Sony RX10iii for birding/wildlife (1 Viewer)

[MKinHK]

Many thanks John - just the kind of thing I don't have the application to figure out myself!

Will definitely try this out over the Christmas break. I'm off in pursuit of Hong Kong's second ever Buff-breasted Sandpiper this morning!

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

It turns out my camera has button C1 pre-set to zoom assist - if only I'd known!

Cheers
Mike

 

[Oscar56]

How does this camera do in " hunting" birds in shrubs? Is the camera smart enough to focus on the birds and not intervening branches?

 

[MKinHK]

The best method is to switch to manual focus and hence is ok for stationary birds, but very difficult if the target is moving.

Also - here's my best efforts of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper - a fishpond bottom composed of rain-spattered fish turd hardly makes for an attractive background!

Cheers
Mike

 

[Sharpbill]

Hi Oscar,

As Mike says, best to switch to manual. But there is a half-way house setting available - Digital Manual Focus.

With DMF a half press of the shutter uses autofocus then you can fine tune the focus manually using the focus ring. I have only taken a couple of shots using this (See attached Grey Heron where autofocus was on the twigs then I tried to get the eye and bill in focus manually. It was a fair distance away, on a very overcast day and beyond the 600mm optical zoom range (into 2x ClearView option so equiv. of 1200mm), none of which exactly help.

As an aside, attached are a couple of other images taken in the 'ClearView' range in brighter weather. Wren at c1100mm and Waxwing at 1200mm (no crops or sharpening just resized for BirdForum purposes).

Cheers, John

 

[MKinHK]

Here's a few examples showing what can be done to pierce vegetation.

Key to getting sharp photos was selecting small image size, and zooming in all the way to 2400mm and autofocusing on the approximate distance, and then using manual zoom to fine-tune the focus on the bird itself.

All this was critical as this was either HK's second Booted or third Sykes's Warbler and images are essential to inform the identification so this was an important test for the RX10iii as a birding camera.

Cheers
Mike

 

[etudiant]

Here's a few examples showing what can be done to pierce vegetation.

Key to getting sharp photos was selecting small image size, and zooming in all the way to 2400mm and autofocusing on the approximate distance, and then using manual zoom to fine-tune the focus on the bird itself.

All this was critical as this was either HK's second Booted or third Sykes's Warbler and images are essential to inform the identification so this was an important test for the RX10iii as a birding camera.

Cheers
Mike

Very impressive performance!
Getting good focus beyond some interfering vegetation is a weakness in amateur cameras such as I use. Your skill with the Sony's flexibility has eliminated that.
Now if only they could make it smaller....

 

[MKinHK]

If only it were smaller AND lighter!

I was impressed too, but the technique (which is really an adaptation of John's approach) does depend on the patience of the bird!

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Here's a few shots of waders taken on the same day as the Booted Warbler. I was able to get pretty close in rather bright light so I had to stop down to avoid wash-out of the whites. I've also played about in iPhoto to darken and sharpen and may have overdone it.

Cheers
Mike

 

[cajanuma]

I got this camera based in part on this BF thread and took it on a six-week trip to Colombia. In short, I was very impressed with its performance, it really felt like having a DSLR instead of a bridge and I am quite pleased with image quality. Here is an example, a Black-faced Antbird: https://ebird.org/media/catalog?inc...yearRange=YALL&date.endMonth=12&region=&user=

 

[MKinHK]

Here's some more experimental images from my recent trip to the Po Delta in Italy plus a BIF shot of Oystercatchers.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

I got this camera based in part on this BF thread and took it on a six-week trip to Colombia. In short, I was very impressed with its performance, it really felt like having a DSLR instead of a bridge and I am quite pleased with image quality. Here is an example, a Black-faced Antbird: https://ebird.org/media/catalog?inc...yearRange=YALL&date.endMonth=12&region=&user=

It would be great to see some of your shots - unfortunately i couldn't see anything on the link.

Cheers
Mike

 

[katastrofa]

Looks like a great option for some who wants to stick to a compact camera. How fast is the autofocus?

 

[nikonmike]

It would be great to see some of your shots - unfortunately i couldn't see anything on the link.

Cheers
Mike

Try this Mike.

https://ebird.org/media/catalog?includeUnconfirmed=false&date.beginMonth=1&searchField=species&hotspot=&date.beginYear=1900&date.monthRange=M1TO12&date.endYear=2017&start=0&count=30&mediaType=Audio&mediaType=Photo&mediaType=Video&sort=upload_date_desc&hotspotCode=&userId=&taxonCode=blfant2&q=Black-faced%20Antbird%20-%20Myrmoborus%20myotherinus&view=Gallery&regionCode=&species=Black-faced%20Antbird%20-%20Myrmoborus%20myotherinus&action=show&date.yearRange=YALL&date.endMonth=12&region=&user=

 

[MKinHK]

Thanks nikonmike

Not sure how to assess speed of autofocus I'm afraid, but the BiF shots in post 31 above provide some indication. Not sure I'd call it a compact as it weighs in at a hefty 1kg and is big, even for a bridge camera!

Just posted a few more shots on my local patch thread here:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=249410&page=14http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=249410&page=14

Cheers
Mike

 

[dacol]

I got this camera based in part on this BF thread and took it on a six-week trip to Colombia. In short, I was very impressed with its performance, it really felt like having a DSLR instead of a bridge and I am quite pleased with image quality. Here is an example, a Black-faced Antbird: https://ebird.org/media/catalog?incl...&region=&user=

This link is showing all photos of Black-faced Antbirds submitted by eBird users. There is no way to find out which ones are yours or which ones were recorded with an RX10III.

 

[Sharpbill]

I bought this camera to take on a recent trip to Taiwan. Still quite a high ratio of discards to keepers and the weather wasn't too kind but nevertheless I was pleased with the results.

Here are a few sample images but the file sizes have been drastically reduced to conform with BirdForum requirements.

 

[Sharpbill]

And a few more... exposure problems against the light

 

[Sharpbill]

And a last few... always an annoying twig in the way.

 

[MKinHK]

Some great shots here Sharpbill. I love the atmospheric shot of the Taiwan Barbet, while the raptor (I think its Grey-faced Buzzard), the barwing and the robin give a good idea of the image quality.

Cheers
Mike