I was out the door early this morning, hoping to get a chance to try out my new camera custom function. I discovered yesterday the need for a new custom category on the mode dial of the Canon R7. It has three custom functions of which I had settings for all three. C3 however was set to ‘long exposure”, something which I almost never do. Yesterday when a fox went running by I quickly changed over to a fast frame rate, but unfortunately the shutter speed was left too slow from my previous shoot. And no, these aren’t the new kings on the mountain, more on that subject later! However I was glad to see the elk herd, I haven’t seen them since autumn. I was far enough away for this capture that they just looked at me with great curiosity. They didn’t run and I got a few captures of them before I moved on.
New Parameters for C3
Right now I have a C1 for birds, C2 for slow moving mammals and C3 for shooting long exposure images, something I hardly ever do. So it occurred to me that I might be better served by a C3 that was ready for fast moving animals such as the fox that ran by, or running deer and elk. A silent shutter speed of 1000th of a second with a fast frame rate and a wide focus band across the middle of the frame seemed the right combination. All the important focus parameters such as animal and eye detect are turned on, along with good tracking and subject retention in obstructions such as tree branches are the same as I would have set for birds in flight. Once I had all that set, I assigned the set to C3 instead of the long exposure parameters.
As it turned out I created that mode just in time! Just as I cleared the ridge this morning I spotted a small herd of mule deer of to my left. I also noticed they were running toward me so I quickly switched to C3, pressed the back button and laid down on the shutter button!
A New King on the Mountain
As I was climbing the trail to the summit I noticed an unusual footprint… a very big unusual footprint, as big as my size 10 clodhoppers! At first I thought it might be a bear, but a closer look revealed the absence of claw marks in the snow. There’s only one animal around here with feet that big that walks with retracted claws… You guessed it, it appears a mountain lion may be staking out my mountain 🙁 I don’t have anything against mountain lions, in fact I like the idea of having them around. Just the same though, I’d rather have them on another mountain. I guess the Three Amigos had better keep an eye out!
My Old Friend
My old friend the rough-legged hawk is back and he was perched on a power pole this morning. Most of the hawks around here are red-tails, but the rough-leg is the first raptor I encountered after moving to the area in 2017. Well unfortunately he is so accustomed to me that he won’t fly until he’s good and ready, no matter how close I get to his perch. It’s not unusual to wait an hour for him to move to a new pole if you want to get a capture of him in flight.
Well today I didn’t have an hour and it didn’t look like he had plans of moving any time soon, so this is all I got for you!
A Few More From This Morning’s Hike
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