kalani_kane
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 p.1 #10 · Fuji xf 500mm f5.6 or Nikon 800 f6.3 or EF 600mm F4 | |
OwlsEyes wrote:
I'm a long time Nikon shooter with a lot of gear. I've been to Costa Rica 10 times w/ over 4 months of combined photo time there. The low light and canopy is a real problem when it comes to making images there. Furthermore, the need to often shoot up translates into a lot of backlighting with white patches... Your desire to lower the ISO makes a lot of sent, but if you are using an FX sensor or medium format sensor, you should be able to shoot at ISO 6400 without an issue. Combining this ISO with a high quality NR should alleviate your issues.
Regarding your lens choice, Scott makes the key point about a fixed 800mm lens. I have owned the 800PF, and while great for what it does, it is a "one-trick pony." 800mm is great when you need it, and too much focal length when you don't. Furthermore, if you are shooting through a lot of moisture or varied temperature gradients, your images will become very soft due to the atmospheric conditions. After a year of shooting it, I sold my 800PF and 400 f4.5 and replaced it with the 400mm f2.8TC. The lens I have is brilliant for places like Costa Rica, but is cost prohibitive. I also have the 180-600 and like the lens, but it is not nearly as sharp and fast to use at the 400TC....
So my suggestion, as a Nikon shooter, is to consider the Nikon 600mm f6.3 PF. The lens is about 2/3 faster than your current lens, and on an FX sensor will give you a shallower depth of field and more ISO latitude. Furthermore, you can program the Z8 to toggle between DX (1.5x crop) and FX with a touch of a button... This will give you the flexibility to quickly compose at 600m or the 900mm field of view. I shoot in DX with my gear and ISO 6400 is just fine.
Final points... if you have the GFX 100 ii and you you are buying the 500mm f5.6, I think you will end up with a brilliant combination for optical and high ISO performance. However, you mush consider if you are willing to give up AF responsiveness...
cheers,
bruce...Show more →
I faced a similar decision owning the Fuji x-h2s with 150-600 (with or without the 1.4x TC) and a new interest in wildlife hybrid shooting in poor light for half the year in Anchorage, Alaska. I found myself only using the x-h2s for video as images in anything other than ideal lighting, to me, were uninspiring and I hesitated to add the xf 500mm (or faster xf 200mm f/2). I rented a Nikon z9 and z 600pf S (no TC) and found the body to be far too heavy, literally heavier than my GFX 100, while the z600pf was light and images a delight. However, I also greatly prefer the GFX 100sii and GF500mm and GF250mm (with or without the 1.4x TC) for large wildlife. So Bruce (OwlEyes) graciously helped me decide on the flexibility of the zoom z 180-600mm paired with my z8. The added flexibility was the right choice for me, even though together they are quite heavy bricks, especially in predictably poor light, and I now carry both systems on dedicated wildlife outings.
Note the z8 is pretty limited by 20fps RAW and, a bit shockingly for a wildlife setup, lacks pre-capture RAW with only a .jpg option. They have the spectacular TC lenses for wildlife, and I'm sure the next z9/z8 ii's will finally remedy this, but compared to the x-h2s 40fps and pre-capture RAW flexibility for birds-taking-flight especially, I had to change my shooting style back to old-school predict and shoot, filling a ton of cards in the process. The Sony a1ii solves this but perhaps lacks the lenses and cost flexibility, if that's a concern. For everything outside of specific bird photography/videography, I prefer the output of the GFX and would instantly add a GF supertele zoom if that becomes an option (and hope for a stacked sensor with pre-capture RAW, better AF, and leaf shutter to mitigate high fps shutter shock, of course!). Hope this helps.
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I handled one of those at a conference, and it's quite something. Would have been super useful back when I was shooting sports every day.