morris wrote:
I've tried the Nikon 200-400mm f4 with a D200. It's a small amount sharpen than the original 80-400 VR yet focused much faster. For 200mm I adapted a used Canon 200mm f2.8 L as I did not want to pay what Fuji wants for a lens I don't use that often. The Fuji 100-400 and 70-300 both focus fine during the magic hours with out a TC and both track well. It's another option to get you a zoom. Sometimes I use the 70-300 on one body and the 500 PF on another. The Z9 subject detection is a touch better than the X-H2s as is it's tracking yet the X-H2s gets the job done. The X-H2s may improve just as the Z9 has with firmware updates though one should never count on this.
For me it was the internal zoom and extra stop of light that made the 200-400 worth the hassle of carrying it. I never had sand or dust issues and I could use one finger to work the zoom. On the D300 then D500 is had a 300-600mm field of view. This was the sweet spot for the birds and mammals that I typically encounter.
Just last year I used the Nikon 200-400, 100-400S, and 500PF at Laguna Seca and Santa Clara. These three lenses on a mix of Z-mirrorless and D500 cameras were perfect.
Because my wife is not able to shoot any longer, I sold off her kit and much of my own and double-downed on Nikon's mirrorless system.
Had this guy in the pond a few mornings back... long shot at about 125m, the little diving ducks are usually quite skittish. Always interesting to see what shows up during spring migration.
Russ Becker wrote:
Had this guy in the pond a few mornings back... long shot at about 125m, the little diving ducks are usually quite skittish. Always interesting to see what shows up during spring migration.
Never seen one of those before , but I'm only a 3-4 months into the birding thing , so still a lot to see. We have a ton of gadwalls, shovelers, northern pintails, buffleheads, wigeon, and lesser scaup here.
X-T5NIKON AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens500mmf/5.61/800s800 ISO0.0 EV
X-T5NIKON AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens500mmf/5.61/500s250 ISO0.0 EV
X-T5NIKON AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens500mmf/5.61/1000s400 ISO0.0 EV
You have quite a collection there, I especially like the American Widgeon.
Do you ever go down into the South Texas brush country? I used to go out with my dad to the Knolle Ranch in San Patricio, north of Calallen, over to some ponds back around the old abandoned navy air fields in Flour Bluff (can see Ruddy Ducks and Sandhill Cranes on occasion), and of course, over to Rockport. All around Corpus Christi.
Russ Becker wrote:
You have quite a collection there, I especially like the American Widgeon.
Do you ever go down into the South Texas brush country? I used to go out with my dad to the Knolle Ranch in San Patricio, north of Calallen, over to some ponds back around the old abandoned navy air fields in Flour Bluff (can see Ruddy Ducks and Sandhill Cranes on occasion), and of course, over to Rockport. All around Corpus Christi.
-Russ
I haven't yet .. the corpus area is on the list of places I would like to visit with the camera. I have been many times, but before my interest in wildlife photography.
The GFX100S is a surprisingly capable camera for bird photography, with the right lens on it. Here are some Snow Geese flairing for landing, taken with the Canon 100-400 Mk2 out at Middle Creek.
Decided to try the jpegs rather than fight for disk space with huge raw files ... didn't edit much , mostly just crop on some and dehazze (I was sitting in the bushes with tall grass blocking my view).
building a nest
X-T5NIKON AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens500mmf/5.61/500s320 ISO0.0 EV
X-T5NIKON AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR + 1.4X lens700mmf/8.01/2000s400 ISO-0.7 EV
X-T5NIKON AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR + 1.4X lens700mmf/8.01/1000s320 ISO-1.0 EV
X-T5NIKON AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR + 1.4X lens700mmf/8.01/1250s500 ISO-0.7 EV
X-T5NIKON AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens500mmf/8.01/2000s800 ISO-1.0 EV
On 500 PF do you set OIS on normal or sport? I did some tests on mine and every time “normal” was sharper, also got sharper results by switching ibis/ois to off on my X-H2
