Daniel

Hello all,

 

When shooting wildlife I have my D5300 set to 39pts of focus (the most it offers - lots of BIF) and AF-C (continuous-servo).  I also use matrix metering.   I shoot 98% of the time in Manual mode so I want to ensure I have those autofocus and metering settings setup properly for wildlife.  Thoughts?

 

Thanks for your help,

 

Austin 

I shoot in single focus point with AF-C. 

Hawk shot at 600mm Focal point with Tamaron 150-600. Will give a sample with the Nikon 80-400 in a minutes.

Sorry I cropped the Ospreys wings but that shot will be printed and so that is why. Osprey shot with the Nikon 80-400

Notice the grain in the hawk show and the clarity in the Osprey shot. 

My thoughts are if you can't get close enough with a 400mm then you won't be able to with a Tamron 150-600. I could show some sample picks with the Nikon 80-400 if you like? 

I am just afraid the 400 won't give me what I need. I could make the price work in my budget.  I have a 300 and I can't get close enough for the eagles.    Right now with my 300 I have take the photo then blow the photo up quiet a bit.   I sure wish there was a place one could rent a lens. 

 

But I do want something that focuses fast and sharp

 

 

I am always afraid of the price point products.   I feel that is what I have with my 55-300 right now. 

I've had the D7100 and I think it may be sharper the my D750. Can't compare because I sold the D7100. The D7100 does not have a low pass filter and that may be why its images are sharper. 

I've noticed a slight difference in sharpness between my D610 and D7100. They both have 24mp on the sensors. The 7100 with the smaller sensor, but same number of pixels, is a wee bit sharper.

 

I assumed it was the smaller sized pixels crammed into a smaller sensor that makes the difference.

I used NX-D to batch process my photos and it worked well. Thanks Merco and everyone for advise and help.  

I bought 4 sets of Lithium batteries and 3 sets of rechargeable batteries charging right now. Hopefully that will last me for the 12 hour shoot tomorrow. Also will try your advice Russ. Will let you guys know how it goes. 

I regret performing the last firmware up date on my Nikon D800e simply because it seemed to effect the auto focus speed with the Nikon 80-400mm telephoto lens. Much slower and sluggish and out of focus compared to the original state. Not sure if the firmware did this but the auto focus with this lens was never the same after the firmware update.  

I do get so tired of doing this daylight savings time cha cha, but thanks for the reminder, Peter. I need all the help I can get!

 

--Ron

x3

What prime lens do you use the most and why? Please post the model/ brand, focal point, and speed (meaning f-stop) as well. 

Right now I'm using the Nikon 20mm 1.8 the most because of the wide angle and low light sensitivity, great for night photography.

Now I'm thinking of getting the Nikon 24mm 1.8 for group shots and low light performance. 

I'm glad to hear that it's the filter and not the lens because the 20mm f/1.8 is on my radar.

 

--Ron

Its a beauty of a lens Ron and the low light performance superb. 

This looks like internal reflections, caused by a small aperture and your UV filter. Try shooting without the protective filter at night for this lens. 

I took a shot with the the UV filter and the centre mark was there tonight and then I took the UV filter off and the centre mark was gone. So the issue was shooting at night with the UV filter. Thanks for your help Merco. 

Whoosh! You all are making me want to travel... Awesome, awesome photos this week! Wow!

 

Nikonite--wonderful image of the glacier...the depth throughout is gorgeous. We've had to postpone our Alaska trip, so seeing your Glacier Bay photo makes me more determined to get there.

Rob--those are fantastic, especially no. 3. Love them all though! Wish I could handle architectural photography...sigh...

TBonz--stunning images of the Outer Banks. I love the tones and simplicity. I hope some of them are going on your wall.

Daniel--good to see you back here...seems like it's been awhile. Very cool images! Hope you're enjoying that 750.

Nova--your fall colors are lovely! What a beautiful scene.

 

Tony, I hope you can get your image sorted out and displayed--anxious to see your whale!

 

 

I had a senior portrait photo session tonight with a young lady and her boyfriend. After the sun went down, I got out my lights, and he changed into his hunting gear for some dramatic shots. Here is one of them (guaranteed that this one isn't going into his high school yearbook).

 

The hunter, senior portrait by Nicole Fernley, on Flickr

 

D600, Nikkor 85mm 1.8, 1/160, f/2.8, ISO 640. Single speedlight in an Apollo 50 softbox to camera right.

Very nice shot and idea for a portrait shot this time of the year and I love my D750, I can finally keep up to my Canon friends for night shooting.  

I have seen patterns like this in some other wide angles when night shooting with a small aperture and a filter. It seems to have something to do with light bouncing off the sensor, out through the aperture with some refraction at each glass-air boundary and then reflected from the rear of the filter. It never happened with film because the film is non-reflective and it doesn't happen in daytime as the dark outside the filter is needed to make it work as a weak mirror.

I'm going out to shoot tonight so hopefully the lights will be out and will remove the UV filter.

This looks like internal reflections, caused by a small aperture and your UV filter. Try shooting without the protective filter at night for this lens. 

Thanks Merco I will try shooting without the UV filter and your the second to tell me this. I forgot to tell my buddy about the ring in the middle of the shot but he told me though when I told him I had a UV filter on the lens was "you don't use a UV filter when shooting at night".

Never thought I would buy a D750 but did for night photography in which I'm just really getting into. Nikon D750 and Nikon 20mm 1.8