. I had a back up camera, but not what I wanted. This year my Nikon 500mm pf started to malfunction two weeks before this years Varanger trip. It was impossible to have it repaired in time. The lens could not focus on subjects more than 50 meter away. Not a big problem, but this could be worse at any day. A week before the trip a bought a 180-600 and the 500mm pf had to be my back up.
Camera disasters - 1. I forgot to zip my camera bag and when leaving my home my EF 24-70 lens roled out of the bag and down two concrete steps. Amazingly it still worked. 2. I had just purchased my R5 & my 100-400 mm lens a few weeks prior to a trip. After using on a tripod I brought both into our BNB. I had the tripod in one hand and the camera and lens held in my arm of my other hand. My RAB jacket was a slippery material and the camera and lens hit the tile floor hard breaking the lens and probably not good for the camera either. I had to send both in for repair. Very sad moment. 3. Never turn your back on your camera and lens on a tripod on a sandy beach when it is windy! Enough said.
I'am currently into thinking on migrating from 5Dmk4 to R5mk2, and yours video put me into hard thinking. I travel with my 5Dmk4 since 2016, and we were in a couple of dozens of harsh condition. About 20 minutes in a rain where literally every my clothes became wet. The umbrella just flew away that day. A couple of hours of active shooting in -30 Celsius. The autofocus in the EF 24-70 f2.8 froze, and focusing focusing wheel was hard to rotate, but the shoots still was perfect. The EF camera and lenses are perfectly fine after all this years. Your video and several more brings the question to my mind. Is nowadays RF cameras and lenses is so less reliable in comparison to EF predecessors? Or it is just a impression comes from amount of content on that topic? Or both? Or something else? I see a lot of facts that increase (absence of the mirror) or decrease (articulated viewfinder) reliability of RF's R5-series and lenses in comparison to EF generation predecessors, but still can't understand overall effect on reliability.
I once had an EF 4/300 which wouldn't stop down anymore. Repair was around 200 euros if I remember correctly. So you may not end up with a very expensive repair bill. Good luck!
Yes, Glenn, the thought about it still hurts having dropped my 600mm 30 mins upon arrival in Sri Lanka. Yes, I brought my 400 mm along, and could use it, but still - very painful. The bird guide told me … come quickly … a rather rare woodpecker in the open … well, I didn‘t properly tighten the camera on the tripod and while lifting the tripod, in order to pull out the legs, the camera fell off! This is still an open wound …
I get my greatest disaster in the norther part in Namibia. I was the forth time in the Sambesi region and in night the thieves stolen my Equipment out from the tent during sleeping. I lost my 400DO2 and R5 and R3. RF 15-35 and EF 70-200 are gone. I switched to my EF 200-400-1,4 Zoom and get an old Canon 5D3 from a friendly swiss couple. And surprise surprise, in the next 3 weeks I get really perfect Pictures with this old Equipment. I wonder how perfect this old camerasystem works. I see really no difference between R-cameras and the old Big Mama mk3
Not gonna repeat my camera catastrophies from times gone by again. But, I certainly recognized a few of your examples! Sadly, I wasn't as lucky as Glenn, no fixes possible. So, after the last one (in Brazil 2004) I really got into the thing with double of everything. Not the same but somewhat equivalent and compatible with each other on all accounts. When going Down Under in 30 days I have R6 ll, R5, RF 100-500, RF 100-400 and the 800/11. The latter has to go in the incheck bag (very well emballaged, mind you), due to the measly 7 kg restriction on cabin bags on domestic flights (of which we have a handfull). About St Paul: we were very lucky when going there in June 2017. Not only did we get there and from there at time, the inchecked bag arrived with the same flight as well (another interesting thing when going there, often inchecked bag weren't on the same flight). The weather was OK as well. Not sunny, but: no rain. I wish I'd had a videocam then, I didn't, only the 7D ll which wasn't too good with video.
I have two questions for you, Jan 😊 :) Did you get a chance to talk to Canon about 8K oversampled 4K60p? Canons official marketing material originally advertised the R5 II to have 8K oversampled 4K60p just like the R5C and the Nikon Z8/Z9 had for years but now it’s limited to 30fps again … 😒 Could you please ask Canon if they’re working on a firmware update bringing 8K oversampled 4K60p to the R5 Mark II? I reached out but who am I.. Maybe they listen to you! There should NOT be any technical limitation if the R5C can do it! At the very least it should be possible with the active cooling grip attached‼ My second question is about 4K60p in its current state. I hope we’ll get 8K oversampled 4K60p in a firmware update but how does the non-downsampled 4K60p stack up against the 6K oversampled 4K60p in the R6 Mark II? Is the 4K60p more detailed in the R6 Mark II? Is the 4K60p in ANY way improved over 4K60p in the R5. Thank you very much, Jan! I‘d appreciate it if you reached out to Canon asking if they’re working on a firmware update bringing 8K oversampled 4K60p to the R5 Mark II as there should NOT be any technical limitation as the R5C has shown especially with the active cooling grip. So why does Canon artificially limit the R5 II? Your word has much more weight to it than mine so I hope Canon will listen to you and give us 8K oversampled 4K60p just like the competition had for years!‼‼
waou Glenn, bad luck this time. don't you use the DOF simulation in the EVF while shooting ? you still managed to bring back wonderful pictures....bravo 👏👏👏
You birders edit too much. Denoise and brightness is about as much as I would touch. Maybe once in a blue moon when the white blance is weird. I think this editing software thing is slowing skill developement from bird shooters. Rare bird photos used to mean more. Now you get an explosion of surreal bird photos on social media. They don't even look that way to your eyes at that special moment anymore. I am not saying editing is bad but it certainly has been overused by the birding crowd and it just makes the audiences' eyes tired.
I think everyone should edit their images to look the way they want. I agree the bird should still look natural as it does in nature. But many of the editing steps are to accomplish exactly that. Do you see noise with your eyes?? NO. Can you see more dynamic range than the cameras sensor? YES.
The whole point of these videos is to show two experts explaining what can be done. Editing to that extent is not compulsory. They are very picky, but that is teaching us what can be done. Keep it up.
That would be a personal opinion of course. I see SO many bird photos which are “otherwise good” but with some ugly, distracting thing in the back ground.. Or a twig coming out of its head… or poor WB… etc… Often I think, “Well, I don’t know that I could have gotten a better shot, but my finished product would sure look nicer. IMPO, a good shot has as much to do with taking a good original, as it does with good processing. Oh, and the thing I find amusing, is that some photographers will post a shot, and proudly proclaim “Right out of the camera ! No processing” …..and I’m thinking, yea, I can see that. Too bad. It could have looked so much nicer if you knew how to process it 😀 lol
I absolutely love these videos. It's so great to hear practical solutions to real-life issues from real photographers. Thank you both for the amazing content and awesome photos; they're truly inspiring.
Enjoyed the show! Almost fell off my elliptical trainer (watching while working out!) when my image was one of Jan's picks for image of the week! Thanks for the constructive feedback! My gear accident... I thought the camera was attached to my strap... but it wasn't. I let go and it hit the concrete. Aargh. Lens was OK. A little crack in the R5 body, but everything still worked for the remainder of the trip. Fortunately I had bought the CarePak and it was covered.
Bought Glen's eBook and Jan's masterclass a few days ago. Really enjoying applying what I've learned to some of my old images and getting to know Photoshop 😁
So great to hear!
Your tips are always very useful, I never thought of cloning feathers in to blown high light areas of a bird, worked a treat on one of my images !
I was in Thailand on a (mainly action-portrait) photographers trip, when the head and eye focussing systems on my 90D stopped working. I had to touch the screen to point and shoot, which brought its own issues, especially in a place with lots of sunlight. Then I fell over tree roots, which made the HDMI useless. Back home Canon replaced the motherboard and everything works fine now. Thanks for the post.
I always enjoy this show! Glenn, your photos from Alaska are gorgeous. I hope your lens issue is sorted quickly and the repair isn't too expensive.
Thanks so much!
Leave alone camera gear .. I myself fell out of the safari vehicle on my back with the tigress about 30 feet away . Had concussions.. had to drive 3 hours for CT scan and 24 hours observation only to be told that all is ok .. the camera fell along on my chest got saved
Oh my goodness....that must have been very scary. Glad you are OK!
Was this in Ranthambore by any chance? I was there a couple of years ago maybe and saw a photographer fall out of the vehicle next to ours. Luckily, the vehicle was between the tiger and him!
It was in kanha May 2023
You two are such a great combo.
Glad you enjoyed the show!
My disaster was arriving in Egypt for a long tour to find my only lens was completely dead. My backup was a cheap underwater camera, but it was a group trip, so my disaster recovery was to get everyone else to send me their photos in exchange for my Red Sea underwater shots... teamwork!
There's definitely an advantage to being part of a group sometimes!
I bought the Brush Pack and it has completely changed my editing of bird and wildlife editing. I love it.
So great to hear. I find them super useful myself 🙂
...
Glenn ..I'm still not sure how to access them and use them. They sound like they would be really useful. Maybe you could do a demo video. Glad thins worked out OK and you got off the island. That location has been on my bucket list for years but too old now. Love your shows. Best ..Foxy 🦊
Always so much fun and entertaining to watch while learning so much at the same time. Perfect team. Perfect work. Perfect team work...
Great video guys. Its a 'hoopoo' by the way. I managed to break the top plate of my brand new Z9 dropping onto rocks in Ecuador! Couldn,t adjust any of the controls on the top left, but the camera just kept on working without missing a beat!!
On the first day of a trip to Costa Rica. I put my backup R7 on the bed and then lent on the bed it causing the R7 to drop to the floor. The battery door popped off and a tiny piece of plastic snapped off the door. That bit of plastic is a tag that presses a switch on the camera body to tell the camera the battery door is closed. The battery door itself was easy to refit. I had to jam a piece of paper in the switch hole to make sure the camera would turn on.
I was carrying a 7D Mark II and EF 400mm F/5.6 on a monopod balanced on my shoulder. My shoulder popped the Manfrotto 200-PL quick release lever and the camera fell off, landing on the dirt. The media compartment door broke off, and I had a hard time finding it. I was able to jam the door back on and secure it with Krazy Glue. The camera worked! And it kept working. The media door came off once in that time but I just glued it back. I did swap out the monopod head, and all my tripod heads, to Arca-Swiss.
Good fix!
And yes. I have never been a fan of the lever attachments for exactly that reason!
Hi Jan & Glenn, thank you for this once more absolutely awesome show, full of stuff us birders can easily relate to !
Even when this show got me used to what Glenn can do, these shots from beyond Alaska strongly impressed me ! Last month we visited Scotland (were the weather was only 30% as bad as with Glenn ;-) ) , including the inhabited island Lunga where 10k of puffins live. It was (after Iceland) my third session with puffins, and the first time I managed them in flight. But never (large enough) in those sublime poses Glenn managed! And I never knew some puffins had hair braids 🙈😛
Regarding gear issues: my old 70D stopped focusing then stopped working in Norwegian rain (cured by hairdryer), before first time using my RF1.4x dropped its glass in the mud, and last year in Bali rain, airco, then hot humid air conspired to internally fog my 100-500 for nearly 2 days but was cured in time to spot the Bali Starling.
34:29 that bird would look right at home in those 80's dance clubs (so similar to the hairstyle of the time) 😉
🤣
Thanks for the video once more and sharing your horror stories... I always love to watch and learn from you guys. Let me share my disaster.
Last year I had quite some struggles with my health (heart) and when things cooled down a bit a things where getting back to a sort of normal, I decided to treat my wife and I on a trip, to fulfil a lifetime wish to visit Costa Rica. In preparation of that trip I bought myself a brand new R6mkII, a RF100-500mm and a 1.4x teleconverter. It had been years when I last bought new camera gear, I normally opted for used gear from an economic perspective. So I was chuffed with the new gear as a dog with 7 tails. On the third day we had planned to visit some hanging bridges near our lodge and we left before sunrise. As always I had the camera gear hanging on my hip using a special harness/strap so I had my hands clear in case we needed to climb. So far so good. Then disaster strikes... Only 5 meters away from our lodge, the ball jount connection between the camera strap and arca swiss plate connection decided to fail and both the body and the RF100-500 dropped to the ground.... In milliseconds I thought my photo-trip was over and out and I didn't dare to look... My heart was pounding in my chest and adrenaline rushed through my veins. Somehow miraculously it dropped just like Glenn described on the lens hood, so the initial blow was absorbed by the plastic hood. When I calmed down I picked up the gear and realised what happend. The metal balljoint of the connector had worn out and failed. After checking the gear I realised that everything was still in working order and the only real damage I had, was the ring of the plastic lens hood had cracked. Eventually we could continue our trip and I still was able to make some amazing shots in Wonderfull Costa Rica! After we came back I bought a new camera strap (actually from the same brand) however this new model strap actually now comes with a fail-safe.... (lessons learned).
Lucky for sure!!!
I find the discussions over other images very helpful. I wish they had access to the raw files for the best shot of someone else's image and then edited it to show the difference in outcome.
Ya that would be nice. But obviously we only have so much time each episode.
Just now my R6 and RF 100mm to 500mm focus froze... A quick turn off then on - still frozen. Turn off, pop out the battery tray out, leave out for 10 seconds, back in, turn on and all is good. Around 20 seconds and I was back to filming the small native birds in our back yard at Grampians Paradise. Thank you Jan and Glenn for your quick fix suggestion. It save the session.
But the camera acident story I wanted to tell was from 2009. It was our wedding weekend, I'd loned my only digital camera for the weekend to one of my best friends. When there was a quiet patch, he went for a walk along the coast... He's pretty adventurous and manage to fall down a 3 metre cliff, landing on a ledge above the main cliff. We nearly lost him and my only camera. Fortunately being a rock climber he was able to climb back to to escape. The damage - some lost skin and a brocken lense hood.
OMG auklets!!! I love these birds!
Have only just found you two online. Thanks for reigniting my love for photography.
So glad to hear you liked the show and it got you motivated!
Another superb session..thanks for sharing the inputs..just a suggestion, you used to edit and show before and after images. Can you pls continue to do so?
4:21 This shows the importance of lens hood. So many photographers are not getting this. I often see photographers (even on UA-cam tutorials) who are showing / testing gear, giving "advice" while never using a hood or their lenses.
Ya I always use mine that's for sure.
Or using a camera strap.
Yeah man! I've shot 18 years in photography and always use the lens hoods, and never use uv filters. Lens hoods can improve IQ and is usually included with the lens. UV filters degrade IQ (even if it's minimal) and can cost a fair bit of money and can be problematic at times when it comes to removing them. Yet most UA-camrs I see don't use hoods but always use filters.
@77dris Same here! When I bought my 1st "non kit" lenses, I bought UV/Clear filter for additional protection (salesmen recommended that... no surprise...$$$) but I quickly saw that the only time these are really useful is for wet or dusty conditions, mostly on zoom lenses ... Since I almost never shoot in these conditions, I did only use them for a few months, and then they went to sleep in one of my cases. I also did some tests with them, which confirmed they affect autofocus (on my DSLR at the time, may differ with mirrorless; I never tried), even if they were high-quality B+W filters. The very few times I would take the hood off my lenses (besides on my EF 8-15mm), is for adjusting a circular polarizing filter, and then the hood kickly goes back on. Some hoods allow adjusting the filter through an opening, so I dont even have to take it off on some of my lenses. As you mentioned, hoods also prevent flaring and other degradations that can occur when "unwanted" ray of light enters the lens. The importance of lens hoods is indeed neglected by too many photographers
@markcoleman4635 Yes, it reduces the risk, but it won't prevent the front element of the lens from accidently hitting something. And straps may detach or a clips could fail. In which case, the hood will take the hit instead of the lens' front element
I went to Iceland last year with a group , on the 4th day we went to Diamond beach where the seas can be very unpredictable , and as you try to capture a good shot of the Ice , the water can and will sneak up on you.
I was lucky enogh to get only my feet wet by a senaky wave that literally came out of nowhere.
Another photographer was hit by the same wave got swept off his feet (he went further) , somehow he was able to hold the camera above the water , so all we saw was a hand holding a camera.
Not sure how it happned but it was both scary and funny at the same time. the camera survived.
Another great video, thanks. I had a similar equipment accident experience. I was setting up a Canon 5D Mk IV with a 100-400 lens on a tripod with a remote flash to get 2nd curtain photographs of goldfinches in flight in my back yard when disaster struck. I had just put my camera on the tripod and was moving quickly to set up my remote flash when I heard a crash. In my rush I didn’t properly tighten my arca-swiss plate to my tripod so my camera fell off and broke my lens. An expensive lesson.
Ouchie!
Jan, will your brush set ever be available for lightroom? I'm loving them in Photoshop but would love them more in lightroom. The masking in lightroom so much better! right clicking to increase the brush size and changing the opacity slider is a pain in photoshop. your actions like cleaning up the white and blacks is just a must working with my hummers! blue beaks and yellow spots behind their eyes is a no no. hehehe
I had the same problem with stuck aperture blades in colder weather. The blades would freeze open in winter but worked fine indoors or in summer.
Hi guys - great episode, as always! The pronunciation of the ‘problem’ bird is hoo-poo - simple as that 😊
Cheers!
Hi Jan, what mic do you usually use to get those beautiful birds sound?
Awe man, I’ve only had one camera lens combo really smash the ground, and it was exactly what Glenn described. Looked away for one second, and a leg decided to slide in. I was on pavement too ! Ouch.
Nowadays on my cross country trips, I always carry two bodies, and at least two long lenses, but I will be getting the 200-800 any day, so I will have the option to carry 3 long lenses 🙂 A backup, for my backup 🙂👍
Oh, and I’d suggest using a safety lanyard to connect your rig to your tripod head.
Last year, on a trip 2000 miles from home, I was jumping across concrete rip wrap, with mud and water all between, when my combo came loose and fell, only being stopped by a $2 lanyard ! I never felt so smart… or lucky ? In my life 😀👍
Great video guys 👍 TY.
Yes I love a safety strap!!!
I have one from the body to lens. But maybe not a bad idea rig to tripod too.
@@GlennBartley with my new 200-800, I think I will add one between my lens and body too 🙂👍
So many great, practical tips from gear to processing! Thanks, guys!
Catherine Dalessio
Glad you enjoyed the show!
25:58 Cheers from Finland! Thank you for featuring my Loon/Diver photo. @jan_wegener @glennbartley
I totally agree with you that the colors are not as good as I hoped. It was a warm sunset/backlit scene where distant dark forest affected the low-angle reflection by adding dark greenish and brownish cast there. Thanks for the tips! I will try to improve it for sure.
And you Glenn did exceptionally well with my surname! The first name though is something similar to that you would say for Jan (but with a shorter a) and then add "ne" (similar than in the word "net" but obviously without the t).
Keep up the great work and happy birding! Luckily no disasters here
Great show today guys! One thing I often see on photography videos and articles is traveling photographers packing their cameras and lenses connected to each other. I might have even seen you two doing that. DON'T DO DAT! I have a friend who in the Galapagos had his bag knocked over, it then fell down the ladder to the next deck down, with his 1DXii, 1.4x, and 500/f4 all connected inside the bag. All 3 pieces were destroyed on day 1 of the trip. All were easily repaired back at Canon, but he had to borrow cameras/lenses for the whole trip. The problem is that the periphery of the camera body is cantilevered off the base of the lens, so there's a lot of leverage on any impact, and its really easy to damage the connection interface. Another thing I try to do before a photography trip is to look at what I'm bringing with an eye towards seeing 'single point failures'. That is, what single things can fail that would ruin the trip? Bringing a backup camera body is critical, as that's the most likely thing to fail. Its the most complex thing that you take out into the elements. But having a backup lens is almost as critical, and I don't stop there. I bring 2 (or more) chargers, 2 card readers, an extra cable of each type you need, 2 power supplies for the computer, and, as you gents have talked about earlier, enough storage devices to make backups. That said, it also depends on who you're traveling with. I do not take 2 computers, but then I've never traveled alone to some remote place. I've decided that if there are other people on the trip, worst case is that I can use their computer to transfer images from my cards to my storage. If I were traveling alone, I'm thinking I'd accept that single point failure risk, but extra camera bodies and lenses aside, most of the rest are small items that can be packed with minimal inconvenience.
Good thoughts!
I never travel with my body connected either. I like to have everything packed separately nice and tight.
Love the Terry Fox shirt👍❤
Great Canadian icon
You can't prepare for everything. Bringing and extra body, yes; but bringing two 600mm lenses, no. Glad Glenn found a creative solution to the problem!
Ya only so much you can do...
I had my only camera drop into the lake while shooting aurora (northern lights), right as it started looking good. And we almost never get aurora here...
In South Africa the bird is called Hoo-Poo - simple 🤗
Climbing steep cliff slopes in order to get a more level view of Peregrine Falcons. On the way down I slipped on my backside, and my Canon EF 100-400 version 1 clocked me in the head. Somehow seized up the smooth ring on tight, instead of paying half the lens own worth for repairs I upgraded to the version 2 and was much more satisfied
Fortuitous...
My R7/RF100-500 recently started showing "double vision" with duplication of feather edges, eye beams, and squirrel whiskers. Initially, I worried about heat haze and humidity on the Canadian prairies in July, since it looked just like a burry image until I started pixel peeping after returning home 2 weeks later. Moreover, the problem persisted even as temperatures improved. This was disappointing, since they are less than 18 months old. When I sent the gear to Canon Canada for assessment, it turned out that an image stabilizer chip had failed, which required an R7 motherboard replacement. I guess it could have been worse if the lens elements were at fault, but it is still disappointing in a relatively new camera that has never been jostled or exposed to extreme conditions. I should also add that my retailer maintains a national customer database and told me this is a "known issue". The good news is that my gear returned yesterday and all appears to be fine with the new motherboard.
Excellent timing with this one! Because yesterday for the first time in the 13 years or so that I've been shooting... I dropped my camera.
I thought it was attached to my strap, I just let it go and it went straight to the ground from about hip height. Nikon Z7 II with the F mount Tamron 70-200/2.8 G2.
Luckily the camera and lens are fine. The lens hood took the impact. The battery door of the camera is busted though, the little plastic tab that keeps it closed snapped off. But a replacement is on the way already.
But I really am glad that I never listed to those who kept saying you don't need a lens hood and that a UV filter offers better protection! Because then the lens would have been toast! 😁
Ya a hood is essential IMO
@@GlennBartley Which is why I find it very unfortunate that some manufacturers don't include them with the lens anymore. They really are essential.
Hello guys. Great video as usually. Thank you for all the tips.
Hello Glenn, I had the same issue with my 600 mm f4.0 version 1999. What happens is that you wore out your aperture ring, so it won't stop down. Thus, it will only shoot wide open, the ring that controls the shutter diameter is not working properly any more. My 600 mm f4.0 went out of service like 6 months before so Canon wouldn't service it. I had to take it to a old camera service guy in Stockton, California. He must have been in his 80s. He replaced the ring by manufacturing another metal ring, but the heat generated by the metal piece warped the ring, so the fix didn't last very long. I took it back to him, he created another ring withepoxy resin material, and drilled holes to stop down the shutter. He never had work on a 600 mm lens before, either. I have the RF 600 mm 4.0 lens now, because its half the weight, but have my old 600 mm f4.0 (1999 version) still, and its still working. Not sure what version 600 mm f4.0 lens you have, but hopefully Canon is still servicing your version. Good Luck, I hope they can repair it for you. This was about 2017, I not sure this guy is still around or even alive now. What you describe is exactly what happened to my lens.
Thanks for sharing. It looks like Canon has a fix for mine and it'll be about $500. Not too bad
@@GlennBartley That's great news!
I can SOOOOOOO relate to this video.......................unfortunately 🤣
😬
"Never delete" is easily achieved nowadays - I copy ALL my raw files onto the cheapest high capacity media (eg slow SDs, thumb drives, whatever) I can find before I start processing, and just mark it with the date and throw it in a drawer... I guess a pro would need a bigger drawer, though!
Ha...yes...and would need a fast drive or it would take forever to copy. As long as you have a system that works for you. That's the main thing!
2013 in Varanger Norway a SD card was stuck in my main camera body. The stucked memory card was broken so it was not working to take any images and when I took it out the card destroyed parts of the camera body. I had a back up camera, but not what I wanted. This year my Nikon 500mm pf started to malfunction two weeks before this years Varanger trip. It was impossible to have it repaired in time. The lens could not focus on subjects more than 50 meter away. Not a big problem, but this could be worse at any day. A week before the trip a bought a 180-600 and the 500mm pf had to be my back up.
Glad the back up was available.
Great show, as usual! I have also dropped gear. Fortunately, Nikon repair services does a great job.
Always happy when the bill isn't too bad!
Camera disasters - 1. I forgot to zip my camera bag and when leaving my home my EF 24-70 lens roled out of the bag and down two concrete steps. Amazingly it still worked. 2. I had just purchased my R5 & my 100-400 mm lens a few weeks prior to a trip. After using on a tripod I brought both into our BNB. I had the tripod in one hand and the camera and lens held in my arm of my other hand. My RAB jacket was a slippery material and the camera and lens hit the tile floor hard breaking the lens and probably not good for the camera either. I had to send both in for repair. Very sad moment. 3. Never turn your back on your camera and lens on a tripod on a sandy beach when it is windy! Enough said.
Great Show!!
Thanks!
Cheers!
I'am currently into thinking on migrating from 5Dmk4 to R5mk2, and yours video put me into hard thinking.
I travel with my 5Dmk4 since 2016, and we were in a couple of dozens of harsh condition. About 20 minutes in a rain where literally every my clothes became wet. The umbrella just flew away that day. A couple of hours of active shooting in -30 Celsius. The autofocus in the EF 24-70 f2.8 froze, and focusing focusing wheel was hard to rotate, but the shoots still was perfect.
The EF camera and lenses are perfectly fine after all this years.
Your video and several more brings the question to my mind. Is nowadays RF cameras and lenses is so less reliable in comparison to EF predecessors? Or it is just a impression comes from amount of content on that topic? Or both? Or something else?
I see a lot of facts that increase (absence of the mirror) or decrease (articulated viewfinder) reliability of RF's R5-series and lenses in comparison to EF generation predecessors, but still can't understand overall effect on reliability.
I think the R5 is very comparable to a 5D from a weather sealing and durability standpoint....and better in every other way.
I once had an EF 4/300 which wouldn't stop down anymore. Repair was around 200 euros if I remember correctly. So you may not end up with a very expensive repair bill. Good luck!
Looks like its gonna be about $500. Not too terrible!
@@GlennBartley that sounds OK, definitely better than a new RF 4/600. BTW, I like you digital processing ebook!
The lines in the Eagle pic is a very faint rainbow ...
Yes, Glenn, the thought about it still hurts having dropped my 600mm 30 mins upon arrival in Sri Lanka. Yes, I brought my 400 mm along, and could use it, but still - very painful. The bird guide told me … come quickly … a rather rare woodpecker in the open … well, I didn‘t properly tighten the camera on the tripod and while lifting the tripod, in order to pull out the legs, the camera fell off! This is still an open wound …
I get my greatest disaster in the norther part in Namibia. I was the forth time in the Sambesi region and in night the thieves stolen my Equipment out from the tent during sleeping. I lost my 400DO2 and R5 and R3. RF 15-35 and EF 70-200 are gone. I switched to my EF 200-400-1,4 Zoom and get an old Canon 5D3 from a friendly swiss couple. And surprise surprise, in the next 3 weeks I get really perfect Pictures with this old Equipment. I wonder how perfect this old camerasystem works. I see really no difference between R-cameras and the old Big Mama mk3
Great show...as always!
Thanks for watching!
Not gonna repeat my camera catastrophies from times gone by again. But, I certainly recognized a few of your examples! Sadly, I wasn't as lucky as Glenn, no fixes possible. So, after the last one (in Brazil 2004) I really got into the thing with double of everything. Not the same but somewhat equivalent and compatible with each other on all accounts. When going Down Under in 30 days I have R6 ll, R5, RF 100-500, RF 100-400 and the 800/11. The latter has to go in the incheck bag (very well emballaged, mind you), due to the measly 7 kg restriction on cabin bags on domestic flights (of which we have a handfull).
About St Paul: we were very lucky when going there in June 2017. Not only did we get there and from there at time, the inchecked bag arrived with the same flight as well (another interesting thing when going there, often inchecked bag weren't on the same flight). The weather was OK as well. Not sunny, but: no rain. I wish I'd had a videocam then, I didn't, only the 7D ll which wasn't too good with video.
Thanks for sharing your strategies!
25:45 🧐 really looks bright enough for me (on calibrated displays)
Tanks for video!;)
Regarding the Hoopoe, pronunciation is sorta like "hu-pu". Much like you did in the video Jan, without the added "e".
Thanks for clarifying!
I have two questions for you, Jan 😊 :) Did you get a chance to talk to Canon about 8K oversampled 4K60p? Canons official marketing material originally advertised the R5 II to have 8K oversampled 4K60p just like the R5C and the Nikon Z8/Z9 had for years but now it’s limited to 30fps again … 😒
Could you please ask Canon if they’re working on a firmware update bringing 8K oversampled 4K60p to the R5 Mark II? I reached out but who am I.. Maybe they listen to you!
There should NOT be any technical limitation if the R5C can do it! At the very least it should be possible with the active cooling grip attached‼
My second question is about 4K60p in its current state. I hope we’ll get 8K oversampled 4K60p in a firmware update but how does the non-downsampled 4K60p stack up against the 6K oversampled 4K60p in the R6 Mark II? Is the 4K60p more detailed in the R6 Mark II? Is the 4K60p in ANY way improved over 4K60p in the R5.
Thank you very much, Jan! I‘d appreciate it if you reached out to Canon asking if they’re working on a firmware update bringing 8K oversampled 4K60p to the R5 Mark II as there should NOT be any technical limitation as the R5C has shown especially with the active cooling grip. So why does Canon artificially limit the R5 II? Your word has much more weight to it than mine so I hope Canon will listen to you and give us 8K oversampled 4K60p just like the competition had for years!‼‼
We hope you all enjoy the show. Thanks for watching! 😎
Let us know here in the comments some of the field challenges or disasters that you've had 👇
waou Glenn, bad luck this time.
don't you use the DOF simulation in the EVF while shooting ?
you still managed to bring back wonderful pictures....bravo 👏👏👏
HOO POO (Who poo)
Came here by coincidence but what are those birds in the title image and at 2:18 ?
Crested auklet.
Very interesting species, i do recommend read about it. (For example, they smells like oranges!)
@@zadnitsahey, yeah - thanks!
In Finnish, every letter is pronounced. So, I believe the name Janne would be pronounced yan-neh.
Thanks for sharing!
where do I submit my photo for comment?
You post on Instagram with the #Birdphotoshow
We pick 6 photos each episode to review.
my lens is broke :'( Im sad.
Its pronounced "who-po" :)
Hi
You birders edit too much. Denoise and brightness is about as much as I would touch. Maybe once in a blue moon when the white blance is weird. I think this editing software thing is slowing skill developement from bird shooters. Rare bird photos used to mean more. Now you get an explosion of surreal bird photos on social media. They don't even look that way to your eyes at that special moment anymore. I am not saying editing is bad but it certainly has been overused by the birding crowd and it just makes the audiences' eyes tired.
Exactly this. Bird photos edited to the point it looks nothing like what you actually saw. Ends up looking like AI.
I think everyone should edit their images to look the way they want. I agree the bird should still look natural as it does in nature. But many of the editing steps are to accomplish exactly that. Do you see noise with your eyes?? NO. Can you see more dynamic range than the cameras sensor? YES.
@@GlennBartleyyou’re arguing with yourself there. People should do what they like, but 😂
The whole point of these videos is to show two experts explaining what can be done. Editing to that extent is not compulsory. They are very picky, but that is teaching us what can be done. Keep it up.
That would be a personal opinion of course. I see SO many bird photos which are “otherwise good” but with some ugly, distracting thing in the back ground..
Or a twig coming out of its head… or poor WB… etc…
Often I think, “Well, I don’t know that I could have gotten a better shot, but my finished product would sure look nicer.
IMPO, a good shot has as much to do with taking a good original, as it does with good processing.
Oh, and the thing I find amusing, is that some photographers will post a shot, and proudly proclaim “Right out of the camera ! No processing” …..and I’m thinking, yea, I can see that. Too bad. It could have looked so much nicer if you knew how to process it 😀 lol