Kingfisher

bulldurham · Jan 19, 2017

jcdeboever · Jan 19, 2017

Your on fire!

goooner · Jan 19, 2017

Excellent set!

ZombiesniperJr · Jan 19, 2017

Nice set

zombiesniper · Jan 19, 2017

Great set.
They can be tricky little buggers to capture.

MSnowy · Jan 19, 2017

Nice catch. The pictures seem to have lots of noise or is it just the way they're showing on my laptop

ZombiesniperJr · Jan 19, 2017

MSnowy said:
Nice catch. The pictures seem to have lots of noise or is it just the way they're showing on my laptop

my guess is because the kingfisher was most likely pretty far away it that correct Bulldurham

bulldurham · Jan 20, 2017

These are pretty heavy crops. This one was at the far end of crop factored 750mm. Kingfishers are small, fast and abhor being around humans so to get up close requires either dumb luck or a longer lens than I have.

baturn · Jan 20, 2017

Very nice! Difficult subjects to say the least.

crimbfighter · Jan 20, 2017

Nice! Are you using the 1.4 tele converter with the Nikon 200-500 on these? I'm still up in the air between the Nikon 200-500 and the new Tamron 150-600 G2.

Looks like there's a bit of CA on the first two along the post and in the crown.

bulldurham · Jan 21, 2017

I've shot both lenses and the 200-500 wins hands down. I've never much cared for converters as they tend to slow down the focus lock considerably. And if CA is a total concern for you, then leave the Tamron in the box and go with the Sigma Sport. It's a heavy beast and will wear you out but it's pretty quick on the focus and has far less CA than the Tamron (of course it is the same price as the 200-500 and you don't an have OEM lens). Most likely the CA you see on these shots is a result of the extreme crop and my being too lazy to color correct for it in ACR. Or, the D500 while great in brilliant light starts to gain CA in lower light. I think I may have to adjust my camera to compensate for the blue line. I had the same issue with the D7000 years ago.

crimbfighter · Jan 21, 2017

Thanks for the info. What is it about the Nikon that makes it win hands down for you?

I assumed you were shooting with the D810 since I didn't see a D500 in your signature. I'm not afraid to use a third party lens, especially Sigma these days. They've been making some excellent as of late. I played with both the Nikon and Tamron in a local store and the IQ seemed comparable, but the Nikon's VR felt much more confidence inspiring. Plus, the extra reach of the Tamron seemed minor at best. The Sigma contemporary version I handled produced the same FOV at 600mm as the Nikon did at 500mm, so there was no benefit there... I think I'm going to end up renting the Nikon and Sigma sport version and seeing which works better for me. CA doesn't really bother me as LR removes it very nicely. At least half my lenses produce CA under poor conditions, so I'm used to it...

Didereaux · Jan 21, 2017

That is truly a nice set. I have to admit some envy!!!!!!!!!!

bulldurham · Jan 21, 2017

crimbfighter said:
Thanks for the info. What is it about the Nikon that makes it win hands down for you?

I assumed you were shooting with the D810 since I didn't see a D500 in your signature. I'm not afraid to use a third party lens, especially Sigma these days. They've been making some excellent as of late. I played with both the Nikon and Tamron in a local store and the IQ seemed comparable, but the Nikon's VR felt much more confidence inspiring. Plus, the extra reach of the Tamron seemed minor at best. The Sigma contemporary version I handled produced the same FOV at 600mm as the Nikon did at 500mm, so there was no benefit there... I think I'm going to end up renting the Nikon and Sigma sport version and seeing which works better for me. CA doesn't really bother me as LR removes it very nicely. At least half my lenses produce CA under poor conditions, so I'm used to it...

I sold the D810 and bought the D500. I did so for three reasons. One, the D500 has a faster and better focus lock than the D810 and two, with the crop factor of the DX format, I get my 200-500 to 300-750. The third reason is trictly that the D500 with the QXD card can shoot 10 frames a second with a 200 frame burst and all one has to do to continue to shoot another quick 200 is lift the finger for a second. Makes shooting fast movers really easy.

It was cheaper to go to the crop factor than to but a longer lens. I have always been a great fan of staying with OEM. Nikon's glass and craftsmanship is superior to Sigma and Tamron in every way. The only non OEM lens in my bag is a Tokina 17-35 that is an exceptional lens but then again, for years after the big Japanese earthquake, Tokina built many of Nikon's lenses.