Bald Eagle Birding in the South Bay + Comparison between the RF 100-500mm (+1.4 TC) vs 800 mm.

[@DCFotographs]

Great video! Bay area native myself and so good to see the bald eagles in the bay

[@rikratelband6427]

Nice vid. Especially comparison between the RF 800 (I own) and the much more expensive RF 100-500mm lens. I like your work, keep on goimg!

[@spedobill]

I love you videos. Years ago, I would regularly take my boat up and down the Mississippi River and capture some AWSOME images. Unfortunately my canon bodies slowly diminished in performance and my lens went to storage. Strolling about on the internet I can across your videos and reignited my photo interests. My R7 is to be delivered Monday. Thank you👍

[@lets_go_birding9096]

You're going to love that R7! Still my main camera for most of my outings! My R5 and R6mii are more specialty cameras that I pullout for special situations--low light and birds in flight, respectively. Enjoy!

[@RogerZoul]

Nice video. I do find that I can go substantially lower than “1/focal length” with that gear on the r5, which helps keep the ISO under control. I just take several shots when doing that and in most cases I get several sharp shots at better ISOs. As for the 800 vs the 1-500+TC, yes, the 800 can be sharp, but it can also be slow to focus when you need speed and the MFD sucks. Still, for the price it is a great buy and for causal shooters it may be all one needs (hard to justify pairing with an r5 unless you just do birding occasionally and mainly use the r5 for other stuff).

[@simplesimon755]

Looks like a fun day. I really liked the look of that 800mm. It almost looked 3 dimensional. I don't know much about either lens so I can only say that the shot looked impressive. Good work!

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Thanks for the reply :-) it was a lot of fun and that 800 mm prime ($1000 US) really has its up-and-downs. On this day and in this light with stabilized against a fence post, it was similar if not better compared to the 100-500 + 1.4TC (~$3300 US). But in a recent shoot out, it didn't do well. However, for only $1000 US, I think its a great starting lens if your a birder-- if you live in an area that has lots of sunny days that is. It's at F11!

[@barnowlwatcher]

This was interesting! Can you tell me what park you were at? We are in Palo Alto. We did get lucky once many years ago and saw a pair of Golden Eagles soaring over the foothills in the South Bay. And once, on a golf course between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay we had a pair of condors soaring overhead. It was incredible to see them and their size, with the distinct white spot underneath. Can you share some of your photos/videos of the Bald Eagle nest with the hawklet? There have been a couple of successful fledges documented by David Hancock and Christian Sasse. Guessing you know about them?

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Hi, check out my Facebook page (doug gillard) and you can see tons of pictures of the adopted hawklet story. facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079289180255

[@albireo9]

Joseph D. Grant County Park

[@barnowlwatcher]

@@albireo9 Thanks! So much to explore here in the Bay Area.

[@barnowlwatcher]

@@lets_go_birding9096 Thanks, yes, I am now following and joined the group.