Canon 1Dx Mkii Sigma 150-600 Sport @450mm 1/1250 @f6.3 iso 2000

Observations and Camera Gear Talk

Fort DeSoto is an awesome place for birding. As this was mid-May, it seemed like the overall number of shorebirds were down but the feeding frenzy of terns and pelicans more than made up for it. As to the gear used, this was the first outing with the new Canon 1DxMkii and it performed beyond my expectations. I had it paired with my Sigma 150-600 Sport lens and even added the 1.4x teleconverter for some shots (the Royal Tern in flight).

The camera is heavy and the menus are similar to the 7DMkii. What really impressed me was not the 14 frames a second ( I often had it in silent high speed so as not to rattle the birds), but the quick auto-focus and image quality at higher iso's (2000 to 6400).

First the auto-focus. Having the 61 focus points available for use particularly for birds in flight was amazing. While I'm sure a Canon prime super-tele would be quicker, the Sigma really performed well for a $2000 lens. Only on lower contrast less than sunny times did I see any hunting for focus. Once locked onto the bird, the camera and lens combo does a great job following the bird. Because the Sigma is also not as fast as a prime telephoto lens, the ability to use all the focus points at f8 really helps this lens perform well.

Image quality at 400 or 800 iso is fabulous but 1250, 2000 and 2500 are very good. At 3200 you start to see the noise and have to really take care to expose to the right so as not to have to open up the shadows too much in post. Both at 3200 and 6400 you will have to be pretty aggressive with the noise reduction especially in the shadows. I have recently switched to Neat Image for Stills. It is a little more selective and more versatile than Nik's Define2 that I had been using or Lightrooms' noise slider. With Neat Image, I run two passes on the photo, one on the background (on its own layer in PS) and another on the bird, again on its own layer. With two passes, its possible to be much more aggressive on the background aiding in the smoothing effect and still maintain detail in the bird. Sometimes I use a luminosity mask on the bird focused on the shadow tones and concentrate the noise reduction in those troublesome areas specifically while leaving the mid-tone and brighter area full of detail.

A big thanks as always to Artie Morris for his help, teachings and critiques. This is the second IPT I have gone on with Artie and they are full of learning and fun.