Another outing with the R7/RF 100-400mm setup produced another day of frustration. With birds available, for once, the setup continually lagged at wakeup, balked at autofocus, misfocused, and cost me several good shot opportunities. At the end of the day my keeper rate was about 45%.
Strangely, the battery drain was far more than usual, which might point to some electronic issue. Whatever the case, the RF 100-400mm will be ditched upon my return to the ant farm, with the R7 on probation until or unless it shows normal performance with the RF 100-500mm. Even then it may be gone, as noise on distant subject matter is a factor in post processing even at ISO 800.
I’m at wits end with a “single-point” AF feature that grabs a foreground twig when the entire square+point is placed on the critter. It reminded me all over again of why I stuck with manual focus for so long. I can’t recall ever having experienced such a level of gear misbehavior during travel, and this setup will get a chance at neither a repeat performance nor redemption.
