The Brotherhood of the Canonites

Visiting bird reserves not much more than a year ago, I would laugh at the old men festooned with great heavy lenses and telescopes and tripods and backpacks and binoculars. I would travel light - just a pair of compact Hawke 20 x 8 binoculars, and a  small compact camera with a x30 zoom.
Why should I get anything heavier and a lot more expensive when I can get pictures like these, all taken with the Sony HX 50?

Now I'm one of them. I'm a Canonite!

How on earth did that happen? Perhaps the first part of my downfall was getting a book on wildlife photography for Christmas - page after page of gorgeous sharp images, and lots of technical information about cameras, lenses, tripods, and all the rest. I realised that the more distant pictures I had been so pleased to capture with my little camera didn't show up so well when close cropped on a big screen. None of them were really sharp. Before the HX50 I'd owned a Sony Nex 5 inter-changeable lens camera. with its large 25mm sensor it took great pictures, but the longest lens I could get was a 200, and I found I was constantly swapping lenses to get different views. I didn't want to go down the multi-lens route again so perhaps a "Bridge" camera would suit me. Even the best of them are quite cheap and have long zoom lenses. I spent hours trawling through photography web-sites until the awful truth dawned that hardly any of them had a sensor bigger than my little Sony.

There was one though - the Panasonic FZ1000 - which had a 25mm censor and was very well reviewed. The only problem was it did not have the big zoom - only about x16. However, that was still the 35mm equivalent of some massive lump of glass costing thousands. I bought it, and it was excellent. Here are some of the pictures:

Lat last  year I'd set aside a chunk of capital to buy a patch of land behind the house. For various reasons I decided not to buy the land. It was very disappointing because I loved the idea of  having more land to plant and develop, so as compensation I decided to blow a small amount of it on what every bird-watcher aspires to - a telescope. The big idea was to bypass the big lens cameras and use the telescope with a compact camera or phone to take pictures - it's called "digiscoping"

Again I did plenty of research and found that those with ED in the name were much clearer than the cheaper ones without. I had almost decided to go for an Olivon 80mm ED on Ebay but got chatting to one of the staff at RSPB Newport Levels, and he sold me their Harrier ED model. I stayed the night nearby and next day carried the telescope and my tripod on a long walk to a distant hide (much longer than I needed to I later found out.) Using my Lumia 930 phone which has a very good camera, I was bitterly disappointed with the results. I found it very difficult even to use the telescope - it moved too much.
Now believing I had made a bad purchase I went back to the RSPB man who had spent so long and done such good selling job on me. He was very reluctant to offer a refund and in the end convinced me that I had made a good purchase. The trouble was he then sold me a much sturdier, heavier tripod!

As I got to know the telescope better I got better results with the phone camera and really enjoyed using it to watch and identify the more distant birds. All the time I was learning more and more about bird photography - especially from this very helpful website:

http://mikeatkinson.net/index.htm

I had reached the limits of what could be done with telescope and phone, and found I could rarely get close enough with the Panasonic. The more I learnt the higher my aspirations grew. By now I had developed a good relationship with the excellent Carmarthen Cameras. Their after-sales service is all  you could ask for, and they are willing to spend any amount of time demonstrating and advising. To keep this relationship going I would regularly buy from them even though I knew I could get the item cheaper online. Every week I would get their email message and in September we were all invited to their open day on the university campus in Carmarthen. Most of the stalls were manned by experts from the camera companies so we were able to try out a great range of stuff and get the inside information on it. I tried out some of the big lenses on DSLR camera bodies and could scarcely believe how heavy they were. My main contact at CC is Joe so I cornered him:

"Listen Joe, what I really want is a single device which does it all - identify and photograph birds at a distance and nearby, and not need a wheelbarrow to carry around. Is there such a thing?"
"Yes - it's only just come on the market - the Nikon Coolpix P900. It has the biggest zoom on the market - up to 80 times magnification."
"Wow - what's the quality like."
"Excellent. Go and try it out - on the Nikon stall."
I did and I also tried out the other combination I was thinking about - a Nikon DSLR body with another new phenomenon the Tamron 150 - 600 lens. I could see advantages with both, but I was not ready to spend yet more money. The thought would not go away though and some weeks later  I went back to the shop, armed with my own memory card and laptop. I would try both combinations on the card and compare the images on the laptop. That should sort it out.

Joe and his colleague spent at least an hour with me. I'd just about decided to blow the extra money and get the DSLR and Tamron lens. Even though it was a lot heavier and more cumbersome than the P900 it did have a bigger sensor and more glass means more light means better pictures.

"Right" I said, "I'm going to get some lunch. I'll examine the pictures and come back later."

To my surprise I found that a mid range direct comparison of the same scene on both combinations gave the advantage to the P900. Joe was convinced it was the right one for me but they were so popular it was difficult to get hold of one. The one I had tried was promised to another customer. He went away to talk to the boss and came back saying:
"I've done a bit of a fiddle and I can let  you have this one. I'll just have to hope we get a  replacement in time."
So that was it - my third camera in a year. It looked and felt great, though the viewfinder was far from brilliant. With the big lens extended if  felt and looked  like a proper piece of pro kit. (Men with big lenses extended . . hm.)  I was really looking forward to giving it an exhaustive trial at the wonderful Leighton Moss reserve in Lancashire, near where Thelma and I were planning a short holiday. These are some of the pictures:

While the quality at the extreme range is surprisingly good (the crow) , the only way I could get really clear pictures was to get close - 10 metres or so. Birds in flight were quite a problem because the autofocus was not very fast.

Throughout my life I have learnt by doing. It's not the best way - far better to learn from someone else's mistakes - but it's what I do. I was not that happy with the pictures I was getting and a phrase from this blog kept going round in my head: http://mikeatkinson.net/Tutorial-3-Equipment.htm

"Make no mistake, if you're spending under £1000 on a bird photography lens and you don't buy the Canon 400mm f/5.6, you will regret it!"

So, finally I bit the bullet and followed his advice. I sold the Nikon P900 for only a little less than I paid for it, bought the Canon EOS 70D body and the 400mm lens. My first proper trial was at the Newport Wetlands. I'd stayed in the van near the hides and was able to get pictures in both evening and morning light, and it was just as the evening light was fading that I saw a group of godwits take to the air. With the high motor drive on, the speed set at 500th, aperture 5.6 I was amazed to find that the autofocus snapped onto the flock immediately:

This was the breakthrough. It's the fast autofocus and relative lightness which gives this lens the edge. There's no image stabilisation so you have to keep the shutter speed high when hand holding, and if the autofocus struggles you know the light is too poor. It has limitations, but for me it looks like the right compromise and I love using it. Thank you Mike Atkinson for good advice! I am now a fully paid up member of the Brotherhood of the Canonites and proud of it.

Here are some more pictures:

So, I've come a long way this year. The next  big challenge is to reduce my reliance on reserves and ready-made hides. I plan to do a study of the jackdaws in the village, the dippers on the river and red kites at the nest. That should keep me busy next year.

Anyone reading this - have a great Christmas!