Canon R6 • RF 800 f/11 • Bird Photography at Harrison Bay State Park 4K 

I bet we order them on the same day like we have so many other Canon products! LOL

Thank you!

I think the woodpecker shots were my favorite as well, thank you!

Thank you, David. That lens is a difficult beast to work with but in the end you can get some really fabulous results with it. Maybe I should make a bird book!

@@PhilThach I really think you should personally. You have SO MANY great photos that it would be a shame not to share them. Plus I could get you to autograph my copy 😬

Thank you, Jose! I really appreciate it.

I agree, the 1/250th speed that I often use probably causes me to miss some shots. The R6, especially when combined with Topaz Denoise AI can hand pretty high ISOs. I should take your advice and go with faster shutter speeds. Thanks for watching, Alex!

Thank you, Doug. I appreciate your reasons for choosing the 600mm version. I like your Redheaded profile image! Thanks for watching!

This is a very good point but I have an R6 which I’m making do with for now for bird photography while eagerly waiting for the R7. Thanks for watching the video, I really appreciate it!

Thank you, Luis!

I haven’t yet but I plan to at some point. The minimum focus distance doesn’t cause me problems often but when it does it’s pretty annoying.

Thank you Christopher, if you come to Chattanooga and are free on a Thursday morning I’ll take you to some of my favorite locations!

Thanks, Adrian! I starting to get the hang of that lens. The difficulty level is high compared to their 100-500mm but the results are worth it if you can figure it out. LOL Have a nice weekend!

Thank you, Tim!

Thank you, Stephen! I was pretty happy with this one, I must admit. :)

With the already low resolution of the R6 when using its full sensor, shooting in 1.6 crop mode leaves you with only about 7 or 8 megapixels. The R7 I'm hoping for would have somewhere between 20 and 32 megapixels on it's 1.6 crop sized sensor!

@@PhilThach Roger that. Thank you for clarifying (or not, pardon the pun).

I love red headed woodpeckers. I’m really lucky to have some so close to my house and it sounds like you are as well and I love your baseball analogy! Thanks for watching!

That is an interesting kit! Certainly small and light. I've never thought of that combination of glass but it makes great sense. Thank you and thanks for watching!

Thank you!

Thanks, Randy. I love that place, especially now that the redheaded have arrived. A few years ago they were not there and could be seen at Chester Frost park which is basically directly across the river/lake from there. A short distance away but a LONG drive.

Thank you!

Thank you, Bill, and congrats on your Kingfisher success!

That is a distinct possibility. Are those for RF mount lenses? If they are for RF mount and they have pass-through electronics I might buy a set and give them a try at some point.

@@PhilThach It says they are: "Auto Focus Macro Extension Tube 26+36mm for Canon EOS R R5 R6 RP RF Mount Camera" Photo shows a pic of them used on an EOS R. I ordered a set just now. From China, late Dec delivery predicted.

@@PhilThach There are of course smaller sizes available, but the longer the focal length, the longer the needed extension tube. I use a 25mm on my 400mm f4 DO II and it only gets me 20% closer.

Thank you, Joey! I really appreciate your continued support. I think I may have seen your Instagram redhead, great job!

@@PhilThach You’re Welcome:) Thank You I was really proud of it, it being my first time seeing one:)

Thank you, Mike! I still shoot in full frame mode and crop later, it’s the resolution that I want from the rumored R7. Even if it is only 20 megapixels it will still have a higher pixel density than even the R5. Thank you for watching, I really appreciate it!

Thank you! The minimum focus distance can be a problem, but often I find myself unable to get closer than the minimum focus distance without scaring off the bird so the 800mm is undoubtedly valuable. When I can get close, I switch to my 100-500 lens or 100-500 with rf 1.4x extender. Have a great weekend and good luck!

The sigma has a lot of focus pumping on RF cameras, would explain in AF-C the mass of unsharp shots. I got because of the focus pumping issue directly a RF 800 F11... JUST WOW! I used it already nearly 2 weeks, soon im getting out waiting in the golden hour if i get the chance for nice shots. The limited AF area is annoying especially when it comes to the initial focussing on fast, flying birds, but as soon the camera realized after the shot the subject is out of AF area but still sharp.... it just shoots without refocussing - intelligent and saved me within 2 weeks already many fast shots (despite being useless anyways...) When my images are not sharp... it focussed on something different or not at all... so i can say pretty sure... we can trust the RF 800s autofocus as much as the limited area goes! Im still interested in the 150-600mm sigma.. i just want to see and feel the difference in AF and if the pumping is really THAT BAD as people complain about. The only reason i got instant a RF 800 was because i found a good deal 2nd hand, but at this moment not a single good deal for a sigma 150-600c, let alone the more expensive sports version, at least not with EF mount. I just sold my 75-300mm IS USM and i learned already: i miss the telezoom a bit, as poor performing it was (but definately not worth the nearly 300$ i sold it for!) many wildlife shots before the rf 800 were taken with this garbage lens and well.... too many look still better than the ones i took with the RF 800 (but im still learning to handle and use 800mm handheld on the go... its still a steep learning curve when it comes to handling, even on full frame. I cant really imagine using the 800 on crop with 1200mm+... i would need a red dot scope mounted to aim fast enough at ANYTHING.

Thanks for watching, Joe!

Canon SLRs don't have crop modes and are also not compatible with EF-S lenses. The EOS R6 has a crop mode but the resulting image becomes 7.74MP (it's also automatically applied when you fit an EF-S lens). On the R6, it's 18MP. I also noticed some more moire artifacts when shooting in crop mode vs full frame.

I'd love to bag a shot like that. I'm not certain that I am good enough to bag that shot. Not the camera but me. I'll certainly try though!

Thank you! That is very good point! That minimum focus distance is very restrictive. However I find when doing photography of the type that I did in this video, I can virtually never get closer to the bird than minimum focus distance without spooking it. Bird photography from a blind is completely different and this 800 mm lens would be basically useless. My back porch set up places me 7 to 10 feet from the birds. I know many photographers who use Nikon apsc cameras and third-party super telephoto zooms with great success! Thanks for watching, Steve!

@@PhilThach Yes I agree, for back-yard birding it would be useless for me. I think that's where something like the Olympus 300mm F/4 lens is really good as it as a minimum focus ditance of 1.4M. keep up the good work :-)

You are probably right. Thanks for watching, Ken!

While I agree, it’s not the sharpest lens ever made, it’s certainly capable of making sharp photographs. Overall, I’m very happy with mine. So far I have purchased three premium “L“ lenses and three basic lenses. Of the basic lenses, the 800 is the only one I really like. Maybe you got a bad copy. Thanks for watching!