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D5 bliss


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#21
TBonz

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They make a QR "head" for monopods and I have one that I use all the time...something like this one (first I found at B&H) but you would obviously want to make sure it matches the plates you have...

 

And I agree with the XQD...I got to thinking about what my D4 could do at yesterday's game...My son had gotten hit in the head by a batted ball during batting practice and, though they didn't believe he got a concussion, it was definitely effecting him.  I knew they were going to pull him and I knew they were going to have him bunt based on the game situation.  I made a decision to see what the D4 could do...When the pitcher released the ball and already focused on my son, I hit the shutter...I released it after he touched first base - out of focus on the last as I didn't move as fast as he did during the 40+ shots...it didn't miss a beat...I was writing RAW to the XQD and JPEG to the CF...No, there was no reason to do it other than my curiosity but I was pretty impressed as I know it had more in the tank if I'd wanted to keep going!



#22
Thumper

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Yea, I can't see me ever popping off 200 frames before I let off the gas. But it's nice to know the option is there if I need it. I'm really happy with the speed of the XQD. I've only done a little shooting, but it is very noticeably faster. Even transferring is so much faster than CF. Very glad I went with XQD vs CF.

 

Right now I'm using two Black rapid sports. I can criss cross them and it works fine, but it's certainly not optimal. I forgot to buy QR plates for the D5 and the 70-200 I bought last month, so need to do that. Well, maybe. I may see how things pan out with the D5. I know what I'll mostly be using it for, and a tripod would not be conducive. And my monopod doesn't have a head on it.  

You'd be surprised how easy it is to do that very thing, and you don't realize that you actually did just rip out a couple of hundreds shots.  (It's all fun and games until you have to go through all of them.   :lol: ).   And shooting motion/action is not as straight forward as I thought it would be, so the first few times that I did it, I had to go through several hundred crappy shots (several hundred crappy shots that all got culled.  LOL ). 

 

The read/write speed of the XQD's is crazy fast.  I've been impressed.  I was a bit concerned because of the cost, but they are worth it, in my opinion. Having to buffer and write against the speed of those chain guns is a task, to be sure, but the XQD's seem to be able to handle really well. 



#23
OTRTexan

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Totally agree on the XQD speed. I haven't shot much yet, but the little I have, I've been really impressed.

I'm driving through Montana today, and stopped up in the mountains and did a little bit. I've apparently got a setting wrong somewhere. I was shooting against snow covered ground and was having to shoot way over exposed according to the intervelometer to look right in the lcd screen. Now, I haven't downloaded them yet so it could be i just need to adjust the lcd brightness, but my earlier shots were dark as well. I just thought those were me shooting in low light and not paying attention. EV is set to 0, first thing I checked. Definitely going to do some troubleshooting when I get stopped for the day

#24
Merco_61

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Glittery snow cover can be as much as 4EV over neutral grey in some conditions, so having to shoot with +3-+4 EV compared to the meter when not using Matrix is quite normal. Snow covered fields or mountains has always been one of the problem areas for Matrix to get right, ever since the FA in the early 80-s. To get a good meter check, just take a snapshot of the back of your hand as that usually is close to neutral grey in light value.



#25
OTRTexan

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I've shot in snow before with my 810 and not had this issue. I think I'm using spot metering with it though. May still center weighted or matrix.

#26
TBonz

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With sports we used to use the grass and / or dirt as a basic gray card and adjust from that as needed...At first use, I found the LCD brightness on my D4 bodies (both) to be a bit dark compared to my previous bodies.  The meter / exposure were fine but I ended up bumping the brightness on the LCD a bit to give me a more accurate view of the image I shot!



#27
Thumper

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With sports we used to use the grass and / or dirt as a basic gray card and adjust from that as needed...At first use, I found the LCD brightness on my D4 bodies (both) to be a bit dark compared to my previous bodies.  The meter / exposure were fine but I ended up bumping the brightness on the LCD a bit to give me a more accurate view of the image I shot!

Mine was really dark.  I had to bump mine up too. 



#28
OTRTexan

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So glad that your sons near concussion allowed you to experiment lol. Seriously though, hope he's ok.  So far, I really rarely use my monopod. I've used it during ball games, but it's hit or miss on if I remember to bring it or not.  My QR plates are arca swiss so compatible with many brands. 

They make a QR "head" for monopods and I have one that I use all the time...something like this one (first I found at B&H) but you would obviously want to make sure it matches the plates you have...

 

And I agree with the XQD...I got to thinking about what my D4 could do at yesterday's game...My son had gotten hit in the head by a batted ball during batting practice and, though they didn't believe he got a concussion, it was definitely effecting him.  I knew they were going to pull him and I knew they were going to have him bunt based on the game situation.  I made a decision to see what the D4 could do...When the pitcher released the ball and already focused on my son, I hit the shutter...I released it after he touched first base - out of focus on the last as I didn't move as fast as he did during the 40+ shots...it didn't miss a beat...I was writing RAW to the XQD and JPEG to the CF...No, there was no reason to do it other than my curiosity but I was pretty impressed as I know it had more in the tank if I'd wanted to keep going!


You'd be surprised how easy it is to do that very thing, and you don't realize that you actually did just rip out a couple of hundreds shots.  (It's all fun and games until you have to go through all of them.   :lol: ).   And shooting motion/action is not as straight forward as I thought it would be, so the first few times that I did it, I had to go through several hundred crappy shots (several hundred crappy shots that all got culled.  LOL ). 

 

The read/write speed of the XQD's is crazy fast.  I've been impressed.  I was a bit concerned because of the cost, but they are worth it, in my opinion. Having to buffer and write against the speed of those chain guns is a task, to be sure, but the XQD's seem to be able to handle really well. 

I'm glad I bought a couple when they were on sale. Well, at least they are billing it like a sale, maybe it's a price drop. I really should get a couple more before they change their mind. At 50% off, it's quite a difference. They could of billed it as buy one get one free and probably sold more, just because people are gullible like that. As it is now, they are on backorder for b&h and adorama both. I bought mine through Samy's in LA, but the 64s are on backorder there as well. Talking about the Lexar 64gb 2933x. 



#29
OTRTexan

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I bumped my monitor brightness up, hopefully that will solve the issue. My first couple of shots today are dark, but I also have some overexposed ones, so not sure if that was the issue, or my purposefully overexposing made a difference. Time will tell.



#30
Thumper

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I'm glad I bought a couple when they were on sale. Well, at least they are billing it like a sale, maybe it's a price drop. I really should get a couple more before they change their mind. At 50% off, it's quite a difference. They could of billed it as buy one get one free and probably sold more, just because people are gullible like that. As it is now, they are on backorder for b&h and adorama both. I bought mine through Samy's in LA, but the 64s are on backorder there as well. Talking about the Lexar 64gb 2933x. 

Those are normally around $300/each, so I'd probably jump on them now at 64% off (Adorama) and at least get locked in for that price.   Adorama had the backorder ones for $99 that you could add to your cart and get on the list for.  I might jump on a couple of those myself for that price.  That's hard to beat for those.  

 

I bumped my monitor brightness up, hopefully that will solve the issue. My first couple of shots today are dark, but I also have some overexposed ones, so not sure if that was the issue, or my purposefully overexposing made a difference. Time will tell.

I had the same problem.  I learned not to use my LCD for anything beyond making sure my subject was at least in frame (and the exposure wasn't completely black or completely white).  It was only after I got the raw files on a computer that I knew if my shots made or not.  In time, I learned kind of where things needed to be to get a good exposure anyway,  (Like "DOPE"ing  a rifle scope, if you are familiar with ranged shooting) so I didn't have to rely on my LCD for detail feedback.  If I do bother to look at my LCD, it is usually in review of just a shot or two at a time to see where I'm at.  I don't use it throughout a walk/shoot/event.  Just here and there to get my bearings, if you will.  (But with my usual caveat, I am not a professional photographer who has to rely on his/her work for a living, so I can take liberties and enjoy leisures that pro's often cannot).   



#31
OTRTexan

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I don't see myself needing the 128s though. I only have 64gb cf cards for my 810, and rarely fill them shooting raw. The d5 is even smaller files. The estimate for full size raw files with a 64gb card is 1.3k. If it's anything like my 810, it would exceed that. I probably will order another pair of 64s though.

#32
Ron

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Tex, don't know if any of this will be of use... or whether you've already seen this stuff but...

 

Nikon Professional Services has a page of D5 tips here.

 

--Ron

 

Edit: I also just saw something online about Nikon removing auto brightness control from the D5 monitor. Apparently, this is something that some people are grumbling about. The D4 and D4s have auto brightness control for the monitor. Presumably your D810 also has this.



#33
OTRTexan

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Nice find Ron. Thanks. Not an NPS member yet so this stuff doesn't come to me. I'll certainly read it.
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#34
TBonz

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I don't see myself needing the 128s though. I only have 64gb cf cards for my 810, and rarely fill them shooting raw. The d5 is even smaller files. The estimate for full size raw files with a 64gb card is 1.3k. If it's anything like my 810, it would exceed that. I probably will order another pair of 64s though.

 

I think the estimate (will have to check again) on my D4 is about 1.7K.  I have filled it once or twice and I know it held more than that, but don't remember the total.  With sports, you shoot lots of images and I rarely get close to filling the 64GB XQD card more than half way with RAW images unless I shoot multiple events before I dump images.  I did fill it up late in the day at the Horse Show I shot early in March, but that was lots of competitors at different levels in both jumping and dressage.  I learned enough from that shoot that I doubt I will fill the card again as I found things that did / did not work and I'll be more selective next time.  But, you never know and that's why I carry extra cards!

 

As far as my son goes, they did the concussion test and re-checked him yesterday.  His headache and dizziness are gone and no issues other than a lump on his head!  Hopefully it knocked some sense into him!  I did check on the bunt to first and got a total of 47 images in the bunch...

 

EDIT:  I went back and checked...I knew I had filled up one of my 64GB cards at one point...It was a 64GB CF in my D4 and I got 1800 images on it before it was full...Your milage will obviously be a bit different - 20mp vs. 16mp and depending on the size of each image, etc. But, at least there is a number to work down from!



#35
OTRTexan

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Yep. In contrast on my 810, initial estimate is under 800 images on a 64 gb cf and I think I've hit just over 1k when I was in Yellowstone and shooting can see to can't see.

I'll do some shooting the next couple of weeks for familiarization purposes. I'm going to Indianapolis the 16th to shoot my nieces national basketball tourney. That will be the test for me.

#36
TBonz

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That should be fun!  I'm sure both you and the D5 will be up to the challenge!  I've got Rugby on Sunday and then I think I'm going to try to shoot Track and Field next week...should be fun as I haven't shot T&F since the 70s!  Tried to, but something always came up that prevented it!



#37
Merco_61

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I found a tip on another site, it is apparently possible to assign Mode to the red record button if one wants it available for the right hand. Sounds like a clever idea.



#38
OTRTexan

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I found a tip on another site, it is apparently possible to assign Mode to the red record button if one wants it available for the right hand. Sounds like a clever idea.


I see that a lot of people are doing that. I rarely shoot out of manual, but I probably should start using shutter and aperture modes now that I have a grasp on manual.

#39
TBonz

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Another thing that I know the pros use frequently - I have yet to master it, but I have messed with it and plan on getting more familiar with it and starting to use it...the microphone...It took me a few times before I asked when I thought my pro friend was talking to me even though they looked like they were speaking to the back of their camera...basically they were adding an audio "note" to go along with an image that would help them caption the image later and also help to identify an important moment / image from the game.  I always forget about it and then kick myself for not remembering later...going to try it with the youth rugby (under 10, under 12 and under 14 year old teams) tomorrow...hopefully the notes will help me keep track of ages, players, and teams as I am shooting at least 7 teams tomorrow and will probably try to get some of their opponents as well...

 

Depending on the light, I may go aperture priority and AutoISO as well so I can focus on the shooting vs. the settings!



#40
Merco_61

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The audio notepad is what I miss most from the Kodak... It is a very useful tool, even if my throat mike and dictaphone works as long as I have synced the timestamps.