Happy New Year from BAA. 2026 Off to a Great 35° Start!

My Call

In the last blog I — as did those who commented, prefer the tighter vertical crop as it yielded a better look at the spectacular backlit dew drops. In retrospect, stopping down to f/16 or so would have sharpened the outer edges of the web. And, I had lots of ISO room to use a smaller aperture while maintaining a more-than-fast-enough shutter speed.

Your Call?

Which of today’s two featured images do you like best? Why? Admittedly, this is a tough choice as both photos are pretty special.

Have a Great 2026!

All at BIRDS AS ART — Jim Litzenberg, Jennifer Morris, and I, hope that you and yours enjoy a wondrous year filled with health, happiness, some travel, fabulous opportunities, success, photography, and some great birds. Every day that I wake up I am filled with gratitude for all the wonderful things that I enjoyed in 2025 and am looking forward to a repeat in 2026.

Today — obviously, is 1 January 2026. Wishing you the best, I was down to the lake well before sunrise despite the fact that the thermometer read 35° F, just about as low as it gets here in Central Florida. The good news is that the frigid NW wind of the past two mornings has dropped practically to nothing. There was, of course, a ton of steam on the water. Working only with the handheld 200-600 and the a-1 ii, I created 4059 (as yet un-edited) images in about an hour. Below, I share two cherry-picked images from my first photo session of the year. I will spend the rest of today doing that first edit, clearing photo space on my MacBook Pro, and watching the college football playoffs. (Congrats to Miami for kicking Ohio State’s but last night in the Cotton Bowl). I hope that you too choose to have a wonderful and productive day and that you have fun too. Please remember that happiness is a choice — Byron Katie, The Work.Com (and as discussed in yesterday’s blog post).

If an item — a Delkin flash card or reader, a Levered-clamp FlexShooter Pro, or a Wimberley lens plate or low foot — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated, if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match or beat any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to earn 3% cash back at Bedford by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BirdPhotographer’s.Net, are — out of ignorance — using the wrong gear, especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads. And the same is true in spades when ordering new camera bodies or lenses. My advice will often save you some serious money and may help you avoid making a seriously bad choice. Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.. If you are desperate, you can try me on my cell at 863-221-2372. Please leave a message and shoot me a text if I do not pick up.

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B&H

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You can visit the Bedfords website here, shoot Steve Elkins an e-mail, or text him on his cell phone at (479) 381-2592.

This image was created on 1 January 2026 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Standing on the pier, I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and the The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined by Zebras with Exposure Compensation (EC) on the thumb wheel. Multi Metering +1.7 stops. AUTO ISO set ISO 640: 1/2000 second at f/6.3 (wide open) in Shutter Priority mode. AWB at 7:41:05am moments as the sun broke through the fog. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the larger, inexplicably sharper high-res version. Image #1: Anhinga coming out of the fog Image copyright 2025: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

From Nothin’ to Something in an Instant

There were lots of Cattle Egrets on the railings when I got down to the lake so I grabbed the 2-6 in Shutter Priority mode and headed to the end of the pier. All the birds took flight away from me and there were no blastoffs. There was so much fog on the lake that I headed to the SW corner of the pier in hopes of shooting back toward ILE and creating some foggy, orange landscapes. But there was not much going on as the fog was — for the most part, too thick and too white. So, I headed back to my vehicle and adjusted my settings for backlit flight. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a bird taking flight low and from my right. I raised the lens and was surprised to get on the bird. As it gained height it turned left and few right at me. The first one of the series was my favorite and it included some foggy background other than sky.

This image was also created on 1 January 2026 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Standing on the South Field, I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 280mm) and the The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined by Zebras with Exposure Compensation (EC) on the thumb wheel. Multi Metering +0.3 stops. AUTO ISO set ISO 125: 1/800 second at f/13 (stopped down 1 2/3 stops) in Shutter Priority mode. AWB at 7:55:24am moments as the sun broke through the steam on the South Canal. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the larger, inexplicably sharper high-res version. Image #2: Sandhill Crane tossing grass/courtship display Image copyright 2025: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Success Despite a Blatant Error

I got really excited when I saw the middle South Peninsula crane family hanging by the edge of the steam-filled South Canal. Don’t ask me how I got to 1/800 second (at f/14) but I should have been at least at 1/2500 second for the dancing. Big time operator error. But I got lucky with an intermediate shutter speed and created a sharp image.

Sony 200-600 Versatility

Note that working at 280mm & 600mm for today’s two featured images, I utilized nearly all of the 200-600 focal length range of this fabulous zoom lens. It is light enough for me to handhold forever and the internal zoom is a dream — the lens does not change length as you zoom in our out.

Composite #1: All with the a-1 ii Mirrorless Camera body. Images copyright Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

The a-1 ii for General Bird Photography

I have found that eye-tracking for general bird photography with the a-1 ii is far, far better than with the original Sony a-1. It grabs the eye and tracks it faster and far more consistently and focus is rarely lost, even with backgrounds other than sky.

Composite #2: All with the a-1 ii Mirrorless Camera body. Images copyright Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

The a-1 ii for Birds in Flight

For birds in flight, the a-1 ii Mirrorless Camera body has no equal. As Arash Hazeghi says, “It is better than the a-1.” When I am late getting on a bird in flight, I have consistently been amazed at how often the AF system of the a-1 ii finds and tracks the bird’s eye.

Composite #3: All the result of using Pre-Capture with the a-1 ii Mirrorless Camera body. Images copyright Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Pre-Capture with the Sony a-1 ii

When it comes to Pre-Capture with the a-1 ii Mirrorless Camera body, Arash and I agree 100%. And with my slower reflexes, Pre-Capture is more important for me than it is for Arash. Understand that in each of the images in Composite #3, I did not push the shutter button until after the bird took flight!

All with the a-1 ii Mirrorless Camera body. Images copyright Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Purchasing or Upgrading to a Sony a-1 ii

The Sony a-1 ii e-Mail Set-up and Info Guide

I now own and use two Sony a-1 ii bodies. Every day that I use them, the more I am amazed by speed and accuracy of the Bird Face-Eye tracking in AF-C and the overall performance of the camera.

Aside from the improved ergonomics as compared to the a-1, other nice features include the fact that the rear screen tilts both ways — the lack of a tilting rear screen on the original a-1 always ticked me off. Pre-capture has proven to be a huge plus almost exclusively for take-off flight images. In my opinion, the Speed Boost feature is a total waste for bird photography because you should always be utilizing the maximum frame rate. In addition, the resolution on the rear monitor has been improved dramatically. I must mention again that Bird Face-Eye tracking on the a-1 ii is vastly improved as compared to both the a-1 and the a9 iii and that the 51MP files are to die for.

So, the big question is, is the a-1 ii “worth” a gear upgrade. Remembering that I can never know whether or not something is worth it to you, I can say that I was not floored when first using my a-1 ii. The differences between the a-1 ii and the original a-1, seemed to be neither huge nor eye-opening. But over time, I have come to realize that I was 100% wrong. The huge difference between the new camera body and the a9 iii is, of course, the 51MP a-1 raw files (as compared to the 24MP files rendered by the a9 iii).

The price of a new a-1 is $5,898.00. The price of a new a-1 ii is $1,100.00 more: $6,998.00. As the a-1 ii is clearly far superior for bird photography to the original a-1, the choice for folks new to Sony or for those upgrading from lesser Sony camera bodies is an easy one. Prices for used a-1 bodies has not dropped drastically as I anticipated. At this point, a-1 folks who like showing flight and action and can afford an a-1 ii, are advised to purchase an a-1 ii. Please remember that life is short; we only get one ride on the merry-go-round.

If you do purchase an a-1 ii, be sure to use one of my two affiliate links so that you will receive my a-1 ii settings (in the form of a CAMSEa1ii.DAT file), the Buttons and Dials Guide, and an Info Sheet for free. Using my links will never cost you one penny and may actually save you some money. Folks who do not purchase their new a-i using my B&H link or from Bedfords here and entering the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout will be able to purchase the a-1 ii guide for $244.93. If you are at all confused and do not want to screw up your order, please get in touch via e-mail. If you would like to chat about upgrading, shoot me a text to 863-221-2372 and LMK a good time to call you.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.