1st February 2018
I have been wanting to buy a second dslr body for quite sometime now to back up my Canon EOS 5D Mark3 which i have used extensively for all my birding photos so far due to its very good AF and picture quality. As always there are always reasons that prevented me from buying one, and i have been patient for quite a few years now. You see, i always wanted a very good APSC body with the 1.6 crop factor to get the most focal range equivalent from my current telephoto lens that i have like the Sigma 150-500mm, Canon EF400mm f5.6 and Canon L 70-300mm IS. That way i do not have to invest in the super expensive Canon 500mm f4 or 600mm f4 lens which have superb quality even after you crop your shots 100%. So, in my mind that dslr body has always been the Canon EOS7D Mark 2 which most wild life photographers use it as their second body. The EOS7D Mark 2 is highly rated by a lot of wildlife shooters for its fast auto-focus which is similar to my EOS 5D Mark 3, and higher rate of continuous shooting at 10 fps compared to 6fps on my EOS 5D Mark 3. Its a natural choice for a second body for my birding photos, however, i hesitated due to its price, ISO performance, no touch screen for video, no wi-fi and what the soon to be launched (summer 2018??) EOS7D Mark 3 body might bring to the game.
So, while waiting for the new EOS7D Mark 3 to come out, i have looked at the EOS80D which is an upgrade on my EOS60D by leaps and bounds. The EOS60D was my first body when i started using dslr bought sometime in 2010. Back then i bought it for general photography, so it was up to the job. However, when i started shooting birds the 9 AF points is very limited and the auto-focus performance could not be compared to my EOS5D Mark3. The ISO performance is also limited at 6400, and the maximum continuous shooting frame rate is only 5fps. However, the good thing about EOS60D is that being an APSC body i get the extra reach due to the 1.6 crop factor.
The EOS80D looks exactly the same as EOS60D, size and weight almost identical except for a few re-positioned buttons, one new button and extra C button for customization. So, the good thing is that i will be very familiar and do not need a steep learning curve to use it. The screen is still the same except it uses a touch screen for selecting modes and focus shift during video shoot, which is fun to use. The resolution is higher from the new sensor at 24.2 megapixel compared to 18 megapixel on the EOS60D and 7D, 20.2 megapixel on EOS7D Mark 2, and 22.0 megapixel on my EOS5D Mark3. The top ISO has been increased to 16000 expandable to 25600. EOS80D gives 7fps compared to 5fps on my EOS60D and 6fps on my EOS5D Mark3 which is better for bird in flight shots. The EOS80D has 45 auto-focus points is compared to 9 on the EOS60D and 65 on EOS5D Mark3, with 27points usable at f8 compares to only 1no on EOS7D Mark 2 and EOS5D Mark 3. The selection of AF in the menu is very good almost similar to EOS7D Mark2 and 5D Mark 3 except it does not have the single point with 9 extension points ,and single point with 4 extension points, which i used extensively on my EOS5D Mark 3 to lock focus on the bird. So being impressed with the specs on paper coupled with good reviews online, i bought one on 26/1/18 to become my second body for birding. I am curious to see whether it can do as good a job as the higher rated EOS7D Mark 2 can. If it is not up to my expectations i will have no choice but to buy the EOS7D Mark 3 body, when it comes out that is which could be in Summer 2018 or 2019??
So, how did it perform so far?
Well, last Sunday(28/1/18) i went to Sekincan and Tanjung Karang, Selangor to see whether my new EOS80D paired with Canon EF70-300mm L lens is up to the job of shooting birds stationed or while in flight.I started the journey after 3.00p.m from Kuala Lumpur and arrived in Sekinchan around 5.30p.m. The reason i chose Sekinchan was because the lady who sold me the camera gave me a tip where to find owls in Sekinchan. Apparently she had done some birding herself and told me owls like to look for food around the paddy fields. However, i could not find any paddy fields, most of the land around the town has palm oil estates. So, i stopped by a river below to see if there were birds for me to shoot.
I was lucky as i was taking a photograph of a small boat on a riverbank a Heron flew and landed on the boat. What a luck!
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| This Heron is the first bird shot using my new EOS80D. |
I used the single focus point to shoot this bird as i found it was a lot easier to lock on the head compared to the other AF modes. However, i have to say the quality of the image is not as good as my EOS5D Mark 3 due to its crop sensor, even though the resolution is higher at 24.2 MP compared to a full frame sensor of 22.0MP on the EOS5D Mark 3. The lock-on is faster on my EOS5D Mark 3. However, the photo quality is quite good after a bit of processing in Lightroom since i shoot in RAW.
Afterwards i drove to Tanjung Karang to find some seashore birds like Terns. I arrived there after 6.00p.m with daylight getting dimmer. Since i never came here before it took a little bit of searching to find the right spot. It was low tide and i noticed the remains of two ships stuck in the muddy shore. I noticed a few egrets perching on timber frames and scouring for food in the mud. So i took as many shots as i could since i am not sure how many will be keepers.
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| Egrets among the remains of fishing boats on the muddy shore |
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| Terns and Egrets sharing perching points on a shipwreck |
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| The EOS80D is quite good for perching birds |
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| With 7 fps the EOS80D can be quite good for birds in flight shots. Make sure to use 1/2000sec and 45points AF |
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| EOS80D image is quite noisy in dim light. Post processing will improve it. |
I tried to get a longer focal range by adding Kenko DGX Pro300 1.4x tele-convertor but the auto-focus became slow and hunting, i missed a lot of shots of the flying egrets. So, i decided to take it off and just use my Canon L EF 70-300mm lens only. The long end gave me 300mm x 1.6 crop factor = 480mm equivalent which is not bad for short to medium range distance but wanting for longer range.
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| A decent image but not much feather details here |
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| A Brahminy Kite looking for fish |
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| A long shot of Egrets on a beacon marker in the middle of the sea |
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| Terns feeding frenzy over the water near the river mouth |
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| There were a lot of small baitfish in the water which attracted the Terns |
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| Wherever the baitfish swam they followed |
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| A solitary Egret on a marker |
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| Sunset. The EOS80D could be a good camera for landscape with the right wide-angle lens |
So, that is all i got to show for my first birding session using my new EOS80D APSC body. I only had about two hours to test it on that day. I am still trying to get used to its features, focusing mode etc. I wish it had the single point with 9 or 4 extension points like in EOS7D Mark 2 or 5D Mark 3 which helps lock on the bird faster. The images are a bit soft and noisy when the light is not so good but i feel i should have adjusted the AF micro-adjustment first for the Canon EF70-300mm L lens before leaving for Sekinchan which will give me sharper photos. However, after all being said, i feel this camera has a potential to be a good second body even though it is not as fast as Canon EOS7D Mark 2. It is lighter and less expensive and maybe if paired with a good prime lens like my Canon EF400mm f5.6 L lens it will produce better quality photos.
I will do further testing in the next trip using my EF400mm f5.6 L lens and Sigma 150-500mm which will give me an equivalent 640mm and 800mm focal range respectively. I will post the photos here so those who are thinking about getting a good body for birding but do not want to spend a fortune can make an informed decision. You never know, EOS80D could just be the solution that you need. Until then, thanks for reading this post and happy birding.
Take care.
