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I got a new toy! The Fujifilm XF 500 f/5.6 R LM OIS WR is a lens I've wanted for years. (Ask Christopher Gilbert, my poor local Fuji rep, who has heard it every time he visits Northeast Ohio since I switched to Fuji in 2018). Finally, my holy grail birding lens is here!
…and of course I got it in the middle of a crazy December, where family and work kept getting in the way. I finally got to take it out the weekend after Christmas and give it a test run.
FA Sieberling Nature Realm Birds
I went to FA Sieberling Nature Realm, part of the Summit County Metro Parks in Akron, Ohio. It's a local park, one where people feed birds by holding still with a handful of birdseed. I take advantage of this location, because I know a lot of my local winter birds will show up.
If you're a local, it is south of the Visitor's Center, at the intersection of paths east of the Campfire Area - there are some benches and a little path down to the lake - anywhere around there will work, I aim for the post "P 11/10", which people leave seeds on, so the birds are always checking it out from nearby bushes.
Thoughts about the Fujifilm 500 f/5.6
Focusing is quick, though it is a challenging environment for AF - lots of brush to confuse it. Even with that, it did well, and I got lots of sharp shots.
The lens is amazingly light and easy to hand-hold. The only downside is the 5.6 - it was a gray, overcast day, and I was shooting at very high ISOs and low shutter speeds. I still got sharp shots down to 1/400sec. (Especially with DXO Pure Raw - see the next section - it saves me when I'm shooting high ISOs)
I'm still trying to dial in my bird photography settings, I need to see how low the shutter speed can go before there is motion blur from the birds jumping around. Here are those settings:
Fujifilm X-H2 Bird Photography Settings
- f/5.6, 1/500 shutter, auto-ISO (max 12800)
- AF-C High with EF front curtain, Subject detect AF - Bird
- Focus range limiter set to 5m - Infinity
- Focus tracking option 4 - "Focuses quickly on subjects entering the tracking area"
- AF-C Release/Focus priority set to Focus
I need to do some comparison testing, especially with lowering the shutter speed, changing the focus tracking options, and AF-C Release/Focus priority to Release, to see what gives me the highest hit rate.
DXO Pure Raw to the rescue
DXO Pure Raw is my secret weapon for high ISO shots from my Fuji cameras. Below is a screenshot of the same RAW file, shot at ISO 10000, zoomed in to 200%. (X-H2 with 500/5.6)
The top picture is Capture One's default processing, bottom pic is DXO Pure Raw. The difference in detail and noise level is amazing. (And, I think Capture One's default is better than Lightroom - that's one of the reasons I switched - though I'd be interested in the new Lightroom advanced noise reduction to see how it does.)
Gallery of birds from FA Sieberling Nature Realm
Want to feed some birds by hand? Visit FA Sieberling Nature Realm in Akron.
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