I ordered the new Canon R5 MK2 on the day it was first announced and it finally arrived late last Wednesday 16th. Thursday afternoon and I was busily checking it out and setting it up the way that I like. Should have been simple, like the R5 that I still have but it was not as easy as that.

There are extra features like pre-capture. It is possible to half press the shutter button and it will temporarily record  half-a-seconds shots (10-15) but only save them to the memory when the shutter is fully depressed. Ideal to capture a resting bird when it quickly takes flight.

In addition, it has the facility of focussing where the eye is looking through the viewfinder.

So after setting it up, last Friday a visited WWT Welney, just up the road from me, to test it out from the main hide. Sun forecast but it was foggy and misty all morning - far from ideal but I took 10/12 shots to begin with. First mistake. Pre-capture was on and there were over 100 shots on the card.

Anyway, I ploughed on but the shots were disappointedly noisy, mainly due to the adverse weather. I had not calibrated the eye focus sufficiently (it takes several tries apparently) so that was a non-starter.

A party of Whooper Swans came close allowing a head shot of a juvenile.

and loads of photos later - all subsequently deleted, partly due to the noise - I had tested the autofocus with the 200-800 lens, adding a 1.4 converter and also adding a 2x converter. Speed of autofocus is much improved from the R5 and there was little noticeable difference with the 1.4 converter attached. The 2x converter did slow it down but, surprisingly with a zoom lens, some of the photos could have been keepers.

Moving back to the reception, there were flocks of Sparrows on the feeders, including Tree Sparrows that are becoming very much a rarity in this area.

By now, the light had improved but, in the shade, ISO's of 2,500 to 3,500 were necessary but Topaz Noise Reduction soon sorted that out.

On the way home a male Pheasant was feeding on the top of the roadside bank, staying just long enough for a shot from the car.

First impressions of the camera are good but I will need to get several more sessions in before I can say that I have fully mastered it.