Thanks for watching everyone! We hope you enjoy the show. How cool are those Antbirds eh!!! Have you ever seen an ant swarm? Photographed any of the Antbirds??
I don't think I've really seen a true antswarm, I do *know* I've never been close to one. I'm a silly "Ewwwwwwwwww!"-woman and especially dislike being bit by tropical insects. I tend to keep my distance. I have seen and photographed quite a few of those bird species with the prefix Ant (you know: -wren, -shrike, -bird, -pitta... not any good photos by your standards, though. I'm happy if some important ID-characther is visible!).
Yes, I did research on two forest falcons species in NE Guatemala from 1989-1992. Both species were occasionally at ant swarms catching lizards and birds visiting the swarms. I love the Neotropics with all its diversity. Glenn: FYI the Gray Jay is now called your country name "Canada Jay". Thanks for what you two do and put out. I'm still learning post-process and i have both your editing packages for learning your suggestions and techniques,
Welcome to beautiful Queensland Jan. O'Reilleys Rainforest Retreat in the hinterland is a top spot for Regent and Satin Bowerbird, Logrunners, Eastern Whipbirds, Albert's Lyrebird and at least one of the Riflebird species. You'll notice especially at this time of year is the sun gets up and goes down a lot earlier than in Melbourne, and we have a very short golden hour around Brisbane. Nice work in Panama Glenn, not sure I'd be keen to have ants crawling all over me - the ones in my area like to bite and they are painful.
Glenn, great shots of beautiful birds in Central America. Glad you were able to see them. I bet your descriptions of the arduous conditions were understated.
Welcome to Queensland Jan. I don’t know where you are based but there are a multitude of places between the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast out to Toowoomba. Brisbane itself has heaps too. Good luck with the move.
Welcome to QLD Jan. I'm sure you're going to love it here. Hoping you make the journey up here to Cairns & FNQ region. So much on offer here for you to see and capture. Right now we have the Buff-breasted paradise kingfishers here to breed until March. Love your show and hope to see you up here soon.
Welcome to South East Queensland, Jan. A most splendid of bird to photo in Brisbane and Scenic Rim is the Pale Headed Rosella you mentioned. We often call it the Moreton Bay Rosella and even ‘The Big Budgee’. I grew up in Brisbane, and this pastel shaded bird would suddenly appear in our back yard, usually in pairs, and disappear just as quickly. It has many calls, sometimes chattering, sometimes chiming. What about other birds? You’ll have fun exploring the border ranges and valleys starting behind the Gold Coast, including the Numinbah Valley and upper Nerang River. Moving up into the mountains, you’ll enter Lamington National Park and Green Mountains. Binna Burra and O’Reillys are wonderful bases from which to start. Birds include the Regent Bower Bird especially in August to October. Travelling further west over the Great Dividing Range to Stanthorpe (cool climate fruit growing) there’s Girraween National Park with many species, including several honey eater species. The Brisbane River opens out into Moreton Bay and the Redlands, where migratory shore birds gather on beach front areas like Wellington Point and Waterloo Bay. Looking forward to your images, Jan.
You guys are cheering us all up during these difficult times. I am hoping I will get some better shots and video in 2022, especially when I follow your advice. I am not very obedient usually but I will try my best
Glenn, great to see you got to photograph your target species in Panama, and Jan, all the best in Queensland, I look forward to seeing your new images from that area!
Glenn: Glad you were able to make the most of your latest excursion! Jan: Moving...Yuk!! Can’t wait to see what the new surroundings bring your way! I haven’t commented in a while, but enjoy and appreciate everything you 2 do for the benefit of others!! The RF100-500 finally arrived after 16 weeks and it IS more than I was expecting over my EF100-400 (and I was expecting a lot!). I loved your comments re: Focus challenges nodding my head the whole time. How we use our tools is the challenge that makes photography so rewarding, for me anyway. Since I’ve officially gotten into the ‘digital darkroom’ (so to speak), I’ve gone back looking/sorting for what used to be insanely high ISO pics and have found and created some surprising keepers from my R5, thanks to what you guys have shared and offered to all of us using DXO and your Prosets. THANKS AGAIN!!!
Thanks Chris, much appreciated. I agree, the 100-500 is a true game changer. I have taken so many images with it I would not have been able to take otherwise. Glad we could give you some helpful tips and PROSETs :)
Agree with Chris Luck comments, great explanation on the focus issues, I thought I had a problem with my R5/100-500 at first, then realised I was asking too much. Now more understanding I feel great a setup. Thanks for the great content.
Super cool vídeo guys. Jan, as you said, the amazing thing about moving to another area is the chance to enjoy the new easy bird species that maybe be hard to photography in the previous site. I remember when I move to amazon and need to discover all-new species as I arrived on another planet. Glenn, I watched your experiences with the ant swarming and I remember the times when I was inside the swarm. Is one of the most amazing experiences that someone can live with birds. Perfect your videos.
Another wonderful video from you two. Jan, enjoy your new home with its new birds. Glenn, beautiful footage of aome incredible birds. Glad you got what you were hoping to get. Are you still shooting in CRAW?
I really enjoy your videos guys; you come across as genuinely interested in helping other photographers, which I am sure a lot of us appreciate. Great tips on the focusing issues with mirrorless cameras. Loom forward to seeing more episodes. Thanks for all you do.
Really enjoyed the video. Once again, I learned something about my frustration with AF with the R5. I just bought the camera, and I realize I have lots to learn. Thanks.
Good video, guys. While I know folks want to hear about gear, I was much more interested in the ant swarms, how the birds interacted, and what you had to do to get the shots. I would welcome more of this kind of content . Thanks, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Same here!! Great all around show and we love you guys - but definitely enjoyed hearing the story leading up to getting the shots! We would also love to hear more of those stories!
We will, now that I am in a better area and we can both roam around a bit more there's more field stuff to come for sure. We were just forced into the studio for a while
Great to see you again with a happy vibe between you two guys. Lots of entertaining video clips, stills and tips. One comment I might add (from a guy with a mirrorless camera with 150+ all-cross type focus points typically using AF with a small cluster or single point (small or really small) active is that I find the lens focus doesn’t jump to backgrounds very often. Further, even with all focus points active, I can have a button set to an adjustable focus range limit setting that can greatly control the lens jumping far away from a target bird. So, back to dreaming about Panama.
Yes perhaps we can discuss this in a future video. But basically use the lowest ISO you can get away with. Aperture between 4-8 depending on the amount of light. And adjust exposure with exposure compensation depending on the scene.
Jan, I hope you and Duade will be able to continue your collaboration, perhaps as you and Glenn are doing. Looking forward to seeing shots of the "easy" Queensland birds. I imagine you're going to be living at the Jewel complex 😉
Great show! LR introduces allot of noise in RAW files. I saw a post on a R5 FB Group from a sports photographer & he suggested to use Canon DPP4, export from that Ap into PS & use the PS Camera RAW filter. I'm an astro photographer as well as a maybe one a bird photographer as well, I tried it & it's true. I have the RP & the R as well & it works on those RAW files as well.
ua-cam.com/video/XNlrQeRXjU0/v-deo.html If you want to use lightroom you need to neutralise all the background adjustments that it does to your images without showing you. These adjustments are responsible for the extra noise. Watch this link and you can see how it's done. Then you'll get to see and work on the flat raw file. The demosaicing algorithm in lightroom is just " OK". If you want to get the best there is , use Raw Therapee. It's a big commitment learning it because of how complex it is, but there's no arguing in the results you can achieve.
Hi Jan and Glenn, I quite enjoy your videos, very educative for me.. keep it coming.. Glenn, I noticed most of your photos shown here are at 1/60th or some even 1/30th, you said you took them handheld, how did you manage to take at such a low shutter speed with 600 Prime?? Do you have monopod or bean bags, just curious.. Thanks.
Yes with the Antbirds a tripod or monopod would have just gotten in the way. So I just try to stabilize using my knee or by tucking my elbows in to my chest. It's hard work!
Thank you Jan and Glenn. I always appreciate your videos. My experience with the R5 and the EF 500 is, that the autofocus first of all moves towards the distance. Therefore I always try to focus something, that is closer than my target and once the autofocus starts moving towards the disctance It normally gets the bird. Best regards Eckhard
Hey Jan & Glenn. Wow, what an amazing and epic episode !! I saw it within an hour after posting, but I just had to watch it a few more times before reacting ;-) Glenn, you now made pretty clear why you skipped the ratty birds in molting plumage back home 😛 I mostly loved the shot at 10:23 of the white-whiskered puffbird, what a pose! But I'm amazed you almost reached compositions of birds visiting one after another on your perch while you sit in a hide 20 meters away from your truck. But in reality I guess they were all in different spots quite a hike away from roads while lifting your 600mm. Very impressive !!! Jan, it must be good omen the QLD birds were soo eager to welcome you!! Must have been beak to beak advertising among the most vain birds to have them lined up to be photographed by you over the next months! Amazing reflection of you and the skyline in the bird's eye !!! Wonder what you could have done with an 100L macro.. Looking at the red tone of your skin, you must be in warmer territories now. Will it still be possible to have sessions with Duade ?? I had suffered those focus issues mostly on my first day shooting with the R6 around a large pond, but at the time not all my settings were tweaked ok. The biggest killer (also for the battery) was continuous AF. Of course, the birdsettings bible aka "EOS R5 - the settings you need to know" (by some German who fled to Australia, you may have encountered him ;-)) helped me a lot to get perfect AF-tracking tweaks. Out of fear for the background-sticking (described in earlier YT's) I had disabled also lens drive when AF not possible. This way I had to pre-focus manually before the AF magic took over, which I preferred over sticking to background. But after a recent video of Duade I have enabled this last setting again, and now the dual BBF works as a charm with my 100-400ii (also with TC1.4iii).
Great video Guys! Thank you! With camera would you choose in the rainforets in CostaRica? The R5 or the R6? I have a feeling that the R6 is a bit more lightsensitiv. Would you agree? I also assume that the distances to the object is quite close in the rainforest and the need for cropping maybe is not that big!?
For me the R6 just doesn't have enough MP to be attractive. It's a great camera. But for birds I think you really need at least 40MP in a full frame body.
Oh man, this really brings back great memories of my Panama trip and 2 mornings on Pipeline Road. I didn't see the Oscillated, but I got the Streaked Antpita and that took effort. So difficult, but so exciting.
Loved that guys!!! Can't wait to see more of your Panama trip Glen, sooooooo jealous 😂 ..... Keep up the good work, and the presets are superb i'm using them a lot now, speeds everything up! Cheers and take care JP
Awesome! I used a computer yesterday where I hadn't installed them and I felt lost without the presets, so I quickly installed them, such great helpers, hey?
Love watching you guys. So many recognizable stuff. I am off to the jungle of Suriname (North east South America) end of February and can't wait to try and see what my R6 and 100-500 will do. I am still such a video noob though... I assume the b-roll from Glenn is all with the 600/4 on a tripod? How do you Jan psychically handle your R5 and 100-500 when doing hand hold videoing? I struggle to keep the lens at a bird, holding the camera and using the touch screen to aim the focus towards the bird. It will find eyes of course, but all these actions make me feel I am missing an extra arm. Could you give me a few tips on how physically handle the camera when doing hand held video?
Yes ideally you are on a tripod. But if not just stabilize your body the best you can. Then video editing programs have some additional ability to stabilize footage as well.
Welcome to Queensland Jan..so many birds we take for granted in our own area. Have you guys upgraded to firmware 1.5? Just wondering if it had any improvements for bird photography
@@GlennBartley thanks Glenn I saw a review where they were raving about the speed and eye tracking on people and wasn’t sure if that transferred across to birds as well…Canon has my R5 at the moment and they will upgrade the firmware while they have it..will see what it’s like when I get it back. This week hopefully 😬😬😬
I have updated the cameras, but didn't see a huge difference. I did track very well it super tricky light, tho and the eye AF was superior to the normal AF by a mile
The sharpest bird shots I have are the lorikeets, cockatoos and long billed corellas that visit my verandah. I use a Sigma 180 macro and the detail on the close ups I get is insane. It sort of spoils me a bit because shooting more distant birds with a telephoto just doesn't feel the same after that.
Very informative... Thanks for sharing... Jan... When next you are in Indonesia I would love to take you into the mountains for a birding expedition... Maybe when the "CoVid Madness" has died down!
@@GlennBartley My new friend Glenn! I regularly watch Jan... I am very enthusiastic about following you as well! You guys BOTH inspire me to do more trekking... Please do come! It would be a real pleasure to host you both!
At last: both of you "back on track". Glenn back home, Jan arrived to Queensland and also escaped quarantine and somewhat established at the new abode! Such luck on the quarantine hotel bird guests, Jan. Very, *very* nice footage result from you trying not to get batshit crazy cooped up inside for so long. I'm looking forward to new birds on your quests learning your new environment. Being in explorer mode is a very special excitement! Glenn: congrats to your *splendid* progress on your "to-do" list of birds to catch on pix in Panama. I have been somewhat impatiently waiting for this update. You certainly didn't disappoint! I hope for more footage & photos in videos to come. Or... will that mostly be on your own YT channel? I'm still a subscriber, but not a very active one, you have kinda slipped a little on the wayside after my main focus shifted Down Under (since that's where I've set my sights as next travel target). I'm subbed to so many YT channels (70+) so it's impossible to be on top of everyone's activity. Especially since I have a channel of my own that I *try* to get the occasional upload to... And shitty material takes SO much work to get anything remotely usable out of!
Yes I'll be making a video blog from my trip on my channel and we may feature it here as well. Plus a new gallery of images up before the new year. The best way to get news from me is to be on my free mailing list - www.glennbartley.com/mailinglist.htm Cheers! Glenn
I know you both use dxo pure raw at the start of your workflow could you use Denoise to do the same thing and produce dng file? Asking purely as a cost saving question as another £80 or so is just a bit much on top of all the other software.
Topaz Denoise works very good as well. But if you want the best results I think DXO pure raw is the ideal first step. I then also use Denoise...it just doesn't have to work as hard.
Topaz from my understanding only works once the file is in PS\LR, so you're adding noise before removing it, whereas DXO removes the noise first, so I think the file is a bit cleaner
@@jan_wegener I have used Topaz as a stand alone prior to LR and it seems to work. Just wondered if the finished effect was as good as DXO. You guys are really exceptional in the images you produce and its very easy to be convinced that by getting these software items we mere mortals can produce images as good. Keep up the videos because you are both so easy to follow and learn from. Happy Xmas to you both.
We have chickadees in Ontario Canada that are similar to the lorikeets, in fact they can be very demanding! 😉 They have landed on my camera lens while I was shooting, our hats, definitely our palms of course.
Thank you for this video guys. I'm very pleased that you guys are going into the focus problem with EF lenses on the R5. I still have a lot of trouble with that and hope this contributes something in the solution. Question: could you perhaps go into the Cases in the AF menu of R5 and R6. It would be nice to know a little more about that, such as which case is best to use for bird photography (sitting still and/or flying images). Thank you in advance. Martin (The Netherlands)
Your goal is to make the AF sticky. So I would move the sliders to the left. But this isn't really the same as the AF jumping to the BG. That is a feature of all mirorless cameras and requires your technique in the field to deal with and not a setting.
@@GlennBartley Clear answer Glenn. And you're right about the jump or freeze problem. That is a matter of applying practical solutions in the field. Thank you for your answer.
There's no specific problem with EF lenses on the R5. They are referring to the focusing problems that at the moment happen onall mirrorless cameras with all lenses (if Im not mistaken).
@@jan_wegener Hi Jan, Thank you for your response. I had seen and tried your video about the settings, but the AF spot does not or hardly work on the branch as in your video. I work with the R5 with the EF 400 F2.8 USM II. In 80% of the cases I have to focus manually first or at least get close to the AF point. I miss a lot of shots with bird photography because of that. I have now received an e-mail from Canon Tokyo confirming that this is an AF problem with mirrorless cameras, but there is as yet no solution for this. So it remains a question of maximum settings combined with pragmatic solutions in the field (manual focusing). So I'm happy with any tip that helps me with that.
Glenn mentioned one shot when talking about the focusing issues. Can you explain a bit more about that? Normally I point to the ground or do a manual focus to bring it back to focus.
He has his second back button set to Spot AF in One Shot mode, I have it set to Spot AF and AI Servo. His is more geared towards a static bird where he can use one shot even more precisely, and mine allows me to track the bird more actively with either and it focuses in the one spot when I let my finger go. Similar concept really.
I'll be popping out another one of my "process with me" guides very soon and will cover it. Stay tuned on my newsletter - www.glennbartley.com/mailinglist.htm
we show it in one of our videos. : ua-cam.com/video/vZgn8pOlsZ0/v-deo.html With Pure RAW it's essentially one click, so there's not really much to see. You open the file in the program and then click convert and get your file :)
Questions: I've been through your R5 settings videos many times. It seems like the latest R5 firmware update has inspired consternation among eye-AF bird photograpers. I found the update to be "busier" indoors with static bird photos on my TV screen. (Outside winter has been unloading lots of rain and blowing high winds discouraging birds and photographers.) Have you changed your case settings since the 1.5.0 update? Have you found it working fine or behaving less "confident" in it's eye recognition? Let us know if you find alternative case settings better for the current 1.5.0 firmware. Thanks for all your videos. Don
I have tried to use eye AF with European Cormorants and an R6. When it is coming flying straight at me, the eye AF is less than stellar. Dark eyes and dark bird.
That is indeed a tough challenge. But the camera should still grab the bird if not the eye. Make sure you have a fast enough SS and play around with the AF cases would be my advice.
@@GlennBartley This is not new. My Canon 7D2 AF have had problems before with drab birds and tend to end up tracking the greenery. Particularly in less than stellar light. Eye AF on my R6 has a tendency to track wet stuff if it can't find an eye. Or track a twig. It is better than it used to be, but it is annoying. I'm not entirely convinced that the 1.5 firmware is better than 1.4. I suppose that we will never know.
Two elephants in the room. The second being Jan forgot his cap. Thank you both for another great video. I look forward to seeing you both again in the new year. I hope you have a great christmas and a safe, healthy and happy new year. All the best, Brian.
That was a very joyfull episode to watch! You guys seemed so refreshed and the vibe was just amazing! I hope this is not the last episode this year? I wanted to ask: Have you experienced a ‘black out’ on stills? (R5). I am talking about in the first 20 frames or so camera freezes and it takes like 10 seconds or so to get live to it? Sometimes takes a swich off and on. It is not memory card issue (using the most expensive CFast) I had my camera to the servise - they didn’t find anything. Tried it with the RF lens to be sure that EF lenses doesn’t cause it- same issue. Updated firmware to 1.5, but the weather doesn’t allow to run test if the problem is still here. I hope it is gone, otherwise I will be the only human on this planet that will be dissapointed with very expensive camera.
@@GlennBartley the problem is I don’t get the chance to buffer it out. But I will soon try it out with new firmware update. The snow and frost is coming - there will be some kind of light 😊. I should probably mention that I am not newby to photography. Just wanted to hear if there is anybody out there that faced same issue. Thanks for replying.
Awesome! Travelling and being in a new places with much better vibes seems to have transpired into the video :) I did have a faulty memory card once that caused issue, and even though it was still working, it caused the camera to freeze at times at start up. Does it always happen with the same card? I only had my R5 freeze when photographing once and only one of mine, the other one never froze.
@@jan_wegener thank you for your answer. It is a good question about the card. I believe I have used CFast from Sandisc all the time, because it is the fastest. The SD card is from Sandisc aswell. I have to look into it. Congratulations on the move (it is never an easy decision). Looking so much forward for your new adventures!!!
Thats an amazing macro shot! Only time I've attempted something like that was with Apostlebirds with a 24-105mm lens at min focus distance, unfortunately the eye is recessed so with that in focus the whole head is out of focus and that's at f10. Even then, it still didn't didn't even get close to the amount of detail compared to that lorikeet 😲
now imagine the same video in 2024 :) with new cameras and lenses :) I love preogress, especially as I started with a 4x5 inch plate film camerea and shot 4 to 5 photos in an afternoon and then I was bankrupt as a poor student :(
Thanks guys really great tips as I have just started to use my RF 100-500 lens, had great fun with the R5 in Antarctica! Although was using RF24-240 and RF800 which created a bit of lens envy although there were a few professionals on the trip😎
Hi guys, I enjoy and learn from watching your shows. Please stop being lazy with your language by using the word LIKE. Its not part of our language an really lets yourselves down. Have a listen to your own presentation and see how silly and unnecessary it is. A terrible bad habit. Keep up the good work. From Hoarie a Queenslander
Thanks for watching everyone! We hope you enjoy the show. How cool are those Antbirds eh!!!
Have you ever seen an ant swarm? Photographed any of the Antbirds??
I don't think I've really seen a true antswarm, I do *know* I've never been close to one. I'm a silly "Ewwwwwwwwww!"-woman and especially dislike being bit by tropical insects. I tend to keep my distance. I have seen and photographed quite a few of those bird species with the prefix Ant (you know: -wren, -shrike, -bird, -pitta... not any good photos by your standards, though. I'm happy if some important ID-characther is visible!).
Yes, I did research on two forest falcons species in NE Guatemala from 1989-1992. Both species were occasionally at ant swarms catching lizards and birds visiting the swarms. I love the Neotropics with all its diversity. Glenn: FYI the Gray Jay is now called your country name "Canada Jay". Thanks for what you two do and put out. I'm still learning post-process and i have both your editing packages for learning your suggestions and techniques,
Welcome to QLD Jan. You have seen the light and won't regret it. The birding is gold !
Yes, that's how I feel, too! :)
Welcome to beautiful Queensland Jan. O'Reilleys Rainforest Retreat in the hinterland is a top spot for Regent and Satin Bowerbird, Logrunners, Eastern Whipbirds, Albert's Lyrebird and at least one of the Riflebird species. You'll notice especially at this time of year is the sun gets up and goes down a lot earlier than in Melbourne, and we have a very short golden hour around Brisbane.
Nice work in Panama Glenn, not sure I'd be keen to have ants crawling all over me - the ones in my area like to bite and they are painful.
Usually the army ants play nice. But I can assure you you do not want to get bitten by a bullet ant!
Yes, that place is awesome! The Riflebird is much harder to see than the ones up north unfortunately
Glenn, great shots of beautiful birds in Central America. Glad you were able to see them. I bet your descriptions of the arduous conditions were understated.
It can be a challenge down there for sure. Of course there are easy targets around the lodges too...
Thanks for the video. Enjoy Queensland Jan. I lived there for a while. Fantastic bird life. Cairns is amazing.
Glad you enjoyed it
Jan has escaped Dumbo Dan, the tyrant of Victoria. That must be a massive relief.
Welcome to Queensland Jan. I don’t know where you are based but there are a multitude of places between the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast out to Toowoomba. Brisbane itself has heaps too. Good luck with the move.
Would love to hear about some. Gold Coast for now :)
Welcome to QLD Jan. I'm sure you're going to love it here. Hoping you make the journey up here to Cairns & FNQ region. So much on offer here for you to see and capture. Right now we have the Buff-breasted paradise kingfishers here to breed until March. Love your show and hope to see you up here soon.
I will for sure, might even end top moving there, who knows :)
@@jan_wegener either way, hope to see you when you're up here.
Welcome to South East Queensland, Jan. A most splendid of bird to photo in Brisbane and Scenic Rim is the Pale Headed Rosella you mentioned. We often call it the Moreton Bay Rosella and even ‘The Big Budgee’. I grew up in Brisbane, and this pastel shaded bird would suddenly appear in our back yard, usually in pairs, and disappear just as quickly. It has many calls, sometimes chattering, sometimes chiming.
What about other birds? You’ll have fun exploring the border ranges and valleys starting behind the Gold Coast, including the Numinbah Valley and upper Nerang River. Moving up into the mountains, you’ll enter Lamington National Park and Green Mountains. Binna Burra and O’Reillys are wonderful bases from which to start. Birds include the Regent Bower Bird especially in August to October. Travelling further west over the Great Dividing Range to Stanthorpe (cool climate fruit growing) there’s Girraween National Park with many species, including several honey eater species.
The Brisbane River opens out into Moreton Bay and the Redlands, where migratory shore birds gather on beach front areas like Wellington Point and Waterloo Bay.
Looking forward to your images, Jan.
Thanks for all the tips! A few images to come in my next two videos!
You guys are cheering us all up during these difficult times. I am hoping I will get some better shots and video in 2022, especially when I follow your advice. I am not very obedient usually but I will try my best
Thanks for watching Andrew. Hopefully 2022 will be a great year for images!
awesome, thanks!
Glenn, great to see you got to photograph your target species in Panama, and Jan, all the best in Queensland, I look forward to seeing your new images from that area!
Thanks so much Axel!
Thanks!
Good points on focusing! Thanks for the joyful video!
Jan
Glad you enjoyed it!
Glenn: Glad you were able to make the most of your latest excursion!
Jan: Moving...Yuk!! Can’t wait to see what the new surroundings bring your way!
I haven’t commented in a while, but enjoy and appreciate everything you 2 do for the benefit of others!! The RF100-500 finally arrived after 16 weeks and it IS more than I was expecting over my EF100-400 (and I was expecting a lot!). I loved your comments re: Focus challenges nodding my head the whole time. How we use our tools is the challenge that makes photography so rewarding, for me anyway. Since I’ve officially gotten into the ‘digital darkroom’ (so to speak), I’ve gone back looking/sorting for what used to be insanely high ISO pics and have found and created some surprising keepers from my R5, thanks to what you guys have shared and offered to all of us using DXO and your Prosets. THANKS AGAIN!!!
That's awesome Chris. Really appreciate you taking the time to comment and share your thoughts 😎
Thanks Chris, much appreciated. I agree, the 100-500 is a true game changer. I have taken so many images with it I would not have been able to take otherwise.
Glad we could give you some helpful tips and PROSETs :)
Agree with Chris Luck comments, great explanation on the focus issues, I thought I had a problem with my R5/100-500 at first, then realised I was asking too much. Now more understanding I feel great a setup. Thanks for the great content.
Great to hear! It just works differently to DSLR cameras, so you have to use it a bit differently
Yes once you get used to the mirrorless it is all good!
Thanks guys. Always great information.
Very welcome Terry!
very welcome!
Super cool vídeo guys. Jan, as you said, the amazing thing about moving to another area is the chance to enjoy the new easy bird species that maybe be hard to photography in the previous site. I remember when I move to amazon and need to discover all-new species as I arrived on another planet. Glenn, I watched your experiences with the ant swarming and I remember the times when I was inside the swarm. Is one of the most amazing experiences that someone can live with birds. Perfect your videos.
Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts Tomaz!
Sounds like I need to experience an antswarm myself at some stage :D
Bird photography in quarantine, is that the new challenge for travelling birders?
I did have a go at flight shots of Black Kite when I quarantined in Darwin in 2020
I think so!
Welcome to the sunshine state...have you checked out O'Reilly's yet? Plenty of birds there.
yep :)
Another wonderful video from you two. Jan, enjoy your new home with its new birds. Glenn, beautiful footage of aome incredible birds. Glad you got what you were hoping to get. Are you still shooting in CRAW?
Thanks Barbara. I see no reason not to shoot CRAW at this point...
Totally inspiring guys. Keep the videos coming. 👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you! Will do!
I really enjoy your videos guys; you come across as genuinely interested in helping other photographers, which I am sure a lot of us appreciate. Great tips on the focusing issues with mirrorless cameras. Loom forward to seeing more episodes. Thanks for all you do.
We are :)
Brilliant video guys 👏👏
Cheers Phil!
Glad you enjoyed it
Really enjoyed the video. Once again, I learned something about my frustration with AF with the R5. I just bought the camera, and I realize I have lots to learn. Thanks.
Glad it was helpful!
Good video, guys. While I know folks want to hear about gear, I was much more interested in the ant swarms, how the birds interacted, and what you had to do to get the shots. I would welcome more of this kind of content . Thanks, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
You might just get your Christmas wish 🙂
always a balancing act
Same here!! Great all around show and we love you guys - but definitely enjoyed hearing the story leading up to getting the shots! We would also love to hear more of those stories!
as usual, great content! please continue with this format. I hope we will see more field trips from both of you :)
Yes as things hopefully open up more we are planning to do more from the field. Thanks for watching!!
We will, now that I am in a better area and we can both roam around a bit more there's more field stuff to come for sure. We were just forced into the studio for a while
Great episode guys!
Thanks for watching Elias!
Thanks!
Great to see you again with a happy vibe between you two guys. Lots of entertaining video clips, stills and tips. One comment I might add (from a guy with a mirrorless camera with 150+ all-cross type focus points typically using AF with a small cluster or single point (small or really small) active is that I find the lens focus doesn’t jump to backgrounds very often. Further, even with all focus points active, I can have a button set to an adjustable focus range limit setting that can greatly control the lens jumping far away from a target bird. So, back to dreaming about Panama.
Thanks Jon. That's a great tip!
Cheers amigo!
G
Yes, finally were I want to be :) Hopefully lots more videos to come
great as usual guys ,Glen you shoot in aperture priority ,can you do a video on your go to a.p settings are you usually at one over your focal
Yes perhaps we can discuss this in a future video. But basically use the lowest ISO you can get away with. Aperture between 4-8 depending on the amount of light. And adjust exposure with exposure compensation depending on the scene.
Welcome to Queensland Jan - Go to the Bunya Mountains.
heard about it, never been
Another great video. Glenn how close do you get to some of those birds in the rainforest for such great photos and videos.
Thanks David. Well it all depends on the bird. I guess the short answer is as close as they'll let me. But in general I'd say 5-10 meters
Jan, I hope you and Duade will be able to continue your collaboration, perhaps as you and Glenn are doing. Looking forward to seeing shots of the "easy" Queensland birds. I imagine you're going to be living at the Jewel complex 😉
Yes, Covid just messed with everything.
Great show! LR introduces allot of noise in RAW files. I saw a post on a R5 FB Group from a sports photographer & he suggested to use Canon DPP4, export from that Ap into PS & use the PS Camera RAW filter. I'm an astro photographer as well as a maybe one a bird photographer as well, I tried it & it's true. I have the RP & the R as well & it works on those RAW files as well.
You should compare it to dxo pure raw. I haven't seen anything as good...
ua-cam.com/video/XNlrQeRXjU0/v-deo.html If you want to use lightroom you need to neutralise all the background adjustments that it does to your images without showing you. These adjustments are responsible for the extra noise. Watch this link and you can see how it's done. Then you'll get to see and work on the flat raw file. The demosaicing algorithm in lightroom is just " OK". If you want to get the best there is , use Raw Therapee. It's a big commitment learning it because of how complex it is, but there's no arguing in the results you can achieve.
Thanks so much Guys it's been a great year watching your show, never miss it. Wishing you and your families a Merry Christmas 🌲 and Happy New Year
Thank you. Wishing you and yours the same!
Same to you!
Hi Jan and Glenn, I quite enjoy your videos, very educative for me.. keep it coming.. Glenn, I noticed most of your photos shown here are at 1/60th or some even 1/30th, you said you took them handheld, how did you manage to take at such a low shutter speed with 600 Prime?? Do you have monopod or bean bags, just curious.. Thanks.
Firing away and steady arms :)
Yes with the Antbirds a tripod or monopod would have just gotten in the way. So I just try to stabilize using my knee or by tucking my elbows in to my chest. It's hard work!
Thank you Jan and Glenn. I always appreciate your videos. My experience with the R5 and the EF 500 is, that the autofocus first of all moves towards the distance. Therefore I always try to focus something, that is closer than my target and once the autofocus starts moving towards the disctance It normally gets the bird. Best regards Eckhard
You've cracked the code. That's the way to do it!
good tip !
If you could get to Gympie, You could photo' the Cattle Egret, breeding and chicks. Really worth the trip but has to be now or soon.
Ok, cool! Been there a couple times but never the right time
@@jan_wegener I was there this time last year and got some nice shots.
Jan, what do you have the second back button set for? Spot AF or one point AF? Thanks. Love your stuff!!!
I''d go for the most accurate single point option.
Spot AF in servo m0de
Hey Jan & Glenn. Wow, what an amazing and epic episode !! I saw it within an hour after posting, but I just had to watch it a few more times before reacting ;-)
Glenn, you now made pretty clear why you skipped the ratty birds in molting plumage back home 😛 I mostly loved the shot at 10:23 of the white-whiskered puffbird, what a pose! But I'm amazed you almost reached compositions of birds visiting one after another on your perch while you sit in a hide 20 meters away from your truck. But in reality I guess they were all in different spots quite a hike away from roads while lifting your 600mm. Very impressive !!!
Jan, it must be good omen the QLD birds were soo eager to welcome you!! Must have been beak to beak advertising among the most vain birds to have them lined up to be photographed by you over the next months! Amazing reflection of you and the skyline in the bird's eye !!! Wonder what you could have done with an 100L macro.. Looking at the red tone of your skin, you must be in warmer territories now.
Will it still be possible to have sessions with Duade ??
I had suffered those focus issues mostly on my first day shooting with the R6 around a large pond, but at the time not all my settings were tweaked ok. The biggest killer (also for the battery) was continuous AF. Of course, the birdsettings bible aka "EOS R5 - the settings you need to know" (by some German who fled to Australia, you may have encountered him ;-)) helped me a lot to get perfect AF-tracking tweaks.
Out of fear for the background-sticking (described in earlier YT's) I had disabled also lens drive when AF not possible. This way I had to pre-focus manually before the AF magic took over, which I preferred over sticking to background. But after a recent video of Duade I have enabled this last setting again, and now the dual BBF works as a charm with my 100-400ii (also with TC1.4iii).
glad you liked it!
Thanks so much for your thoughts Werner. Glad you enjoyed the show!
Great video Guys! Thank you!
With camera would you choose in the rainforets in CostaRica? The R5 or the R6? I have a feeling that the R6 is a bit more lightsensitiv. Would you agree? I also assume that the distances to the object is quite close in the rainforest and the need for cropping maybe is not that big!?
Personally I would always chose the R5, because it flows better for video, but both would do very well.
For me the R6 just doesn't have enough MP to be attractive. It's a great camera. But for birds I think you really need at least 40MP in a full frame body.
@@jan_wegener Thanks! I'll bring both the R5 and R6 and the 400 mm 2,8 and extenders, but the R5 will be my first choice. Thank you for the feedback!
@@GlennBartley Thanks! I'll bring both the R5 and R6 and the 400 mm 2,8 and extenders, but the R5 will be my first choice. Thank you for the feedback
Oh man, this really brings back great memories of my Panama trip and 2 mornings on Pipeline Road. I didn't see the Oscillated, but I got the Streaked Antpita and that took effort. So difficult, but so exciting.
Very cool!
Loved that guys!!! Can't wait to see more of your Panama trip Glen, sooooooo jealous 😂 ..... Keep up the good work, and the presets are superb i'm using them a lot now, speeds everything up! Cheers and take care JP
That's awesome to hear JP.
Thanks for watching!
Awesome! I used a computer yesterday where I hadn't installed them and I felt lost without the presets, so I quickly installed them, such great helpers, hey?
@@jan_wegener sure are buddy 👌👍
Welcome to sunny Queensland Jan.
thanks
Love watching you guys. So many recognizable stuff. I am off to the jungle of Suriname (North east South America) end of February and can't wait to try and see what my R6 and 100-500 will do. I am still such a video noob though... I assume the b-roll from Glenn is all with the 600/4 on a tripod? How do you Jan psychically handle your R5 and 100-500 when doing hand hold videoing? I struggle to keep the lens at a bird, holding the camera and using the touch screen to aim the focus towards the bird. It will find eyes of course, but all these actions make me feel I am missing an extra arm. Could you give me a few tips on how physically handle the camera when doing hand held video?
I m usually looking through the viewfinder and pressing the camera against my face for extra stability
Yes ideally you are on a tripod. But if not just stabilize your body the best you can.
Then video editing programs have some additional ability to stabilize footage as well.
Welcome to Queensland Jan..so many birds we take for granted in our own area. Have you guys upgraded to firmware 1.5? Just wondering if it had any improvements for bird photography
I don't think there are any noticeable changes for birds. But still might as well just do it.
@@GlennBartley thanks Glenn I saw a review where they were raving about the speed and eye tracking on people and wasn’t sure if that transferred across to birds as well…Canon has my R5 at the moment and they will upgrade the firmware while they have it..will see what it’s like when I get it back. This week hopefully 😬😬😬
I have updated the cameras, but didn't see a huge difference. I did track very well it super tricky light, tho and the eye AF was superior to the normal AF by a mile
@@jan_wegener Thanks Jan.. Can't wait to get my camera back from Canon
The sharpest bird shots I have are the lorikeets, cockatoos and long billed corellas that visit my verandah. I use a Sigma 180 macro and the detail on the close ups I get is insane. It sort of spoils me a bit because shooting more distant birds with a telephoto just doesn't feel the same after that.
yes, nothing beats being up close!
Really enjoyable video
Glad you enjoyed it
Very informative... Thanks for sharing... Jan... When next you are in Indonesia I would love to take you into the mountains for a birding expedition... Maybe when the "CoVid Madness" has died down!
Glenn isn't invited ?? 🤣
Thanks for watching!
@@GlennBartley My new friend Glenn! I regularly watch Jan... I am very enthusiastic about following you as well! You guys BOTH inspire me to do more trekking... Please do come! It would be a real pleasure to host you both!
I’d be curious to see if you would notice a significant improvement in image noise using an R6 in those dark jungles.
Not from my experience with the two cameras
Not so much a noise issue as a loss of resolution. On a full frame body for birds I feel like you really need 30+ MP
At last: both of you "back on track". Glenn back home, Jan arrived to Queensland and also escaped quarantine and somewhat established at the new abode! Such luck on the quarantine hotel bird guests, Jan. Very, *very* nice footage result from you trying not to get batshit crazy cooped up inside for so long. I'm looking forward to new birds on your quests learning your new environment.
Being in explorer mode is a very special excitement!
Glenn: congrats to your *splendid* progress on your "to-do" list of birds to catch on pix in Panama. I have been somewhat impatiently waiting for this update. You certainly didn't disappoint! I hope for more footage & photos in videos to come. Or... will that mostly be on your own YT channel? I'm still a subscriber, but not a very active one, you have kinda slipped a little on the wayside after my main focus shifted Down Under (since that's where I've set my sights as next travel target). I'm subbed to so many YT channels (70+) so it's impossible to be on top of everyone's activity. Especially since I have a channel of my own that I *try* to get the occasional upload to... And shitty material takes SO much work to get anything remotely usable out of!
Yes I'll be making a video blog from my trip on my channel and we may feature it here as well.
Plus a new gallery of images up before the new year.
The best way to get news from me is to be on my free mailing list - www.glennbartley.com/mailinglist.htm
Cheers!
Glenn
Yes, I had to wait months to finally be allowed" to move, crazy times, but much better now and looking forward to the new birds and experiences
I know you both use dxo pure raw at the start of your workflow could you use Denoise to do the same thing and produce dng file? Asking purely as a cost saving question as another £80 or so is just a bit much on top of all the other software.
Topaz Denoise works very good as well. But if you want the best results I think DXO pure raw is the ideal first step. I then also use Denoise...it just doesn't have to work as hard.
Topaz from my understanding only works once the file is in PS\LR, so you're adding noise before removing it, whereas DXO removes the noise first, so I think the file is a bit cleaner
@@GlennBartley Thanks for the responseI kind of know I will end up getting DXO but wanted to see if Topaz could do the job.
@@jan_wegener I have used Topaz as a stand alone prior to LR and it seems to work. Just wondered if the finished effect was as good as DXO. You guys are really exceptional in the images you produce and its very easy to be convinced that by getting these software items we mere mortals can produce images as good. Keep up the videos because you are both so easy to follow and learn from. Happy Xmas to you both.
@@SteveMorrisTCS I have usually better results with DXO
We have chickadees in Ontario Canada that are similar to the lorikeets, in fact they can be very demanding! 😉 They have landed on my camera lens while I was shooting, our hats, definitely our palms of course.
They’re amazing birds!
Definitely something special when they land on you and show that trust. In Canada yes its the chickadees and Gray Jays that are most likely to do so 🙂
@@GlennBartley I did experience a gray jay follow me for a while and I swear he was posing for photos - which I obliged !!
awesome!
Thank you for this video guys. I'm very pleased that you guys are going into the focus problem with EF lenses on the R5. I still have a lot of trouble with that and hope this contributes something in the solution. Question: could you perhaps go into the Cases in the AF menu of R5 and R6. It would be nice to know a little more about that, such as which case is best to use for bird photography (sitting still and/or flying images). Thank you in advance. Martin (The Netherlands)
Your goal is to make the AF sticky. So I would move the sliders to the left.
But this isn't really the same as the AF jumping to the BG. That is a feature of all mirorless cameras and requires your technique in the field to deal with and not a setting.
@@GlennBartley Clear answer Glenn. And you're right about the jump or freeze problem. That is a matter of applying practical solutions in the field. Thank you for your answer.
Check out my video about the R5 settings, I go through my settings there:
ua-cam.com/video/-nnRqgXu7QI/v-deo.html
There's no specific problem with EF lenses on the R5. They are referring to the focusing problems that at the moment happen onall mirrorless cameras with all lenses (if Im not mistaken).
@@jan_wegener Hi Jan,
Thank you for your response. I had seen and tried your video about the settings, but the AF spot does not or hardly work on the branch as in your video. I work with the R5 with the EF 400 F2.8 USM II. In 80% of the cases I have to focus manually first or at least get close to the AF point. I miss a lot of shots with bird photography because of that.
I have now received an e-mail from Canon Tokyo confirming that this is an AF problem with mirrorless cameras, but there is as yet no solution for this. So it remains a question of maximum settings combined with pragmatic solutions in the field (manual focusing). So I'm happy with any tip that helps me with that.
Glenn mentioned one shot when talking about the focusing issues. Can you explain a bit more about that? Normally I point to the ground or do a manual focus to bring it back to focus.
He has his second back button set to Spot AF in One Shot mode, I have it set to Spot AF and AI Servo. His is more geared towards a static bird where he can use one shot even more precisely, and mine allows me to track the bird more actively with either and it focuses in the one spot when I let my finger go. Similar concept really.
@@jan_wegener thanks I use the same method as yours. Thanks for the clarification.
What Jan said... 😎
I would love to see that tutorial on denoising your pictures.
I'll be popping out another one of my "process with me" guides very soon and will cover it.
Stay tuned on my newsletter - www.glennbartley.com/mailinglist.htm
we show it in one of our videos. :
ua-cam.com/video/vZgn8pOlsZ0/v-deo.html
With Pure RAW it's essentially one click, so there's not really much to see. You open the file in the program and then click convert and get your file :)
@@jan_wegener Thank you and happy holidays!
Questions: I've been through your R5 settings videos many times. It seems like the latest R5 firmware update has inspired consternation among eye-AF bird photograpers. I found the update to be "busier" indoors with static bird photos on my TV screen. (Outside winter has been unloading lots of rain and blowing high winds discouraging birds and photographers.) Have you changed your case settings since the 1.5.0 update? Have you found it working fine or behaving less "confident" in it's eye recognition? Let us know if you find alternative case settings better for the current 1.5.0 firmware. Thanks for all your videos.
Don
I have updated my firmware, but not the settings. It does seems to behave slightly different, but not too bad
I have tried to use eye AF with European Cormorants and an R6. When it is coming flying straight at me, the eye AF is less than stellar. Dark eyes and dark bird.
That is indeed a tough challenge. But the camera should still grab the bird if not the eye. Make sure you have a fast enough SS and play around with the AF cases would be my advice.
@@GlennBartley This is not new. My Canon 7D2 AF have had problems before with drab birds and tend to end up tracking the greenery. Particularly in less than stellar light.
Eye AF on my R6 has a tendency to track wet stuff if it can't find an eye. Or track a twig.
It is better than it used to be, but it is annoying. I'm not entirely convinced that the 1.5 firmware is better than 1.4. I suppose that we will never know.
Two elephants in the room. The second being Jan forgot his cap. Thank you both for another great video. I look forward to seeing you both again in the new year. I hope you have a great christmas and a safe, healthy and happy new year. All the best, Brian.
Thanks so much Brian. Same to you!
hehe! Now that I can get haircuts again, I ay leave it off from time to time :D
I am heading to Costa Rica in a month. Never been to that part of the world. What to do pack for clothing, rain jacket Etc
Ya definitely a rain shell and good waterproof hikers. Layers are always smart. And tech fabrics that dry quickly.
Enjoy!
Sounds awesome! Yes, it's time for it to go
Great stuff. Were you happy to have 600 f/4 or would you have preferred 400 f/2.8?
I assume this is aimed at Glenn, but I would never trade my 600 for a 400
@@jan_wegener Yes it was. Just wondering if he missed a 600 with the small birds but the 2.8 was better to have.
@@grega9220 DOF becomes quite shallow at 2.8, too
That was a very joyfull episode to watch! You guys seemed so refreshed and the vibe was just amazing! I hope this is not the last episode this year? I wanted to ask: Have you experienced a ‘black out’ on stills? (R5). I am talking about in the first 20 frames or so camera freezes and it takes like 10 seconds or so to get live to it? Sometimes takes a swich off and on. It is not memory card issue (using the most expensive CFast) I had my camera to the servise - they didn’t find anything. Tried it with the RF lens to be sure that EF lenses doesn’t cause it- same issue. Updated firmware to 1.5, but the weather doesn’t allow to run test if the problem is still here. I hope it is gone, otherwise I will be the only human on this planet that will be dissapointed with very expensive camera.
If it's not the memory that definitely sounds strange... I think I buffered out once on this entire trip...
@@GlennBartley the problem is I don’t get the chance to buffer it out. But I will soon try it out with new firmware update. The snow and frost is coming - there will be some kind of light 😊. I should probably mention that I am not newby to photography. Just wanted to hear if there is anybody out there that faced same issue. Thanks for replying.
Awesome! Travelling and being in a new places with much better vibes seems to have transpired into the video :)
I did have a faulty memory card once that caused issue, and even though it was still working, it caused the camera to freeze at times at start up. Does it always happen with the same card?
I only had my R5 freeze when photographing once and only one of mine, the other one never froze.
@@jan_wegener thank you for your answer. It is a good question about the card. I believe I have used CFast from Sandisc all the time, because it is the fastest. The SD card is from Sandisc aswell. I have to look into it. Congratulations on the move (it is never an easy decision). Looking so much forward for your new adventures!!!
@@rasaohmann9742 Yes, just try a different card and see if it still happens.
Hi Jan. Just to tell that this episode is not in the Bird Photography Show Playlist. Best Regards!
Oh thanks!
Thats an amazing macro shot! Only time I've attempted something like that was with Apostlebirds with a 24-105mm lens at min focus distance, unfortunately the eye is recessed so with that in focus the whole head is out of focus and that's at f10. Even then, it still didn't didn't even get close to the amount of detail compared to that lorikeet 😲
That's where the long lens seems to help and the right light and eye colour
I was wondering what Proset is in your post-shoot process.
I think he used the Vibrant Jack of all trades. That's what I use a lot as well ore the Vibrant more contrast. Two of my faves
Welcome Jan to QLD
Whatever you do, don't believe the Bin Chickens are rare up here hehe
Thanks for watching Mark!
@@GlennBartley a pleasure.
Nosy Swede here: which one are "Bin Chickens"? Sulphur-crested C's??
@@Hummingbirder1 White Ibis
lot's of brush turkeys around, too :D
Nice work as usual! Oh, what is this lockdown stuff? Welcome to the land of not lockdowns. Texas has over 600 species. Come. Visit.
Haha...
I always loved Texas :)
👍👍 Happy 👍👍
Mirrorless focusing issues?
There are a few unique challenges indeed.
@@GlennBartley Don't think I've ran into any...
If you use it right it will not really show up, but there's a lot of people talking about it, so I wanted to pick up on it :)
now imagine the same video in 2024 :) with new cameras and lenses :) I love preogress, especially as I started with a 4x5 inch plate film camerea and shot 4 to 5 photos in an afternoon and then I was bankrupt as a poor student :(
Yes, it will only get easier :)
Thanks guys really great tips as I have just started to use my RF 100-500 lens, had great fun with the R5 in Antarctica! Although was using RF24-240 and RF800 which created a bit of lens envy although there were a few professionals on the trip😎
I bet that was a fantastic trip!
Cheers Tony!
with nice light the 800 is very good
Hi guys, I enjoy and learn from watching your shows. Please stop being lazy with your language by using the word LIKE. Its not part of our language an really lets yourselves down. Have a listen to your own presentation and see how silly and unnecessary it is. A terrible bad habit.
Keep up the good work.
From Hoarie a Queenslander
Ok, that sounds like a good idea :D
Your government is out of control... 2 weeks of isolation?
But they sure do have some pretty birds 🤔
That is crazy you had to stay in a hotel for two weeks, I can’t believe Australians are putting up with that nonsense.