I took a Fall photo walk at Lorain County Metropark's Sandy Ridge Reservation with my Sony A7R6 and the new 600mm f/6.3 and a 1.4x TC. Here's the photos and some thoughts
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Sony and Pixel Connection are hosting a photo walk this weekend at Sandy Ridge Reservation, and I can't make it. Darn!
So, I went out on my own. Sandy Ridge was the second trip with my new Sony 600/6.3, 1.4x TC, and my Sony A7R6 body. I'm still trying to convince myself that the A7R6 can replace my Sony A1m2 for bird photography, but more on that later...
Nemesis Bird - Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Things started out slow; the birds were all out on the edges of the lagoon, way far away, and there were a bunch of birds chirping in the bushes along the walkway, but they were staying hidden. The Merlin app told me they were golden-crowned kinglets, and I could see them flashing around in the bushes, taunting me with split-second views before they would disappear deeper into the brush. It took me a while, but I finally got one that held still for a few seconds, long enough to get some great photos.
It's amazing how a few good photos lifts my mood - it felt like a slow day, lots of near misses and almosts, and I was getting frustrated. "Not going to get anything good today" I thought. Getting that shot turned everything around. I was smiling for the next fifteen minutes, thrilled that I got a good shot of a photo life bird for me, and then all these other pictures suddenly started appearing.
It didn't hurt that golden hour started, giving me amazing fall color reflections in the lagoon. "Just another blue heron" turned into a fiery orange backdrop.
I don't think the A7R6 can replace my A1 ii
I thought the A7R6 could be my everything camera. The bigger battery is fantastic! The 66 megapixels give me extra cropping! But, for bird photography, the A7R6 is not quite there, mainly due to the autofocus. The A7R6 bird-detect autofocus picks up the birds well, but it feels a hair slower at finding them than the A1 ii. And, the deal breaker - the A7R6 autofocus doesn't lock on like the A1 ii. Once the A1 ii had focus, I can hold down the shutter button and I'll get sharp photos. The A7R6 focus seems to drift slightly - I get some sharp photos, but others are soft, looking good zoomed out, but not quite in focus when I pixel peep at 100% (And since I have to do a lot of cropping with tiny songbirds, I'm often cropping down to close to 100% resolution). I think it's the 120 AF calculations per second on the A1 ii, where I get (at best, with comrpressed raw) only 60 AF calculations per second on the A7R6.
Oh, well. It's back to the A1 ii for bird photography...
Photo Gallery
Thanks for reading!
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