Out with the R7 and RF 100-400mm last week, for the first time in about a month, as soon as I had my first bird in sight, the camera quickly fritzed up. Then the lens control ring wouldn’t open the aperture from f/11 to f/8, when I had never set it to f/11 in the first place.

As a coveted barbet casually hopped around some tree blossoms just meters away, there I stood fuming over yet another camera body that had totally screwed up my profiles. And in this case, there had been no firmware update to excuse it on, nothing, except idleness.

Shortly after I acquired the camera I gave up on trying to get it to write images to card slot 1. I’d set it and then it would arbitrarily screw it up. So now I just let it write to slot 2 and copy from the card in that slot. But screwing up profiles, and then changing the setting that allows changes within a profile to be updated within the profile automatically, almost got the camera spiked in the field.

The R7 is set to go in mothballs (the dry cabinet) for a long rest next week anyway, as the old, reliable R 180 APO and 2X will see some use. And while my normal knee-jerk reaction would be to ditch the whole Canon segment of the arsenal, the current copy of the RF 100-400mm is just way too good to put that under consideration.

Sure, the R7 body might get replaced if it continues to act up. But the recent glitch was a real oddity, as Canon gear has given me overall stable performance over the years. The R7’s sensor is particularly good considering its density and the overall setup is surely the best combination of reach, IQ, and light weight available. Maybe a long rest will help it this time.

I stopped by the local camera exhibition again and had a chance to handle the Sigma BF. While I am clearly not its intended demographic, it surely did entrance me. The body and controls feel in hand like what one would expect only from Leica. The controls are so intuitive that everything I guessed in changing settings turned out to be correct.

The two showstoppers for me, and either one alone would be enough: a Sony sensor and no option for an EVF. Even though it’s clearly not a camera for a shooter like me, I found myself wishing that it could be. Imagine that kind of solid body with a top EVF, a full-frame Foveon sensor, and the same controls and I’d pay a Leica price for it.

Oh, well . . . at least I made it out of a nightmare and into a nice daydream with this ramble . . .

SL2/7artisans 18mm f5.6 . . .