I sat in my hide today waiting for the Barn Owl to land on the post i placed out side the hide. It didn’t take the bait and kept quartering around the field. I had chosen the Sony 100-400 today to do the video on the post so as you can imagine the owl looked so far away dropping down from the 200-600 but still with the APS.C mode on the A7r4 i switched to see what i could get. The light was poor and i decided to use ISO 500 but after looking at them i was under exposed so a tweak in that direction would have given me better image quality.
But my learning was harsh but i know if the Barn Owl comes close i will get some great images with some nice light to help me as well.
When you have a choice of lens to fit to a 61mp camera you open up so many photographic opportunities. Its a joy to have a camera i can use and get so much joy out of, no need to look anywhere else for a long time to come. This is the first time in my career i have felt so at ease with my equipment and confident that what ever i film i have faith in the glass and the sensor that produce such amazing images, with detail up matched.
When you don’t need to Sharpen in post process it tells you one thing that the image is sharp enough. This is the first time when i edit that i just crop and maybe increase my exposure or shadow, other than that all my images are just right. I feel by using the A7r4 for Wildlife, Portrait, Street, Creative, Landscape and other styles of photography i have learned about the camera and no what it can produce. So by using the camera everyday for over 12 months has paid massive dividends.
100-400 G master with 1,4 ext fitted.
While out yesterday i wanted to test the 1.4 Ext on the 100-400 and just test it on a few random objects for image quality as i always think by adding more glass to any lens will effect IQ. So the Flag i took was at 100mm then 400mm then i used the APS-C mode.
So for anyone that is not familiar with the ext the lens becomes 140mm at 100mm, 400mm becomes 560mm and using the APS-C mode becomes 840mm
The last image is cropped to show the IQ you get after using the ext and cropping right in using the massive 61 mp
100-400 +1.4 EXT 560mm100-400 + 1.4 ext using APS-C mode Cropped from first image in set
All images were Handheld using Steadyshot mode 1.
Hope this helps anyone thinking of a camera that will capture images this far away.
The last images are of the little dog i captured running for its ball.
Today with the sun shining made way along the coast slowly with the waves crashing in it felt lovely with the ice cold east wind blowing on my bald head, but feeling of walking again free with no worries about my right ankle it just felt great. I walked for about 3km and on the way i was looking out for people with dogs. The dog in full flight is great practice for panning and testing the different settings on the camera and glass.
So today instead of my trusty 200-600 i took the G Master 100-400 out with the Sony1.4 ext in my pocket. I soon found a lady with a young German shepherd who kindly let me take a few shots of it running for the ball. I used the Tracking Zone for these with the Green square locking onto the dog and never loosing focus, sadly the back ground was to busy so i was only happy with one image.
Sitting down for a while it was very quiet on the beach then i saw a Spaniel carrying a huge log from the sea, no it was not going to give it up so with the 100-400 it made life very easy to capture the action before it anyway near me.
What i love about the 7r4 is how far you can be away from your subject and still have the confidence to take a picture knowing you can crop until your hearts content and still retain fantastic image quality.
Then a lady came on the beach with a 18 month old dog that had a lovely coat on, so i asked her would it be ok to take some images of her dog. The first few were a bit to close so i let her walk up the beach and on her return i took some of the dog running towards me.
Making my way back to my car i noticed the Ferry out at sea a thought it would be a good idea to show people who are thinking of the Sony A7r4 how you can capture things way out in the distance. So i took 3 images of the ferry, the Ist image was at 100mm, then one at 400mm then using the APS-C mode i took the final one.
I came across the lovely guy from the midlands and i could not resist the chance to capture him, i didn’t get his name but the little sweet dog sitting like the Queen in her buggy in the sun on Blackpool front made a great image
Rons life through the lens 