Birds Eastern Screech-Owl / Blown away by high iso capability

[marktroxel]

I've only had my R5 for about 3 weeks. I'm blown away by the high iso capability of this camera and I'm sure it's even better for the R6. Swung by a location this morning on my way to work where there are often 2 Eastern Screech Owls in this branch, a gray and a red morph. I think the red morph is female and she might be down further on eggs because she doesn't pop us as often. These 2 pictures were taken this morning about 15 minutes after official sunrise, although it was fairly overcast. I have my C1 custom user mode set at 1/2000 sec, wide open, and auto iso (max 12,800) to be ready for birds in flight/other action. I forgot to lower my shutter speed at first, so the first image is 1/2000 sec, f/6.3, iso 12800 and the 2nd image is 1/320 sec, f/6.3, iso 2000. Both handheld. All I've done is crop the images in LR to the same size - no other processing - exported as JPEGs. Not a lot of noise even at iso 12800 - very usable for social media and easily could just denoise a bit in LR or Topaz Denoise.

• Canon EOS R5
• RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM
• 451.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/2000 sec
• ISO 12800

• Canon EOS R5
• RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM
• 451.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/320 sec
• ISO 2000

 

[dougsmit]

I'm very much of the opinion that a noisy photo with other good characteristics is better than a blur shot at ISO 100. You Tube experts make money pointing out how important it is to limit your ISO and buy the finest equipment but I'd like to see this same shot cropped and run through Topaz even if you only end up using 10 MP worth of image. Shooting CR3 and learning to control the results is a lot more satisfying than I ever realized it could be.