a few birds, and a squirrel d800 wildlife photos with various lenses

[matthewo]

nice! the sigma shots are good, but you can tell a significant improvement in the 500 f4p. you've got me looking for one now...what kind of head and tri or mono pod are you using with that monster?

sorry for the late reply guys i have been busy. well give me a little more time on improving. its a large jump to go from the couple pound sigma to the 6+ lb nikon, which is also 2x 3x big and also manual focus. but i thank you for your observations on the work so far.

i think you should really consider the 500 f4p, i will get into a little more detail on that in another post, i just got the simi-autofocus teleconverter, the tc16a (modified) and let me tell you it really changes the keeper rate. will post more about it later...

and really the lens isnt a monster like the modern af-s vr lenses, as far as weight goes. its large but really i hike a few miles with it, half of the time holding it. im using a cullman manifest 525m tripod with monopod middle, with a smith victor BH8 ball head. the ball head is a swiss arca knockoff, but for $60 its does the job well with the big lens. the cullman legs are pretty decent, but the monopod is only so/so. i will monopod the lens with the monopod fully extended, i trust it just fine, but it could be better, i will also throw it over my shoulder on the monopod and hike a mile or two, no problems. i will say you need to get a universal arca style mounting foot for the lens, the lens stock mounting foot is not very big, its plenty strong, just not big. get a mounting foot plate that use both holes in the bottom of the foot.

anyways, i think im going to start a whole thread sometime after Christmas about this lens and how useful it is for the price on modern dslrs

 

[matthewo]

Nice shots. Just curious with your first shot of the finch, at 500mm and cropped a lot. It seems to me that you were very close anyway and at 500mm the only cropping required would be minimal if at all.

I'm also considering the Sigma 150-500 (and maybe a D800 - though I have to dump my Canon gear).

Steve.

you maybe right i will have to check the info. i know my d800 was in dx crop mode, then i cropped some more. the bird is very small. i think you would be better off with the sigma 50-500, i hear the IQ and autofocus is more reliable

 

[matthewo]

a few more,

actually this one was with my 70-200 vr II with tc14e

the following 3 are using the tc16a autofocus teleconverter. i just went out for a few minutes to grab a few and test it out, im very happy so far for these bad conditions, wide open, high iso, low shutter speed, handheld, and very cloudy a few hours before sunset.

also remember this is 800mm at around f6.3 wide open (unsure exact aperture cause it doesnt tell you anything in the data) if i was to use dx crop mode on the d800 that would = 1200mm effective.