I’ve almost pulled the trigger on the purchase of the 5D Mk IV but I keep reading the crop sensor 80D has more reach to go with my interest in birding. However googling, etc. I am not satisfied with what I read “more reach” really is/means. Will keep looking and in the meantime a Memorial Day camera sale might happen.

Really have been considering your offer of a 5DIV but have not come up with a positive difference of buying it over buying the latest crop sensor model for my usual needs at one third the price. So glad you posted yours for sale, it made me study for the last five hours to try to understand different cameras. Good luck on making a sale, Tommy2

I'm trying to decide between those two canons - is the 5DIV three times as good as the 80D as the price seems to indicate? Having owned crop sensor canons for a dozen years, i'm not all that excited about a full frame's additional cost.
Thankyou.

Wow, the stars are aligned - just this morning I lamenting that my camera is 10 years old and sure would like another. This is the one I was searching for on the www. Forgot to ask - what lens?

Yep, that's a the goal, Thank you Shootist!

Kept only three lenses and the camera, all ten or more years old, when downsizing to move into this retirement facility thinking that there would be few opportunities to use any more than the bare essentials. Tried to interest others in forming a photography club to be able to share the hobby but found that I'm the young guy on the block with wild ideas.

Ran across this website and think it might be the ticket, we'll see.

Thank you Dennis.

A little more of the backstory: Getting the camera closer isn't something that can happen easily and this still be an enjoyable hobby. It is difficult for this guy in his eighth decade to move around much less with several pounds of delicate awkward shaped equipment. Living seventeen floors up in a CCRC is where I'm at at this stage of life. The feeding person has an electric powered wheelchair which allows her to go out across the street to coax the birds into view. Then I go out onto my balcony to see if I can get a few photographs of "her" birds for printing to be placed in her apartment.

The camera is focused, which seem to be good, on the concrete sidewalk thinking the depth of field is so great at that distance (confirmed by DOF calculations) that the birds should be in focus too.

At your suggestion, I'll keep trying different things. This is almost as much fun as when I was first exposed (pun intended) to this hobby in the mid '40's, Tommy2

Wanting to post this first real attempt at capturing a quality photograph. Those blue jays are twitchy birds so looking at the concrete surface tells me the focus is about correct. Hopefully later posts will show improvement.

(Download)

Very nice photo and especially nice to see the accompanying camera settings, Thank You.

Here is where I'm trying to photograph birds from my apartment's deck. Using the formula a(squared) + b(squared) = c(squared) I find the distance is 230.5' from my camera to the birds you see in the little group eating seeds in the handicapped parking place. You will also see my friend who places the seed wearing a yellow jacket sitting in a wheel chair. It is interesting to see all the different birds jockeying for a good place to get the best seeds. I print the photos so my friend has them to look at whenever she wants.

If this isn't appropriate for this thread please delete. My zoom is maxed out for the majority of the photos ops here. The camera is mounted seventeen and a half floors above the natural ground where my neighbor feeds the birds every morning. Many times, I see using binos, all sorts of possible shots play out as the birds jockey for the best feeding position. So anyone have advice on what zoom is appropriate in this situation? (Yeah, high cost is a big factor for this old retired guy.)

I've been watching this forum for a while and consider it reasonably well balanced between the know-it-alls and the know-nothings. Fortunately my experience as a hobbyist photographer lets me know which is which. I do find everyone has something to contribute however small. Thank you for providing me with interesting reading every morning, Tommy2

The other side of the coin is just as heartbreaking: The trauma of making a child available to a photographer to photograph. I'd not be surprised to read here about parents wanting references, signed agreements, etc. from the photographer one of these days. (Spent years as a Children's Advocacy Center board member and saw it all happen one way or another.)

Now that's big bait, gonna sit this one out!

Thanks! Gotta be open to "Good Luck" - need to bait a hook to catch anything.

Hmmm...thought that click-stop was a feature of the last firmware up-date on this DSLR...



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