My Photo of the Day obsession has led to this day. I had three holes to fill, Feb. 26, and March 4-5. I had nothing special planned on those dates, so last week I drove around town looking for deer and turkeys, and the last two days I did the same. The first two slots were filled with turkeys, and a deer made the cut for today.

Starting last week also was my first time out in the "field" with the 45mp Canon R5 Mark II, and yesterday I took delivery of an RF 14-35mm lens. Shooting with the clunky old 5D III and 6D II isn't that much different than using the film SLRs of the previous century. Shooting with the R5 is like playing a video game. The torch is passed, the 5D went to eBay, and the 6D is now relegated to backup. I need to be careful with the R5, though. The first time out, I thought I was on single shot, but I was actually on high-speed continuous. I ended up with 95 45mp images when I probably could have gotten by with 25. We're going to need a bigger boat, uh, hard drive.

Now that the calendar is complete, I want to improve on some of the weak links, April 12 for example. It's a fuzzy trailcam image of two deer. But some will never be replaced, like August 7, Little Brothers.

February 26 POD

March 4 POD

March 5 POD

New wide angle zoom

In addition to the 5D, I also auctioned off four EF-mount lenses: The 50mm with the bad autofocus, a Tamron 28-300mm zoom that I probably hadn't used in the past 25 years, the very good 100mm macro that snapped dozens of butterfly images on this site, and the venerable 300mm F/4, my first "L" lens purchased in 1999. I have a lot of old camera junk like two ancient Pentax film SLRs, but I try to at least make sure all of my Canon EOS gear has a purpose. I have been turning over my equipment the past two years, leaving only two EF-mount lenses older than two years: The 70-200mm Antarctica zoom, and the 500mm f/4 powerhouse.

I got the 70-200mm (non-IS) in 2003 as a much lighter alternative to the 100-400mm, specifically for Antarctica and later used it for the Galapagos. These days, I often throw it in my bike bag with the M100 in case I see something while riding. The 500mm I got in 2006 will work just fine with the R5. As I'm looking through old images, I immediately can tell if one was taken with the 500mm. The background is so smooth.