technic wrote:
great shots! I hope you can provide a bit more information:
1. the dragonfly looks a bit soft while the others are very sharp; is the focus slightly off? (or maybe some motion blur or effect of the TC?)
2. I'm very much interested in a D750 - 300PF combo for shooting flying dragonflies. Can you use AF for flying dragonflies with the D810 (which is probably what you used), is that sufficiently accurate even if they are not hovering and does the AF lock on such a relatively small subject? And any chance to track them for a sequence of shots?
I currently use a Canon APS-C DSLR with 300mm and manual focus for this subject, judging focus in the viewfinder. AF on my camera is way too slow, often the AF doesn't even try because the dragonfly is too small (often difficult to get close enough) and if the AF starts hunting the opportunity is lost. I get some good shots this way but of course the keeper rate is very low. I'm mainly interested in the Nikon combo because of the much better sensor, speed and tilt screen and the 300PF lens - but if I can use AF it would be even better ;-)...Show more →
Thank you. I am going to try and answer your questions as best I can.
1. The dragon fly was taken with the D800. I, find the autofocus on my D800 not quite as quick as on the D810. Also that shot was taken before I sent the lens in for the firmware update. The blur is probably motion blur .
2. I have not tried the D810 that much yet on the dragon flies. When the rain stops, I will definitely give it a go. Normally when I am trying to catch them in flight I watch for a flight pattern and try and pick up focus , or if they are hunting and returning to the same perch I try then. I did use the D810 on the bees . I can pick up focus when they are going to the flowers as they do slow down a bit then.
Also, I sometimes manually nudge the lens into focus , which you can do with the AF-S lens.
Not sure if this helps you or not. I haven't tried the D750 , so can't comment on that.
I also tried the lens with the 1.4 III TC on the D810. I can get handheld shots sharp at 1/60 . Before the firmware update I could not.
birdied wrote:
Not sure if this helps you or not. I haven't tried the D750 , so can't comment on that.
Thanks, sounds promising :-)
I also try to pick the right spot / moment to take a shot, if the dragonfly is flying randomly there is no chance to get a good picture. Probably AF would work in some conditions with the Nikon gear, that is better than 'almost never'. And I guess the IS on the 300PF would be an improvement over my older Canon 4/300 IS lens (I never use the IS for flying dragonflies, only for stationary shots). There still seems to be some doubt regarding the 300PF IS performance at certain shutter speeds (also with D750), so I will wait a bit longer before deciding.
regarding motion blur: I usually get sufficiently sharp shots at around 1/800 (with obvious wing blur, but that improves the image for me). But I also have shots at 1/2500 that have obvious motion blur (or maybe slight focus blur, sometimes difficult to see what it is). So it really depends on tracking the subject and taking the shot at the right moment.
The Radio Airplane Club does an annual show for Veterans and I do the photos for the club to help out. In the past I used my 300 f/4 AFS with and without TC and had no issues acquiring focus. This year I used the new 300f/4 PF. Since I was trying not to freeze the propeller blades, I was trying to keep the shutter speed around 1/160 to 1/200. ( Note my lens was sent in for the firmware fix). I had only tested the lens after I got it back on stationary subjects and there is no problem. The problem seems to be on moving subjects , especially if trying to pan .
I had a difficult time on several occasions getting sharp shots, meaning nothing was sharp. This may sound a bit crazy, but the color of the planes seemed to have a lot to do with it. Dark green planes it had the hardest time with those especially at a distance. I was shooting with the D810, I tried VR on/ off, Single point C/AF , 9 Point A/F , all kinds of combinations, different apertures ,etc.
If anyone has any ideas, please do share them with me. I am completely open to the idea it was operator error, but I don't know what the error was.
Here are some shots that came out .
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
P.S. I did fine tune the lens using both Lens Align and Dot Tune. Both were close at +8 and +10
birdied wrote:
The Radio Airplane Club does an annual show for Veterans and I do the photos for the club to help out. In the past I used my 300 f/4 AFS with and without TC and had no issues acquiring focus. This year I used the new 300f/4 PF. Since I was trying not to freeze the propeller blades, I was trying to keep the shutter speed around 1/160 to 1/200. ( Note my lens was sent in for the firmware fix). I had only tested the lens after I got it back on stationary subjects and there is no problem. The problem seems to be on moving subjects , especially if trying to pan .
I had a difficult time on several occasions getting sharp shots, meaning nothing was sharp. This may sound a bit crazy, but the color of the planes seemed to have a lot to do with it. Dark green planes it had the hardest time with those especially at a distance. I was shooting with the D810, I tried VR on/ off, Single point C/AF , 9 Point A/F , all kinds of combinations, different apertures ,etc.
If anyone has any ideas, please do share them with me. I am completely open to the idea it was operator error, but I don't know what the error was.
Here are some shots that came out .
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
P.S. I did fine tune the lens using both Lens Align and Dot Tune. Both were close at +8 and +10
