Mandarin duck

[Mike Poole]

Decided to join the mirrorless revolution and got my R5 last night so took it for a trial run in the Manchester doom and gloom today. Lots to learn and will need some work getting it set up but pleased with the initial test shots. I think some decent light and I'll be happy. Shot some songbirds at higher ISO and was pleasantly surprised.

Would have gone with a higher ISO here with a faster shutter speed had I known but happy enough for a test shot

Canon R5
600mm f4 ii
ISO 3200
1/400th f4

Mike

[gail bisson]

Hi Mike,
Good test shot!
Nice clean and complimentary BG.
I wish you had enough light to increase your aperture to get the shoulder and top in belly nice and sharp.
Details in the head and cheek look great.
Looking forward to your images with the R5.
Gail

[William Dickson]

Looking good for a test shot Mike...A good duck to test the camera....lovely colours throughout....I like the pose you captured..I'm with Gail re the aperture....but I know where you are coming from regarding the settings...Its been grey up here as well for a while now. Enjoy yer new Camera, I'm so sure we will be seeing some great images in the future.

Will

[Brian Sump]

Mike, congrats on the R5!!

Envy is running high here man. Would love to capture a Mandi as you did here.

So ISO 3200 is higher than I've felt comfortable for the most part - I presume you ran some sort of denoise? What else are you doing for post processing?

Otherwise, Gail's comment on depth of field is noted and your comments understood. I'd also have like a little more below to account for the feet. But colors and contrast of subject vs bkg is outstanding, well done!

[annmpacheco]

Hi Mike, yahoo for you, welcome to the R5 club! Looks terrific, agree with the DOF, difficult with this position. Colors look wonderful and so sharp, lookin forward to many more. Interested in knowing how you are processing as you have more time with the R5

[Steve Kaluski]

Agree on both counts for more DoF & more below, you can push the ISO on the R5 Mike and I have posted at 10K. Yes, like the 5D4 I would say it has a ceiling of around 6400, but in low light, and a slow SS it can bite back because of the amount of px's. If you did also get the R6 then swop it for conditions like this. Is this a crop, you don't say?

TFS
Steve

[Mike Poole]

Agree on both counts for more DoF & more below, you can push the ISO on the R5 Mike and I have posted at 10K. Yes, like the 5D4 I would say it has a ceiling of around 6400, but in low light, and a slow SS it can bite back because of the amount of px's. If you did also get the R6 then swop it for conditions like this. Is this a crop, you don't say?

TFS
Steve

I took some ISO 5000 stuff later on which looked albeit I won't post here as I was down to even slower shutter speeds then for moving songbirds but moving head aside the rest of the shot looked good for IQ and noiseif that makes sense

I was going to get the R6, currently deciding whether to see if an R1 appears and if so is it in a reasonable timescale? I can see myself getting an R6...

For this shot there was a slight image rotation as I was lying on my side trying to get as low as possible so I lost some frame there, then added a little bit back to the left side. As a rough guess I'd say this is about 85-90% of the full frame.

Mike

[Steve Kaluski]

R1 appears and if so is it in a reasonable timescale? I can see myself getting an R6...

RX1 has to be around £6k Mike, depends upon how deep your pockets are and how much the differences are I guess to warrant the outlay, but ultimately - is it fit for purpose?

I lost some frame there, then added a little bit back to the left side.

Rotate in PS and let it fill-in the gaps, especially with that environment, that easy.

[Dorian Anderson]

Who cares about the flat light here?!?!?? This guy really cracks on that steely-gray BG! Love the color and detail. Exposure is spot on. Sure, we could use more DOF across the bird,
but our eyes go straight to his face as is.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Mike a fine shot, looking forward to more, I am sure you will master the new camera in double quick time.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Mike ... personally I think one of the most attractive duck species on earth .
Interesting to see the moves of several folks to mirrorless and swopping brands of manufacturers .... when the time comes I will move to mirrorless as well , with pockets full of money , LOL . AS no overseas travel in sight .... so save the bucks , for a Downhill E -MTB or a R1 .

Hope you will have fun with the new kit and enjoy the advantages of that system .

Image is a nice start , I really like the colors rendered .... very realistic .... so well done !!!

Good luck and TFS Andreas

[Mike Poole]

Mike, congrats on the R5!!

Envy is running high here man. Would love to capture a Mandi as you did here.

So ISO 3200 is higher than I've felt comfortable for the most part - I presume you ran some sort of denoise? What else are you doing for post processing?

Otherwise, Gail's comment on depth of field is noted and your comments understood. I'd also have like a little more below to account for the feet. But colors and contrast of subject vs bkg is outstanding, well done!

Hi Brian

We might have a ready supply of Mandarins in my neck of the woods - but we definitely need some of your light to go with them!

Not too much on the processing front, got the colours right, then a couple of curves layers. The only NR was to the background - nothing to the bird himself, and a smaller amount to the water

Got some learning to do, going mirrorless but looking forward to the challenge

Mike

[Mike Poole]

Hi Mike, yahoo for you, welcome to the R5 club! Looks terrific, agree with the DOF, difficult with this position. Colors look wonderful and so sharp, lookin forward to many more. Interested in knowing how you are processing as you have more time with the R5

Cheers Ann, looking forward to more time spent in this club!

I've only had one quick shooting session so far, got a week of work coming up io na few days but the British lockdown will prevent anything too exciting being shot sadly. I'm not sure yet what processing changes I'll need to make, as at the moment I have a fairly basic workflow that for the most part I tend to 'eyeball'.

I first spend time getting the colours as close to neutral as I can (warmth of light taken into account) then look at the different tonal details until I get the luminosity how I want it.

Resize, then NR and sharpening. That last bit might change soon as I'm awaiting a new computer arriving and just got a great bargain on a top notch Eizo screen and I'm thinking of adding Topaz into the mix for noise reduction which will change the order I do things.

Either way, I'm not too sure if there will be any major differences to my PP

cheers

Mike

[Mike Poole]

Hi Mike ... personally I think one of the most attractive duck species on earth .
Interesting to see the moves of several folks to mirrorless and swopping brands of manufacturers .... when the time comes I will move to mirrorless as well , with pockets full of money , LOL . AS no overseas travel in sight .... so save the bucks , for a Downhill E -MTB or a R1 .

Hope you will have fun with the new kit and enjoy the advantages of that system .

Image is a nice start , I really like the colors rendered .... very realistic .... so well done !!!

Good luck and TFS Andreas

Cheers Andreas,

Have a certain Mr Margulis to thank for the colours! Still working on the channel blending and curving as the advantages to this haven't hit home with me yet. Setting up a new computer and Eizo screen in the next week or so, so maybe the changes will become more apparent with the new much improved monitor.

Mike

[Andreas Liedmann]

Cheers Andreas,

Have a certain Mr Margulis to thank for the colours! Still working on the channel blending and curving as the advantages to this haven't hit home with me yet. Setting up a new computer and Eizo screen in the next week or so, so maybe the changes will become more apparent with the new much improved monitor.

Mike

Hi Mike good to hear that you are referring to Mr Margulis .... wonder where you got the tip from , LOL !
I know it is a long way .... but worth it . And channel blending is good , solid and oh so subtle elegant work .