Reifel Bird Sanctuary With Point & Shoot
Last week I picked up a lightweight point and shoot with good zoom and macro capabilities to use as my everyday camera. The DSLR that I have been using has a superb Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Standard Zoom Lens but its quality glass is incredibly heavy and therefore it’s difficult for me to carry for even a short length of time. After some research I settled on the Canon Powershot SX10IS. The initial tests at the dog park and in the house were disappointing but I was gifted one beautiful sunny day so I took it out to the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Ladner, BC to see the migratory snow geese and the winter ducks.
The test went just as I expected: the 20x zoom function and video capabilities were fun to use, but the picture quality was grainy and inconsistent. The digital viewfinder was slow and shaky, making it difficult to compose the shots and the focus speed was so slow that I missed much of what I was hoping to take. The macro setting was successful in bright light but required you to position the camera mere centimeters from of the subject for a decent shot. Here is a selection of the photos I took, mostly in zoom mode which was very handy to have at a bird sanctuary.
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- The Reifel Bird Santuary from up on the blind. The Snow Geese are the white band at land’s end.
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- The band of white zoomed in shows a few of the Snow Geese that migrate here from the Arctic for the winter.
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- The Sandhill Cranes landing was taken from the blind at almost full zoom.
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- This photo was taken of Sandhill Crane was wading in the pond from the blind at almost full zoom.
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- A showy male Bufflehead duck that was only 10 feet away in great light, but still the photo is grainy when zoomed in.
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- A V of Snow Geese flying overhead taken at nornal range.
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- This flying Sandhill Crane was taken at normal range. The same photo taken with the DSLR was far superior in sharpness and colour.
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- The Sandhill Cranes are some of the most interesting birds at the island.
I thought it would be nice to have a lighter weight everyday use camera but I miss the speed, flexibility and by far the quality of the DSLR I’ve been using. The solution could be to buy a lighter multipurpose lens for travel and everyday yet I also really liked the Ultra Zoom function and the digital video. It’s back to the drawing board I guess.
Tags: camera, canon, ducks, Reifel, sandhill crane, Vancouver
November 30 2009 09:34 am | Photography and Vancouver
Kat on 30 Nov 2009 at 9:52 am #
I too have been having the same dilemma. Sometimes I just don’t want to lug the D80 around. I’m always afraid I’m going to break during more vigorous outings. But everything else I’ve tried just seems to be lacking. I’ll be following to see if you come up with a solution.
Dan on 01 Dec 2009 at 10:18 pm #
I think a light weight lens combined with the dslr would be a good option. You did get good shots with the p&s though.