Migration's official. Sandies moving out earlier than usual.
Dry and warm excuse for Winter, I don't blame them. Had
a bird's eye op from my roof yesterday...PF FTW
I believe I have read all 41 pages of this thread now finally. Fantastic images the 300 pf produces in the hands of some very talented photographers on here. I currently have 200-500 and the previous version of the 300 f4, I always have the 1.4x II extender on the 300f4 while coupled to my d750 or d500. I have decided to purchase the 300pf and my big question is, do I buy the 1.4x vIII extender or the 1.7x vII or just use the 1.4x version II ? I appreciate any and all comments. I am a hobbyist Wildlife Photographer with the emphasis on Bald Eagles which is my 1st choice of subjects. I shoot in an urban environment in Va Beach and I am watching eagles as they sit and I need to be able to get on them as they fly from those various perches. Distances vary from 100-200 yards typically and now we are in the nesting season and I am watching some active nests. Thank you!
technic wrote:
Amazing, are these single captures or do you select one shot from a burst of images?
AF performance certainly is leagues above my Canon 80D camera ...
Each of these was a shot I picked out of a different burst. Most bursts ended up with 5-6 images and probably up to 4 that were acceptably sharp. The crops were fairly large because I needed to frame wide enough to have any chance of keeping up with the bird. I would hold the camera up to my eye trained on one of the grosbeaks as it perched on this one tree. They were staging there and then flying down to another tree where my feeder is. When I saw it go I'd try to pan and keep up with it on its diagonal descent. I had to use Nikon's amazing Auto AF as I could not have kept any type of center point or group cluster reliably on the bird. Once again Nikon's Auto AF came back with a good percentage of keepers. I probably shot 10 different flights and I think 9 of those had at least one keeper shot out of the <1s burst.
I probably could have got a few with my 1DX2 but it would have been a lot less keepers. With any other Canon camera that I've owned I may have got a few fluky sharp shots but nothing reliable. This was similar to when I shot small birds IF and jays IF...the 1DX2 could definitely get some great keepers...the D500 was way more productive and easy to get them.
Jim Y. wrote:
I believe I have read all 41 pages of this thread now finally. Fantastic images the 300 pf produces in the hands of some very talented photographers on here. I currently have 200-500 and the previous version of the 300 f4, I always have the 1.4x II extender on the 300f4 while coupled to my d750 or d500. I have decided to purchase the 300pf and my big question is, do I buy the 1.4x vIII extender or the 1.7x vII or just use the 1.4x version II ? I appreciate any and all comments. I am a hobbyist Wildlife Photographer with the emphasis on Bald Eagles which is my 1st choice of subjects. I shoot in an urban environment in Va Beach and I am watching eagles as they sit and I need to be able to get on them as they fly from those various perches. Distances vary from 100-200 yards typically and now we are in the nesting season and I am watching some active nests. Thank you!...Show more →
I've never tried the 1.4II on the PF. I have tried the 1.7II and the 2.0II. The 1.7 was excellent, the 2.0 was very respectable but I had to do AF fine tune to get it sharp. Given my experiences with those more demanding magnifications I would give your 1.4II a try first to see if you are happy with it. My guess is you will be if I was happy even with the 2.0 II (not the III).
^ ^ Jim, Geoff has posted some sweet stuff with the TC-17E II.
I have 'em all and prefer the TC 14E III over the 14 II but have
been using the 'poor man's 500' combo like Geoff and have been
blown away with the IQ wide open. 500 seems to be a sweet spot
FL for handheld eagles. I'd look into a nice used copy that a guy's
had for awhile. (Mine's 7 yrs old) We tend to keep stuff that works!
trenchmonkey wrote:
^ ^ Jim, Geoff has posted some sweet stuff with the TC-17E II.
I have 'em all and prefer the TC 14E III over the 14 II but have
been using the 'poor man's 500' combo like Geoff and have been
blown away with the IQ wide open. 500 seems to be a sweet spot
FL for handheld eagles. I'd look into a nice used copy that a guy's
had for awhile. (Mine's 7 yrs old) We tend to keep stuff that works!
Thanks for the quick response and your eagle images blow me away. So if I am reading this correctly, go with a 1.7 and utilize my 1.4 vII as well unless I decide to get the vIII at some later date. Will the 1.7 maintain focus as that eagle flies towards my location? I realize autofocus will be somewhat slower then the 1.4.
trenchmonkey wrote:
^ ^ Jim, Geoff has posted some sweet stuff with the TC-17E II.
I have 'em all and prefer the TC 14E III over the 14 II but have
been using the 'poor man's 500' combo like Geoff and have been
blown away with the IQ wide open. 500 seems to be a sweet spot
FL for handheld eagles. I'd look into a nice used copy that a guy's
had for awhile. (Mine's 7 yrs old) We tend to keep stuff that works!
I think I have you mixed up with the person that has posted some really nice close-ups of the eagles fishing but I have seen some of your imagesin the past and have followed this page for 4 or 5 years now. I am not sure who Geoff is but I believe you!
arbitrage wrote:
I've never tried the 1.4II on the PF. I have tried the 1.7II and the 2.0II. The 1.7 was excellent, the 2.0 was very respectable but I had to do AF fine tune to get it sharp. Given my experiences with those more demanding magnifications I would give your 1.4II a try first to see if you are happy with it. My guess is you will be if I was happy even with the 2.0 II (not the III).
Thank you Geoff! I just figured out you are the one posting awesome eagle shots. I am going to buy the 1.7x and I guess the latest version in the VII. Thanks so much!
arbitrage wrote:
Each of these was a shot I picked out of a different burst. Most bursts ended up with 5-6 images and probably up to 4 that were acceptably sharp. The crops were fairly large because I needed to frame wide enough to have any chance of keeping up with the bird. I would hold the camera up to my eye trained on one of the grosbeaks as it perched on this one tree. They were staging there and then flying down to another tree where my feeder is. When I saw it go I'd try to pan and keep up with it on its diagonal descent. I had to use Nikon's amazing Auto AF as I could not have kept any type of center point or group cluster reliably on the bird. Once again Nikon's Auto AF came back with a good percentage of keepers. I probably shot 10 different flights and I think 9 of those had at least one keeper shot out of the <1s burst.
I probably could have got a few with my 1DX2 but it would have been a lot less keepers. With any other Canon camera that I've owned I may have got a few fluky sharp shots but nothing reliable. This was similar to when I shot small birds IF and jays IF...the 1DX2 could definitely get some great keepers...the D500 was way more productive and easy to get them....Show more →
With my 80D camera and somewhat similar lens I would indeed get a few lucky shots at best, and probably none of them critically sharp; very impressive
Jim Y. wrote:
Thanks for the quick response and your eagle images blow me away. So if I am reading this correctly, go with a 1.7 and utilize my 1.4 vII as well unless I decide to get the vIII at some later date. Will the 1.7 maintain focus as that eagle flies towards my location? I realize autofocus will be somewhat slower then the 1.4.
I think the 1.7 AF will do perfectly fine for eagles in flight. It seems to have very good AF if you have decent light. The aperture is 6.7 wide open. You lose the 3D and Auto AF modes but retain Group and Dynamic modes. I should mention I've only used it on a D500. I think it will do best on that vs the D750 but I've never used the D750 or that older AF module as I mostly shot Canon stuff until recently.
technic wrote:
With my 80D camera and somewhat similar lens I would indeed get a few lucky shots at best, and probably none of them critically sharp; very impressive
If you look at my thread on Nature and Wildlife section you will see I posted later on page 2 a non-cropped image from one of the shots. To get an idea of how much crop and how loosely I was framing to be able to keep them in the frame. https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1532244
arbitrage wrote:
I think the 1.7 AF will do perfectly fine for eagles in flight. It seems to have very good AF if you have decent light. The aperture is 6.7 wide open. You lose the 3D and Auto AF modes but retain Group and Dynamic modes. I should mention I've only used it on a D500. I think it will do best on that vs the D750 but I've never used the D750 or that older AF module as I mostly shot Canon stuff until recently.
My d750 basically sits in my house and I use the d500 and also a canon 7d mkII with the 400mm f5.6 which I also love. I go between the two manufacturers often but I am intrigued by the 300 pf. Thanks again!
Trumpeter Swans in Skagit Bay, taken while kayaking a couple weeks ago. This was taken with the D500, the 300mm f/4 PF, and the TC 14E III, and shot at f/8, 1/2500 sec, and ISO 560. I normally shoot this combination wide open, but there were groups of swans, and I wanted to be sure to get them all in focus - hence, my use of f/8. I think it rendered the background reasonably well.
Keith W.
