MedicineMan404 wrote:
300PF destined to be my favorite lens of any manufacturer of all time.
Nothing it cannot do in the right hands.
Having owned it a bit longer than the 500PF I think the 300PF ultimately wins....this coming from a me who is aging quickly---of all he merits of the 300 the weight is just flabbergasting.
I did not like my 300mm PF at first. I wasn't even interested in it, and was quite happy with the 200-500mm, until the 500mm PF was announced. The 500mm PF appeared to solve all the shortcomings of the 200-500mm and I figured the 300mm PF would supplement it nicely. I took a chance on a second hand copy listed as like new for a great price. When I received it, I immediately connected it to my TC-14E III and D500 and headed to the local nature preserve. Big mistake. It front focused quite a bit when bare, and the TC just made it worse. It kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. After AF fine tuning, it was much better. It handled quite differently than the 200-500mm I was used to, though. I was getting much better results with the 200-500mm. The 300mm PF kind of took a backseat for a couple of months. Then people actually started receiving their 500mm PF and I had a renewed interest.
I'm glad I tried it again and stuck with it. It didn't take long to get used to it, and I guess I gave up on it too quickly the first time. I absolutely love it. I now also have a TC-17E II and TC-20E III, and I am quite happy with the results from both. I only use those TCs when needed, and I don't find the results with them worse than the 200-500mm (or I'd just stick with the 200-500mm for those focal ranges). AF takes a hit with those two TCs, but it's not unusable on the D500. The 200-500mm only comes out now when I think I need a zoom.
I like the 300mm PF so much, that I'm not in a hurry for the 500mm PF and have even changed my mind about it a few times. I think ultimately, I will end up getting a 500mm PF. The 300mm PF won't be going anywhere, though.
Taken on a mtn bike ride in early winter in a regional park near my house. The beauty of the 300pf for me is that I can carry it in a holster strapped to the shoulder straps of my camelbak biking pack...and have a 'real' camera ready to go at a moment's notice for something like this....
Great shots. Question regarding your shutter speed settings as I spent a portion of my day taking photos of similar subjects with my 300 PF on my D500.
You have 1/1000 for a sitting fledgling versus 1/800 for a hummingbird. I wonder why these settings were selected? Was it dependent to keep the ISO low based on the amount of light?
I can't answer for others, but when I'm shooting critters I use as fast a shutter speed as I can, even if it means bumping up iso a bit. For instance, the coyote spy hopping picture was taken at 1/2000 second. If there had been more light I would have gone faster. For hummers I usually use 1/2500 second regardless of the light. To my eye that speed gets what I want in terms of blur of the wing vs stability/sharpness of the body. Generally I try to use 1/2500 at least for wildlife. For static images I'll slow down, but then I invariably forget to raise the shutter speed back up when the action starts again and I have blurry in motion shots!
cohenfive wrote:
Taken on a mtn bike ride in early winter in a regional park near my house. The beauty of the 300pf for me is that I can carry it in a holster strapped to the shoulder straps of my camelbak biking pack...and have a 'real' camera ready to go at a moment's notice for something like this....
Anitajo24 wrote:
Great shots. Question regarding your shutter speed settings as I spent a portion of my day taking photos of similar subjects with my 300 PF on my D500.
You have 1/1000 for a sitting fledgling versus 1/800 for a hummingbird. I wonder why these settings were selected? Was it dependent to keep the ISO low based on the amount of light?
Thank you for your response.
I'm not sure why I selected the settings I did that day. I know I was shooting in M mode, Auto-ISO so I think I just had my SS left around the 1/800-1/1000 range throughout the hour or so I used that lens. I sort of just left it around those SS as I find those to be enough for stuff in the backyard.
I shoot my hummers from 1/200 up to 1/2500 or so depending on the light. Hummingbirds are fun to play with how much wing blur you want so sometimes I deliberately keep the SS slower and other times with good light and wanting to really freeze them I go faster. Most of my hummers are shot between 1/400-1/1600.
cohenfive wrote:
Taken on a mtn bike ride in early winter in a regional park near my house. The beauty of the 300pf for me is that I can carry it in a holster strapped to the shoulder straps of my camelbak biking pack...and have a 'real' camera ready to go at a moment's notice for something like this....
Amazing capture for sure.
Which camera dslr or mirrorless?
I do have the 300mm PF now and loved the handling of this new to me lens on mountain-trips during the last 10 days in the austrian alps.
Had the 70-200mm FL as well there, but always left it in the Hotel room because of weight and size.
In the end I will also want to use it riding my bike through the woods when I am home. So a holster should be the go to solution here for me as well.
Best regards ! 😊
This was taken with my D500 with 300pf attached. I have a z6 which would obviously fit even better, but I don't trust the af system for action shots as much as I do the dslr af.
For mtn biking I use a mindshift multi-mount 20. The body and lens barely fit in, but they do. I use the mounting straps to attach it to the shoulder straps of my camelbak pack which I use for mtn biking. I also use the lower strap around my chest to hold the holster in place while I'm riding. It looks a little dorky, but this way I have the camera in front at the ready. I use this setup for hiking as well. I've always found that if the camera is in a backpack, the process of taking the pack off and getting the camera out usually means a missed shot, certainly wildlife.
Just out on a walk with my dog near where I live. No time to think just snap a few frames. The great thing about the compactness of this lens and relative low weight.
cohenfive wrote:
This was taken with my D500 with 300pf attached. I have a z6 which would obviously fit even better, but I don't trust the af system for action shots as much as I do the dslr af.
For mtn biking I use a mindshift multi-mount 20. The body and lens barely fit in, but they do. I use the mounting straps to attach it to the shoulder straps of my camelbak pack which I use for mtn biking. I also use the lower strap around my chest to hold the holster in place while I'm riding. It looks a little dorky, but this way I have the camera in front at the ready. I use this setup for hiking as well. I've always found that if the camera is in a backpack, the process of taking the pack off and getting the camera out usually means a missed shot, certainly wildlife. ...Show more →
Very useful infos indeed. Thanks a lot for this - I‘ll be thinking about my personal solutions for this setup when hiking or biking myself in the future and will take your very detailed information into consideration then!
