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Trying out the RF 24-240 on Wildlife with the R5

Tronhard
Elite
Elite

The R5, at 45MP is a fairly unforgiving unit as regards being used with poor technique or lens technology.   I have the Rf 24-105L and 100-500L units and have used them to great effect with R5 and R6 bodies.  On the R6, the RF24-240 worked well enough in the situation in which I used it - more static object.  I wanted to 'stress test' this lens on the R5 to see what the lens would, and would not handle.

So, I took myself to my local gannet colony, which is very busy with new birds arriving, pairing up, mating and nesting: it's too early for hatchlings yet.   When arrived I was treated to a coast swathed in sea mist, and that was an easy shot for the lens to deal with.

Canon EOS R5, RF 24-240@28mm, f/10, 1/400sec, ISO-200Canon EOS R5, RF 24-240@28mm, f/10, 1/400sec, ISO-200

So I began by photographing relatively static birds as they paired and nested.

140mm, f/7.1, 1/1600sec, ISO-200140mm, f/7.1, 1/1600sec, ISO-200

For those sitting on an egg, the boredom of the whole thing is relieved by frequent preening - much like some humans under lockdown!   This image is heavily cropped from the original, which was in landscape more and had the whole bird, furthermore, I had set the R5 to a 1.6x crop, so the equivalent FoV at 240mm was then equivalent to that of a 400mm on FF mode.

R5 set to 1.6xcrop, thus 250 to 400mm FoV, f/6.3, 1/500sec, ISO-250R5 set to 1.6xcrop, thus 250 to 400mm FoV, f/6.3, 1/500sec, ISO-250

As a general-purpose walk around lens, it does not have the blazing speed of the RF-L units, so my keeper rate from the birds on the wing, moving fast and unpredictably, was not a high as the high-end ones, but still respectable.  That said, with the animal eye tracking and great focusing of the R-series bodies, it did a great job!

240mm, f/9, 1/500sec, ISO-200240mm, f/9, 1/500sec, ISO-200

I deliberately chose this shot to see how the system would cope with a cluttered and almost identical background - and again, I think it did OK.

240mm, f/7.1, 1/5000sec, ISO-200240mm, f/7.1, 1/5000sec, ISO-200

In summary: having the RF100-500L available, while the R5 with  the 24-240 would not be my go-to combination for wildlife, it did get reasonable results, albeit with a higher attrition rate.  Certainly for its zoom range, the lens does an good job.  These images have all been significantly downsized and, in some cases, cropped to fit with the 5MP image limit.


cheers, TREVOR

"The Amount of Misery expands to fill the space available"
"All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow", Leo Tolstoy;
"Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not by purchase" Percy W. Harris
11 REPLIES 11

shariargent
Contributor

Trevor, firstly where are you located?  We live in Tenby Wales more than half the year and I totally agree the R5 and my RF 100-500 is brilliant.  But if I have to take one lens to St Helena and get half as good of images with the RF 24-240 as you have with my R5, I will be so happy.  Weight is the problem and you have shown me with your beautiful images that this lens can work.  Many thanks!  

Thank you for your generous words.

I live in Auckland New Zealand!


cheers, TREVOR

"The Amount of Misery expands to fill the space available"
"All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow", Leo Tolstoy;
"Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not by purchase" Percy W. Harris
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