p.71 #3 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
CanadaMark wrote:
An eagle and a few Ospreys - Z9 + 200-500, some with 1.4TC. Conditions were not great, these are some pretty heavy crops but they were neat to see:
p.71 #4 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
Ross Martin wrote:
Mark, you're making me want to hang onto my 200-500mm, these look great.
Indeed, they do look great.
I think the ML cameras are sort of breathing a bit of "new life" into some of the lesser professional lenses like the 200-500 f5.6 simply because there are less AF Fine tune issues to deal with. Not only that, it is even more evident when using a TC like a 1.4x and that is probably because there is no f8 limitation that DSLR's suffer with.
If you look at the MTFs for the 200-500, it is still a sharp lens and it's only drawbacks were slower focus and non professional build quality. So, in theory, it should deliver very sharp images and thus the only thing stopping that would be less than perfect AF.
p.71 #5 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
Forget our previous thread conversation.......I think I'll just keep the 200-500 . It's the cheaper way to go, can stay on the D500 and, like you've shown, is still a sharp and very useful lens.
How do you find it with the 1.4TC? I keep reading that the AF is not so good with that added on to the 200-500 or the 500pf, but you've shown some examples of why we should perhaps not worry about that?
Cheers!
CanadaMark wrote:
An eagle and a few Ospreys - Z9 + 200-500, some with 1.4TC. Conditions were not great, these are some pretty heavy crops but they were neat to see:
p.71 #6 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
urbanwild wrote:
Forget our previous thread conversation.......I think I'll just keep the 200-500 . It's the cheaper way to go, can stay on the D500 and, like you've shown, is still a sharp and very useful lens.
How do you find it with the 1.4TC? I keep reading that the AF is not so good with that added on to the 200-500 or the 500pf, but you've shown some examples of why we should perhaps not worry about that?
Cheers!
It's just OK with the 1.4TC - the image degradation is noticeable and I definitely prefer the bare lens. Close-up it's pretty good but it does struggle a bit with sharpness at distance (some of that is likely atmospheric as 700mm is pretty long) and it introduces some CA that I do not see with the bare lens. I have the 1.4 TCII so I can't comment on use with the newest 1.4TCIII which is slightly better. Those birds aren't too common where I live and they were pretty far away so I threw on the TC just to increase my chances of getting usable photos. I didn't notice much hit to the AF speed at all, but it's not super fast to begin with and the sun was behind me. I use the AF limiter when it makes sense. The AF had no problem keeping up with the Ospreys flying straight towards me but they are not the fastest birds. I wouldn't recommend anyone buy a 200-500 specifically to use with the 1.4TC, but it does accept it for those occasions when it's preferable to just cropping.
To Lance's point above, I will say the 200-500 definitely performs better on my Z9 than it did on my D850 even though I never had any real issues with it on my D850. It's just more consistent and any tiny AF variances are taken care of. I also think I have a pretty good copy of the lens.
I've got a Z100-400 +Z1.4TC on order and I'm the first on the list for the upcoming Z200-600 but so far nothing has arrived yet so I just carry on with the 200-500 haha.
p.71 #7 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
urbanwild wrote:
Forget our previous thread conversation.......I think I'll just keep the 200-500 . It's the cheaper way to go, can stay on the D500 and, like you've shown, is still a sharp and very useful lens.
How do you find it with the 1.4TC? I keep reading that the AF is not so good with that added on to the 200-500 or the 500pf, but you've shown some examples of why we should perhaps not worry about that?
Cheers!
Keep it!
I have been keeping mine, *at least* until I make a final decision on the upcoming 200-600. My go-to is now the 500PF, but I have found that the 200-500 zoom has been effective when shooting video with the D850's Focus Peaking feature.
I agree 100% with Lance's and CanadaMark's 200-500 opinions.
Mine is very sharp, but slow to acquire and (personally) I am not going to use my TC14II with it. I would rather crop a large sensor, like my D850's or maybe my upcoming Z9's. I'll see.
But yes, good advice to hang on to your 200-500 until/unless you are absolutely sure you do not want it.
p.71 #8 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
Thanks for that! Dang, not that I expected anything different, but I was more hopeful. I've heard that the 1.4TC III is noticeably better than the II version, so perhaps there's something there. I now have the 500 pf too and I hear mixed things about combining that with the 1.4TC III also. Between that and the loss of a stop, there's no free lunch as they say.....that 800mm pf will no doubt sell like pancakes for years to come.
I love Ospreys. A photographer's dream bird in my mind. I love how they hover before doing the dive.....gives me time to prepare!
CanadaMark wrote:
It's just OK with the 1.4TC - the image degradation is noticeable and I definitely prefer the bare lens. Close-up it's pretty good but it does struggle a bit with sharpness at distance (some of that is likely atmospheric as 700mm is pretty long) and it introduces some CA that I do not see with the bare lens. I have the 1.4 TCII so I can't comment on use with the newest 1.4TCIII which is slightly better. Those birds aren't too common where I live and they were pretty far away so I threw on the TC just to increase my chances of getting usable photos. I didn't notice much hit to the AF speed at all, but it's not super fast to begin with and the sun was behind me. I use the AF limiter when it makes sense. The AF had no problem keeping up with the Ospreys flying straight towards me but they are not the fastest birds. I wouldn't recommend anyone buy a 200-500 specifically to use with the 1.4TC, but it does accept it for those occasions when it's preferable to just cropping.
To Lance's point above, I will say the 200-500 definitely performs better on my Z9 than it did on my D850 even though I never had any real issues with it on my D850. It's just more consistent and any tiny AF variances are taken care of. I also think I have a pretty good copy of the lens.
I've got a Z100-400 +Z1.4TC on order and I'm the first on the list for the upcoming Z200-600 but so far nothing has arrived yet so I just carry on with the 200-500 haha.
p.71 #9 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
Thanks! How have you found the TC with the 500pf? As above, I've read lots of conflicting opinions.
bs kite wrote:
Keep it!
I have been keeping mine, *at least* until I make a final decision on the upcoming 200-600. My go-to is now the 500PF, but I have found that the 200-500 zoom has been effective when shooting video with the D850's Focus Peaking feature.
I agree 100% with Lance's and CanadaMark's 200-500 opinions.
Mine is very sharp, but slow to acquire and (personally) I am not going to use my TC14II with it. I would rather crop a large sensor, like my D850's or maybe my upcoming Z9's. I'll see.
But yes, good advice to hang on to your 200-500 until/unless you are absolutely sure you do not want it.
p.71 #10 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
I know you didn’t ask me but here is my opinion. I ordered a used 1.4x iii from KEH with high hopes. I used it for 2 days and decided that I was better off cropping the images from my z9 and bare 500mmpf than I was using the teleconverter. To my eyes I got the same results and didn’t see any added benefits of using the tc. Plus using the tc put me at f8 so it wasn’t worth it. I made a thread with the results and comparison photos.
p.71 #12 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
Appreciate it....you just saved me some cash!
eorlando wrote:
I know you didn’t ask me but here is my opinion. I ordered a used 1.4x iii from KEH with high hopes. I used it for 2 days and decided that I was better off cropping the images from my z9 and bare 500mmpf than I was using the teleconverter. To my eyes I got the same results and didn’t see any added benefits of using the tc. Plus using the tc put me at f8 so it wasn’t worth it. I made a thread with the results and comparison photos.
p.71 #16 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
Over the weekend, I had a chance to try using one of the Customizable AF Area Mode settings (C1), when set to the size of "single point", with Animal Detection enabled.
These two were shot through some blowing brush and I put the spot on the Mockingbirds head and the Z9 locked onto the the eye and then seemingly instantly locked on the other eye when he turned his head. In this instance, it worked very well.
p.71 #17 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
Hi Robert,
Thank you very much for the kind words. Yes, I did get an opportunity to witness and photograph a snow leopard at Hemis National Park, The Himalayas.Stayed there for about 12 days and it was one of the most physically and mentally exhausting wildlife expeditions to date and our group just had a couple of opportunities to sight a snow leopard. The first one was just a glimpse but the second one was a decent sighting that lasted for 16 minutes just that the leopard was too far that I had to use a 900mm focal length equivalent to get environmental shots but in the end it was all worth it. Will post some images in a separate image thread.
bs kite wrote:
Gannis
Just looked at your Flickr gallery and you have many gorgeous wildlife images.
Is that a Snow Leopard? If so, would you post it on this forum, with a short story or description?
Thanks
Robert
Then there is that Indian Elephant, in Nagarhole National Park, India... Wow! Would love to meet that elephant.
That Forest Eagle Owl looks so serious and funny at the same time
p.71 #18 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
Thanks gannis..... hope to see more on that separate thread
gannis wrote:
Hi Robert,
Thank you very much for the kind words. Yes, I did get an opportunity to witness and photograph a snow leopard at Hemis National Park, The Himalayas.Stayed there for about 12 days and it was one of the most physically and mentally exhausting wildlife expeditions to date and our group just had a couple of opportunities to sight a snow leopard. The first one was just a glimpse but the second one was a decent sighting that lasted for 16 minutes just that the leopard was too far that I had to use a 900mm focal length equivalent to get environmental shots but in the end it was all worth it. Will post some images in a separate image thread.
