My Session Was Ruined with Soft Shots! Here's Why...

I share why many of my photos were soft when I went out recently with the Canon R7 & 200-800. I hope you found this video helpful, and I would love to hear from you in the comments if you have experienced heat haze. Cheers, Duade
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Chapters
00:00 Canon RF200-800 f/9
01:58 Soft Shots
03:59 Heat Haze
07:30 Flight Shots
03:27 Crested Tern Colony
09:00 Purple Swamphen
09:50 Final Thoughts
14:51 Conclusion
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[@joanhuggett5164]

Recently watched a UK channel talking about this very thing ('Wildlife Photographer UK' Ashley Barnard). He took the lens hood off and the heat haze was gone from his images. The distortion was from the different temperature in the hood to the outside cold. Thought I'd just share this with you Duade.

[@TomasZachar]

this is a very interesting insight

[@1964pmitchell]

Experienced exact same issue with the Sony 200-600, shooting without the lens hood sorted my problems.

[@TomasZachar]

@@1964pmitchell i Will definitely try with my R7 + SIGMA 150-600

[@Angelo_Paduraru]

Another wonderful information! Thanks!

[@davet3530]

Wow, never heard of this. Must try it out. Thanks.

[@jyoungtricks]

These honest videos are absolutely great... Someone like me who is on a budget, these videos are very important so I can really make a decision on where my money goes without just looking at specs on paper

[@cooloox]

Heat haze affects any camera's images, as shown in the video (Jan's R5 images were soft too, due to heat haze). So the specs really didn't come into it. If you mean poor noise/IQ when underexposing in low light with an APS-C camera, that will happen on all APS-C cameras. Even the cheapest FF Canon RP is vastly superior in this regard.

[@jyoungtricks]

@@cooloox which is good to know when someone buys this lens and thinks they may have wasted their money when they havent... As I said these videos are very important for people like me who are on a budget and don't want to rely on specs on paper, I want real world information

[@Duade]

It is my pleasure, just sharing my experience and learning at the same time. Cheers, Duade

[@simonthibodeau7082]

I'm really glad you didn't scrap the video and turned it into a teaching moment! Thanks Duade! Can't wait for the full review!

[@matt2077]

Steve Perry has an excellent video on haze caused by the lens hood as well. If you don’t let your gear acclimate to the outside temp for about 10-15 minutes when there are big swings you can actually have a temp difference right in front of the glass. Worth checking out and it’s a great explanation

[@wellingtoncrescent2480]

For those of us in cold climates (like northern Canada), it's especially good on how warm air gets trapped in the lens hood. The link for Steve's video is kzbin.info/www/bejne/eGWVn4udjrqqr9Esi=AKY-pSLQcQ8Lj3Qe

[@Duade]

Thanks for sharing, sounds like I need to give that a try, Cheers, Duade

[@dougcoxon5596]

Steve’s video is very insightful. I learned to keep the car heater off, open the passenger window and shutoff the vehicle as soon as I arrive at a shoot, especially if shooting from the vehicle. Anytime you have a temperature differential you are risking heat haze, especially with long telephotos.

[@barrymiller526]

As well as wildlife I do quite a lot of aviation photography and heat haze is a real problem when trying to shoot aircraft landing or taking off. A case in point is when I was on holiday in Australia last September, I visited the observation area for Perth Airport and the heat haze was so bad O could only shoot aircraft as they took off and where ate least 50 metres up. I was using an R6 with the RF 100-500mm

[@jaya.v.5093]

I live in Spain and this happens to me all the time, specially when photographing over water surfaces. The APSC format makes you try longer distances, which compounds the problem. You just have to be aware of it and try to be closer and avoid certain situations or times of day. Very tricky!

[@Duade]

Thanks for sharing your experience, Cheers, Duade

[@Angelo_Paduraru]

Oh god, so good to know this, very many of us think that the gear is the problem.. thanks for this precious information !!!

[@Duade]

My pleasure, Cheers, Duade

[@S0me_Aussie_Guy]

hey duade, your description of how heat haze is produced is pretty much spot on. Air acts no different to a fluid. Hot air is less dense than cold air and therefore rises, not mix with the cold air. light will behave differently through different air densities in that it will distort or bend the light ever so slightly as we see on hot days. The higher the focal length, the more pronounced this will appear. Its a big issue for large telescopes and observatories, hence why some observatories are located on a tall mountain (mauna loa in hawaii comes to mind) because the heat haze or any form of mirage is greatly reduced from the thinner air. I work in environmental and do alot of field work in the west australian goldfields and pilbara but i also get an opportunity to take photos for work. it gets bloody hot there (30-40+) and so photographing a target is impossible at 30 meters and above. the only way to lessen is to get as close to the target as possible so light has less distance to travel and lower the focal range. bit tricky but patience pays off eventually

[@rggfishing5234]

Um, air is a fluid

[@Duade]

Thanks for sharing mate, I appreciate it, some great wildlife out your way. Cheers, Duade

[@RockPolitics]

You went to the trouble of taking a lot more shots with the 200-800 on the R7 because a lot of your viewers have that camera. That, in itself, is remarkable and an example of what makes your channel so wonderful. You provide some very practical advice, as well as inspiration - and some really nice images to look at. I live in Texas. We get some ridiculous heat haze. But what you're describing, with the air layers, we refer to as a "temperature inversion". We usually see it in the cooler months, and usually in the mornings. And, yes, there are weird issues with light being reflected. So much so that the top layer of air can act as a reflector, and somewhere in between there is a lensing effect. We were driving very early one morning and I looked out over a bay that I have known since childhood. I could see fishing boats heading out, on the back side of a spoil island, and they seemed oddly magnified in size. Then I realized... I have looked out at that scene my whole life. That island sticks up too far to see the water on the other side. I couldn't possibly be seeing what I was seeing. Then I realized that the boats looked much too large, considering the distance to them. I could make out the people in them clearly, as if I was looking at a magnified image. The light from off of the water was striking the bottom of the inversion layer and being reflected back down to our eyes. If you've ever shined a light onto water at night, you know that the water surface reflects a lot of that light, and only a portion goes into the water. What most people don't know is that the bottom side of the water does the same thing. If you use an underwater light for fishing, a lot of its light will be reflected back down by the surface layer. For people who missed it, you had a shot of a swan where you said the AF "grabbed the eye". So your focus distance was perfect, but the light reaching your lens was scattered, and the shot was "soft". But not the kind of soft we usually think of, because that usually has to do with focus, depth of field, etc. What you had was light from the same spot on the subject striking your lens at different locations. That's from light being reflected and refracted within that inversion layer. Not to sound like a broken record, but the ISO issues you had in that early morning time is exactly what I have tried to warn people about with the 200-800. Humans love early mornings and late evenings, and we love to take photos during those Golden Half Hours. I still think that a LOT of enthusiastic amateurs are going to be disappointed when they see the images they are getting in those hours. Or maybe the images will be good enough for them. If they're shooting mostly stationary subjects and able to slow the shutter sufficiently. But you (and Jan) specialize in birds, and for birds that lens is a bit of a hard sell for me, for the reason I just stated.

[@timbuckleyvideos]

OMG! Fantastic insight! I can think of a dozen or so times I was unable to get sharp images without any thought of heat haze (or any visible shimmer) but from what you've shared with us I can now see that's what it was! I am now signing up for membership :)

[@philgrobler350]

Excellent reminder, thanks Duade! Fabulous video!

[@xwhite2020]

It's so good having this info that you and Jan provide. Helps so much. Thanks.

[@thomashusser9391]

I shoot with the R5 and RF 100-500 combo and I have experienced this on a few wildlife shoots. Like you, I was shooting early morning in a wet environment. I could not sort out the root cause and it left me pretty frustrated. After each failed shoot, I would set up in the backyard and try to make sense of what was happening. I had presumed that I had somehow made adjustments in setting unintentionally. Thanks for this video. I will be more careful about the weather conditions when I head.

[@ammadoux]

heat haze Duade is the story of my life, i go to the desert and larks, buntings and babblers are all over me, but all shots and way less than what i get in my garden shots, so i learnt to hold my camera until one lark or something decide to come close about 5 meters or less then i take shots. yes if you stay quite birds will come to you even if you don't use camouflage. and yes car shots during summer time all bad specially if the bird far. thank sa million for answering all my questions about the problem. i live in Jeddah on the Red sea.

[@jthommo101]

Interesting! Thanks for the info Duade

[@tonyblake8841]

Hi Duade, definitely struck this problem in the early morning in Brisbane lately in swampy areas. Temperature around 25°C and relative humidity around 90%. Day temperatures in the low 30°‘s C means ground warmer early than air. So much for the golden hour. Better a few hours after sunrise. It makes you think of using these super long lenses these days when looking for reach as opposed to just filling the frame. The new OM 150-600 is 1200mm FFE, up to 2400mm FFE it’s a 2x TC. For me 800mm is about as much as you generally want to go unless really good conditions. It’s funny how we are talking about this with the heat of summer and our friends on the other side of the World have the same problem with the cold. I have noticed similar issues if shooting across a light coloured path into a grassed area swampy or not. The shimmer off a warm path can be really impactful even over a short distance.

[@Duade]

Thanks for sharing Tony, many good points, yes, I suspect nearly everyone gets impacted by it at some point so I am happy the video has been well recieved and everyone is learning from each other. Cheers, Duade

[@micahboyce_photography]

Your videos always make my day better thanks so much for all the work you put in to them 🤙 And I'm pretty new so I haven't experienced heat haze 😁

[@robertharvey2580]

Thank you for this video. I live in the desert, in the Southwest US, and I’ve experienced this a few times with the RF 100-500. I was stumped as to what was going on until now.

[@mjpt57]

This explains a few things that I've experienced when using my longer lenses. Thanks for this, Duade.

[@Duade]

My pleasure, Cheers, Duade

[@DuckMisty]

I've had photos ruined by heat haze early one morning when shooting low level shots of a bird that was only 4 or 5 metres away. I didn't want to have my tripod extended because I would be looking down on the bird so I dropped it down to 0.5 metres. A great viewpoint but I nearly cried at the results. It was a spring morning with strong sunshine but the ground had been frozen overnight.

[@Duade]

Yep, It is very hard looking at soft photos when you though they were sharp. Cheers, Duade

[@CarolSperoni]

I watched the same programme, very true. Also beneficial to leave your camera bag in the coldest room in the house overnight before a shoot, leaves less time for your gear to acclimatise when you get to your chosen photo shoot.

[@geoffanderson5144]

Such a great video! Thanks a bunch for expanding on this. Im looking at going to that same combo, R7 +200-800 and i hear/read so much bad about it, but this makes complete sense and makes me feel better about considering that combo

[@johndownie7735]

Thanks for this video Duade, I had been mystified why some shots I took of a Wedgetailed Eagle feeding on the roadside in South Australia were so bad, the bird was soft and the dry grass background unbelievably messy. Now I know, heat haze! Keep up the good work!

[@bears_sit_in_the_woods]

Great video!! I've never had this issue, but I'll store this away in my memory for when it happens. Thanks for sharing your experience with us!

[@MrSonicAlchemy]

Great information and super helpful in explaining this frustrating phenomenon! Thanks Duade!

[@Duade]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Klamul]

Thanks for video, I wait everytime new video from you :)

[@bjrn-einarnilsen687]

Great video of an important topic mate. Here in Brazil we have a lot of heat haze, so it's a problem i know very well. But i am sure there are many out there that have been thinking that it is the equipment that was the problem. So this video will for sure be of very good help for many. Wishing you a wonderful weekend. Cheers, Bjoern

[@rayl801]

Thank you, thank you, thank you Duade! I am so glad that you have provided this video to show us that we / I am not the only one that can go out and not seem to get any sharp or otherwise great bird photos. I have been struggling at times with my R7 and R5 with the highly praised RF 100-500L lens and had similar results no matter how many various camera settings that I have tried based on many different "how to" videos on KZbin. I will definitely not give up now knowing that heat haze can get us in surprising ways, and also great feedback from the comments supplied by your viewers about taking off the lens hood if there are difficulties in getting sharp photos. I have always used my lens hood, not only for sunny lens flare concerns, but also for general protection against lens damage due to knocks, minor drops, etc. Thanks again for your insightful and comforting videos.

[@Duade]

No problem, it is likely an issue shooting from your car or over water etc if there is this variation in temperature. Lens hood is still an important tool to protect your glass but I will remove and reattach to make sure no hot air in hood if I have this issue again. Cheers, Duade

[@bricoschmoo1897]

Hi, thank you for this video! I immediately thought about heat haze with the first pic. That's something that I have to deal quite often in France. When that happens to you, try removing the lens hood and putting it back on to replace the trapped hot air from your bag / vehicle. It's hard to believe how good these buckets are at trapping hot air just in front of the lens. Of course, if the heat haze happens further away, between you and the subject, there's not much to do. The first time I noticed this in my photography, I was attemting to take shots just above a road that had time to heat up during the day. I didn't even know about heat haze before that, nor how destructive it can be for image quality.

[@Duade]

Thanks for sharing and great tips, Cheers, Duade

[@bricoschmoo1897]

@@Duade Thank you for sharing all your experiences !

[@stephenbarlow2493]

Brilliant topic. I think the term heat haze is misleading because as you point you, it is heat difference, air disturbance. I do a lot of my photography on a large peatland, and the atmospheric disturbance is terrible at times. I''ve had similar problems over water. These problems even occur when it is freezing, but usually when there is direct sun. I've suddenly thought, there's something wrong with my AF, my lens, shutter shock or whatever. I think the most reliable guide is to look for the plane of focus elsewhere in the image. It's clear with that Coot on your photo, where the vegetation on the sharpest plane of focus, is also fuzzy. If you see, some sharp detail on the plane of focus, elsewhere, your focus is off. On the same peatland site I mention, you will get sharp photos of flying birds at the same time you can't get anything sharp on the ground. I've still to decide whether the 100-500 or 200-800mm to go with my R7, as I'm still using the 100-400mm mkII.

[@The-skillschool]

Great information thanks for your thoughts.

[@Weemala]

Another great video. Thank you Duade. I have been taking photographs for 62 years. It is the experience of photography that matters to me. To have a, lovely, photo of a bird or animal I saw is what matters. Cheers Judith

[@adriandivincenzo4663]

Hi Duade, your timing is impeccable with this video. My friend and I just came back from Hattah last weekend and experienced nothing but heat haze. Admittedly not the ideal time to visit the mallee, but unfortunately came away with about 2000 useless shots! Lesson learnt!😢

[@timothyconner3474]

I have experienced this on cold mornings in florida. Did not realize this was the reason. Thanks for pointing this out.

[@simongurvets7634]

The contrast between those early photos and the sharp swamphen is insane - great video!

[@deanroslynmengel5575]

Very interesting Duade - Thanks.

[@AlainCh2.]

I was aware of heat haze, but not on the level you explained and showed. My 180-600Z usually sharp tack, was really soft on some low-light shots, couldn't give it a reason. I don't use the hood but stuck a 120€ protection filter in front. Removed it, no more haze, and sharp shot even without the hood. You have to understand... as you did and demonstrated ... the real reason for what's happening, instead of judging the situation "by simple defaults" ... Too many opportunities to take it wrong !!! Heat Haze, Damaged lens, Hot Hood, or a bad copy of the filter .... A great thanks ( as per usual ) to you for sharing your Joy.... both in success and in mystery mistakes !!!!

[@cguerrieri4866]

Great problem solving! Thank you

[@sensingangelsphotography4291]

Very interesting! I would not have thought of this! Thanks for sharing. My lens arrives next week! Can't wait to test it out! Jodes.

[@davidserradilla9574]

Hello Duade, I have been living in the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain for two years. I moved here because I can observe one of the largest bird migrations in the world (the pre-breeding one from Africa to Europe and the post-breeding one from Europe to Africa). To give you an idea...around 400,000 birds of different species come and go. I have the opportunity to photograph many of them and I can confirm that what you say in this video is true. Heat haze affects the sharpness of photos. In my case, not only at ground level, due to thermal currents (which are the birds' elevators to gain height) many photos come out with Heat haze but at heights of 100 meters. It is clear that the proximity of the sea and the thermals cause Heat haze. Thanks for your videos!! Greetings from Spain. David!

[@OldJack1960]

An experience similar to the guy from Holland, a very cold UK winter's day and stopped the car to get out and take a few shots of Mandarin ducks on an iced-over lake, using the roof and beanbag for support. All were rubbish by even my modest standards which I blamed on the RF600 f11(a handy scapegoat for my many limitations!) until I learned from Simon d'Entremont that - as you rightly say - I was shooting through a heat haze caused by the warm car and, no doubt, a second one rising from the water. Great vid as always!

[@jbaswoll3221]

Duade, I'm glad you made this video. a couple weeks back exactly the same happened to me with the Sony A6700. I was backlit in my situation and a wide open lake on a cold morning as well. I finally just thought that I need to get more familiar with my new camera, as I usually use a full frame camera as well. Right after I noticed my soft photos I went on the other side of the lake where there was more shade that covered the lake and all my photos were sharp.... so your observation makes more sense to me!

[@archiemccafferty9136]

Thanks for sharing this video Duade!! Just ANOTHER obstacle us photographers have to contend with......

[@gregmartin1615]

Great, honest video. Thank you

[@TaiwanisMoving]

Have an R7 and contemplating upgrading to the 200-800. Very useful video, thank you Duade

[@Duade]

Thanks mate, will try and get some more shots for the review, Cheers, Duade

[@juddpatterson]

Great video on heat haze, Duade! I definitely encounter heat haze in some of the classic situations you described, but the most surprising to me was up in the Alaskan arctic in summer. My buddies and I kept encountering focus issues and heat haze way more often than our typical shooting to the south. Weird things happen with 22 hours of sunlight!

[@MohammadKhan-nb5xl]

No limit of learning new things for photography. Thank you very very very much...

[@harshad6489]

I always love your detailed review of the photography gear be it new lenses, or camera bodies. I hope you will test the RF 200-800 mm on the R6 Mk.2 as I am looking forward in future to have this combo. Hoping for a detailed video from your end. Keep up the good work. Cheers...!!!

[@ww3688]

Great video on the effects of heat haze. Excellent sharing of experiences from viewers as well! Acclimatizing your gear is important. Steam fog occurs in the fall when water temperatures don't cool right away but air temperature does.

[@Duade]

Thanks Winston, yes, wonderful comments and community input. Cheers, Duade

[@mattflorez2183]

Yes I get heat distortion fairly frequently, when shooting early mornings at the beach or any kind of water. It’s not all the time but certainly happens when I have a really nice shot otherwise. And that’s with the r7 and the 100-400, it happened so much at first I thought the lens or the camera body was defective but the sharp pics are really sharp, and after experimenting I figured out I what it was. There’s a few national wildlife refuges that have wildlife drives where you’re prohibited from getting out of your car, so I’ll stretch that rule in certain cases by turning the car completely off, and leaning halfway out of my window haha.

[@Duade]

Thanks for sharing mate and glad you figured it out on your own, can be very frustrating and confusing otherwise. Good idea re the car. Cheers, Duade

[@Hodenkat]

Hey Duade! I find it amazing how well our eyes work compared to a camera's AF. Maybe one day, with AI, a lot of distractions that ruin a shot now will be eliminated or greatly reduced. I may be picking up this lens in a few months, so I'm excited to see that great results can be had under the right conditions. Until autofocus gets almost as good as our eyes, we will all need all the advice like this you've been giving the photography community for all of these years! Thank you!

[@ludowild]

Hello Duade, thank you for sharing this! it's a common phenomenon here in France, especially when I'm in the middle of the water with my floating hide because in addition I'm at water level with my Canon R7 and my RF200-800! an example last week we are in winter here we had 8 to 10° in the morning quite early (in principle it is between -5 and 2 or 3°) the water was at 4 or 5 degrees...In very good weather time the force of the sun's rays quickly warms the surface of the water! It's difficult to get sharp photos in these conditions! A little tip: sometimes removing the sun hood allows you to regain sharpness because the hot air circulating inside it reinforces the problem! This also leads us to a form of humility whatever our equipment, it remains wild photography and fortunately we have no control over certain phenomena, certain disturbances! This is also the beauty of adventure -)

[@iaincathro3373]

Another really good informative video. In Scotland, we don't get much in the way of heat haze, I must admit. But even less light and the R7 really struggles with noise as you say. And that's with the exposure nailed on......

[@Twobarpsi]

Excellent video and information!

[@user-nj8tk3cy1g]

I recently invested in a Nikon Z8 and was keen to get out into the field and start shooting. I went to a wetland with extensive mudflats to photograph some waders. During the session I encountered some Red capped Plovers which I was able to lie down on the mud and get some great shots. Unfortunately to my great disappointment none of the images were sharp. So here I am having invested a small fortune only to get soft images. The same thing happened the following day and has happened on a couple of occasions since. Always the same scenario shooting close to the ground on hot days. Clearly heat haze as I don’t encounter the problem in other situations. It was good to hear that even experienced people like yourself encounter the same issues. Thanks again for the video. I enjoy your channel immensely.

[@denisesavage2382]

I hadn't thought of heat haze being an issue like that before. Interesting and worth keeping in mind.

[@PaulBawby]

Great video and very useful information. I remember shooting a sandpiper last summer in similar conditions (early in the morning when the ground was warm and the air cool) and being very disappointed that pretty much all the photos were soft and couldn't figure out what I had done wrong. I thought heat haze was more a middle of the day issue (or shooting from a warm car on a cold day) but now I know better. Thanks for sharing this valuable piece of information.

[@360VideosVR]

Hey Duade, it would be interesting to see if standing shots also suffered as much as laying down at water level. Also, if a polarising filter would help clean the image up in such conditions. As other have mentioned, if the temperature of the lens hood played a part for near lens distortion. Maybe a follow up video testing all three options is in order 😁

[@marcmurison]

A polarizing filter likely won't help any in the presence of air turbulence, unfortunately. You'll lose a full stop of exposure for no benefit. Bummer!

[@360VideosVR]

@@marcmurisonair turbulence no but haze in sunlight yes, hence worth at least testing.

[@wildlifesimon]

Great video Duade. Makes total sense and explains why the higher shots (moon, birds in flight) weren't suffering as much.

[@PhilipSalen]

Fascinating explanation, great video, thanks for posting

[@Duade]

Glad it was helpful!

[@trevorben]

Thank you for this video. I have experienced the type of soft images you showcased here and for the life of me I could not figure out what was causing this type of image degradation but as soon as I saw your examples, it looked exactly the same as what I was getting, and I knew then that this is what I had been experiencing. I do a lot of nature photographing from my car and never realized that the heat could also be coming from under the car and causing this effect. I live in Houston and do a lot of shooting on the gulf coast. The heat and humidity here in the summer makes it very uncomfortable to shoot outside even in the early morning hours. Shooting from my air-conditioned car is, sometimes, the only way I can get out and get any camera time in the summer. Thank you again for this video. I'll make some changes to the way I shoot from my car, like turning it off and letting the temps equalize a bit now before I start shooting. Cheers!

[@IsakNords]

The other day I was outside photographing in -20C. The sky was cloud free and the sun was shining. The sun reflecting on the snow covered ground made all my shots blurry. I was laying in the snow photographing foxes with my 200-600mm. The auto focus was struggling and none of the pictures was sharp. I also recorded some video and the footage got that wavy blurry look like a hot day on the beach. Great video as always, keep it up!

[@jeffolson4731]

Heat haze is a common occurrence for me, even in the Pacific Northwest. There is definitely a sweet spot during the day when you can shoot over water or sand, or other surfaces that may reflect/store heat. Like you found, shoot other things until the temperature evens out.

[@nerrelloader4226]

Thanks so much for this review. I have to say I was a little panicked to begin with, but when you revealed the heat haze was the problem, I was relieved. I can't stand our hot summers and rarely go out during them. So heat haze is not something I worry about. I look forward to your full review, as I have an R7 and would like to get this lens to give me greater reach shooting the moon and our beautiful birds in wetlands etc. Thanks again Duade.

[@patricasmyth4359]

Very interesting video! Just one minor point. It is not because the ground conducts heat that you see heat haze. It is because of the hear capacity of the ground. It can hold the heat overnight. So while the ground stays relatively warm, when cold air from above hits the air warmed by the ground, you get heat haze.

[@d.g_photo]

I've experienced this in cold temperatures and warm temperatures, in cold temps, removing your lens hood helps and it's also equally important to let your lens adjust to the temp outside.

[@AliasJimWirth]

Good video. Great topic, Duade. I like a lot of the comments on this, too. Some sharp viewers out there.

[@Duade]

Thanks mate, yes a lovely community where we learn together. Cheers, Duade

[@wellingtoncrescent2480]

Thanks for highlighting an important problem, especially with a long lens on a crop sensor. In northern Canada, morning temperatures of -20C are not unusual for most of the winter. As a result, I find that a lens hood creates a lot of haze as I move from inside the car, presumably because the hood traps warm air in front of the lens, where it can take a long time to equilibrate. Steve Perry has done some nice comparisons with and without a lens hood to illustrate the phenomenon. In addition, trying to lean on the car hood to stabilize the camera can create a lot of haze when the engine is warm. These may be more problematic in cold climates, but they're very real.

[@IanColley-jz9mr]

Thanks Duade, a common problem up here in NW NSW, more noticeable on the R7 than the R5 but very frustrating. Heat haze can end the session a lot earlier than planned unfortunately. As always another enjoyable and informative video. Ian

[@luzr6613]

That's very cool - contemplating something fundamental about the Universe through the medium of photography. Yep, i've had this exact problem too, and at the same time of day, and in the same environment, and only last week, through an Oly 300 f/2.8 'Big Tuna', and i thought it was me. All the best from across the ditch.

[@gregoryshave5400]

This is so interesting. I have never realised it was heat haze but it makes so much sense now. I am in South Africa and middle afternoon is very hot so I will often be affected by it. I was once in a wetland area and all my shots were soft and i actually took the lense back but we then came to the conclusion it was shakes or something but this makes a lot of sense! Thank you!

[@garrywatters1140]

Currently back in the UK and took some early morning shots. The ambient temp was 2 degrees C but I could clearly see water vapour in the air as it started to evaporate from the frosty land. This gave me the exact same results as you had with heat haze. 150 shots all soft.

[@keithpyman8209]

Hi Duade, Such a good heads up and explanation of what caused the problem. Further to previous comments, just to let you know that I opted for an RF 100-500 to use with my R7, having seen your review I thought that for my use the 200-800 was too extreme. Very pleased with my decision and the results so thanks for your really helpful reviews and summaries. These are so helpful. Cheers mate 👍😊

[@georgeboldireff8236]

Thanks Duade, yes most definitely, the focal length directly affects the amount of heat haze as we tend to shoot longer distances through more haze

[@naturealbums]

This reminds me when I first got my Canon 300mm F2.8LIS and the converters I was doing some experiments pixel peeping and seeing awful blur it was supposed to have been Canons sharpest lens. I did eventually figure it out after being devastated for all the money I had spent. It was UK winter freezing outside I was nice and warm inside with the conservatory door open shooting targets outside. I was relieved when I figured it out and went on to enjoy my lens for years even with the 2xII and 1.4xII. All I had to do was just go outside and it was all tack sharp from the garden.

[@tomscott88]

Anything over 600mm effective focal length will exacerbate the scenario. In Africa on safari the advice I got all the time was keep it below 600mm. It’s incredible how close the animals come toward you and with my 3 months in Africa back in 2014 my 100-400 and 7DMKII combo worked great as the efl is 640 but didn’t often need it unless it was for small birds. Loads of info on the internet about 600+ and heat haze and this new generation of lenses all have the same issue

[@godofhope]

Is the heater haze problem specific to the new lenses? Or do you mean: now we can afford 600+mm lenses it is getting obvious. While testing my Sigma 150-600 back than 2016 on a crop camera EOS 50D on a sunny day in cornfields I almost gave up: I thought the lens is garbage. Later I realized it’s actually heat haze ☺️

[@axel6405j]

Cool video DUADE 👍🏻

[@Duade]

My pleasure, glad you liked it, Cheers, Duade

[@georgedavall9449]

Atmospheric haze is a common phenomenon in most places. The extra reach of super telephoto lenses just exacerbates the effect. Take the Hood off! @ 06:38 this is one scenario that can be affected by having a hood on. I realize that ‘joanhuggett’ has already posted a comment on this, but I am just reinforcing it, if you will. I have experienced this, and didnt fully understand it until I read about it from ‘Steve Perry,’ a noted and very talented Wildlife Photographer. I continue to be amazed by your Photography skills, and your knowledge of your subjects! Cheers! 👍

[@davidbertuleit7067]

Nice video! I experienced morning heat haze rather often in winter after cold nights (~-15°C vs -5°C) here in southern Germany. Haven‘t experienced it on summer mornings, but sure could imagine it happening with temperature differences of ~15°C between ground temperature and the air on some summer mornings…

[@agostino9624]

Thanks, that was my big fear!! Here in Italy there is a lot of humidity. In summer it is the most beautiful period because many birds of prey migrate from Africa to us. At the end of July and August there are young and adults (birds of prey) who put on a show. But temperatures of 35/38 degrees in the swampy area are difficult. This is why I prefer to arrive at night, hide in a photography shed and take photographs with very close subjects in the first 3 hours of the day. I use canon r/ and 100-400II sometimes with ext 1.4. This video was an excellent confirmation of a big doubt of mine. Thank you.

[@peterlebengood7160]

I run across this often here in Delaware, USA. The longer the focal length and narrower the field of view, the more exaggerated the effect. Sometimes even the lens hood contributes to the problem. It’s also present at any time of year, hot or cold. As you mentioned, whenever there is a good amount of difference between surface and air temperatures, the heat waves are present. I try to stay away from longer distances with subjects at or near ground level. On really bad days, I’ll concentrate on areas with more shade. Most importantly, on those days I keep reminding myself my gear is fine and the atmosphere is not. Great video on a topic that is mostly overlooked.

[@unclebuck5957]

Great advice

[@d-entrecasteaux]

Thanks Duade! I encountered this yesterday. As I was driving away from a location I noticed a hawk, pulled over, shot a couple of frames through the open passenger-side car window and the difference in temperature spoilt the focus. I also got this on a cold morning shooting low over a river with large boulders. I think you're right about the haze coming from a temperature difference and it's amplified as you zoom in. In this case, chimping your shots pays off.

[@kenanderson1124]

Excellent insight. I haven’t experienced that here on Phillip Island but have in the high country around Mt Feathertop where the eucalyptus trees do what they do in the heat.

[@sagetheowlfatfeathery2083]

Doing quite a bit of aviation photography in the, this is a massive issue when shooting planes on the ground. Runways are notorious for getting hot very quickly and with jet exhausts, etc the whole thing can quickly turn into a hazy nightmare.

[@JochenZeischka]

Hi Duade, I'm a hang glider pilot. We look for thermals. There's another factor which could greatly affect the amount of "heat" haze you have and that is relative humidity of the air mass. The dryer the air, the more evaporation you're going to have from the lake. Moreover, moist air is lighter than dry air. So the dryer the air above, the easier it is for the moist layer on top of the lake to rise upwards. So, my guess is that a warm lake with cool, dry air on top of it, is the worst situation for low photography through that layer.

[@BrentHall]

I feel your frustration man. It's something I've talked about in almost every wildlife video I make. Physics is Not your friend, lol. And I've been a physicist for over 20 years now. The more atmosphere you shoot through, the worse your image quality will degrade. Heat haze/atmospheric distortion can happen anywhere, anytime, at any temp, and any elevation if the conditions are right and it will absolutely wreck your images no matter how fancy your gear.

[@johanolsson6502]

Been there, done that, still feeling the pain from it! Australia's last Grey-headed lapwing sighting nearly ended up a washout for me due to heat haze, my first ever twitch to boot! Every shot that was more than 10m ended up horribly blurred from heat the heat differential between the air and ground.

[@Uwe_Mueller]

Hello Duade, thank you for sharing this experience and knowledge! In the first minutes I was a bit schocked and for a moment I had abandoned my decision to buy an RF 200-8000 mm later this year. I had problems with heat haze at Frankfurt am Main Airport. I was arround with plane spotters for one and a half year and we also photographed aircrafts on the runways and taxiways. Sometimes the heat haze could be seen with the naked eye. Certainly I have had problems in countries like Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand and so on. But not on the beach or over the sea. Maybe because it's always a bit windy there. I have also heard from proffesional photographers or seen on KZbin that under certain conditions there can be a build-up of heat in front of the front lens due to the lens hood. But I never consciously noticed that. Anayway - I’m happy to see again that the RF 200-800 mm is a good lens with a good Price-performance ratio. Regards Uwe

[@65johnmc]

Hi Duade, this is so correct, I had an experience in the high arctic photographing polar bears, or "not". I was using a canon 500mm f4 + 1.4 extender at F5.6, with good shutter speed and low Iso, the bear was a good distance away and all my shots were as blurred as yours, I realised it was also heat haze but did not expect this in the arctic mid summer at 4 degrees C, but I guess the compression of a high magnification amplifies the distortion.

[@tonystumbles865]

I am very much a novice photographer and do not have the lens referred to in this video, but much of my comment relates to the subject - heat haze. Last year I was in the Kruger Park in South Africa and a friend remarked that many of his shots were soft, whereas mine appeared to be sharper. I noticed that he was taking shots across the bonnet of his car, and I suggested that the heat coming off the bonnet was causing "heat shimmer" and thus causing his shots to be of a poorer quality. Also, he was using a tripod affixed to his vehicle and while filming he had the car idling and this would also cause significant shake. In this video Duade also mentions exhaust fumes which is very interesting. I have also taken note of the lens hood issue - thanks.

[@Duade]

G'day Tony, I think you are bang on in your theory of why your friend was struggling, and is probably something that happens on safaris. Cheers, Duade

[@tonystumbles865]

Thanks for your response Duade.

[@helencogan2187]

YES...this happens where I go as well. Here in the Boston area. I thought is was my lens when I first used it. I do agree, if I go to 600, it is clearly visible. YET, there have been times at 200mm it is present. GREAT content..THANK YOU!

[@StephenJStephen_Photography]

Duade, thank you for this video. As others have said, heat haze has an impact in many situations. Here in Canada, as one example, we can experience heat haze in the early spring over farm fields. The air is still cold but, in parts of the fields where the bare earth is exposed, the sun warms the earth more quickly compared to snow covered parts of the fields. Even my Canon 500mm F4 can focus in those conditions.

[@johobirding]

Hi Duade, last weekend I was on the field photographing Hen harriers. It was -13 degrees in the morning and everything was frozen, incl grass. And when the sun came out, the "heat haze" from melting ice on the grass completely ruined half day of shooting and recording. I used 200-800 and also tried 100-500, both with same result ofc. :) One thing to add, with 200-800 capabilities I noticed that Im trying to photograph objects which are farther than I would normally photograph with shorter lens. This means much more haze (aggregation in the atmosphere) experiences then before. Its good to realize this. Thx for the video! You are the best, cheers. Tomas

[@Duade]

Thanks for sharing your experience Tomas, seems to be an issue everywhere and now more noticeable due to the longer lenses. Have fun with the lens, Cheers, Duade

[@erwinkruger-haye2698]

Hi Duade, greetings from South Africa . I really enjoy your channel. We experience heat haze in the Kgalagadi (Kalahari desert) South Africa all time. And something we get often - just like you Aussies. After 9am in Summer it is insane as it is often 30 deg C by then... Someone once told us to just keep the shutter button down and pray and maybe one will get through between the waves... not often, but sometimes... We actually just stop shooting anything further away that cannot fill the frame , besides record shots after 9am. light is gone anyway. I look forward to trying the lens hood trick..... To your point about APS-c and Zoom...back in 2017 we got 7dmk2 and 100-400 because they were supposedly the best Wildlife combo...Had amazing sightings and rubbish shots. All soft in mild conditions. Traded them in for 5D4 immediately. Massive improvement and have stayed Full Frame since then. also learned that for somewhere like Masaai Mara , where one goes to the animals...it would have been fine, But in kgalagadi , where on emust remain on roads and spends all the time shooting at max focal length, it was less than ideal ... Someone else we know got amazing Lion kill shots (sold to BBC) and swears by 7d2 and R7, but he puts them on a 500 f4. I firmly believe that the best combo I had ever shot with was the 1DXmk2 and the EF100-400... They were made for each other... So the rule we use is: never put a zoom on a crop if you want decent SHARP shots, unless you fill the frame and have enough speed and no haze. prime on Crop and Zoom on Full frame... best remains prime on full frame. This is just our lived experience, though the 100-500 on an R5 and the new lensblur slider are becoming ever more compelling. We judge a lot of wildlife/bird pics at club and salon level and the zoom lens on APS-C images are obvious after a while. and R7 will never give the R5 quality... Sadly - with birds and wildlife for competition - Gear matters!! the Big glass and top end bodies will always win the day. all the big competitions publish the camera and lens details... Almost always high end gear...

[@svendnrgaard4158]

We have winter here in Denmark right now, so when I've driven maybe half an hour to get to my photo spot, it's hot in the cabin, so I turn off the heat in the car, roll down the windows on both sides before I'm completely forward, and am ready to shoot immediately, if I don't, heat haze occurs immediately. In the summer it is extremely rare that it occurs so long that I only photograph up to 3 hours after sunrise. The further the subject is away, the more heat haze

[@617aaron617]

Northern U.S. (Wisconsin) here. I have noticed this exact same thing as well while taking photos of birds at our local wildlife areas. This usually happens during the summer as our winters get quite cold and we don't notice heat haze as much during this time. I'm really loving these videos and am getting even more tempted to purchase this lens.

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

I'm aware of heat haze, but I wouldn't have thought it would make that much of a difference! I'll keep that in mind for the future. Thanks!

[@_SYDNA_]

I like your idea of aiming into the air to beat the temperature "lensing." If it would not disturb the birds, you could also stand up to minimize the optical path directly through that mushier layer above the water. I've got a repeatable lens testing regimen I do at 12 feet up in the air, aimed at sharp targets 250 yards away. I learned pretty quickly that high humidity will also soften focus. When the sun came out and gave you some clarity it may have been the sunshine burning off a condition of near dew-point humidity at the surface of the pond.

[@bobcat65a]

Duade, This video is a gift for any wildlife photographer, who uses long lenses in diverse weather conditions. You may have prevented several 200-600mm photographers from thinking something was defective in their RF camera or the lens. Also, several of the contributors' comments added to some other ways to try and avoid the haze. Best of continued quality images to you and thanks for your programs.