News

Just announced, the Sony A7R6 promises, according to Sony, to be the 'resolution' camera and the 'speed' camera all-in-one. Well, on paper it could be; 67mp resolution on a full frame sensor is getting near to medium format territory. 30 fps using a fully stacked sensor is, on paper, quick, at the same level as the Sony A1 Mark 2. However, checkout the readout speed - it is approx 19.0 ms, which is not that far off my old Sony A74 and is 5 times slower than my A1 Mark 2. The Sony A7R6 has 50% less autofocus re-calculation speed per second of the Sony A1 Mark 2, and that has to be in compressed RAW format (otherwise it goes down further to 25%), and it has a new battery, meaning all those batteries and chargers I have will be of no use to me. This is not a camera for birds in flight or insects in flight. Am I being harsh? No, not really. Imagine taking this camera out for some birds in flight action instead of my Sony A1 Mark 2; something mega happens, a once in a lifetime moment, and the image is ruined by rolling shutter distortion, if indeed it can actually keep up with the action in the first place. No, this camera is not for me because of my style of bird and insect photography. It may work for you, but you have been warned about the rolling shutter, the slow autofocus re-calculation speeds and the resulting likely issues for any fast action work.

Yesterday I noted the release of the new Sony A75 mirrorless camera. It has the same size 33mp sensor as the old A74, but this sensor is now semi-stacked. Other new features include pre-capture, improved image stabilisation, improved autofocus functions and improvements to video features. However, is this a camera to interest bird in flight photographers like me? Well, not really. I say this because the actual readout speed, although much better than the A74, is still only approx 12.0 - 15.0 ms. To put that into context, the OM-1 has a readout speed of approx 7.8 ms, the Sony A1/A1ii has a readout speed of approx 4.2 ms and the Sony A9iii (with its global shutter) has an instant 0 ms readout speed. I understand that the Sony A75 has a frame rate of up to 30 fps, which is impressive, but if, like me, you tend to photograph very fast birds in flight (and insects), you will see the effects of rolling shutter with the Sony A75 on occasion. That is something I cannot live with. To put it beyond doubt, for me at least, my OM-1 has a much faster readout speed of approx 7.8 ms and I get horrible rolling shutter for my insects in flight work. I am hoping that the next OM Systems camera release has a readout speed matching the Sony A1/A1ii or the Nikon Z8/Z9. For general use and slower action work, the Sony A75 is more compelling, given its specification and price point in the UK of approx £2,800.00.

Continuing my life-long quest to photograph the beauty of Short-eared Owls, I stumbled across this bird yesterday. A break in the weather and it was out sunning itself, trying to get dry again, following on from earlier heavy rain. These birds roost on the ground generally and are therefore subjected to all the weather that comes their way.

I've been spending a bit of time recently looking for my beloved Short-eared Owls, birds I've had a passion for since starting bird in flight photography over 20 years' ago. They turn up, around about this time usually, all along the Suffolk coastline. A record shot from yesterday!

Sad news indeed, as the RSPB Images library is due to close in the Spring of 2026.

A commercial library offering high quality bird and other wildlife imagery, the library has been operating for over 43 years and was initially set up by Chris Gomersall, a well-known and respected professional wildlife photographer.

It is particularly sad for me as I have acted as an Agency Bird Photographer for the RSPB, supplying images for over 13 years, often involving some effort, time and determination.

However, I can understand why this has happened, it is not unusual and the number of successful commercial wildlife photographic libraries is dwindling all the time. That situation is only set to get worse imo.