Big cat

I had this brand new Reconyx Hyperfire 4K waiting to be deployed and the weather was decent today, so I made the trek out to the woods. This camera (designated as #19) seems to have the capability of doing stills and video at the same time, so I set it for that. Reconyx are not prone to false triggers so I hope the 32Mb memory card is adequate, but it shouldn't take as long to get back out as the six months it took this time. I now have five cameras out there, Reconyx #2 in its traditional location by the (falling) bridge, Reconyx #7 moved to the same tree at the midpoint as Browning #15, the new Reconyx #19 at the hotspot formerly occupied by #7, and Browning #11 replacing Browning #5 on the post monitoring the trail heading down to the road. There are no images posted from #5 this time. There was one blurry coyote sequence and lots of distant squirrel pictures before the camera apparently got twisted by a hit from falling snow on Jan. 8 and spent the next three months taking closeups of tree branches. But I still think it is a good location, and I tried to lock down #11 as tightly as possible to keep it from getting jostled.

Has it really been six months since I checked the cameras in the woods? I should have gone around New Years, but I procrastinated and eventually the snow accumulation made it impossible. Anyway, I'm burying the lede, which is this huge mountain lion that came by Nov. 26. (Seeing this made me realize that I forgot to carry bear spray on my hike today.)

A month later, a much smaller bobcat followed the same path.

There were lots of coyote images, most of them at night. There was this one during the day of a coyote trudging along when the snow was deep in early March. The nighttime images are among the first I've gotten with my newest Browning #15. I have to say I'm not overly impressed with nighttime images from it. The detail is very blocky, probably oversharpened, similar to what the Gardepro #14 does. Compare that with the lion images from the Reconyx, which are grainy but not blocky/oversharpened. In my opinion, the dedicated camera for nighttime images which are in the newer Brownings #11 and #15 are not effective because they are combined with excessive in-camera processing that can't be bypassed. I prefer the Reconyx with its single camera and a lighter touch.

There was one motion-blurred bear image, and lots of evidence of moose but no great photographs. One problem is the perfect camera height for a coyote or a deer is much too low for a moose.

My home cameras are now three ancients (Primos #4, Browning #5, and the famous Melted Browning #6) and the closeup Guardpro #14. My first inclination is to put #5 on the shed and #14 at the birdbath. I also want to do some remote triggering at the bird houses with the new Canon R5 Mark II (#18) and the equally new 100mm macro lens. Tomorrow might be good for that before the weather deteriorates later in the day.

New camera who dis?

The new Reconyx Hyperfire 4K has been going through its trials at the bird box the past few days. I saw a bluebird fly by for the first time this year so I figured it was time to check it. There was a bluebird on Saturday, and plenty of magpies and crows to give the camera a workout.

First of all, the 8mp resolution is the best I've had in a trail camera. As everyone knows, all the companies except Reconyx LIE about their resolution. A 5mb image upsized to 32mb is not a 32mb image. Someone should sue Browning and the others for misleading advertising. The resolution of the Reconyx is better than my two newer Browning cameras, which I believe are 5mp sensors.

These images were taken in full sunlight, into the sun. The camera reports shutter speeds between 1/5000 and 1/800 at ISO 100. The detail in the shadowed areas is noisy (bluebird) or completely blown out (crow). The harsh light isn't the usual condition where I'm going to put this camera, so we'll see how it does there. There were no nighttime images so I don't know how the flash performs.

The second image of the bluebird is too close and probably slightly out of focus but the others are OK. The magpie in flight may be the sharpest trailcam image I've ever gotten. The focus on this Reconyx camera can be changed if its intended use is closeup, but that is a factory modification, not a menu selection.

So there are some things I am happy about (resolution, sharpness at medium distance) and some things I'm not (noise or loss of detail in shadows). Unless we have a blizzard in the next few days (which is not predicted), I will try to get this camera out in the woods sometime next week.

I also checked Browning #11, which has been on shed duty. The snowdrifts are still deep enough that we are not getting deer in the yard. I got 2,000 images of me going in and out of the shed and not much else. But I'm generally satisfied with that camera also. It is reasonably sharp. What I really want to see is the newer but similar Browning #15, which has been out in the woods for quite a while now and I still haven't posted any images from it.

I don't know if I want to use the new R5 on motion sensor very much, but I do want to try it with the 100mm macro lens I got for it. I wonder if some of the automatic focusing modes that detect an animal's eye will work. That would be fantastic. Even if I have to use preset focus, R5 images should be 100 times better than those from the new Reconyx.

Going Yard

Not only have I been unable to get to my cameras in the national forest because of the snow, I have been unable to get to my back fence to see what has hopped through the yard. I think my last check of Melted Browning #6 was in late December. Yesterday I swapped out #6 for Browning #11, which I rescued from a snowdrift a few weeks ago.

The story of January is the ancient tale of the fox and the hare. Actually these images are six days apart, but I'm not letting it interfere with the storyline.

Earlier in the month when the show was quite a bit lower, this snow-capped deer wandered into frame. After the snow got about three feet high where the deer is standing, they weren't around any more. They seem to prefer town where the streets are plowed and it is easier to get around.

At last count, I have had 10 trail cameras and still have eight of them. Today I received another one, which will be designated as Reconyx #19, my third Reconyx. (I also have assigned numbers to other devices besides trail cameras; that's why the numbering doesn't line up.) This camera brand is more expensive than others, but there are several things to like about them. First, they are based in Wisconsin just north of the city where I was born, and they actually service their products. When Reconyx #2 was damaged in the 2017 fire that also damaged Melted Browning #6 and destroyed Moultrie #3, I was able to get it serviced by the factory. I didn't bother to try to find service for the Browning. Second, Reconyx does not lie about their camera resolution as EVERY OTHER manufacturer does. My first two Reconyx were 3Mp. This one, named the Hyperfire 4K Professional, uses an 8Mp Sony chip. Good luck trying to find out what the other manufacturers use for chips.

I am hoping that the latest generation of Reconyx cameras is the Great Leap Forward. If you compare the specs for my first Reconyx bought in 2011, my second one bought in 2018, and cameras available just last year, there wasn't that much difference. This new one appears to have some other interesting features besides higher resolution, including customizable maximum night ISO (400-6400) and minimum shutter speed (1/30-1/960). I set ISO 1600 and shutter speed 1/60.

Since I still may not be able to get to my cameras in the woods for a couple more weeks, my plan is to deploy the new camera at the bluebird box. We have seen bluebirds here at the end of March before, so they might be around. After that, it will go out in the woods with the other two Reconyx and my newest Browning, #15. Browning #11 probably will remain on shed duty, and the close focus Gardepro T5CF #14 will come out of winter hibernation and get the bluebird box or the birdbath. Then I can finally retire Brownings #5 and #6, and the generally awful Primos #4. I want to do some remote or motion triggering with my new Canon R5, but that's a whole nother topic.

Moose

We are getting a lot more snow than last year and I have not visited my trail cameras in the national forest since October. I can't even get to the camera on the back fence in my yard. I'm hoping to get out in the woods sometime in the next month to see what I have and to replace the inevitable dead batteries. For now, all I can do is look at old pictures.

Even before we moved to Montana, I had trail cameras in this area. At the time, my brother had a cabin on a mountain near Luther and I stashed my original Browning up there the winter of 2017-18. I eventually collected this image.

The Browning has always had a weird vignetting, not just of exposure but of color. I corrected for it somewhat here, but what is an accurate color representation of a moose in a raging snowstorm? I've had three images from this sequence on the web site since 2018, and today added three more of the moose moving off to the left but still in frame.

Click on the image to see the other images in this sequence on my site.

First real test

I've been roaming around town with my new Canon R5 Mark II to get some turkey and deer shots, but the first real test was Sunday with the Ski Jorning National Finals at the nearby fairgrounds. Simply put, ski joring is crazy people on skis getting pulled by horses. The most difficult thing to do was figure out which autofocus settings to use, particularly with skiiers going over the last jump. I wasn't able to see them until they got near the jump so couldn't just follow them with Servo. I eventually turned off eye recognition and just went with a simple center focus point.

When the R5 snaps into focus, which it does a high percentage of time, the detail in the images is incredible. The fairgrounds is right next to the airport, and I snapped this image of one of the local planes taking off. The tight crop is unresized 1800x1200 pixels, which is less than 5% of the 45Mp image. Very sharp. The image of the skiier is full frame, resized. Also very sharp. At this point I'm very happy with the R5. My only worries are disk space and battery power. The sequence of the skier coming over the jump and wiping out was more than 60 images, each taking up more than 50Mb. No buffering. I cannibalized the 6D for its battery and didn't have to use it, but it was close. With great power comes great responsibility.

This final image is one of the drones that was used to chase the competitors as they raced around the track. Very nimble. I'm not sure which model this is but it bears a family resemblance to our DJI Mavic 3 Pro. I have never tried the follow function, but on this drone it had no trouble keeping up with the racers.

We have a problem

As mentioned in the previous post, the power converter that works with the 6D does not work with the R5, despite the same form factor. The aurora was forecast last night, so I put out the R5 with its battery to see how long it might last. The answer was two hours and 20 minutes, 272 thirty-second exposures with one second in between. The last image was taken at 11:17. I went out at midnight to reset the intervalometer and the camera had a light on it, so I thought it was still working. I even re-aimed the camera further west at what looked like a streak of light in the sky. But I got no images of that. In retrospect, I think it was a red light indicating the battery was depleted. Also in retrospect, I should have swapped in the 6D battery at midnight. I know it isn't powerful enough to shoot video in the R5, but it can take stills.

The forecast for tonight isn't as good for the aurora, so I may not bother, but my only choice in the short run is to use the 6D and the manual-focus 14mm rather than my sparkly new R5 and 14-35mm. And, as mentioned yesterday, the only long-range solution seems to be the $150 device from Canon. Since I didn't get the aurora, here are 2 hours and 20 minutes of star trails. This is just a quick processing with StarStaX. I could probably do better if I spent a couple hours fiddling with the images in Lightroom and Photoshop, but I've got longer, better star trail efforts so why bother? I also think the images are underexposed. I forgot to take into account that the new lens, as fabulous as it is, is only f/4, a fuill stop slower than the more primitive f/2.8 lens. Below the star trails is a single Photoshop-processed image from 10:30. Meh.

Now I've got to hit the streets to find one more turkey or deer to pose for Photo of the Day. Today is the last hole in my calendar.

A few hours later: The DJI Mavic 3 Pro drone comes with a fast USB-C charger rated at 65 watts. From what I can tell (it is not easy to find), the $150 Canon device is rated at 65 watts through a USB-C plug. I plugged the camera into the DJI charger and it shows a "charging" icon, which it doesn't do with your normal USB chargers. I did an Amazon search and found several 65W chargers with USB-C plugs described as laptop replacement power sources, prices as low as $9.99, although if I went that route I would probably get the $16.99 one that has better reviews. We may have a workaround, and/or I may have voided the warranty. (Later on, I also noticed that the "charging" icon shows up when plugged by USB-C into my computer.)

And I got a deer to complete my POD calendar.

Final word: A month later and I have an Anker wall plug that will power the camera, about $30. I tried an off-brand plug for a few dollars less, but it seemed quirky.

Obsolescence

Canon is moving on from the EF-mount lenses and SLR cameras which (including film) I have been using since 1999. All the new stuff is RF mount for their mirrorless cameras. I took the plunge recently with the R5 Mark II camera and two RF lenses, the 100mm macro zoom and 14-35mm wide angle zoom. Since I still have the EF-mount 6D Mark II as a backup, the plan is to keep the four EF lenses I still have (24-105, 70-200, 100-400, 500) and use the EF-RF adapter when necessary.

The R5 and 6D take the same battery.* That is a big asterisk. The batteries have the same form factor and use the same charger, but are NOT the same. The battery from the 6D will power the R5 to take still images, but the faster burst speeds and higher video resolutions are not available. Oh well, I don't shoot much video anyway. But there is a possibility of Aurora Borealis tonight, so I plugged in the AC adapter that I was using with the 6D and the dearly departed 5D Mark III. It doesn't work with the R5.

Canon's official solution is an adapter that plugs into the camera's USB-C port. The Canon USA site does not say whether the device will power the camera, or just charge the battery. I don't need a $150 battery charger, I need a power adapter. I tried watching a You-Tube video that supposedly demonstrated the device, but the guy was so disorganized that I gave up on it. Just a suggestion for You-Tubers, minimize your fumbling around by taking a minute to jot down a script outline, and learn how to use the basic functions of DaVinci Resolve to do some simple edits of your video before you waste everyone's time with a disorganized mess. Additional searching found the Q&A on the B&H site, which is probably as authoritative as I will find given Canon's negligence, and it seems the device will power the camera.

On a more positive note, R5 has the same remote trigger plug as the 6D (and 5D). So, if I wanted to, I could use either the motion trigger or the remote trigger. The upside of using the R5 instead of the 6D is I might be able to get away without prefocusing, and instead let the new camera's eye recognition set the focus. It supposedly works with animals. I tried a few autofocus sessions at the birdbath last summer, and the success rate was very low.

Anyway, one of my new lenses is a 14-35mm wide angle zoom, and I want to use it tonight in case the predicted Aurora is visible. I will use the built-in intervalometer set on unlimited, start it at about 9:00, and see how long it lasts before the battery dies. Here's a stitched panaroma of Red Lodge, MT that I shot just after I took delivery today. Below that is a followup to the previous post, another shot of a turkey with the 100-400mm zoom with the RF-EF adapter on the R5.