About David McAughtry

I am based in London and have been taking photographs for over fifty years. My particular passion has been the creativity and power made possible by the digital era. This has ranged from the very first affordable digital SLR, the Canon 300D in 2003, to the first mirrorless cameras from Olympus and Sony, and the amazing power of today’s computational photography.

My professional background is in science and technology, and I apply a rigorous, measurement-based methodology to equipment evaluation and photographic technique that distinguishes my work from conventional camera reviews. I have owned and used multiple camera systems, and dozens of cameras across most of the major manufacturers.

Birds in flight

I began photographing birds in flight in 2017 in Cape Town and it has become my primary specialism. The discipline requires autofocus accuracy at the limits of current camera technology, and my published work on this subject is built around controlled, quantitative testing rather than subjective impression. Autofocus accuracy tests typically involve tens of thousands of images: a single zoom lens comparison series in 2026 generated 35,000 test frames; a three-week trip to Costa Rica the same year produced 70,000 images; and I have published methodologies to rapidly and accurately cull those down to a few hundred. Tests are conducted at established reference locations including the Hawk Conservancy Trust in Hampshire and Gigrin Farm in Wales — a red kite feeding station — where repeatable conditions allow direct cross-system comparison. My 2026 comparison of OM System and Sony wildlife zooms produced the following measured focus accuracy results at equivalent focal lengths: OM 50-200mm f2.8 (95%), OM 150-400mm f4.5 TC (92%), Sony 200-600mm f5.6-6.3 (90%), Sony 400-800mm f6.3-8 (98%), alongside resolution and dynamic range measurements using standardised test protocols.

Camera systems I have tested in controlled conditions for birds in flight include the OM System OM-1 Mark II, OM-1, OM-3, OM-5; Olympus E-M1X, E-M1 Mark II, E-M1 Mark III; Sony A9, A7R III, A6400, and A7V. I have documented non-functional equipment combinations — camera bodies and lenses that fail to achieve reliable autofocus under real-world conditions — in detail that is not available in manufacturer documentation or mainstream review sources.

Other photographic work

In addition to birds in flight, I shoot long exposure seascapes and waterfalls, street and people photography, landscape, macro, and astrophotography. I publish detailed camera settings across all these genres, including complete spreadsheets of every non-default OM-1 and OM-3 setting with the reasoning behind each choice. My geographic range covers Cape Town (where I have a regular base in Noordhoek), Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Farne Islands, Bempton Cliffs, Budapest, and London.

Publication and reach

mcaughtry.photo has 63 published articles covering equipment testing, technique, and photographic methodology. I also maintain a parallel personal site at mcaughtry.com. My Flickr portfolio at flickr.com/photos/davidmcaughtry has accumulated 1.2 million views; my most-viewed image has received over 24,000 views and approximately 600 favourites. My Instagram account (instagram.com/sloowphoto) reached 5,000 followers. I can be contacted at david@mcaughtry.photo.