A Few Shots with the R5 and RF 200-800

[Tronhard]

This is my latest in the series of shots to investigate the relative performance of different FF R bodies with the RF 200-800 lens, shooting hand-held, available (often very dim) light, because it's winter here and the sun is often not penetrating to the bush floor.  Again, I am shooting in the same environment, for comparison purposes.

If you have ever tried shooting otters, they are always on the go - extremely fast moving, yet to focusing system of the camera and lens was able to keep up - my reactions were the limiting factor!

R5, RF 200-800@258mm, f/8, 1/200sec, ISO-3200

This Kereru (Native Wood Pigeon) was in extremely dark bush - no direct light, and I was shooting through a lot of vegetation.  That is where my single point focus and metering came tot he fore.

R5, RF 200-800@300mm, f/8, 1/125sec, ISO-3200 R5, RF 200-800@288mm, f/8, 1/80sec, ISO-3200

Finally, the Kea - the only direct light was behind it on the vegetation.
R5, RF 200-800@637mm, f/9, 1/125sec, ISO-3200

[Addisonjones]

The kea😍❤️😍. Everything about it is so beautiful . I love the coloring and textures so much. 

[Tronhard]

Thanks Addison:

The Kea is the world's only alpine parrot and is unique to NZ high country in the South Island.  It is one of the world most intelligent birds, and has to be to survive in its hostile environment.   Various tests have been done by the Dept of Conservation (DoC) and academia and they suggest that Kea have about the same intelligence level as a human toddler.  Certainly, I have been witness to experiments that demonstrate how quickly they learn and how they can cooperate, sharing information on how to solve challenges.  They can also assess probability - done by assigning colours associated with favourite foods and in short order they went for the most of the preferred colours.

The do get an unfortunate reputation though.  Because of their curious and fun approach to life, they like to explore things, resulting in them removing the rubber from cars, undoing tyre pressure caps and deflating them (one of my colleagues came back to 3 flats!), and they will open packs, undo shoe laces and either chop them into small sections or fly off with them.  Still, we come to their environment, so I just take precautions, such as bringing shoes and packs into huts.  They are marvelous to watch, and their green camouflage hides a very bright red set of underwing feathers so they can find each other in the dim skies.

Sadly, they have become endangered, in part because of a misguided and massive cull of them (over 2000,000) back in the 1960-70's by farmers who didn't want them bothering their sheep.  They have not really recovered because of predators we have let loose: cats, rats, stoats and possums take their toll.   They are my favourite bird.