Deal! Sounds fun mate :) Looking forward to it

Thanks :)

I'm glad you like it. Thank you for watching :)

So nice of you, thank you :) happy holidays

Hi Greg, happy to have you here. Agreed, sitting in the blind and waiting for wildlife is basically therapy haha :) I see you also use the Nikon Z6 (you have the II. right?) and D500. Yeah, I very much enjoy spending time with him, especially when we go out in nature. Thank you, and I just did the same. Cheers

My pleasure! Thanks for watching :D

Couldn't agree more! Thanks for watching :)

Thank you! Yes, the same here :) many of them migrated, but the kingfishers, luckily, are staying...

You are welcome! Thank you for watching :)

Happy to hear that! They are cute little birds :D

Absolutely! It would be misleading to pretend that I always find the animals and get the shots that I want. Yes, well said :) Thank you, happy to have you here.

Glad you like them! Cheers :)

Thank you for watching :) cheers

Glad you enjoyed it :) Oh yes, the H8 is really good and very versatile. Happy holidays

Thanks! Appreciated :)

Yes, just around 15cm tall. Correct, in my experience, they always do that. I heard somewhere that besides being easier to handle, they hit the fish because otherwise if eaten head first, it would go through their body and exit it as quickly as it entered it :) I'm curious to find out if that's true. They indeed are so beautiful. They really stand out at this time of the year when nature is mostly brown in colour.

@@PatrikInNature Do they not migrate? I know there are plenty of birds that don't - chickadees, titmouse, some sparrows, nuthatch and lots more. I'm in NYC, but I lived upstate for 2 years (cuz of a woman, of course) and I had a terrific bird feeder, so I know a lot of the birds we have around here. And although I don't consider myself a nature buff by any means (I don't even like walking on grass. It feels like nature's weird carpet and it has bugs in it), I do love animals, including birds. I just can't be far from a bodega or a subway stop. I get very nervous. So I tend to get my animal fix from folks like yourself. Thanks very much! EDIT: I'm going upstate for a holiday party tomorrow actually. I always hope I'll see a deer or a raccoon or something. Believe it or not, we have raccoons in the Bronx. When I go to work early at like 5am, sometimes I'll see them making their way back to their daytime hidey holes. They're big and ill tempered, though, cuz they gotta duke it out with dogs and rats and whatnot here, so they're not fun raccoons like the ones that get caught in dumpsters. Bronx raccoons will mug you and leave you on the block with no sneakers or MetroCard. They're cold blooded AF.

No, they stay here through the winter as well. One of the photos in the video was shot in the middle of the winter in sub zero temperatures (°C). Very cool, feeders are a great way to get to know the local birds. Well, that's perfectly okay as well, I am happy to share my passion with you. Interesting to hear about the raccoons. I didn't know that they are like that.

Totally agree! D750 is a very capable camera. Thank you for watching and good luck with your photography :)

@@PatrikInNature It didn’t work out to make friends 100-400 with the D750) .... smeared terribly ... with the Z6 one delight.

Oh then I misunderstood you. From what I heard from other people, the D750 should have a good AF, even better than the Z6. Maybe you've had front or back focusing problems?

@@PatrikInNature Back front focus .... it's about it .... at 750 it's a pain ... sometimes even the corrections in the camera itself did not help ... in the Z6 this is not at all .... I wound the lens and went to shoot ....

Yeah it was the same in my case with the 150-600, but I managed to calibrate it with Sigma dock. Z6 focuses on-sensor, so this problem doesn't exist anymore :)

Interesting that you have a similar setup! Maybe I prefer the image out of Z6 simply because it's so often that I shoot at high ISOs that it gives me better results compared to the crop sensor of D500. But at lower ISOs, I very much like what I get from D500. And yes, the shutter is, even on silent, not silent at all. For birds in flight when I am shooting from a hide, there is always a dilemma if I want a usable AF or silent shutter - can't have both with current setup haha :) Thank you for watching! Patrik

Thank you for commenting :D Glad you liked it

Sorry, it took me a while to reply. I don't have any real-life experience with either of these two cameras, so I had to read a few sources and watch some videos to better understand the options. This is quite a dilemma. On one side, you have a top-of-the-line camera that is more than 10 years old, and on the other, you have a very capable but still entry-level camera that came out in 2020 and has all the latest technology. The decision in the end is, of course, yours, so I will just tell you my thoughts. 1. Canon Eos Rebel T8i has a "crop" sensor, meaning that all the lenses will have 1.6x the field of view of a 1D X. This is excellent for small and/or distant animals. 2. This is just me guessing, but the 1D X is a professional camera, so it's very likely that it was used much much more than the almost new T8i. It would be helpful in deciding if you could request the number of shutter clicks. Keep in mind that if the 1D X has a very low number, this is probably its second shutter (after the first one failed). There's nothing wrong with that, but that's just something to keep in mind. 3. If you are in any way interested in video recording, I would go for the T8i. 4. It's hard to judge without any real experience with those two cameras, but the autofocus on both is more than capable for wildlife photography. If you are just starting out, there is a lot for you to learn, so you won't feel limited by the equipment for a long time. And even after you get more experience, both should be more than enough. 5. T8i has a fully articulating screen; 1D X's screen is fixed. Maybe that's important to you. 6. The 1D X has 14.0 fps and the T8i has 7.5 fps (continuous shooting). Of course, 14 fps is much better, and for some animals, it can mean the difference between getting the shot and missing it. But I wouldn't go for the 1D X if this is the only reason you have. 7. The last thing is the weight and size. The 1D X is nearly three times heavier and much larger. If you will be photographing mostly from a tripod and not walking very far, then this is not relevant. But if you plan to carry it and also shoot handheld, then the T8i has a significant advantage here. Please let me know if this was helpful and if I addressed the points that you were interested in. Also, if you have any further questions, just let me know. I'm happy to help.

....great advice !!! Like a pro !!!!!

a 1Dx vs a prosumer 850D (T8i)? and the 850D is in the lower rung Canon prosumer camera range too (easily bested by the now quite old 7D II or newer 90D). The 1Dx will have superior build quality, weather sealing, far superior AF performance. The 850D will better the 1Dx by simply being an APS-C 1.6x crop camera. It'll effectively further enable your reach, so that using a lens with this camera will typically result in 1.6x the focal length. With wildlife photography, length (focal) does matter. I would recommend going with a Canon EOS R7 (mirrorless, APS-C) - it has weather sealing, IBIS (internal body image stabilisation), animal eye detect. It's also APS-C. A good starter lens with this is Canon's excellent 400mm f5.6, which is easily found used online. Add a genuine Canon 1.4x TC (I'd go with a mark 3 version) and you'll have an effective focal length/reach of 400*1.6*1.4 - just under 900mm. This will be perfect for smaller birds and animals. For larger animals, go with the 400mm sans the TC. Be aware that as it is APS-C, noise performance is so-so - usuable up to ISO 3200, with NR AI, 12800, but you'll lose some colour saturation and DR at ISO 12800. Better, imho, to stick to 6400 and lower. Another downside is the lack of a battery grip. For some, that doesn't matter, but for those of us shooting with big super telephoto lenses, it does matter. If only Canon listened...instead of crippling their cameras. 1Dx will murder the 850D or R7 in terms of high ISO performance and build quality and even weather sealing. AF - the newer MLCs (mirrorless cameras) AF systems murder the older DSLR generation. I would personally NOT recommend limiting yourself with these older DSLRs, no matter how tempting. People are selling them because they are migrating to MLCs. You are far better to invest in a MLC system imho. DSLRs are already going the way of the Dinosaurs. Sure, you can take great images with them, but why limit yourself? Just buying a proper camera isn't going to necessarily result in you getting better images either. Wildlife photography requires you to learn about your subject, learn how to approach it, learn how not to spook it etc. You need to learn the basics of photography too - a point and shoot smartphone doesn't teach much about the technical aspects of photography. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but you need to ensure that you are capable of using your new camera gear. Use the right tools for the job - smartphones are OK with portraits and landscapes but not much else imho. It's great that you're interested in getting more into photography.

I will definitely share more of my techniques in the future. This video shows how I go about photographing and filming them, but it doesn't mean that you can't get such pictures or even better with less gear. If I would remove just the "video" equipment from this list, I would be left with a camera, lens, and a tripod (and a hide), so you don't need that much to take great shots!

I have again seen, and amazed to look at the beautiful colourful kingfishers being clicked. Thank you.

Cheers :)

Friend, please tell me - can I click such photos in 70-300 ED VR lens. Please guide.

@@ashok5591 Of course you can. Make sure that your camera is as steady as possible (or better, on a tripod) and that your settings are correct.

Yes, that's the one :) It's a bit small for two people, but we make it work...

@@PatrikInNature would just be a single guy (me) using it. Should be plenty of room. I have a pair of local Sacred Kingfishers like a 2 minute drive from home. They're kind of used to me now, but even with a 500mm f4 + 1.4x TC on my R3, I can't get close enough to get them decently enough in the frame. They have a nest very close by, so I don't really want to spook them, I'd rather set up the hide early on in the day, and wait them out till the afternoon and not worry them.

@DavidPastern Then it should be perfect for you. Sounds like a great opportunity, and I hope you manage to photograph them. Yes, I think it's a good idea to do it from the hide, as you can get closer (and better images) without disturbing them. I wish I would have the option to leave the hide in the same spot for the animals to get used to it, but people in my area are not very cooperative, to put it nicely...

@@PatrikInNature oh, these kingfishers are on private property that borders public land. They are less than 10m from the public land. The problem is, my area is a rough area, so some bad people would probably see the hide and mug/steal my gear. I am still considering things, so may not proceed any further with the local kingfisher pair. I've been a regular visitor over the past 6 weeks or so, and people watch you as they drive by (it's a back street, but has a high amount of traffic) and a big 500mm f4 prime is well, very obvious. There's no way to be more discete sadly. My car is closely parked by and I carry a carbon fibre monopod with me for well, obvious reasons if you get my drift!

Yeah, that's a tough situation. You could still go there, for example, very early in the morning, before the first light, and wait for the kingfisher. It probably wouldn't see you coming or moving, so you wouldn't disturb it or them. The only problem that I have with this particular hide is that the windows are too high for my taste. I prefer to shoot animals from a lower angle, so I sometimes open the "door" and just shoot through that opening.