😄First of all, after I got it, the curio has been my ever-present bino, seconded by a Habicht 10*40 and an ATC.
I would usually have a camera somewhere, but not always: if I was in a car on my way to somewhere and I found time to look for winged creatures (or one invited a closer look), the camera would be secondary. But the Curio and usually the Habicht, would be there in the mid console.
Often, the time spent fiddling with the camera (even though it is ready to use in its bag in the rear seat or worse, the boot) would often lose the bird, or to quote "canip": "without having to put your bino down and grab a camera".
Now, the curio still fills it's old function, and the AX has more or less replaced the Habicht: rapidly on hand and with a non-delayed photographic function: when I get home I have timestamped pictures with GPS POS of where and when. And I can relook and learn.
So yes, the AX has become the replacement camera for the immediate and unplanned photos. For planned and deliberate birding (when I get the time), the ATC and G9 with their tripods (if necessary) are the main tools. The AX is not a camera, it is a tool to help me ID and position what I see before it hides or flies away. The optical quality of it and the curio is better than my former Zeiss Conquest, as is (and I'm keeping) the Habicht.
The pictures I take are not in any way professional, it is a hobby I've had for 60 years (I still miss the dark-room!). But with spare time being at a premium, the AX is a wonderful tool. But the G9 with it's 100-400mm is a better camera.
The two pictures below (they are not identical but taken a few seconds apart, it's the same bird at the same distance) are to demonstrate what you get at distance with the AX and what you can get with cropping. In this specific case good documentation of a first sighting in that location since 1957 or something.
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