Merco_61

I took a walk up to the castle this morning. Here are some views from, and of, the castle.

Model: NIKON Z 6_2
Lens: Z 70-200/2.8S
Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 100
Aperture: 6.3
Shutter: 1/800

Model: NIKON Z 6_2
Lens: Z 70-200/2.8S
Lens (mm): 150
ISO: 100
Aperture: 6.3
Shutter: 1/250
Exp. Comp.: +0.7

Model: NIKON Z 6_2
Lens: Z 70-200/2.8S
Lens (mm): 93
ISO: 100
Aperture: 5
Shutter: 1/800
Exp. Comp.: -0.7

Model: NIKON Z 6_2
Lens: AF-S 14-24/2.8
Lens (mm): 20
ISO: 100
Aperture: 10
Shutter: 1/80
Exp. Comp.: -0.3

Model: NIKON Z 6_2
Lens: AF-S 14-24/2.8
Lens (mm): 24
ISO: 100
Aperture: 10
Shutter: 1/80
Exp. Comp.: -0.3

Model: NIKON Z 6_2
Serial #: 6024760
Firmware: Adobe Photoshop 23.5 (Macintosh)
Frame #: 4672
Lens (mm): 14
ISO: 100
Aperture: 10
Shutter: 1/60
Exp. Comp.: +0.3

Lens: Z 24-70/4S
Lens (mm): 49
ISO: 100
Aperture: 10
Shutter: 1/200
Exp. Comp.: -1.3

Here is a comparison…

The first is SOOC.

The second is processed in post.

Yeah, that's Saturn... or a bug, or perhaps a UFO!

 

Like the others, I would invest in a good tripod and Arca Swiss QR system. If you choose carefully, and get a really good tripod, it can last a lifetime. And, if you decide to upgrade your camera, your tripod will still chug along, doing it's job.

 

Exposures can be really tricky with astro subjects. You have to remember that you're aiming to have the celestial object be correctly exposed. As they say, expose for the highlights, etc. Let the shadows... or empty space, fall where they may. 

 

The thread that Peter pointed to, is a good primer for this stuff. Well worth the read.

 

Good luck!

 

--Ron

A tripod that lasts a lifetime is likely to be expensive. I can only think of three that fit that description. The Berlebach tripods are beautifully made from ash and can definitely outlive the owner by decades. The Sachtler ENG-2 looks a bit utilitarian, but the carbon layups kill all resonances. The third is the Cartoni ESP and is very similar to the Sachtler, but with Italian flair in the design rather than the utilitarian look of the Sachtler. All these use a 100mm halfbowl to mount either a video head or a gimbal head. 
Checking prices for these truly professional tripods will scare most ordinary  people, but it will put the quality for the price you get with Sirui or Vanguard tripods into perspective. These third-tier tripods are a wonderful value for the money.

Your camera has much more magnification, but it is easier to spot camouflaged wildlife with binoculars because of the stereoscopic view. Once you have spotted where it is, it is much easier to find again using the camera.

Here is the SOOC original.

The starting point in NX Studio is using all the camera settings. If you just hit save as, you will get the same result as the in-camera jpeg. The big difference is that you can tweak much more dynamic range out of a 12-bit raw file than an 8-bit jpg as there is more information to play with.

You can also use levels and curves to make a bird pop from the background.
Some parameters are locked-in in the jpg that can be changed if you shoot in raw.

If you need extensive editing, remember that JPG is a lossy format that will compress with new settings every time you save, making the compression artefacts visible in surprisingly few iterations.

This photo was quite bland with the bird nearly merging with the background straight out of camera. About 5 minutes of work in Photo Ninja later, it looked like this. 
 

I am posting this from my iPad, so I don’t have the original file available right now. I’ll post the unedited version later if you are interested.

How about a little challenge for October?

Go out with your camera and whatever lens you like. Bring home photos of the city, neighbourhood or whatever where you live and share with us.

These photos can be any style you want. 
I don’t want this challenge to become a ”must do”, just try to do things with the typically flat light we have in October in the northern hemisphere. Try it, you will be pleasantly surprised by the results. It might look boring and uninteresting to the naked eye, but both sensors and film like flat light better than the hard, harsh light midday in the summer… You might need to massage the files a bit more, but there is much more information to play with there.

Model: NIKON Z 6_2

Lens: Nikkor Z 35/1.8S
Lens (mm): 35
ISO: 27100
Aperture: 2.5
Shutter: 1/40
Exp. Comp.: -0.7

Model: NIKON Z 6_2
Lens: Nikkor Z 35/1.8S
Lens (mm): 35
ISO: 22800
Aperture: 4.5
Shutter: 1/40
Exp. Comp.: -3.3

Model: NIKON Z 6_2
Lens: Nikkor Z 35/1.8S
Lens (mm): 35
ISO: 3390
Aperture: 4.5
Shutter: 1/40
Exp. Comp.: 0

Colour version run through the raw converter in PhotoNinja with my default settings for the Zfc and cropped to 5:4.

Model: NIKON Z fc

Lens: Nikkor AF 24/2.8D
Lens (mm): 24
ISO: 100
Aperture: 3.5
Shutter: 1/320
Exp. Comp.: +0.7

Converted in SEP using this recipe:

Final result:

Another week when my best work is a street photo...

Model: NIKON Z 6_2
Lens: Z Nikkor 70-200/2.8 S
Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 6780
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/200
Exp. Comp.: -0.7

Model: NIKON Z fc
Lens: AF 24/2.8D
Lens (mm): 24
ISO: 16100
Aperture: 3.5
Shutter: 1/160
Exp. Comp.: -1.0

Model: NIKON Z fc
Lens: AF 24/2.8D
Lens (mm): 24
ISO: 16100
Aperture: 3.5
Shutter: 1/320
Exp. Comp.: -1.0

Unless you want Nikon for sure, isn't there a higher end Pentax that will accept your current lens. Pentax makes a few really good DSLRs.

No, the mount didn’t change. All F-mount lenses made after 1977 works on the D500, but the AF lenses don’t have a built-in focus motor and focus slower than the AF-S generation, just like the screw-drive pentaxes.

The first generation of the 70-200 vignettes slightly and loses sharpness and contrast in the corners on the larger sensors. It is, however, ideal on DX. In 2003, when production started, only Kodak made full-frame digital cameras. Nikon made their flagship lenses lighter and slightly more compact by using a smaller image circle.

The older f/2.8 tele zooms are 80-200 and are getting difficult to find spare parts for. The VR II version that came after is more expensive as it works just as well on FX as it does on DX so the demand is higher.

Production of the first version started in 2003 and went on to 2009. 

The early 70-200 is an FX lens, but not as ideal as later versions of the Nikkors or the current generation of the third-party ones. On DX, you would need to go with the current, E version to get better performance but going to the current version brings a price premium.

Previous versions of the third-party zooms are about equal to the Sigma in K-mount you have when it comes to AF performance.