sunshine

I had read about a place called Conowingo Dam in Maryland as a great place to see bald eagles. I've been working in Maryland lately for my day job and made some time to go find the dam. I saw four eagles for certain, but there were so many birds in the distance it was hard to tell what they all were. I got a few shots of those that came close enough.

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This one flew right overhead.

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I haven't participated here in awhile. This looks like a good opportunity. We only see these Great White Egrets in the fall when they migrate through. I don't know if they stop in the spring. I only know all my photos of them are from September or October.

Cool capture Mark!   

By the shadow, I can see that the Sun was having fun too
but the mid tone taming takes away a bit of its presence.

Thanks! It was not only bright but very hot. I shot 5000+ photos between 7am and 5pm that day.

I just noticed Nicole's suggestion for fireworks photos so I'll add this one:

D810, AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G @ 70mm, f/2.8, 1/125", ISO 900, taken from a boat

Thanks to Bengan for putting up last week's thread, and happy to see the return of Nicole. It's kind of a "boys club" around here when she's away. 

I photographed another track event on Thursday, July 4th.

D810, AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8D @ f/4.5, 1/400", ISO 160, 3-stop ND filter, midday sunlight

I'll continue the bird theme this week.

D500, Sigma 500mm f/4 Sport @ f/4, 1/2000", ISO 500, early morning sunlight

Nice picture

I Just purchase the 3 Legged Thing Alan Carbon Fiber Monopod for 150$ from B&h. It's a great piece of equipment with so many accessories
This monopod can pack small supports up to 100 pounds of weight
You can attach your d500 - 70-200 straight to this monopod with carabiner plus your 300mm on the top

Thanks Bobby! You've been getting some pretty good ones lately, too!  I have a Gitzo monopod and have tried it with both a Wimberly gimbal and a ball head. The problem is when I'm panning I need to swing the camera in an arc, not pivot on a point.  I've tried on the tripod, too.  I may try again but so far I get the best results hand-held. I think I just need to start working out again. 

I'm really late. I was working all day Sunday and Monday at the race track and have been processing photos all day today. I think I've found my favorite. Taken Sunday so it qualifies for last week's "Best of".

D810, AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8D @ f/2.8, 1/320", ISO 100, 3 stop ND filter

I'm happy with the photos this lens is helping to create but it's a heavy beast. Two days of lugging it around on the D810 plus a D500 with 70-200mm f/2.8 wore me out.

Lens arrived early this week but I was away for my day job most of the week. I got outside with it today for a couple of hours. Here are a few sample shots from both the D810 and D500. All shot at f/2.8.

D500:

D810:

One from my new-to-me 300mm f/2.8

D500, AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8D IF-ED @ f/2.8, 1/640", ISO 100, overcast afternoon light

Wow--I'm liking what I'm seeing from the Sigma lenses, sunshine and Bengt. Are you both pretty happy with them? 

Captured these yesterday at the lake. All were taken handheld from a boat with the D500 and Sigma 500mm f/4 Sport.

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Wow Peter. Your ability to get sharp images at very high ISO always impresses me.

I'm submitting two this week because the subjects/genres are so different - my best bird photo and my best racing photo for this week:

D500, Sigma 500mm f/4 Sport @ f/4, 1/2000", ISO 100, about 50% crop

D810, Sigma 500mm f/4 Sport @ f/5, 1/400", ISO 64

This is the first version. I think the AF is faster than the consumer zooms even if it is slower than in later models.

 

When you set the aperture ring to the smallest aperture on a D or early AF lens, the ring can be locked and hte aperture controlled from the body.

Thanks! I spoke to the seller last night and decided to go ahead with the purchase. He confirmed that the aperture can be controlled from the body. I'll post some photos when I receive it.

I have been looking at used 300mm f/2.8 primes. I know some of the basic differences between D and G lenses, but I am curious about functional usability or image quality differences that may not be described in the technical documents.

There's an AF-S 300mm f/2.8 D with a serial number in the 204xxx range and an AF-S 300mm f/2.8 G VR with a serial number in the 304xxx range. Both are advertised at good prices, but the difference between them is $1,000 USD. If I purchase one I'd be using it with either a D500, D750, or D810.

I'm not concerned about the lack of VR on the D model. Would I see a visible difference in image quality? If something went wrong with the D will Nikon still fix it? Any other advice you lens experts can offer that would sway me toward one or the other? If the D would give me near equivalent IQ and can still be serviced, I could sure use that extra $1k somewhere else.

Thanks!

Signs of summer.

D500, Sigma 500mm f/4 Sport @ f/4, 1/1000", ISO 1250