Images from Panasonic L-Mount cameras

[michali]

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White Rhino being dehorned  - Lumix S1R & Leica VE SL 24-90mm

We've dehorned over 200 Rhinos. The animal is darted from a helicopter. Once it's sedated, its eyes and ears are covered, and the horn is removed with a chain saw.

The process looks rather brutal, but the animal feels no pain or discomfort, it's much like cutting one's fingernails. However I still find the experience  harrowing every time we do this.

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Edited June 22, 2019 by michali

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[relms]

28 minutes ago, michali said:

White Rhino being dehorned  - Lumix S1R & Leica VE SL 24-90mm

We've dehorned over 200 Rhinos. The animal is darted from a helicopter. Once it's sedated, its eyes and ears are covered, and the horn is removed with a chain saw.

The process looks rather brutal, but the animal feels no pain or discomfort, it's much like cutting one's fingernails. However I still find the experience  harrowing every time we do this.

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That does look brutal, but losing a horn is better than losing its life.  What happens to the horn that has been removed?

[michali]

9 hours ago, relms said:

That does look brutal, but losing a horn is better than losing its life.  What happens to the horn that has been removed?

Robert- The horn is destroyed.

We've had about a 96% reduction in Rhino poaching since we started dehorning in 2015. Rhinos often use their horns in territorial battles with each other, especially Black Rhino. It's therefore important to dehorn the whole population in an area, so that you level the playing field and don't give one animal an unfair advantage over another. The process costs about $3, 000- per animal.

Best

Mike

Edited June 23, 2019 by michali

[michali]

This was taken in 2009, before the Rhino poaching scourge hit us.

Best

Mike

 

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[helged]

A sad story @michali, although a true victory if this can (contribute to) save the Rhinos. 

[relms]

@michali I was told last month when I visited South Africa that some of the dehorned animals are being killed out of spite by poachers. If this is true, how prevalent do you find it to be?

[relms]

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Getting back to the images, this shot was taken with the Canon 500 f/4.0 (Version I) lens adapted to the S1R with a Sigma MC-21 adapter.  This is roughly a 100% crop, in which the details hold up well; however, I am still looking forward to a long telephoto lens in L-mount.  

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Juvenile North Carolina Cardinal

[michali]

4 hours ago, relms said:

@michali I was told last month when I visited South Africa that some of the dehorned animals are being killed out of spite by poachers. If this is true, how prevalent do you find it to be?

Robert- This used to happen in Zimbabwe in the more remote larger national parks where poachers would track an animal for days only to find that it had been dehorned. They would then kill it so that they wouldn't have to waste their time and energy, tracking it again.

The situation in SA is different, much of the poaching is "hit and run" and is based on inside information (corrupt officials- this is known to happen in Kruger); so in areas where Rhinos have been dehorned, poachers generally are not going to waste their time, or risk getting shot by anti-poaching units for minimal or no reward. So I don't necessarily agree that they're killing the Rhinos out of spite.

We lost a male Rhino after our first dehornings in 2015.  It was a dark night and after they shot it they realised it had no horn, they then chopped the tail off so they could prove to their boss that they had actually killed a Rhino but it had no horn. They have to account to their bosses for every bullet they use. We've found that in the main these guys will move on and focus on an area where there are Rhinos with horns.

Best,

Mike

 

[michali]

5 hours ago, relms said:

Getting back to the images, this shot was taken with the Canon 500 f/4.0 (Version I) lens adapted to the S1R with a Sigma MC-21 adapter.  This is roughly a 100% crop, in which the details hold up well; however, I am still looking forward to a long telephoto lens in L-mount.  

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Juvenile North Carolina Cardinal

Nice shot. Last week I eventually purchased a Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II lens & Cannon III 1.4X converter to use for birding, along with the Sigma MC-21. The lack of a long telephoto or a 1.4X L Mount converter for my Leica VE 90-280mm has been frustrating me.

Based on a few test shots that I've taken around the house of my cats in early morning light, I find the combination of the Canon 400mm f4 and S1R insanely sharp.  Maybe too sharp?

The other thing that I've noticed is that, hand held at lower ISO settings with the 1.4X converter attached, I'm having to use the electronic shutter in order to avoid the dreaded shutter curtain shake. Have you noticed this?

Another question, do you have both the lens stabiliser and camera stabiliser on?

Thanks,

Mike

[relms]

Mike, 

4 hours ago, michali said:

Nice shot. Last week I eventually purchased a Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II lens & Cannon III 1.4X converter to use for birding, along with the Sigma MC-21. The lack of a long telephoto or a 1.4X L Mount converter for my Leica VE 90-280mm has been frustrating me.

Based on a few test shots that I've taken around the house of my cats in early morning light, I find the combination of the Canon 400mm f4 and S1R insanely sharp.  Maybe too sharp?

The other thing that I've noticed is that, hand held at lower ISO settings with the 1.4X converter attached, I'm having to use the electronic shutter in order to avoid the dreaded shutter curtain shake. Have you noticed this?

Another question, do you have both the lens stabiliser and camera stabiliser on?

Thanks,

Mike

Maybe too sharp?  Hmmmmm...perhaps I should look into the 400 DO.  My Canon 500 f/4 is first generation, as are the teleconverters.  I will be interested in hearing more about your experience with your new setup. 

I was using a tripod In this instance since the lens is a brute, and so I turned off stabilization on both the lens and the camera. I will try to run some tests tomorrow evening with the four options: both off, both on, camera on/lens off, and lens on/camera off.   I will report what I find. 

Thanks, 

Robert

[SaW]

Still testing the Pana, I like this soft however 3D like look.

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Edited June 24, 2019 by SaW

[SaW]

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[helged]

5 hours ago, SaW said:

Still testing the Pana, I like this soft however 3D like look.

Which lens?

[helged]

25 minutes ago, michali said:

To illustrate my comment about "too sharp?", here's a test shot with the Canon 400mm f4 DO II on the S1r with the Sigma MC-21 adapter.

Shot hand held @ ISO 320 1000/s f5.6  -JPEG straight out of the camera. 

How is the af for that setup (for static subjects)?

[michali]

3 minutes ago, helged said:

How is the af for that setup (for static subjects)?

Helged, I have the Focus Mode on Single Point AF and the AF setting on Pinpoint.

This has become my standard setting even with the Leica L VE 24-90mm & 90-280mm lenses. 

Best,

Mike

[SaW]

3 hours ago, helged said:

Which lens?

Leica S 120mm

[helged]

20 minutes ago, SaW said:

Leica S 120mm

Yes, the S120 is a marvel. Sharp and with a tiny bit of the smoothness of the classical Mandler-lenses (for instance Leica M 75mm Lux or Leica R 80mm Lux). 

[helged]

5 hours ago, relms said:

I tested image stabilization of the S1R and Canon 500 f/4.0 on a tripod under all four options: (1) stabilization off for both camera and lens, (2) on for both, (3) stabilization on for the camera, off for the lens, and (4) vice versa.  In my eyes, I see no difference in any of the four images.  If my limited testing is correct, then  the S1R is not affected by what’s called a feedback loop, in which the camera’s IS system essentially detects its own vibrations and starts moving around in an effort to compensate, even when the camera body is completely still.

Further testing is needed with other lenses, but If this test result holds true, then stabilization could be switched on and left on for both tripod and hand-held use.

Robert

Robert, did you use the electronic shutter in your tests? I guess that the mechanical shutter could induce vibrations, although the mechanical S1R shutter is nicely damped. Problems with vibrations are often peaking at certain shutter speeds, typically those that are close to the eigenmodes of the camera+lens(+tripod) system, so you may have to run multiple tests to check vibration effects w/wo sensor/lens stabilisation... 

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[michali]

Lumix S1R & Leica VE SL 90-280mm  -Zuka Game Reserve South Africa

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Edited June 25, 2019 by michali

[thighslapper]

19 hours ago, relms said:

I tested image stabilization of the S1R and Canon 500 f/4.0 on a tripod under all four options: (1) stabilization off for both camera and lens, (2) on for both, (3) stabilization on for the camera, off for the lens, and (4) vice versa.  In my eyes, I see no difference in any of the four images.  If my limited testing is correct, then  the S1R is not affected by what’s called a feedback loop, in which the camera’s IS system essentially detects its own vibrations and starts moving around in an effort to compensate, even when the camera body is completely still.

Further testing is needed with other lenses, but If this test result holds true, then stabilization could be switched on and left on for both tripod and hand-held use.

Robert

This bears out my testing, although with a big manual lens like the R 280/2.8 there was definitely shutter shock as Helged mentions which vanished when the electronic shutter was used. As mentioned before the EFC (electronic front curtain) option is greyed out for manual lenses ... which is exactly the circumstances in which you need it. The Panasonic reps at the launch mentioned that leaving IBIS on when tripod mounted was actually beneficial for micro vibrations..... which rather contradicts what is stated in the manual. Mine has been permanently on since I got the camera and I can't say I've noticed any issues with tripod images.

Edited June 25, 2019 by thighslapper