Is Your Landscape Wild Enough?

Can you shoot images of wild animals in wild territory and not drive yourself wild with frustration? If you were one of the iconic travel and wildlife photographers of the analogue era you could confidently say that you would be able to capture the heart of darkness and bring it home on film or plate and never have a moment's worry. All your exposures would be good and none of your images would be lost to bugs, heat, fungus, dust, or stray light leaks. All your shots would have been framed perfectly, in focus, and shot at the absolute peak of the action. Half-way round the globe you'd go and half-way home again, and never a mistake. But that was then and this is now and you and I are honest...so let's look at the new Canon mirrorless EOS R6 Mark II and a matching 24-240 mm lens and get real. The camera's new and we are old and we know what sorts of barriers to success arise at every turn. If we are going to go a'landscaping or hunting for photogenic animals we know we need all the help that modern science can give: a. 24+ megapixels for good resolution and enough picture to stand some cropping. b. Up to 40 fps to capture peak movement when you cannot time it accurately. c. Full-frame resolution and light gathering capability for dim conditions. d. Advanced subject tracking for the ones that try to get away. e. 5-axis in-body stabilisation to eliminate the need for external support in many cases. f. Very high ISO performance for the unlighted dawn shots. The lens we selected from the cabinet is the 24-240 zoom. Large animal shots as well as a large range of landscape and architectural work. Really a lens that can go on safari or tour and not come off the front of the camera once. Its own stabilisation can add to that of he camera for even steadier shooting. But enough talking - I had a spare SD card and Stirling Street wasn't too busy. I dialled a simple auto setting and stepped out into the sunshine. The long shot is detailed enough for me - I would have had to be more ofay with Canon menus to reset the focus points in this mode but at least they could be steered about with the thumb joystick. The truck going away was easy but then so was the white SUV just passing. Not shot on continuous - just repeated presses of the shutter button,but neither the lens nor the body stuttered or hesitated. If I were going afar and seeing unrepeatable scenes, I'd fill both slots in the side and I'd set them to take a duplicate capture - so that even if one card failed or was stolen, I could still have the other as backup.