I setup my Canon XSI a long time ago. That one had a manual. The used Canon T7I that I just bought does not. It took a while to figure it out because no manual and no internet. Well, not internet at Barnes Hole, where we were testing it.

In case anyone is familiar with modern cameras, my preferred setup is spot metering and single point auto-focus. These are a little more work to take pictures with, but they give you more control over the exposure. The trade-off is that sometimes you royally hose the exposure up.

The Canon Rebel XSI has 12 Megapixels, 9 Auto-focus points (only 1 cross type), max ISO of 6400, and no video. The Canon T7I has 24 Megapixels, 45 Auto-focus points (all cross type), max ISO of 25600, and HD video recording. This means it has about 40% more detail (square root of 2x), faster and better auto-focusing, takes pictures better in low light, and records video. You have seen some of the videos posted, and they posted videos are 1/3 lower resolution and 2/3 less video data.

I never figured out video on this hike, but I finally got it setup with spot metering and single point auto-focus. These are the pictures from first hike at Barnes Hole Road. The RAW files (conceptually like file negatives) were processed in Darktable because my version of Lightroom does not support this version of RAW file. Adobe Lightroom is now a subscription service, and I am not willing to pay $120 per year for it. Darktable is free, has more features, and is far less intuitive.

First, we ran across a lot of flowers.

Next, we ran across a lot of flowers with insects. The butterflies were only about an inch long, so some of these images are cropped. This could be one of several because we never got a picture of the wing top.

This one appears to be an Lustrous Copper Butterfly.

This large creepy guy is a salmonfly or the stonefly family. There was no need to crop this picture.

Of course, there seem to be grasshoppers everywhere.

And flies. The house flies are coming out with the temperature increase, along with the mayflies and mosquitos.

Next we ran across the Western Tanager. Kate identified it from the Merlin Bird App, and we saw a stuffed one in the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center. It never came down from the tree, so you only see it from the underside.

And the Orange-tip Butterfly.

And one of Kate’s favorites … the random spider. It is hard to tell from the angle, but it might be a Wolf Spider. (It will probably be the only wolf we see in Yellowstone.) I was at Yellowstone, and I saw a wolf*.

And then a Texas Jumping Spider was trying to provide valet service for Kate. She did not appreciate his dedication to customer service.

And finally, I had the camera set up enough to get a picture of the ground squirrel. It turned out to be a Uinta Ground Squirrel. They look like eastern tree squirrels with a skinny tail.

* spider