Thanks Duade! Obviously I was really looking forward to this vid! Amazing moments captured, I was completely awed a couple times. Some further info for those still playing around with the settings: 1- You should probably play around with sensitivity in the AF menu and with the custom AF speeds/OIS modes to see which one you prefer. Accel/deccel at -2 is really the one setting to look out for. Edit: my modes are now as follows: Sensitivity 0, accel/deccel -2 C1: Slowest AF, moderate OIS C2: Standard AF, moderate. I also use the default settings when shooting handheld sometimes. C2 on monopod is now my preferred choice in many situations (still use handheld and tripod a lot) but I use all three from time to time. In low light with a close target, I'll often use C1. 2- Jan Wegener suggested -2 sensitivity too for his 100-500, and after playing around with it in the field I don't see that much of a difference, but perhaps it could help the tracking on a busy background. Right now mine is set to 0 I think. 3- I think background separation and distance from subject are really the two to look out for. Subject movement as well like Duade showcased (seeing Gary spin around was hilarious btw), but I found background separation made even more of a difference, especially if the background is moving (wind in branches for example). When you look at all the scenarios that had the worst pulsing, they were usually the ones with slightly less ideal background separation (bird in tall grass with wind, bird on the ground, odd reflections in the water). It just seems to trigger it for some reason. In my initial controlled testing I barely saw any pulsing past 7m but after trying it out more and more, it does happen a bit when the subject is on a busy/changing background. Maybe lower sensitivity would help? It's hard to test it but I'm still experimenting as I'm shooting in the field. For panning BIF however, haven't had too many issues so far are those are usually pretty far away and/or behind a sky background. Edit #2: I think my settings for stills are pretty dialed in at this point, but I'm still experimenting more with BIF and need more time to test it on gulls. I'll update the comment once I have some definitive results. But with my C2 from edit #1 or even default dock settings, handheld or on mono, it's fine, really. 4- I think most people will still prefer standard OIS for the ease of framing, especially if shooting at around 1/640-1000 where standard performs just fine. Maybe keep just one mode on moderate and only switch to it if using 1/320-400 and lower, you'll have a shaky viewfinder but better stabilization in those scenarios. Personally I use the Sigma on monopod a lot. I know Duade isn't a big fan of them but the Wimberley MH100 gimbal head is imo fantastic for ease of use, stabilization and ease of carrying around in the field on the shoulder. Moderate + a good monopod head is a killer combo as you get stabilization from camera/monopod shake and a stable viewfinder. Using a tripod gimbal on a monopod is also one of the best monopod heads you can use. Handheld is also good but there's a compromise between the OIS modes (stable image vs viewfinder) for sure. I shoot handheld a lot too and I do have a good tripod+gimbal similar to Duade I mostly use around my feeders but since trying out the Wimberley Gimbal head, I just reach out for it more and more. I get as much stabilization as I would ever need and it's so much easier to recompose/move around and walk with it. Personally if you have this combo, the first next purchase you should make with it is DXO PureRaw, the second is the Wimberly mono gimbal. Those are really the two best purchases I've made to improve my pics with the Sigma. But that's just my opinion ofc! If that mono gimbal didn't exist I wouldn't bother with monopods altogether, but it's just that good for me that it makes them worth it. 5- From the different AF speeds, I find the slowest one is fast enough once the subject is detected, but initial (prefocusing) acquisition is notably slower, as Duade said. Until you're really used to dual BBF and have dialed down your prefocusing technique it's probably best to use standard, and in situations that are less "sit and wait" you might prefer standard in general. Edit#3: been using more and more standard speed and I prefer it now in most scenarios, especially for pre-acquisition speed. I still think fastest speed is overkill and a bit jerky. 6- if you're wondering when to shoot at F8 vs f6.3, note that with the R7 and DXO PureRaw, 2-3k ISO is the max you should ever shoot at F8, unless you really really need that extra DOF. The increase in sharpness is pretty marginal and at higher ISOs you will gain more resolution from the extra light gathering by shooting wide open. I've recently tested this extensively. 7- Don't use TCs with the Sigma. It just doesn't scale well optically. 8- Personally I've recently purchased the RF100-400 after hearing all the good things about it and I'm really really happy with it. When people say you should own a zoom and a prime, getting the 100-400 has been eye opening in that regard. It's so easy to carry, point and shoot with it, my keeper rate with it blows me away. Even just the 200mm less reach makes it easier to frame, but I underestimated how much a lighter lens is easier for just aiming and shooting quick shots of small birds that jump in front of you in the trail when hiking for example. I think it's made me realize more why Duade likes the 100-500 so much now, I get it now. Still can't afford it sadly though! I think it really relates to your style of shooting. "Sit and wait" and "tracking down" are the two ways to hunt animals (in photography or with rifles!) and in french we even have specific words for those two techniques (affût and billebaude). Primes are better for sit and wait (feeders or lures for example), lighter zooms for tracking down. For me, the RF100-400 for tracking and the sigma for sit and wait serve those niches pretty well, within my budget. To me, the 100-400 serves the same purpose as Duade's 100-500, and the sigma serves the same purpose as his 500f4+1.4x. At a fraction of the price, it's not the same performance obviously but it's good enough for me so far. To be fair, the sigma can definitely bridge that gap, before getting the 100-400 I would go on day long hikes with it no problem, even with the monopod as it's so easy to carry on the shoulder if it's an easy hike. It's a pretty good do it all with some compromises like AF and weight, to an extent. 9- If you're looking for purchase advice, here's my opinion. If you're new to the hobby and getting your first ever lens, I think the 100-400 is a better option. It's so much easier to use and learn on and will ease you into the hobby much better. It will get you in the habit of getting closer to the animals which is really the crucial thing to learn. If you're looking for an upgrade to your current lens and need more reach, I think the sigma is a great option to consider for its price, versatility and great optics. Consider the f11 primes, but take into account your shooting style. If you shoot mostly waterfowl, live in an area with plenty of sunlight and/or are the kind of person to check the weather and avoid cloudy days for shooting anyway, the f11 primes are a great option. If you're like me and shoot almost everyday for fun no matter the weather, shoot mostly songbirds in dense boreal forests and live in a place like Quebec where the weather is pretty rock and roll, shoot anything that you come across including insects etc., Enjoy shooting at dusk and dawn, the Sigma is the clear choice imo. Note that the pulsing on the sigma is very minor past 6m, which is the minimum focus distance on the RF800! And I go up to 6-10-15 and even 20-25k ISO already at f6.3, so I can't imagine using an f11 lens personally. There's so many pictures I've taken with the Sigma that I know for a fact, would've been almost impossible to shoot at f11. I think that's about it. Go out with the Sigma and enjoy it y'all, it's a neat little lens 🙂 and make sure to tip Duade if you can afford it! We need to support content creators such as him, I don't know about y'all but I can't think of any wildlife TH-camr that has better content, production quality and community outreach as he does. He's a pillar to the community! The fact he made an entire vid revisiting the Sigma after learning about these settings is a true testament of his commitment to rigorous methodology! And thanks to your mate for lending the lens, that Sigma has definitely gotten milked for content for sure by now 😅 Cheers Edit: for all the people thanking me for the experimenting, you're welcome! I got frustrated no one was doing this testing and felt it needed to be done, so I did it myself 🙂 testing your own lens+camera is tedious but worth it to learn more about it. Thanks for the kind words everyone. Check out the sigma's FB group for more info/results in my post history aswell as others.
Salut simon, je parle et lis difficilement l’anglais. J’aimerais bien comprendre le contenu de ton commentaires. Est-il possible de me le transmettre pour que je puisse y faire la traduction
Thanks Simon, I really appreciate the time and effort you put into this and letting me know about it. I love the lens also and the photos I have obtained for a lens that costs a fraction of my 500 f4 as you mention is remarkable. For its price it offers exceptional value. Great to hear you are enjoying the RF100-400, it is such a wonderful little lens and I must admit I have grabbed that over the 100-500 if I am just going for a quick wander around. I agree that you really need a light zoom for general work and macro style stuff and a longer lens when you can use a tripod/monopod etc. I am happy that the channel has a engaged community that is all about helping each other and I will continue to make content that helps others. On behalf of all Sigma owners, thanks again and happy birding. Cheers, Duade
Thanks Simon, all this is great insight personally i am looking to go with r10 and tamron g2 150-600 option but this is vital as sigma is also a good choice. I also agree that Duade is one of the more in depth and detailed vlogger for birding, and the best part is while he is now a sensation on TH-cam and a celebrity in Oz land he still listens to us mere mortals and even replies, so thanks Duade🙏 and Simon
@@CrazyBlueMood you're very welcome. Many people saying they are pretty similar but not many actual tests out there. I suspect accel/deccel to -2 is probably a good idea too. I know wild Alaska tested that lens out with the R7, maybe check out his Video on it!
I gotta appreciate how you and Simon have gone above and beyond to try and help out people with this camera and lens combo. I'm a Nikon shooter personally but I have an old DSLR with no eye tracking, even with the pulsing my keeper rates would go way up merely by having the eye tracking!
Hi Duade, love your video's I've been fallowing you for about 3 years now and find them very helpful. I presently shoot with the Canon 90D and the Sigma 150-600C and now thinking about the R7, still a little undecided but your video helps quite a bit, your honesty with equipment reviews is greatly appreciated. I should add that I just got into this hobby when I retired at age 73 from the CC of C in Nova Scotia and it gives me a good reason to get up in the morning and get going although a little slower now. Thanks Duade.
Thanks for sharing William, yes, I too have found it a great reason to get out into nature and makes a good change from the fast paced job. Good luck with your camera and lens, Cheers, Duade
I also have the 90d with the Sigma 150 600mm. Really thinking about the R7 at the moment. The pulsing problem wouldn't be an issue with me. I mostly shoot at the full 600mm. Is that an ef Sigma 150 600mm with an adapter. ?
There is no feeling like it when you know you nailed a shot. Patience most often pays off in joy. . I appreciate your videos as I most often come away with a nugget or two of very useful information to add to my knowledge base
As a programmer and familiar with AI, I've been impressed with Canon new AF system. It doesn't really surprise me too much that it can't totally make up its mind on some animals that evolved to camouflage themselves and not let their physical features pop too much from the background. The AF system has to constantly ask itself if the focus point it follows is still part of the subject that it was from when it started to focus. If it doesn't recognize the subject anymore for what it is, it has to back out to make sure it's not focusing on some random part of the bark of a tree that happens to look like an eye. To recognize any animals in all kinds of weird settings is a really daunting task without all the contextual knowledge humans have. I do expect that AI autofocus to evolve extremely quickly generation over generation of camera from now on, though.
One possibly important point to note when using C1 or C2 custom settings. Per the Sigma Manual, "For your regular use, please turn OFF the Custom Mode Switch. The Focus Limiter Switch does not function when the custom mode is ON and set to C1 or C2. "At around 4:00 in the video you suggest to leave the focus limiter setting alone because it can be adjusted on the lens. But, if I'm reading the manual correctly (always possible I'm not) then if you are in C1 or C2 modes, the Focus Limiter switch won't work, which I assume means your going to be in FULL focus range and can't switch to 2.8-to-10 or 10-to-∞ ? If that's the case then might it make sense to Set C1 as you suggest, but also set the focus limiter setting to say 2.0-10, and then set up C2 to have all the same settings, but set focus lifter to 10-to-∞ ? Does that make sense?
Thank you to all who made this possible. I’ve been holding off upgrading but due to all your help and information I can say that I am comfortable with moving from canon 90D to the R7 for wildlife. At the end of the day, despite the gear, you ended up with some amazing results. Results that as a Canon 90D owner I’m more than okay with. I’ve experienced great days and a few disappointments as well. When you get home to only realize they’re not sharp as you thought, especially the eye I feel is the most important feature in wildlife photography composition wise. Still it’s a great improvement to have a tool that will help you lock on to the eye of your subject resulting in a game changing experience for me personally. Grateful and soon to be over the moon as well. I’ll leave you guys with this. A great wildlife camera that will get you results with a small quirk… Japanese Leica? I can live with it.
Thanks for the feedback Diego, I am happy that the video helped highlight what this combination is capable of and good luck with the camera. Cheers, Duade
I never realized many of my shots with the sigma had ever so slightly out of focus eyes until I tried the R7 personally. Not all of them, but after using the R7 and looking at my old pics, I realized "wow, that eye's not actually tack focused" on many of them. Eye AF really is game changing in that regard. I'm confident you will be over the moon, I sure am! It really feels like magic when you try it for the first time.
Another top video Duade! The 275mm and the 600mm each have their appeal. If strictly wanting to show off the bird or animal, then go with the max focal length you can get. If you want to show habitat as well as the subject you can't beat the 250 to 300 range. Any wider and the subject loses to much detail. Again great video! Enjoy that beautiful springtime weather!
After learning a great amount of things from watching your videos, I struggle to understand how you are able to know every bird you are talking pictures/video of. If you made a video of how you identify which birds/animals that are being captured would be incredible to me. Thanks again for making so many great videos!
Thanks for the feedback, I think it is like anything, it is just time and experience, I see a bird, take a photo and then over the years you learn to tell them apart. If I went to a different country I would likely struggle a lot but having been watching and photography birds for 11 years I am reasonably confident on identification. I really need to work on my bird calls as I get confused and it would be helpful to know all the calls. Cheers, Duade
The Merlin phone app from Cornell university is amazing for IDing birds, highly recommend it. You can do manual ID through a sort of quiz that works really well. They even have photo ID through AI which works okay but I don't use much. An actually really useful feature is their Sound ID through AI. It records the sound from your phone's microphone and IDs birds from their call. It can have the odd miss here and there but if it hears the call a couple times usually it will get it right even with some complex warbler songs. It even saves the recording with timestamps on when it IDed species so you can review them manually and compare with a bank of calls from different potential species. Personally that's gotten me more and more into learning those bird calls, maybe you'd like it Duade! On hikes in national parks I use that feature a lot to ID from the trail. I also enjoy the explore feature. By using geolocation, current date and known distribution/migration patterns, it can tell you which species you're more likely to encounter that day in your spot. It's the first thing I check everytime I go out birding in a new spot so I know what to lookout for. Any birder should have it in their phone in my opinion 🙂 it's so good that some of my purist friends will say it makes birding too easy and prefer their guides! All preference of course.
@@andrewkeir2282 for plants it's what I use. For birds if I have a picture usually the Merlin quiz is usually faster and more precise as I can do it directly in the field :)
@@simonthibodeau7082 I find Merlin a little hit and miss (more miss than hit) with the call ID on southern aussie birds. But I do find the photo ID 90% of the time nails it for me.
I recently switched from the Canon Eos 250D to the R6 and kept the Sigma because I wanted to continue using it on the R6 and today I was out for the first time and had exactly this problem and after two hours I gave up I'm grateful to have seen your video. Thanks and greetings from Germany
Very thankful for your testing. I use this lens along with several other Sigma lenses. I however have not made the jump to RF. My current Canon DSLR bodies do me well and since Canon has put up roadblocks for third-party RF lenses, I am not willing to make that jump at this time.
Thanks John, yes, it is very frustrating for sure and I am disappointed that we will not be getting any third party RF lenses in the near future. Cheers, Duade
This video and instruction has saved my elk rut season of shooting. I shoot with the R6 and had bought the 150-600 C . It started out good then started missing too many shots. After a firmware update on the body it was terrible! This work around applied to the custom setting works for me! Thank you, Simon and Brian!
what you said about spreading the joy we have with others is huge! It brings me so much joy to capture these beautiful birds as well as other wildlife. I love it. But then to have others tell me that it brings them joy when they see my pictures makes it 100000x better! thank you for this wonderful video!
Have just received my R7 on the weekend. Have adapted it with EF 70 300 lens. Started watching your R7 videos again to setup custom functions. Thanks for the content.
Amazing work Duade as always and thanks for sharing your valuable feedback on this important issue. I use Sigma 150-600 sports version with Canon R6. No pulsing. On the lens side, I set my custom C1 mode to Dynamic view and fast autofocus. On camera side, i use default case 3. I shoot wide open at 600mm f6.3. No pulsing in static or moving bird shoots. I shoot song birds as well as larger water birds as well.
Thanks for the information. I have put these settings in and the combination works relly well. Autofocus is fast and accurate and sticks to the subject like glue.
Thanks Duade 👍👍. Tested these settings out on some bees at about 10 meters around the garden with my R5 + Sigma 150-600mm. This really helped reduce the pulsing.
It would be great if canon would just give sigma and Tamron the license to produce RF glass and we wouldn’t even be having to make these types of videos
Thanks James, I totally agree, I used the Tamron 150-500 on Sony and it was incredible so they have the technology, we just need Canon to come to the party. Cheers, Duade
@@jamesscharnitz7640 Totally agree with you James. When they refresh their a6xx they'll be a serious competitor to canon. The budget options like 100-400 have no match on Sony, and even the EF Sigma C is cheaper than any 600mm options on E mount. Not true actually, as I've seen very good results with the EF sigma C and metabones adapter on the a6300! But the upgrade paths are immensely better. The Tamron 150-500, updated sigma S and if course the amazingly well priced 200-600. What's gonna come first? a6xx refresh or 3rd party lenses on RF? Who knows, but I think both will come eventually. It's frustrating to not know where Canon stands on that point, rumors say not to expect until at least late 2024. For me I'm okay to wait a few years for an RF updated Sigma. If Sony releases an R7 competitor it probably won't make me switch personally, but it will affect my recommendations for new buyers. I'll tell you, it is a bit frustrating to have zero lenses with that native RF goodness beyond 400mm that aren't f11 other than the 100-500 which is beyond my budget or the EF 100-400 ii +1.4 which doesn't look like a great purchase for me personally. I really think the sigma is the best lens for me atm even with the pulsing, but it's disappointing to have no clear upgrade path for me in the foreseeable future. I'll just enjoy what I have now and wait to see how things unravel.
@@jamesscharnitz7640 Thanks James, given the FX30 an APSC stills camera cant be too far away, I would love to pick that up with the Sony 200-600. Cheers, Duade
Duade , Thanks for the very easy to understand dual BBF setup. I just had a weekend down the Prom with Treeswift Wildlife, which was absolutely brilliant btw. The dual BBF worked brilliantly . A highlight was night photography, where our guide, Jay, had a very expensive infrared viewer but also a strong head lamp and a red torch. The red light made the animals less nervous. He then switched over to the strong torch. I got some great shots of Tawny Frogmouth , eyes wide open. Setup was Aperture Priority, wide open Auto ISO on a monopod. The shutter speed was often quite slow, but the 1/30 sec or even slower.
Thanks Andrew, wow sounds like an awesome outing, I have heard of the IR but never seen it in action. I must admit I really need to up my night photography. Cheers, Duade
Another great video. Nothing like it when you know you have ‘Nailed’ the shot. Have the 150-600 on the R6 and have changed my settings as you have suggested. Will let you know how I go. Thanks again. Phil
Congratulations on the brown falcon! Their behavior reminds me of what we call an American kestrel, also called the sparrow hawk. Thank you for giving the Sigma such a thorough reviewing! I've watched all of them since I own one as well as the R7. I recommend your videos to all who have questions especially about birding and wildlife. Thank you again, Duade!
This video was amazing, thank you!! I already had the Sigma 150-600C and recently upgraded from an EOS 70D to the R7. I've had the R7 for about a month, so the timing of TH-cam presenting this video to me could not have been more perfect, and the video itself.. just amazing. As a bird photographer this was exactly what I was hoping for. I had experienced the AF pulsing already but had not yet realized it was something more widespread than my own inexperience with the R7! Definitely going to take advantage of the settings tweaks you explained in order to reduce that. And I'll definitely be checking out your other video with the different lenses attached to the R7-- that's gold for me, thanks! Your joy for being outside in nature is palpable, makes me want to watch more of your videos. Liked and subscribed! Also, love your gear... I need to find out what kind of tripod you're using as well as get myself one of those ground pods which I've never seen before. Super stuff!
Thanks Lilly, you can still get access via Ashmeads Swamp road which is off the Hume Highway and the Cafe etc is still open. It was just Boggy Bridge Road that was closed. Cheers, Duade
Hello my friend, I was waiting a lot for this video.... The difference in pulsing comparing the two configurations is really remarkable. I suspect the EF-EOS-R adapter or any issue related to communication with the body with the lens, as this problem occurs with other lenses from Canon, EF lens. I wish you had field tested it using the RF 100-400 lens. It's amazing how pulsing doesn't exist in this lens. Thanks for the EXCELLENT video!
Thanks Rodrigo, yes it is interesting, if you watch my video on 6 lenses tested for the R7 I used the Rf100-400 and shared lots of shots, it worked well. Cheers, Duade 👍
@@Duade Dude, a question for anyone who has recently migrated to Mirrorless. On the R6 there are 3 shutter types/modes. Does all electronic mode have any loss of image quality? Does 1 curtain shutter change anything in quality too?
Another brilliant review. I preferred the large bird shots….but the comment I liked he most was the emotional connection when you are just out there doing it….something I also experience.
I love falcons. And this is the first time I've seen them on your program. I got my book by Tom Cade out, Falcons of the World and looked up on the Brown. It was the last bird in the book. Almost totally an Australia species with outliers in Tasmania and New Guinea. A fairly large falcon as well. The shots you got, the action shots, were just awesome. Thanks to your experience and ability to put that to work anticipating their behavior you got those last images with flying and landing and taking off. I can't say, "Please more falcons" b/c that's not how they occur. But if I could, I would.
Some wonderful images Duade. I just wish Canon would either support that lens or at least bring out a suitable alternative at this cost point. As much as the RF 100 - 500 is a decent lens its price makes it out of reach for a lot of people.
Hello from Poland. I watch your channel all the time and must admit that you are an excellent bird photographer. I also listen to you like an oracle about hardware. Unfortunately our birds don't let us get that close, except in the city park. I have to use camouflage all the time. But it also manages to catch something nice in the frame. I'm using a Sigma 60-600 sport with a Canon R5 and I'm having these pulsing problems too. I have already found the settings you recommend here. Canon should be ashamed. I think they did it on purpose, same as with the 8K limit. Sorry for the mistakes - it's a translator. Regards. Stefek.
Thanks Stefek, yes, the pulsing is very annoying and makes it difficult at times, I am glad to hear you are making the most of your kit. I would like to try that lens, it appears to be a good one. Cheers, Duade
Yes, especially good for movies when something comes up close at once, it's perfect. I recommend replacing old 150-600 with a new 60-600 one. Recently a deer jumped out by the pond 10 meters from me and I quickly changed to at 60mm and I recorded the film in 8k. Now we have a deer rut, in Poland it is autumn. I'm glad you reply. greetings drive.google.com/file/d/1uNbO1bPYX24xj9GZVG_NVaJ0oi767dwS/view?usp=sharing
I have a very similar issue with Tamron 150-600 G2 and EOS R5. The lens worked beautifully with EOS 5Dmk4. On the R5 it works 90% of the time. the other times - usually when the camera goes to sleep and then wakes up with a press of a button - the focus just starts pulsing really quickly and the only fix for that is to power off the camera and then power it back on.
Sorry to hear about that, I did have some inconsistencies also which is frustrating, I only hope Canon comes to some agreement with third party so we can get an RF version. Cheers, Duade
I only experienced pulsing 3 times in 3 years and I have found it to be at 60-80 meters. This has been with the Canon 7D mark ii. I have just purchased a 5D mark iv, and I am looking forward to see how it responds to it. Thanks for the information! I hope that these comments help your survey...
Great video, thanks for sharing! I like the wide shot of the Wood Duck best, but I would crop it on the right side. My favourite shot is the Frogmout! It's incredible!
Yet another great effort, Duade. Well done getting to the bottom of the Sigma 150-600mm contemporary lens! A big thanks to Simon as well for all of his testing & for sharing his wealth of experience. Also, nice of Brian to facilitate. I thought you had loads of great shots & it was nice to see the noticeable improvements in the AF with those settings. I thought the wood duck at 275 & 600mm were the best in that series & liked the falcon flight shot with perch better than without. Congrats on the excellent falcon set! How fantastic is it when life offers up those gems & we are there to realize & fully appreciate it? Glad you got those. Thanks again for the work & the collection of info, images & video in this one. Always a pleasure. I finally received my R7 yesterday after the 2 month wait. Am looking forward to discovering its usefulness. Have a good one & may another falcon like experience come your way before long. Best regards ~ Chris
Thanks, Duade. Only a couple of hundred shots in using our yard participants of chickadees, nuthatches & voles & very pleased with the upgrade. Eye tracking working quite well in this scenario w/used 100-400mm II I picked up. Looking forward to many more opportunities. Thanks again for all the great info you've provided.
I returned my R7 because of this very reason. I hate being a beta tester when paying full price. It happens with adapted Canon RF glass too. I starting using my Fuji x-t4 with the new Fuji 150-600mm. I have to work a bit harder since no real bird eye AF; the shots I do get, are fantastic. Coincidentally, I adapted my RF glass to the x-t4 and it works better than it did with the R7. Thanks for the great videos.
The falcon shots, beautiful! I boohooed with my first bald eagle in the wild to where I couldn't even take many pics. Thankfully, they came out great. I get a bit emotional while on a lot of my photo shoots. I'm in awe of Mother Nature. I'm ordering this lens today and can't wait to take it out to play! Your photos are beautiful and fun! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I have been following you & your youtube channel for about 7 days now & i have found the content to be a no nonsense helpful content. You have an amazing lucid style of delivery of the content. Keep it up & looking forward to many many more videos from you.
Always look forward to your videos Duade, a very thorough look into this issue. What a special moment with those Falcons, that shared connection with another animal when you are looking through the viewfinder into it's eyes is what makes it special for me irrespective of the subject. Your words of motivation and similar feelings are inspiring. Keep up the great work!!
Well done Duade 275 for me and yes I saw you in Derick’s vlog and though there’s a boming subject, lol it’s a shame that he doesn’t get more viewers he’s very knowledgeable about his subject.
Duade, Thanks for this video and many of your others. I got the R7 the first week it came out and the Sigma 150-600c. Prior to the R7, I was using a Pentax KS2. With that I would spot focus, recompose and shoot. Switching to the R7, I use Servo and the touch screen (dragging the orange circle to the area I want the camera to focus on with my thumb). Before the settings change, the focus point would keep jumping around and lock onto things I did not care about. When the whole frame got out of focus (or I could not lock on with the orange circle) I have adjusted the manual focus ring to get it back in the neighborhood. Since July, I thought the issues I was having were all me learning a new system. Yesterday I went out with the new setting and found a bunch of Robins in an open stream and mud (-2C here). The animal detection and eye tracking worked tremendously better. I spent far less time less time moving my thumb to get it to find a bird and only had to use the manual override ring a few times. These setting also worked well with my Canon EF 70-300 4-5.6 L. I used the Canon lens freehand when I first found the birds and when the sun started to set. The Sigma I used on a monopod. Both seemed to behave similarly and better (so happy with the focusing I lost track of my ISO). I still had frames that the focus was locked on to an eye and but was not in focus (surrounding frames were in focus), so it is not perfect on either lens. Using a monopod and sitting in a snowbank, I left the IS on. I locked the aperture and let the shutter and ISO float. When using a monopod, should I have the IS off and what shutter speed should I try not to drop below (1/640)? FYI in September I tired the RF 100-400 but could not get it to behave when changing subjects at 400mm. The whole frame would be out of focus and I could not use the control ring to get it back in the neighborhood (like I do with the Sigma and RF 18-150). I figured that RF 100-400 being an f8 at 400 it was a light issue, zooming out focusing and then back in worked but most times the shot was gone. I did not keep the lens long enough to notice if it had a pulsing issue. The f8 also had me concerned because I read anything above 5.6 will be less sharp because of the crop sensor and pixel density of the R7. Is there and aperture you avoid going narrower then on the R7?
Thanks for sharing Dan, the IS is an interesting question and I don't know the proper answer. For me personally I leave IS on my Canon lenses as I would forget to turn it back on. With the Sigma I turned IS off as I found the viewfinder would jump around with it on if using a tripod. I think the SS can go lower than 1/640 if you are struggling for light and if the subject is static. You should be able to go very low. Often 1/200 is my lower limit and I shoot in burst to try to get some sharp. It really all depends if I have light or not. Yes, diffraction can be an issue with APSC bodies but I don't really notice it to be fair. I usually shoot at f7.1-f9 most of the time if I have plenty of light, otherwise I will shoot wide open in low light. Sorry to hear about the RF100-400 issues, that is a shame. Cheers, Duade
@@Duade , thanks for the reply. I am likely to set thing up at the beginning and forget to change them as conditions do. I will see if I notice it jumping in the viewfinder before turning IS off (and hoping I remember to turn it back on).
Hey Duade, I just joined your channel. I'm in love with all your content and it's been super useful. I'm a travel and product photographer but I studied Biology. I always wanted to join my two passions and thanks to you, I'm unboxing right know the Sigma 150-600 for my Canon R. I'm so excited and I can't wait to go outside and start photographing some birds. Thank you, again, for all your hard work. Greetings from Spain.
Alex, thanks for the feedback and welcome to the channel, sounds like you have an interesting background. Congrats on the lens and the new found passion, it really is wonderful. Have fun out there, Cheers, Duade
Wow, that 150mm shot of the grebe with the tree reflections was amazing! I really enjoy those habitat shots, and I personally think wildlife photographers (myself included) should definitely experiment more with shorter focal lengths! Thanks for the great video, as always!
Thank you Duade, another very helpful video! I own the Sigma 150-600 currently shooting with a Canon 5DIV... and still waiting for my R7! Ordered 3 months ago and still waiting, hopefully I get it for Christmas 😅
DUADE, thanks so very very much for all the time and extreme effort we know it takes to produce these wonderful videos. Your session with the Brown Falcons was especially inspiring. Perhaps someday I will be able to capture something similar. But if that happens it will be because of you. Take care and keep shooting! A
Thanks Duade! I just received my R7 yesterday and after my first light experience w the Sigma150-600 R7 combo, I am giving these settings a try. I’m looking forward to seeing the difference between my older RP and the R7.
@@Duade I have had the R7/Sigma combo out 3 times with the config changes and have gotten fantastic bird images. AF eye tracking is working awesome. Loving this new camera. Thanks for making this video.
Great video as always. You've got more patience with the Atomos than I do on the tweeeties ;) What I've noticed on the R7 and R10 in testing is that if you hold that eye auto on a subject that's not moving or very little movement, the focus is as you stated constantly looking for an eye and it will jump to something else that looks like an eye. And in turn it gets lost. The R10 will really have this issue. It happens more with the cheaper RF lenses and the 3rd party. The RF 100-500, EF 70-200, EF 500, etc. it doesn't happen as much. But it still happens. So it seems you need to focus pump like we used to do with DSLR's when your subject is more stationary.
Thanks mate, I wonder why these cameras are different to the R5/R6 in this regard, it really is noticeable which is a shame. I will be sure to try the pumping method next time, Cheers, Duade
@@Duade I think you already stumbled on it even in your video ;) Sensors and their readout speeds are different on the r5/6 and the R7. R7 being slower and R10 as I'm finding is a touch slower than the R7. That affects focus and the wobble/rolling shutter.
@@WILDALASKA Yeah, I had to refocus a number of times, yes, I think you are right re the sensors, I wish this speed was reported accurately by the manufacturers, so we know the differences. The Canon wobble is real on the R7/R10 that is for sure. Cheers, Duade
i just found this today as i was testing the R7 sigma 150 - 600mm AF eye tracking on a toy meerkat in my kitchen (lol the things we do) pumping the AF but created less pulsing than just holding it down. The RF100-500mm had not issues when holding in in on my test
RF 100-400mm and RF 800mm f11 don't usually pulse but in low light + small and close subjects I sometimes notice a similar phenomenon. I rarely have problems with birds in clean backgrounds (like a duck swimming), but the other day I was photographing an American Robin in snow with my 100-400mm (with some leaves in background) eating a berry, and every other shot pulsed out of focus. Unlike the Tamron which pulses rapidly but slightly, the RF 100-400 just struggles to lock on for a split second and threw itself out of focus before hunting back again (if I recall I was in AF Case 2 which should keep things "sticky"). The 800mm f11 has a similar issue but its slower AF motor means it is less likely to completely throw out of focus like the 100-400, and I find the limited AF box of the 800mm f11 to work in my favour considering the R6 doesn't let me restrict the AF zone for eye-detect on the 100-400mm. I don't have either lens but it leaves me wondering how much better the 100-500mm and EF 100-400mm L II work in a similar scenario. I just loaded firmware 1.7 which "Fixes an issue that, in rare instances, may result in the camera not operating normally when capturing small subjects" and will be testing out how that works.
Thanks for sharing your experience, yes the AF is far from perfect and can struggle at times. I always have spot AF ready to go when the Eye AF struggles as I have experienced the same as you with most lenses. Cheers, Duade 👍
OK, comments for second half of the video: I do prefer when the perch is visible on the first good/perfect Brown Falcon photo, since the way the bird flies it's so obvious it's just alighting (right word? for just start flying away) and the perch is a natural part of that particular pose. The other one the perch is already so far behind the bird that the natural crop is to crop it out. I really like them both! But, somehow prefer the first one, with the perch and the feet/legs still "dangling". Also: congrats on that special Falcon photo session! Now you've had magical moments with both the Azure KF AND Brown Falcon this year. Good times! And, no, I do NOT consider the reed background on the female Grebe-photo disturbing. I like it. But, that's me... When it comes to the male Grebe I preferred the inzoom. I liked the 150 mm version too, but somehow I found the lightish, bare trees in the background not being in the background enough, when so perfectly mirrored in the water... kinda out-rivaling the cute grebe, if you catch my drift? (OK, gonna shut up now)
Thanks Achiranda, I would like to but unfortunately I do not have access to the lens at the moment, I will see if I can get it again in the future. Cheers, Duade
G'day Duade. What a stroke of genius to use a rotating Jerry the Gala 😀 Really loved your Golden-headed Cisticola ! And then those awesome brown falcons, especially where they come together ! From the 3 focal length comparison with the wood duck, I'd say in this case I prefer the 275mm. The swallows were also great, and I was wowed by the Tree Martin with leaf. But also the grebe and frogmouth were great. So, even when I wasn't much interested in this specific gear, it's such a great joy to watch your beautiful YT's, thanks mate !! As for opening up the RF to the likes of Tamron and Sigma, I understand it may happen in few years, once Canon has more completed it's own set of of lenses, but more importantly they did seem to acknowledge their RF-protocol isn't matured just yet. Sounds like they still want to tweak it a bit to hopefully cure the Wobble and similar thingies. When they improve the protocol, they can easily issue firmware updates for their own lenses, but for third party this may get uglier .. hence the delay in allowing them I suppose.
Your argument with the RF protocoll has a strong point, and its definately immature when i think about it. But as a EF lens (mainly) user i can totally say: Even adapted EF glass just works great (in AF as well as stabilizer) without much or any downsides compared to the RF lenses. It just depends on the model... some sigma lenses work great but the chance they work better together you get with more modern canon EF glass. And yeah, the 275mm shot is definately the best, more context and still a nice view to the bird, the 150mm one is too wide
@@harrison00xXx Indeed, fully agree. EF works adapted at least as good as they did natively on DSLR .. at least when comparing the functionality which existed on these DSLR's .. and eye-AF wasn't around yet ;-)
Thank you so much! You save my money! Without this settings my Sigma 150-600 contemporary was veeery bad and with Canon 400d it was better than Canon r7 😂 I copy all from this video and i pay this Sigma USB-Dock. Today in Moscow i test this settings with wild owls and i have very beautiful results! Sorry for my English 😊
Very good and detailed video! Managed to get way better results by updating the lens software as well as doing the same AF setup for my Canon R3! Many thanks and greetings from Switzerland 🇨🇭 🙌
What wonderful shots you got mate. Just amazing the shots of the Brown Falcon. Good to know for those people that have this lens, that with the right settings, they can get some great results. Cheers, Bjoern
Thanks mate, yes, the Brown Falcon was an absolute highlight after years trying. I am sure you have had many similar experiences where for whatever reason you just get lucky, just happy I was there to capture it. Cheers, Duade
@@Duade I can imagine that yes. And yes i have had some very exiting experience lately too. Just managed to photographing a bird, that have been extinted for over 100 years here in the state where i live, and one of the rarest birds in whole Brazil. Just pure luck did that i managed that. Was not going to go to that area that day, but a lot of wind made me to change my mind. Never thought i ever would see that bird here. Shared it with some birding friends, so they too could get to see this wonderful bird, so now it's more photos of it, but only this individual. So i have no idea of where it did come from. It's gone now, but at leas we know that it exist 😄📸 Have a great week mate. Cheers, Bjoern📷
Cracking video! Appreciate all the work you put into this. I no longer have this lens, but a friend just ordered it and the R10, and I have no doubt she'll find it useful.
You use similar setting for BBF to me. I’ve been lucky in that I have no had pulsing issues with my EF100-400II nor any other Canon lens I have tried. Not sure you mentioned it, instead of setting for AF-On the eye detect, set metering and AF start but before you exit press the info button. This brings up another page where you have finer control over the AF settings. You need to use the tick boxes on the left to enable individual items such as eye tracking, subject type etc. Might be worth a play in there to help the stuttering.
I LOVE seeing your excitement - and that is what it is all about. I rarely shoot my R7 at the highest burst rate on the camera - too many shots. I also tell others, or ask.... how many sharp shots do you need, how many are you going to share? Out of the thousands I take I share a couple. The other thing I tell others is that for me, I really only need one shot to make me happy. IF - IF the only shot you got that was amazing was one of the hawks, that one shot still would have made your day. For me, I have been finding that I actually prefer the EF L lenses on this body other than than the RF 100-500. I do plan on renting the Canon RF 600mm F4 soon just to play with, but to be honest with you - I LOVE my 500mm EF adapted to the body. Works extremely well with the 1.4 tele as well. Fantastic video - love the excitement. I recently had that same feeling all over again when i pulled out my 90D and was shooting a DSLR again. Keep trying to review the image in the viewfinder...... 🤣 PS - my old 100-400 push/pull EF version one works really well on this body for what I want it to do - better than the RF version. The slow focus works for dragonflies in flight and it is faster which I prefer. It does conflict with the body now and again, but I turn it off and keep going. If I keep the shutter speed down, it will not do that. 🙏
Thanks for sharing John, yes, I too love playing with all my cameras, the 1DX is a blast and it is interesting how all the lenses perform. I too love my 500 apart from the weight and size. We lucky to have so many options, Cheers, Duade
Yet another fantastic video👌 Must say I was drawn to your channel while doing research on the Canon R7 as my next upgrade from my 70D ( still a great camera serving me for last 9 years, but things have moved on) . Now I’m in danger of heading into the wilds searching out the bird wildlife with an R7 and long a zoom attached 😎 Keep up the great work as I’m sure you will (looks like so much fun rather than a chore 👍)
Duade, just wanted to say thank you for this video. Extremely informative. Helped me make the jump into the canon mirrorless series. Also wanted to say that the pulsing for me personally, was not that big of a deal afterall (it was a huge factor when I thought about switching to mirrorless). Chances are, the bird never gets that close to ya. For me, they always flush before I even get to the distance where the pulsing issue really shows. And in the case I do manage to get close, these settings you showed helped loads. Cheers.
Great video and great shots Duade. I have the Sigma lens and R7 camera. I found the video very helpful. I generally don't care if I get soft shots because some will be sharp and nobody else will know. Cheers.
This was a fantastic session with some great keepers! I'm eager to try some of these changes and get out with my Sigma 150-600C (which has largely just been sitting in my bag because I've been so frustrated with the pulsing AF issues on small birds at around 20-ft compared to the RF 100-400).
Thanks Jeff, yes, it is frustrating, I still prefer the 100-400 for most things but if you need reach and have a tripod the 150-600 is an option for sure. Cheers, Duade
Great video! It really helped manage the pulsing a lot. 😍 I did set my lens to Standard AF instead of Smooth as I find the slower AF speed to have a big impact in recovering focus if in case the lens does pulse. Especially shooting in low light or subjects under heavy cover. Cheers! 😊
As a Canon R8 owner, I was looking for a wildlife lense and I bought this one, as a kit, with 1.4 Converter. Works great already, but I'll bet this gives the final touch. Thanks!
I have this lens and I use it with my RP with good results (it actually works better than on my 70D) and am looking at the R7 as an update for the 70D. I keep hearing how this combination is not great, thank you for doing the hard work showing how to make it better. And how did you resist the urge to say "Simon says"...!
lol thanks John, yes, I should have, that would have been funny. As a combo for its price it creates wonderful shots, I think this video will help those understand what they are getting. Cheers, Duade
Another awesome video Duade that will hopefully help a lot of people (and some absolutely beautiful shots also) . I have significant pulsing on my R7/Sigma combo and have been using Simons settings for a while now. Unfortunately as well as BIF I also do a lot of close up bird photography and have probably run out of patience as the pulsing is making me miss some great moments. Its such a shame as for birds in flight it has amazing reach and the tracking of the camera is outstanding. But after watching the hassle free AF performance of the RF 100 400 I think I may need to carry two lenses around for both scenarios.
Thanks for sharing your experience Michael, yes, the RF100-400 is great for close up work due to the very good MFD allowing almost macro style shots of bugs, reptiles etc. Cheers, Duade
For anything semi-macro and fast action, the RF100-400 does perform a lot better. For BIF I've had some good results with the sigma but it can be hit or miss as you said. I think you'd enjoy the 100-400, hassle free is the right word! It's so easy to carry, aim and shoot anything with it. You sacrifice 200mm but even that does help with framing subjects, having a better keeper rate, and I find it makes me into the habit of getting closer and closer to birds instead. They're a nice pair to own and really aren't redundant to have in my opinion, they both serve different purposes and are both great lenses. I've only recently purchased the 100-400 to pair my sigma and I'm always happy to reach for it. You might even find leaving the sigma at home sometimes! I love just going to my local nature park with nothing but the R7+100-400 on a cotton carrier and riding my bike with that. Cheers 🙂
Hi Duade. I shoot with the R7 and RF 100-500. I get a really low keeper rate. I find that, while the eye tracking box is on the eye, very often, the lens is focused somewhere on the body. I don’t find this with my R5. I have contacted Wex, where I purchased the camera. They said that many people have contacted them with this problem. Keep up the great work, Julian
Thanks for the feedback Julian, I have noticed a difference between the R7 and R5 also and I don't know why there is this difference and makes the eye tracking a bit of a challenge on the R7. I do hope it is something they can update with firmware. Cheers, Duade
Thanks Duade! Obviously I was really looking forward to this vid! Amazing moments captured, I was completely awed a couple times.
Some further info for those still playing around with the settings:
1- You should probably play around with sensitivity in the AF menu and with the custom AF speeds/OIS modes to see which one you prefer. Accel/deccel at -2 is really the one setting to look out for.
Edit: my modes are now as follows:
Sensitivity 0, accel/deccel -2
C1: Slowest AF, moderate OIS
C2: Standard AF, moderate.
I also use the default settings when shooting handheld sometimes.
C2 on monopod is now my preferred choice in many situations (still use handheld and tripod a lot) but I use all three from time to time. In low light with a close target, I'll often use C1.
2- Jan Wegener suggested -2 sensitivity too for his 100-500, and after playing around with it in the field I don't see that much of a difference, but perhaps it could help the tracking on a busy background. Right now mine is set to 0 I think.
3- I think background separation and distance from subject are really the two to look out for. Subject movement as well like Duade showcased (seeing Gary spin around was hilarious btw), but I found background separation made even more of a difference, especially if the background is moving (wind in branches for example). When you look at all the scenarios that had the worst pulsing, they were usually the ones with slightly less ideal background separation (bird in tall grass with wind, bird on the ground, odd reflections in the water). It just seems to trigger it for some reason. In my initial controlled testing I barely saw any pulsing past 7m but after trying it out more and more, it does happen a bit when the subject is on a busy/changing background. Maybe lower sensitivity would help? It's hard to test it but I'm still experimenting as I'm shooting in the field.
For panning BIF however, haven't had too many issues so far are those are usually pretty far away and/or behind a sky background.
Edit #2: I think my settings for stills are pretty dialed in at this point, but I'm still experimenting more with BIF and need more time to test it on gulls. I'll update the comment once I have some definitive results. But with my C2 from edit #1 or even default dock settings, handheld or on mono, it's fine, really.
4- I think most people will still prefer standard OIS for the ease of framing, especially if shooting at around 1/640-1000 where standard performs just fine. Maybe keep just one mode on moderate and only switch to it if using 1/320-400 and lower, you'll have a shaky viewfinder but better stabilization in those scenarios.
Personally I use the Sigma on monopod a lot. I know Duade isn't a big fan of them but the Wimberley MH100 gimbal head is imo fantastic for ease of use, stabilization and ease of carrying around in the field on the shoulder. Moderate + a good monopod head is a killer combo as you get stabilization from camera/monopod shake and a stable viewfinder. Using a tripod gimbal on a monopod is also one of the best monopod heads you can use. Handheld is also good but there's a compromise between the OIS modes (stable image vs viewfinder) for sure.
I shoot handheld a lot too and I do have a good tripod+gimbal similar to Duade I mostly use around my feeders but since trying out the Wimberley Gimbal head, I just reach out for it more and more. I get as much stabilization as I would ever need and it's so much easier to recompose/move around and walk with it.
Personally if you have this combo, the first next purchase you should make with it is DXO PureRaw, the second is the Wimberly mono gimbal. Those are really the two best purchases I've made to improve my pics with the Sigma. But that's just my opinion ofc! If that mono gimbal didn't exist I wouldn't bother with monopods altogether, but it's just that good for me that it makes them worth it.
5- From the different AF speeds, I find the slowest one is fast enough once the subject is detected, but initial (prefocusing) acquisition is notably slower, as Duade said. Until you're really used to dual BBF and have dialed down your prefocusing technique it's probably best to use standard, and in situations that are less "sit and wait" you might prefer standard in general.
Edit#3: been using more and more standard speed and I prefer it now in most scenarios, especially for pre-acquisition speed. I still think fastest speed is overkill and a bit jerky.
6- if you're wondering when to shoot at F8 vs f6.3, note that with the R7 and DXO PureRaw, 2-3k ISO is the max you should ever shoot at F8, unless you really really need that extra DOF. The increase in sharpness is pretty marginal and at higher ISOs you will gain more resolution from the extra light gathering by shooting wide open. I've recently tested this extensively.
7- Don't use TCs with the Sigma. It just doesn't scale well optically.
8- Personally I've recently purchased the RF100-400 after hearing all the good things about it and I'm really really happy with it.
When people say you should own a zoom and a prime, getting the 100-400 has been eye opening in that regard. It's so easy to carry, point and shoot with it, my keeper rate with it blows me away. Even just the 200mm less reach makes it easier to frame, but I underestimated how much a lighter lens is easier for just aiming and shooting quick shots of small birds that jump in front of you in the trail when hiking for example. I think it's made me realize more why Duade likes the 100-500 so much now, I get it now. Still can't afford it sadly though!
I think it really relates to your style of shooting. "Sit and wait" and "tracking down" are the two ways to hunt animals (in photography or with rifles!) and in french we even have specific words for those two techniques (affût and billebaude).
Primes are better for sit and wait (feeders or lures for example), lighter zooms for tracking down. For me, the RF100-400 for tracking and the sigma for sit and wait serve those niches pretty well, within my budget. To me, the 100-400 serves the same purpose as Duade's 100-500, and the sigma serves the same purpose as his 500f4+1.4x. At a fraction of the price, it's not the same performance obviously but it's good enough for me so far.
To be fair, the sigma can definitely bridge that gap, before getting the 100-400 I would go on day long hikes with it no problem, even with the monopod as it's so easy to carry on the shoulder if it's an easy hike. It's a pretty good do it all with some compromises like AF and weight, to an extent.
9- If you're looking for purchase advice, here's my opinion. If you're new to the hobby and getting your first ever lens, I think the 100-400 is a better option. It's so much easier to use and learn on and will ease you into the hobby much better. It will get you in the habit of getting closer to the animals which is really the crucial thing to learn.
If you're looking for an upgrade to your current lens and need more reach, I think the sigma is a great option to consider for its price, versatility and great optics.
Consider the f11 primes, but take into account your shooting style. If you shoot mostly waterfowl, live in an area with plenty of sunlight and/or are the kind of person to check the weather and avoid cloudy days for shooting anyway, the f11 primes are a great option.
If you're like me and shoot almost everyday for fun no matter the weather, shoot mostly songbirds in dense boreal forests and live in a place like Quebec where the weather is pretty rock and roll, shoot anything that you come across including insects etc., Enjoy shooting at dusk and dawn, the Sigma is the clear choice imo. Note that the pulsing on the sigma is very minor past 6m, which is the minimum focus distance on the RF800! And I go up to 6-10-15 and even 20-25k ISO already at f6.3, so I can't imagine using an f11 lens personally. There's so many pictures I've taken with the Sigma that I know for a fact, would've been almost impossible to shoot at f11.
I think that's about it. Go out with the Sigma and enjoy it y'all, it's a neat little lens 🙂 and make sure to tip Duade if you can afford it! We need to support content creators such as him, I don't know about y'all but I can't think of any wildlife TH-camr that has better content, production quality and community outreach as he does. He's a pillar to the community! The fact he made an entire vid revisiting the Sigma after learning about these settings is a true testament of his commitment to rigorous methodology! And thanks to your mate for lending the lens, that Sigma has definitely gotten milked for content for sure by now 😅 Cheers
Edit: for all the people thanking me for the experimenting, you're welcome! I got frustrated no one was doing this testing and felt it needed to be done, so I did it myself 🙂 testing your own lens+camera is tedious but worth it to learn more about it. Thanks for the kind words everyone. Check out the sigma's FB group for more info/results in my post history aswell as others.
Salut simon, je parle et lis difficilement l’anglais. J’aimerais bien comprendre le contenu de ton commentaires. Est-il possible de me le transmettre pour que je puisse y faire la traduction
Thanks Simon, I really appreciate the time and effort you put into this and letting me know about it. I love the lens also and the photos I have obtained for a lens that costs a fraction of my 500 f4 as you mention is remarkable. For its price it offers exceptional value.
Great to hear you are enjoying the RF100-400, it is such a wonderful little lens and I must admit I have grabbed that over the 100-500 if I am just going for a quick wander around. I agree that you really need a light zoom for general work and macro style stuff and a longer lens when you can use a tripod/monopod etc.
I am happy that the channel has a engaged community that is all about helping each other and I will continue to make content that helps others. On behalf of all Sigma owners, thanks again and happy birding. Cheers, Duade
Thanks Simon, all this is great insight personally i am looking to go with r10 and tamron g2 150-600 option but this is vital as sigma is also a good choice.
I also agree that Duade is one of the more in depth and detailed vlogger for birding, and the best part is while he is now a sensation on TH-cam and a celebrity in Oz land he still listens to us mere mortals and even replies, so thanks Duade🙏 and Simon
@@jeansmith2970 ça va me faire plaisir, je t'envoie ça bientôt!
@@CrazyBlueMood you're very welcome. Many people saying they are pretty similar but not many actual tests out there. I suspect accel/deccel to -2 is probably a good idea too. I know wild Alaska tested that lens out with the R7, maybe check out his Video on it!
I gotta appreciate how you and Simon have gone above and beyond to try and help out people with this camera and lens combo. I'm a Nikon shooter personally but I have an old DSLR with no eye tracking, even with the pulsing my keeper rates would go way up merely by having the eye tracking!
Thanks, it is my pleasure, I love the community we have here on the channel and look forward to sharing more helpful info in the future. Cheers, Duade
Hi Duade, love your video's I've been fallowing you for about 3 years now and find them very helpful. I presently shoot with the Canon 90D and the Sigma 150-600C and now thinking about the R7, still a little undecided but your video helps quite a bit, your honesty with equipment reviews is greatly appreciated. I should add that I just got into this hobby when I retired at age 73 from the CC of C in Nova Scotia and it gives me a good reason to get up in the morning and get going although a little slower now. Thanks Duade.
Thanks for sharing William, yes, I too have found it a great reason to get out into nature and makes a good change from the fast paced job. Good luck with your camera and lens, Cheers, Duade
I also have the 90d with the Sigma 150 600mm.
Really thinking about the R7 at the moment. The pulsing problem wouldn't be an issue with me. I mostly shoot at the full 600mm. Is that an ef Sigma 150 600mm with an adapter. ?
There is no feeling like it when you know you nailed a shot. Patience most often pays off in joy.
. I appreciate your videos as I most often come away with a nugget or two of very useful information to add to my knowledge base
Thanks Ed, yes, I was very happy with the results I got with this combo, Cheers, Duade
As a programmer and familiar with AI, I've been impressed with Canon new AF system. It doesn't really surprise me too much that it can't totally make up its mind on some animals that evolved to camouflage themselves and not let their physical features pop too much from the background. The AF system has to constantly ask itself if the focus point it follows is still part of the subject that it was from when it started to focus. If it doesn't recognize the subject anymore for what it is, it has to back out to make sure it's not focusing on some random part of the bark of a tree that happens to look like an eye. To recognize any animals in all kinds of weird settings is a really daunting task without all the contextual knowledge humans have. I do expect that AI autofocus to evolve extremely quickly generation over generation of camera from now on, though.
One possibly important point to note when using C1 or C2 custom settings. Per the Sigma Manual, "For your regular use, please turn OFF the Custom Mode Switch. The Focus Limiter Switch does not function when the custom mode is ON and set to C1 or C2.
"At around 4:00 in the video you suggest to leave the focus limiter setting alone because it can be adjusted on the lens. But, if I'm reading the manual correctly (always possible I'm not) then if you are in C1 or C2 modes, the Focus Limiter switch won't work, which I assume means your going to be in FULL focus range and can't switch to 2.8-to-10 or 10-to-∞ ? If that's the case then might it make sense to Set C1 as you suggest, but also set the focus limiter setting to say 2.0-10, and then set up C2 to have all the same settings, but set focus lifter to 10-to-∞ ? Does that make sense?
My Sigma 150-600C pulses a lot. Now I love the 100-400mm RF thanks to your great video.
Thanks for sharing your feedback Wolfgang, Cheers, Duade
Duade, you really went the extra miles on this one. You surely helped a ton of people. Congrats on the Falcon images, incredible.
Thanks Terry, I appreciate the feedback, Cheers, Duade
I got chills when the second falcon arrived, that's peak bird photography right there. The one with the perch is the one to keep.
Thanks Jarlrmai, yes, I was stoked with that, thanks for the feedback, Cheers, Duade
Thank you to all who made this possible. I’ve been holding off upgrading but due to all your help and information I can say that I am comfortable with moving from canon 90D to the R7 for wildlife. At the end of the day, despite the gear, you ended up with some amazing results. Results that as a Canon 90D owner I’m more than okay with. I’ve experienced great days and a few disappointments as well. When you get home to only realize they’re not sharp as you thought, especially the eye I feel is the most important feature in wildlife photography composition wise. Still it’s a great improvement to have a tool that will help you lock on to the eye of your subject resulting in a game changing experience for me personally. Grateful and soon to be over the moon as well. I’ll leave you guys with this. A great wildlife camera that will get you results with a small quirk… Japanese Leica? I can live with it.
Thanks for the feedback Diego, I am happy that the video helped highlight what this combination is capable of and good luck with the camera. Cheers, Duade
I never realized many of my shots with the sigma had ever so slightly out of focus eyes until I tried the R7 personally. Not all of them, but after using the R7 and looking at my old pics, I realized "wow, that eye's not actually tack focused" on many of them. Eye AF really is game changing in that regard. I'm confident you will be over the moon, I sure am! It really feels like magic when you try it for the first time.
@@simonthibodeau7082 I have upgraded from a 90D with the Sigma to an R7 with a 100-500 and I am really very pleased with the new setup.
Hi Diego. Currently looking at doing a similar upgrade, have you found it to be worth it?
@@simonthibodeau7082I know I am here very late but I am wondering what converter you use for the sigma to r7
Another top video Duade!
The 275mm and the 600mm each have their appeal. If strictly wanting to show off the bird or animal, then go with the max focal length you can get. If you want to show habitat as well as the subject you can't beat the 250 to 300 range. Any wider and the subject loses to much detail.
Again great video!
Enjoy that beautiful springtime weather!
Thanks Guy, I agree with your comments, yes, its a nice day here but I think we have more rain on the horizon, Cheers, Duade
After learning a great amount of things from watching your videos, I struggle to understand how you are able to know every bird you are talking pictures/video of. If you made a video of how you identify which birds/animals that are being captured would be incredible to me. Thanks again for making so many great videos!
Thanks for the feedback, I think it is like anything, it is just time and experience, I see a bird, take a photo and then over the years you learn to tell them apart. If I went to a different country I would likely struggle a lot but having been watching and photography birds for 11 years I am reasonably confident on identification. I really need to work on my bird calls as I get confused and it would be helpful to know all the calls. Cheers, Duade
The Merlin phone app from Cornell university is amazing for IDing birds, highly recommend it. You can do manual ID through a sort of quiz that works really well. They even have photo ID through AI which works okay but I don't use much.
An actually really useful feature is their Sound ID through AI. It records the sound from your phone's microphone and IDs birds from their call. It can have the odd miss here and there but if it hears the call a couple times usually it will get it right even with some complex warbler songs. It even saves the recording with timestamps on when it IDed species so you can review them manually and compare with a bank of calls from different potential species. Personally that's gotten me more and more into learning those bird calls, maybe you'd like it Duade! On hikes in national parks I use that feature a lot to ID from the trail.
I also enjoy the explore feature. By using geolocation, current date and known distribution/migration patterns, it can tell you which species you're more likely to encounter that day in your spot. It's the first thing I check everytime I go out birding in a new spot so I know what to lookout for.
Any birder should have it in their phone in my opinion 🙂 it's so good that some of my purist friends will say it makes birding too easy and prefer their guides! All preference of course.
Another great tool is Google Lens. It can look at your photo and provide a bird ID ... or a group of possibilities really quickly
@@andrewkeir2282 for plants it's what I use. For birds if I have a picture usually the Merlin quiz is usually faster and more precise as I can do it directly in the field :)
@@simonthibodeau7082 I find Merlin a little hit and miss (more miss than hit) with the call ID on southern aussie birds. But I do find the photo ID 90% of the time nails it for me.
I recently switched from the Canon Eos 250D to the R6 and kept the Sigma because I wanted to continue using it on the R6 and today I was out for the first time and had exactly this problem and after two hours I gave up I'm grateful to have seen your video. Thanks and greetings from Germany
All your videos are as big as that lens and as detailed as the pictures you take. Awesome work man!
Very thankful for your testing. I use this lens along with several other Sigma lenses. I however have not made the jump to RF. My current Canon DSLR bodies do me well and since Canon has put up roadblocks for third-party RF lenses, I am not willing to make that jump at this time.
Thanks John, yes, it is very frustrating for sure and I am disappointed that we will not be getting any third party RF lenses in the near future. Cheers, Duade
Hi Duade, a wonderful and informative episode as always. Thanks for your clear illustration and useful hands-on experience of Simon.
Thanks Lawrence, I appreciate the feedback, Cheers, Duade
This channel gets better and better.
Thanks John, you are too kind, Cheers, Duade
This video and instruction has saved my elk rut season of shooting. I shoot with the R6 and had bought the 150-600 C . It started out good then started missing too many shots. After a firmware update on the body it was terrible! This work around applied to the custom setting works for me! Thank you, Simon and Brian!
That is great to hear Leann, it is still not perfect but much better, have fun with the Elk, Cheers, Duade
This channel gets better and better. from Thailand
Thanks for the feedback, Cheers, Duade
what you said about spreading the joy we have with others is huge! It brings me so much joy to capture these beautiful birds as well as other wildlife. I love it. But then to have others tell me that it brings them joy when they see my pictures makes it 100000x better! thank you for this wonderful video!
Have just received my R7 on the weekend. Have adapted it with EF 70 300 lens. Started watching your R7 videos again to setup custom functions.
Thanks for the content.
It is my pleasure, have fun with your camera, Cheers, Duade
Amazing work Duade as always and thanks for sharing your valuable feedback on this important issue. I use Sigma 150-600 sports version with Canon R6. No pulsing. On the lens side, I set my custom C1 mode to Dynamic view and fast autofocus. On camera side, i use default case 3. I shoot wide open at 600mm f6.3. No pulsing in static or moving bird shoots. I shoot song birds as well as larger water birds as well.
Thanks for sharing your experience Omer, that is great to hear you are not experiencing pulsing on your Sport lens with the R6. Cheers, Duade
Have you been happy with this set up with the R6?
Yes, except for the weight of the Sports version
Thanks for the information. I have put these settings in and the combination works relly well. Autofocus is fast and accurate and sticks to the subject like glue.
Awesome!
That is great to hear, Cheers, Duade 👍
Thanks Duade 👍👍. Tested these settings out on some bees at about 10 meters around the garden with my R5 + Sigma 150-600mm. This really helped reduce the pulsing.
That is great to hear, have fun, Cheers, Duade
I used to think the closeup was aways best but now I am appreciating the context shot at 250
Thanks Ed, yes, me too, I am trying more and more to get more space around the subject, but its hard to break old habits. Cheers, Duade
this video has nearly convinced me to get an R7. when it works, that eye tracking is SO powerful
It would be great if canon would just give sigma and Tamron the license to produce RF glass and we wouldn’t even be having to make these types of videos
Exactly!
Thanks James, I totally agree, I used the Tamron 150-500 on Sony and it was incredible so they have the technology, we just need Canon to come to the party. Cheers, Duade
As much as I love my R7 it would be tempting if Sony put out a serious APS-C body only for the lens options they have
@@jamesscharnitz7640 Totally agree with you James. When they refresh their a6xx they'll be a serious competitor to canon. The budget options like 100-400 have no match on Sony, and even the EF Sigma C is cheaper than any 600mm options on E mount. Not true actually, as I've seen very good results with the EF sigma C and metabones adapter on the a6300!
But the upgrade paths are immensely better. The Tamron 150-500, updated sigma S and if course the amazingly well priced 200-600.
What's gonna come first? a6xx refresh or 3rd party lenses on RF? Who knows, but I think both will come eventually. It's frustrating to not know where Canon stands on that point, rumors say not to expect until at least late 2024.
For me I'm okay to wait a few years for an RF updated Sigma. If Sony releases an R7 competitor it probably won't make me switch personally, but it will affect my recommendations for new buyers.
I'll tell you, it is a bit frustrating to have zero lenses with that native RF goodness beyond 400mm that aren't f11 other than the 100-500 which is beyond my budget or the EF 100-400 ii +1.4 which doesn't look like a great purchase for me personally. I really think the sigma is the best lens for me atm even with the pulsing, but it's disappointing to have no clear upgrade path for me in the foreseeable future. I'll just enjoy what I have now and wait to see how things unravel.
@@jamesscharnitz7640 Thanks James, given the FX30 an APSC stills camera cant be too far away, I would love to pick that up with the Sony 200-600. Cheers, Duade
One of the most useful videos I have seen on the R7
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it, Cheers, Duade
Wow. What a crazy good group of sessions, hard to pick a favorite shot, but the pair of brown falcons is world class 👌beautiful work!
Thank you, I was very happy with how that shot turned out that is for sure, Cheers, Duade
Duade , Thanks for the very easy to understand dual BBF setup. I just had a weekend down the Prom with Treeswift Wildlife, which was absolutely brilliant btw. The dual BBF worked brilliantly . A highlight was night photography, where our guide, Jay, had a very expensive infrared viewer but also a strong head lamp and a red torch. The red light made the animals less nervous. He then switched over to the strong torch. I got some great shots of Tawny Frogmouth , eyes wide open. Setup was Aperture Priority, wide open Auto ISO on a monopod. The shutter speed was often quite slow, but the 1/30 sec or even slower.
The infrared viewer was so sensitive he could find sleeping silvereyes on a tree above us.
Thanks Andrew, wow sounds like an awesome outing, I have heard of the IR but never seen it in action. I must admit I really need to up my night photography. Cheers, Duade
Another great video. Nothing like it when you know you have ‘Nailed’ the shot. Have the 150-600 on the R6 and have changed my settings as you have suggested. Will let you know how I go. Thanks again. Phil
Thanks Phil, yes, got a few keepers which was great, good luck with the settings, Cheers, Duade
I used these settings recommended by you on my RF100-500 … things have improved
Great to hear, Cheers, Duade
Hey Duade. Big thanks for that video. I can confirm the settings works great also with R10 and Sigma C 150-600.
Awesome, that's good to know! Hell of a combo for the price!
Thanks Adam, great to hear, Cheers, Duade
Congratulations on the brown falcon! Their behavior reminds me of what we call an American kestrel, also called the sparrow hawk. Thank you for giving the Sigma such a thorough reviewing! I've watched all of them since I own one as well as the R7.
I recommend your videos to all who have questions especially about birding and wildlife. Thank you again, Duade!
Thanks Roger, I appreciate the support and great to hear you are enjoying your combo, Cheers, Duade
This video was amazing, thank you!! I already had the Sigma 150-600C and recently upgraded from an EOS 70D to the R7. I've had the R7 for about a month, so the timing of TH-cam presenting this video to me could not have been more perfect, and the video itself.. just amazing. As a bird photographer this was exactly what I was hoping for. I had experienced the AF pulsing already but had not yet realized it was something more widespread than my own inexperience with the R7! Definitely going to take advantage of the settings tweaks you explained in order to reduce that. And I'll definitely be checking out your other video with the different lenses attached to the R7-- that's gold for me, thanks! Your joy for being outside in nature is palpable, makes me want to watch more of your videos. Liked and subscribed! Also, love your gear... I need to find out what kind of tripod you're using as well as get myself one of those ground pods which I've never seen before. Super stuff!
Good to know that Winton is flooded , I was nearly going to go on Sunday. Love that Grebe photo at 600mm!
Thanks Lilly, you can still get access via Ashmeads Swamp road which is off the Hume Highway and the Cafe etc is still open. It was just Boggy Bridge Road that was closed. Cheers, Duade
Great photos again, Duade!
Thanks mats, Cheers, Duade 👍
I have the pulsing too, but I am using the lens with an DSLR (Canon EOS 250D).
cool shot showing electronic shutter issue😄
Thanks Joel, yeah it is cool, Cheers, Duade
Duade- Great video- on the duck shot I like the close up shot-- on the Falcon shot the one with the perch was my favorite..
Thanks Michael, Cheers, Duade
As always great video! thanks for sharing your trials, knowledge and time out shooting.
Thanks Ray, it is my pleasure, Cheers, Duade
Hello my friend, I was waiting a lot for this video.... The difference in pulsing comparing the two configurations is really remarkable. I suspect the EF-EOS-R adapter or any issue related to communication with the body with the lens, as this problem occurs with other lenses from Canon, EF lens. I wish you had field tested it using the RF 100-400 lens. It's amazing how pulsing doesn't exist in this lens. Thanks for the EXCELLENT video!
Thanks Rodrigo, yes it is interesting, if you watch my video on 6 lenses tested for the R7 I used the Rf100-400 and shared lots of shots, it worked well. Cheers, Duade 👍
@@Duade Dude, a question for anyone who has recently migrated to Mirrorless. On the R6 there are 3 shutter types/modes. Does all electronic mode have any loss of image quality? Does 1 curtain shutter change anything in quality too?
Another brilliant review. I preferred the large bird shots….but the comment I liked he most was the emotional connection when you are just out there doing it….something I also experience.
Great to hear Iain, it really is something special we all get to experience, Cheers, DUade
Nice work ! Less money spent more quality you got 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thanks, yes, great value and great shots, Cheers, Duade
Awesome video like always, I learned to live with the pulsating on my Sigma lens but I find it to be minimal, I get more keeper shots with my R7 🐦❤️👍
Great to hear Miguel, I think most people are the same, for its price it is a wonderful lens. Cheers, Duade
Love the Brown Falcons shot Duade.
Thanks Allan, I was very happy with that myself, Cheers, Duade
I love falcons. And this is the first time I've seen them on your program. I got my book by Tom Cade out, Falcons of the World and looked up on the Brown. It was the last bird in the book. Almost totally an Australia species with outliers in Tasmania and New Guinea. A fairly large falcon as well. The shots you got, the action shots, were just awesome. Thanks to your experience and ability to put that to work anticipating their behavior you got those last images with flying and landing and taking off. I can't say, "Please more falcons" b/c that's not how they occur. But if I could, I would.
Great video. Gary's having a blast on his carousel
Thanks Tom, he sure is :-)
Some wonderful images Duade. I just wish Canon would either support that lens or at least bring out a suitable alternative at this cost point. As much as the RF 100 - 500 is a decent lens its price makes it out of reach for a lot of people.
Thanks Gary, yes, it is very expensive for what it is, the RF100-400 is the closest but is a lot shorter at 400mm. Cheers, Duade
Thank you for your videos, Duade. I am about to switch to an R7 and already have the Sigma 150-600mm . Super helpful!
Hello from Poland.
I watch your channel all the time and must admit that you are an excellent bird photographer.
I also listen to you like an oracle about hardware.
Unfortunately our birds don't let us get that close, except in the city park. I have to use camouflage all the time.
But it also manages to catch something nice in the frame.
I'm using a Sigma 60-600 sport with a Canon R5 and I'm having these pulsing problems too. I have already found the settings you recommend here.
Canon should be ashamed.
I think they did it on purpose, same as with the 8K limit.
Sorry for the mistakes - it's a translator.
Regards.
Stefek.
Thanks Stefek, yes, the pulsing is very annoying and makes it difficult at times, I am glad to hear you are making the most of your kit. I would like to try that lens, it appears to be a good one. Cheers, Duade
Yes, especially good for movies when something comes up close at once, it's perfect. I recommend replacing old 150-600 with a new 60-600 one.
Recently a deer jumped out by the pond 10 meters from me and I quickly
changed to at 60mm and I recorded the film in 8k. Now we have a deer rut, in Poland it is autumn.
I'm glad you reply.
greetings
drive.google.com/file/d/1uNbO1bPYX24xj9GZVG_NVaJ0oi767dwS/view?usp=sharing
Thanks Duade, I always learn something from you. I have applied the settings to my Sigma 150-600 lens and hopefully will be testing soon.
It is my pleasure Madelyn, good luck on your next outing, Cheers, Duade
My friend and l hang out down there at times too. I recently got a few shots in at the Duck Pond.
Great to hear Kelly, it really is a wonderful spot for birding, Cheers, Duade
Thanks!
Thanks for the support William, Cheers, Duade
I have a very similar issue with Tamron 150-600 G2 and EOS R5. The lens worked beautifully with EOS 5Dmk4. On the R5 it works 90% of the time. the other times - usually when the camera goes to sleep and then wakes up with a press of a button - the focus just starts pulsing really quickly and the only fix for that is to power off the camera and then power it back on.
Sorry to hear about that, I did have some inconsistencies also which is frustrating, I only hope Canon comes to some agreement with third party so we can get an RF version. Cheers, Duade
I only experienced pulsing 3 times in 3 years and I have found it to be at 60-80 meters. This has been with the Canon 7D mark ii. I have just purchased a 5D mark iv, and I am looking forward to see how it responds to it. Thanks for the information! I hope that these comments help your survey...
Great video, thanks for sharing! I like the wide shot of the Wood Duck best, but I would crop it on the right side. My favourite shot is the Frogmout! It's incredible!
Thanks Fabian, yes, they are very cool birds to be sure, Cheers, Duade
Yet another great effort, Duade. Well done getting to the bottom of the Sigma 150-600mm contemporary lens! A big thanks to Simon as well for all of his testing & for sharing his wealth of experience. Also, nice of Brian to facilitate. I thought you had loads of great shots & it was nice to see the noticeable improvements in the AF with those settings.
I thought the wood duck at 275 & 600mm were the best in that series & liked the falcon flight shot with perch better than without. Congrats on the excellent falcon set! How fantastic is it when life offers up those gems & we are there to realize & fully appreciate it? Glad you got those.
Thanks again for the work & the collection of info, images & video in this one. Always a pleasure. I finally received my R7 yesterday after the 2 month wait. Am looking forward to discovering its usefulness. Have a good one & may another falcon like experience come your way before long. Best regards ~ Chris
Congrats Chris on the R7, finally, have fun with it. Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. Cheers, Duade
Thanks, Duade. Only a couple of hundred shots in using our yard participants of chickadees, nuthatches & voles & very pleased with the upgrade. Eye tracking working quite well in this scenario w/used 100-400mm II I picked up. Looking forward to many more opportunities. Thanks again for all the great info you've provided.
@@utubify100 it is my pleasure and great to hear. Cheers, Duade 👍
This video substantially helped mitigate the pulsing issue with my Sigma 500/4.0Sport. Thanks!
I returned my R7 because of this very reason. I hate being a beta tester when paying full price. It happens with adapted Canon RF glass too. I starting using my Fuji x-t4 with the new Fuji 150-600mm. I have to work a bit harder since no real bird eye AF; the shots I do get, are fantastic. Coincidentally, I adapted my RF glass to the x-t4 and it works better than it did with the R7.
Thanks for the great videos.
Thanks for sharing, I am interesting to hear how you adapted the RF glass to work on your XT4? Cheers, Duade
The falcon shots, beautiful! I boohooed with my first bald eagle in the wild to where I couldn't even take many pics. Thankfully, they came out great. I get a bit emotional while on a lot of my photo shoots. I'm in awe of Mother Nature. I'm ordering this lens today and can't wait to take it out to play! Your photos are beautiful and fun! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I have been following you & your youtube channel for about 7 days now & i have found the content to be a no nonsense helpful content. You have an amazing lucid style of delivery of the content. Keep it up & looking forward to many many more videos from you.
Always look forward to your videos Duade, a very thorough look into this issue.
What a special moment with those Falcons, that shared connection with another animal when you are looking through the viewfinder into it's eyes is what makes it special for me irrespective of the subject. Your words of motivation and similar feelings are inspiring. Keep up the great work!!
Thanks for the feedback Shane, it really was a wonderful outing with those birds. Cheers, Duade
Well done Duade 275 for me and yes I saw you in Derick’s vlog and though there’s a boming subject, lol it’s a shame that he doesn’t get more viewers he’s very knowledgeable about his subject.
Thanks Michael, yes we had a great chat and he knows his stuff that is for sure. Cheers, Duade
Duade, Thanks for this video and many of your others. I got the R7 the first week it came out and the Sigma 150-600c. Prior to the R7, I was using a Pentax KS2. With that I would spot focus, recompose and shoot. Switching to the R7, I use Servo and the touch screen (dragging the orange circle to the area I want the camera to focus on with my thumb). Before the settings change, the focus point would keep jumping around and lock onto things I did not care about. When the whole frame got out of focus (or I could not lock on with the orange circle) I have adjusted the manual focus ring to get it back in the neighborhood. Since July, I thought the issues I was having were all me learning a new system. Yesterday I went out with the new setting and found a bunch of Robins in an open stream and mud (-2C here). The animal detection and eye tracking worked tremendously better. I spent far less time less time moving my thumb to get it to find a bird and only had to use the manual override ring a few times. These setting also worked well with my Canon EF 70-300 4-5.6 L. I used the Canon lens freehand when I first found the birds and when the sun started to set. The Sigma I used on a monopod. Both seemed to behave similarly and better (so happy with the focusing I lost track of my ISO). I still had frames that the focus was locked on to an eye and but was not in focus (surrounding frames were in focus), so it is not perfect on either lens. Using a monopod and sitting in a snowbank, I left the IS on. I locked the aperture and let the shutter and ISO float. When using a monopod, should I have the IS off and what shutter speed should I try not to drop below (1/640)? FYI in September I tired the RF 100-400 but could not get it to behave when changing subjects at 400mm. The whole frame would be out of focus and I could not use the control ring to get it back in the neighborhood (like I do with the Sigma and RF 18-150). I figured that RF 100-400 being an f8 at 400 it was a light issue, zooming out focusing and then back in worked but most times the shot was gone. I did not keep the lens long enough to notice if it had a pulsing issue. The f8 also had me concerned because I read anything above 5.6 will be less sharp because of the crop sensor and pixel density of the R7. Is there and aperture you avoid going narrower then on the R7?
Thanks for sharing Dan, the IS is an interesting question and I don't know the proper answer. For me personally I leave IS on my Canon lenses as I would forget to turn it back on. With the Sigma I turned IS off as I found the viewfinder would jump around with it on if using a tripod. I think the SS can go lower than 1/640 if you are struggling for light and if the subject is static. You should be able to go very low. Often 1/200 is my lower limit and I shoot in burst to try to get some sharp. It really all depends if I have light or not. Yes, diffraction can be an issue with APSC bodies but I don't really notice it to be fair. I usually shoot at f7.1-f9 most of the time if I have plenty of light, otherwise I will shoot wide open in low light. Sorry to hear about the RF100-400 issues, that is a shame. Cheers, Duade
@@Duade , thanks for the reply. I am likely to set thing up at the beginning and forget to change them as conditions do. I will see if I notice it jumping in the viewfinder before turning IS off (and hoping I remember to turn it back on).
Hey Duade, I just joined your channel. I'm in love with all your content and it's been super useful. I'm a travel and product photographer but I studied Biology. I always wanted to join my two passions and thanks to you, I'm unboxing right know the Sigma 150-600 for my Canon R. I'm so excited and I can't wait to go outside and start photographing some birds. Thank you, again, for all your hard work. Greetings from Spain.
Alex, thanks for the feedback and welcome to the channel, sounds like you have an interesting background. Congrats on the lens and the new found passion, it really is wonderful. Have fun out there, Cheers, Duade
Hey, that's awesome! I've also studied biology. Aquatic ecology specifically, birds are just a hobby 🙂
Wow, that 150mm shot of the grebe with the tree reflections was amazing! I really enjoy those habitat shots, and I personally think wildlife photographers (myself included) should definitely experiment more with shorter focal lengths! Thanks for the great video, as always!
Thanks Martijn, I too need to do more wide stuff, I have always tried to fill the frame missing many opportunities. Cheers, Duade
Thank you Duade, another very helpful video! I own the Sigma 150-600 currently shooting with a Canon 5DIV... and still waiting for my R7! Ordered 3 months ago and still waiting, hopefully I get it for Christmas 😅
Thanks Azor, oh that is a long wait, hopefully not too much longer, good luck when you get it. Cheers, Duade
DUADE, thanks so very very much for all the time and extreme effort we know it takes to produce these wonderful videos. Your session with the Brown Falcons was especially inspiring. Perhaps someday I will be able to capture something similar. But if that happens it will be because of you. Take care and keep shooting!
A
Thanks James, you are too kind and I really appreciate the feedback, good luck with your local Falcons. Cheers, Duade
Thanks Duade! I just received my R7 yesterday and after my first light experience w the Sigma150-600 R7 combo, I am giving these settings a try. I’m looking forward to seeing the difference between my older RP and the R7.
Thanks Ric, good luck with it, a great combo that I am sure will land you lots of nice shots, Cheers, Duade
@@Duade I have had the R7/Sigma combo out 3 times with the config changes and have gotten fantastic bird images. AF eye tracking is working awesome. Loving this new camera. Thanks for making this video.
@@ricandersonva Great to hear Ric, thanks to Simon. Cheers, Duade
Thanks duade all photos were nice and useful information
Thanks Reza, it is my pleasure, Cheers, Duade
Great video as always. You've got more patience with the Atomos than I do on the tweeeties ;)
What I've noticed on the R7 and R10 in testing is that if you hold that eye auto on a subject that's not moving or very little movement, the focus is as you stated constantly looking for an eye and it will jump to something else that looks like an eye. And in turn it gets lost. The R10 will really have this issue.
It happens more with the cheaper RF lenses and the 3rd party. The RF 100-500, EF 70-200, EF 500, etc. it doesn't happen as much. But it still happens.
So it seems you need to focus pump like we used to do with DSLR's when your subject is more stationary.
Thanks mate, I wonder why these cameras are different to the R5/R6 in this regard, it really is noticeable which is a shame. I will be sure to try the pumping method next time, Cheers, Duade
@@Duade I think you already stumbled on it even in your video ;) Sensors and their readout speeds are different on the r5/6 and the R7. R7 being slower and R10 as I'm finding is a touch slower than the R7. That affects focus and the wobble/rolling shutter.
@@WILDALASKA Yeah, I had to refocus a number of times, yes, I think you are right re the sensors, I wish this speed was reported accurately by the manufacturers, so we know the differences. The Canon wobble is real on the R7/R10 that is for sure. Cheers, Duade
i just found this today as i was testing the R7 sigma 150 - 600mm AF eye tracking on a toy meerkat in my kitchen (lol the things we do) pumping the AF but created less pulsing than just holding it down. The RF100-500mm had not issues when holding in in on my test
@@wildlifeartjm very good to hear that its working for you (the focus pump)
This also has a great impact on other Sigma/adapted lenses, Geat!
Wow. Very informative. Thanks so much for all the effort. My favourite shot is the two Brown Falcons on the stump with their wings spread. Cheers
Thanks Zsolt, I was happy with that shot for sure. Cheers, Duade
RF 100-400mm and RF 800mm f11 don't usually pulse but in low light + small and close subjects I sometimes notice a similar phenomenon. I rarely have problems with birds in clean backgrounds (like a duck swimming), but the other day I was photographing an American Robin in snow with my 100-400mm (with some leaves in background) eating a berry, and every other shot pulsed out of focus. Unlike the Tamron which pulses rapidly but slightly, the RF 100-400 just struggles to lock on for a split second and threw itself out of focus before hunting back again (if I recall I was in AF Case 2 which should keep things "sticky"). The 800mm f11 has a similar issue but its slower AF motor means it is less likely to completely throw out of focus like the 100-400, and I find the limited AF box of the 800mm f11 to work in my favour considering the R6 doesn't let me restrict the AF zone for eye-detect on the 100-400mm. I don't have either lens but it leaves me wondering how much better the 100-500mm and EF 100-400mm L II work in a similar scenario.
I just loaded firmware 1.7 which "Fixes an issue that, in rare instances, may result in the camera not operating normally when capturing small subjects" and will be testing out how that works.
Thanks for sharing your experience, yes the AF is far from perfect and can struggle at times. I always have spot AF ready to go when the Eye AF struggles as I have experienced the same as you with most lenses. Cheers, Duade 👍
OK, comments for second half of the video:
I do prefer when the perch is visible on the first good/perfect Brown Falcon photo, since the way the bird flies it's so obvious it's just alighting (right word? for just start flying away) and the perch is a natural part of that particular pose. The other one the perch is already so far behind the bird that the natural crop is to crop it out. I really like them both! But, somehow prefer the first one, with the perch and the feet/legs still "dangling". Also: congrats on that special Falcon photo session! Now you've had magical moments with both the Azure KF AND Brown Falcon this year. Good times!
And, no, I do NOT consider the reed background on the female Grebe-photo disturbing. I like it. But, that's me... When it comes to the male Grebe I preferred the inzoom. I liked the 150 mm version too, but somehow I found the lightish, bare trees in the background not being in the background enough, when so perfectly mirrored in the water... kinda out-rivaling the cute grebe, if you catch my drift? (OK, gonna shut up now)
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it and echo's my thoughts also. Yes, it has been a great year so far, Cheers, Duade
Thank you for your advice for this r7 and the sigma 150-600.
I hope to receive my r7 soon. Yours photos are superb!
Hello from Belgium
Thanks Pascal, I appreciate the feedback, Cheers, Duade
Please Duade Paton make a video on how th R7 perform with tamron 150-600mm G2!
I also have that lens. I am worry to update my camera body for this issue.
Thanks Achiranda, I would like to but unfortunately I do not have access to the lens at the moment, I will see if I can get it again in the future. Cheers, Duade
G'day Duade. What a stroke of genius to use a rotating Jerry the Gala 😀
Really loved your Golden-headed Cisticola ! And then those awesome brown falcons, especially where they come together !
From the 3 focal length comparison with the wood duck, I'd say in this case I prefer the 275mm.
The swallows were also great, and I was wowed by the Tree Martin with leaf. But also the grebe and frogmouth were great.
So, even when I wasn't much interested in this specific gear, it's such a great joy to watch your beautiful YT's, thanks mate !!
As for opening up the RF to the likes of Tamron and Sigma, I understand it may happen in few years, once Canon has more completed it's own set of of lenses, but more importantly they did seem to acknowledge their RF-protocol isn't matured just yet. Sounds like they still want to tweak it a bit to hopefully cure the Wobble and similar thingies. When they improve the protocol, they can easily issue firmware updates for their own lenses, but for third party this may get uglier .. hence the delay in allowing them I suppose.
Your argument with the RF protocoll has a strong point, and its definately immature when i think about it.
But as a EF lens (mainly) user i can totally say: Even adapted EF glass just works great (in AF as well as stabilizer) without much or any downsides compared to the RF lenses. It just depends on the model... some sigma lenses work great but the chance they work better together you get with more modern canon EF glass.
And yeah, the 275mm shot is definately the best, more context and still a nice view to the bird, the 150mm one is too wide
@@harrison00xXx Indeed, fully agree. EF works adapted at least as good as they did natively on DSLR .. at least when comparing the functionality which existed on these DSLR's .. and eye-AF wasn't around yet ;-)
Thanks Werner, yes, EF works well and I do hope Canon open RF up in due course as Tamron and Sigma offer great lenses, Cheers, Duade
Thank you so much! You save my money! Without this settings my Sigma 150-600 contemporary was veeery bad and with Canon 400d it was better than Canon r7 😂
I copy all from this video and i pay this Sigma USB-Dock.
Today in Moscow i test this settings with wild owls and i have very beautiful results!
Sorry for my English 😊
Glad I could help!
Very good and detailed video! Managed to get way better results by updating the lens software as well as doing the same AF setup for my Canon R3! Many thanks and greetings from Switzerland 🇨🇭 🙌
What wonderful shots you got mate. Just amazing the shots of the Brown Falcon. Good to know for those people that have this lens, that with the right settings, they can get some great results.
Cheers, Bjoern
Thanks mate, yes, the Brown Falcon was an absolute highlight after years trying. I am sure you have had many similar experiences where for whatever reason you just get lucky, just happy I was there to capture it. Cheers, Duade
@@Duade I can imagine that yes. And yes i have had some very exiting experience lately too. Just managed to photographing a bird, that have been extinted for over 100 years here in the state where i live, and one of the rarest birds in whole Brazil. Just pure luck did that i managed that. Was not going to go to that area that day, but a lot of wind made me to change my mind. Never thought i ever would see that bird here. Shared it with some birding friends, so they too could get to see this wonderful bird, so now it's more photos of it, but only this individual. So i have no idea of where it did come from. It's gone now, but at leas we know that it exist 😄📸
Have a great week mate.
Cheers, Bjoern📷
@@bjrn-einarnilsen687 Hey mate, sorry for the late reply, how awesome, what a great experience, well worth your effort, Cheers, Duade
@@Duade Thanks a lot, and have a exelent week :)
Cracking video! Appreciate all the work you put into this. I no longer have this lens, but a friend just ordered it and the R10, and I have no doubt she'll find it useful.
That is great to hear, I hope it helps, Cheers,Duade
You use similar setting for BBF to me. I’ve been lucky in that I have no had pulsing issues with my EF100-400II nor any other Canon lens I have tried. Not sure you mentioned it, instead of setting for AF-On the eye detect, set metering and AF start but before you exit press the info button. This brings up another page where you have finer control over the AF settings. You need to use the tick boxes on the left to enable individual items such as eye tracking, subject type etc. Might be worth a play in there to help the stuttering.
Thanks Phill, good point, glad to hear you have not had to deal with the pulsing. Cheers, Duade
What a valuable Info Duade, thank you very much.
It is my pleasure Wolfgang, Cheers, Duade
Great video, Duade! Thanks for the update on this camera/lens combination.
Thanks Myrna, it is my pleasure, Cheers, Duade
I LOVE seeing your excitement - and that is what it is all about. I rarely shoot my R7 at the highest burst rate on the camera - too many shots. I also tell others, or ask.... how many sharp shots do you need, how many are you going to share? Out of the thousands I take I share a couple. The other thing I tell others is that for me, I really only need one shot to make me happy. IF - IF the only shot you got that was amazing was one of the hawks, that one shot still would have made your day. For me, I have been finding that I actually prefer the EF L lenses on this body other than than the RF 100-500. I do plan on renting the Canon RF 600mm F4 soon just to play with, but to be honest with you - I LOVE my 500mm EF adapted to the body. Works extremely well with the 1.4 tele as well. Fantastic video - love the excitement. I recently had that same feeling all over again when i pulled out my 90D and was shooting a DSLR again. Keep trying to review the image in the viewfinder...... 🤣
PS - my old 100-400 push/pull EF version one works really well on this body for what I want it to do - better than the RF version. The slow focus works for dragonflies in flight and it is faster which I prefer. It does conflict with the body now and again, but I turn it off and keep going. If I keep the shutter speed down, it will not do that. 🙏
Thanks for sharing John, yes, I too love playing with all my cameras, the 1DX is a blast and it is interesting how all the lenses perform. I too love my 500 apart from the weight and size. We lucky to have so many options, Cheers, Duade
@@Duade 💖
Thanks Simon and Duade for this information! Adapted these settings right now on the R7 and the Sigma! ❤
Yet another fantastic video👌
Must say I was drawn to your channel while doing research on the Canon R7 as my next upgrade from my 70D ( still a great camera serving me for last 9 years, but things have moved on) . Now I’m in danger of heading into the wilds searching out the bird wildlife with an R7 and long a zoom attached 😎
Keep up the great work as I’m sure you will (looks like so much fun rather than a chore 👍)
Thanks Vic, yes, it is a lot of fun and I enjoy the creative process which is great. Good luck with the R7, Cheers, Duade
The R7 is great
Great great content Duade, Thank you. Will definitely give it a good test run. I’m on my way to Brazil on Wednesday so wish me luck.
Good luck Dean, have fun with all those beautiful birds, Cheers, Duade
Duade, just wanted to say thank you for this video. Extremely informative. Helped me make the jump into the canon mirrorless series. Also wanted to say that the pulsing for me personally, was not that big of a deal afterall (it was a huge factor when I thought about switching to mirrorless). Chances are, the bird never gets that close to ya. For me, they always flush before I even get to the distance where the pulsing issue really shows. And in the case I do manage to get close, these settings you showed helped loads. Cheers.
Great video and great shots Duade. I have the Sigma lens and R7 camera. I found the video very helpful. I generally don't care if I get soft shots because some will be sharp and nobody else will know. Cheers.
Very true indeed and thankfully we have plenty of FPS to get those sharp shots. For its price it offers great value, Cheers, Duade
This was a fantastic session with some great keepers! I'm eager to try some of these changes and get out with my Sigma 150-600C (which has largely just been sitting in my bag because I've been so frustrated with the pulsing AF issues on small birds at around 20-ft compared to the RF 100-400).
Thanks Jeff, yes, it is frustrating, I still prefer the 100-400 for most things but if you need reach and have a tripod the 150-600 is an option for sure. Cheers, Duade
Great video! It really helped manage the pulsing a lot. 😍 I did set my lens to Standard AF instead of Smooth as I find the slower AF speed to have a big impact in recovering focus if in case the lens does pulse. Especially shooting in low light or subjects under heavy cover. Cheers! 😊
As a Canon R8 owner, I was looking for a wildlife lense and I bought this one, as a kit, with 1.4 Converter.
Works great already, but I'll bet this gives the final touch. Thanks!
Have you had some chances to test setting and land on anything? I just bought an R8 and have this lens
@@TieitAndFlyit I have adapted as many settings as possible and I'm very happy with the lense
I have this lens and I use it with my RP with good results (it actually works better than on my 70D) and am looking at the R7 as an update for the 70D. I keep hearing how this combination is not great, thank you for doing the hard work showing how to make it better.
And how did you resist the urge to say "Simon says"...!
Hahahahahaha I would've laughed so hard!
lol thanks John, yes, I should have, that would have been funny. As a combo for its price it creates wonderful shots, I think this video will help those understand what they are getting. Cheers, Duade
Another awesome video Duade that will hopefully help a lot of people (and some absolutely beautiful shots also) . I have significant pulsing on my R7/Sigma combo and have been using Simons settings for a while now. Unfortunately as well as BIF I also do a lot of close up bird photography and have probably run out of patience as the pulsing is making me miss some great moments. Its such a shame as for birds in flight it has amazing reach and the tracking of the camera is outstanding. But after watching the hassle free AF performance of the RF 100 400 I think I may need to carry two lenses around for both scenarios.
Thanks for sharing your experience Michael, yes, the RF100-400 is great for close up work due to the very good MFD allowing almost macro style shots of bugs, reptiles etc. Cheers, Duade
For anything semi-macro and fast action, the RF100-400 does perform a lot better. For BIF I've had some good results with the sigma but it can be hit or miss as you said.
I think you'd enjoy the 100-400, hassle free is the right word! It's so easy to carry, aim and shoot anything with it. You sacrifice 200mm but even that does help with framing subjects, having a better keeper rate, and I find it makes me into the habit of getting closer and closer to birds instead. They're a nice pair to own and really aren't redundant to have in my opinion, they both serve different purposes and are both great lenses. I've only recently purchased the 100-400 to pair my sigma and I'm always happy to reach for it. You might even find leaving the sigma at home sometimes! I love just going to my local nature park with nothing but the R7+100-400 on a cotton carrier and riding my bike with that. Cheers 🙂
Thanks so much for the tips. I love my Sigma 150-600 I will try these out for sure. Cheers
Great to hear and thanks for the support, good luck, Cheers, Duade
Hi Duade. I shoot with the R7 and RF 100-500. I get a really low keeper rate. I find that, while the eye tracking box is on the eye, very often, the lens is focused somewhere on the body. I don’t find this with my R5. I have contacted Wex, where I purchased the camera. They said that many people have contacted them with this problem.
Keep up the great work,
Julian
Thanks for the feedback Julian, I have noticed a difference between the R7 and R5 also and I don't know why there is this difference and makes the eye tracking a bit of a challenge on the R7. I do hope it is something they can update with firmware. Cheers, Duade
both falcon shots are great, i like the one without the perch....
Thanks Skip, yes, I was happy with how they turned out, Cheers, Duade