Had a good couple of days with some winter wildlife photography using my mirrorless Canon R7. I considered making this post about shooting winter wildlife with a mirrorless camera, so I came up with this… It’s just like shooting winter wildlife with a DSLR, so do what you did then. Which is also what I said when DSLR cameras came out. It’s just like shooting wildlife with your SLR film camera, so just do what you were doing then. Lol, but then it was pointed out to me that not everyone started shooting wildlife with a 35mm film SLR, and some people never even had a DSLR, so there is that.
We went on Friday to check on the eagles, hoping to find them diligently working on their nest for the next breeding season. However there was no sign of them at the nest, so we drove on into the canyon. We first came across this handsome fellow who gave us a short opportunity for a capture, before flying upstream. The eagles were very jumpy on this day, and it was rare if they even gave us a chance to roll down the window before they took flight. Hopefully they will settle down later in the season.
I was luck to spot this fellow hunting rodents in the snow on my way home. This is where the new mirrorless cameras make winter photography so easy that I don’t even know what to bother to say about it. With SLR cameras you had to take great care to make sure that you got the subject exposed correctly without turning the snow grey. With the mirrorless cameras, you can see through the electronic viewfinder (EVF) exactly what your picture is going look like. If you set up your camera like mine, you can even view the histogram without even taking the camera away from your eye.
The coyote instantly saw me roll to a stop in the jeep, and immediately began walking away. By the time he looked back, I estimate he was probably 60 yards away. But with the 1.6 crop on the R7 and 560mm of focal length, I think I was able to come away with a pretty good capture!
I went out this afternoon hoping to find some wildlife in the beautiful light of a Rocky Mountain sunset, but only spotted a small herd of mule deer, just as the good light was passing. This is another area where the new cameras excel. With 400 ASA film, a shot like this would have never been possible. Even with the early DSLR cameras, this capture with ISO 26,400 would have just been a blob of unrecognizable digital noise. My camera was still set for action photography from the day before, so as the session progressed, I dialed back my shutter speed
However, it was getting dark fast and even with a shutter speed of just 1000th of a second, this capture came in at ISO 32,000. I have to say, even I am astonished at the quality of this image. In case you are wondering, I use DXO PureRaw to decode my raw captures, and this is what the software gave me, almost without any other modifications in Adobe Camera Raw.
I was tempted to take only my old EOS 7 with a roll of Portra 160, but after seeing this beautiful deer herd at dusk, I’m glad I had the R7!
If this post has you yearning for more information, I would suggest my book Wildlife Photography in the Colorado Rockies. In this publication I tell you all you need to know to shoot Rocky Mountain wildlife like a pro! You will learn how to set proper exposures, how to shoot in challenging weather and lighting conditions, and where to find the best locations to find and photograph wildlife in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
Visit my published book page to see my entire collection of books, including Two Decades of Digital Photography, and Storm Warning, along with my new series of wildlife novels, Spirit of the Wolf and Thundering Hooves.
Steven W. Krull is a renowned photographer and author who has been photographing and writing of the beauty and wildlife of the Colorado Rocky Mountains for over two decades. Please visit his website at S.W. Krull Imaging to view his work, including thousands of prints for sale, stock images for commercial use, and his library of published books.
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Colorado Photographer / Author / Wildlife Advocate | Steven W. Krull 