All I can say is WOW! That must have been quite an experience. Your website and story about the shoot are enthralling. Thanks for stopping by and sharing this with us.
kwoodard wrote:
What is the post limit again? I don't remember anymore.
Today was "Nippi's" day! Went to the San Diego Safari Park and spent the day. Spent the whole day there...my body was dead by the end. I didn't need a cart though, so that is definitely saying something.
Nippi is quite a capable lens! I freaking love using it! Sharpest seems to be about f/4-f/8. She also seems to like distances from about 10 feet to about 70 feet. Before/After that, she starts to get a little soft. Still very usable and only pixel peepers will really take note. These photos have been run through Lightroom, but to be honest, I didn't have to do a lot. Only a few shots have been cropped. One has been converted to monochrome (even though with the light when I took the shot, the color was completely washed out by the fog and clouds).
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These types of shots seem to be the best with Nippi. I am floored at the amount of detail this ole bird can resolve. The Nikon Z5 is no slouch either. I know its older tech at this point, but it is light years ahead of my D700 and if I am honest, I prefer the output over the Fuji's I have been using.
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I felt a square crop worked for this one. What do you all think?
Nice set, Kevin. It really is great to have you posting pictures again.
I agree, square seems to work for the strelitzia. I found it a challenge to shoot. It's very directional and because of it, there just seems to be one angle to shoot from. Maybe time to return it to our garden and try harder, but yeah, square is good.
Yours is probably the third Z5 in here. It is indeed a nice camera and I couldn't ask for more. It makes manual focus a breeze. The thing I find most remarkable about these Z cameras(I also have z50) is the colour and white balance accuracy. I just shoot and ... done, a double edged sword as that gets boring pretty quick for me. Thankfully, there are still DSLRs.
Nicely done, love the tones and grain, and the swooping lines.
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serge07 wrote:
Largo Di Torre Argentina, it was uncovered during an excavation in 1929. Julius Caesar was assassinated in this area on the Ides of March, 44 BC.
kwoodard wrote:
What is the post limit again? I don't remember anymore.
Today was "Nippi's" day! Went to the San Diego Safari Park and spent the day. Spent the whole day there...my body was dead by the end. I didn't need a cart though, so that is definitely saying something.
Nippi is quite a capable lens! I freaking love using it! Sharpest seems to be about f/4-f/8. She also seems to like distances from about 10 feet to about 70 feet. Before/After that, she starts to get a little soft. Still very usable and only pixel peepers will really take note. These photos have been run through Lightroom, but to be honest, I didn't have to do a lot. Only a few shots have been cropped. One has been converted to monochrome (even though with the light when I took the shot, the color was completely washed out by the fog and clouds).
These types of shots seem to be the best with Nippi. I am floored at the amount of detail this ole bird can resolve. The Nikon Z5 is no slouch either. I know its older tech at this point, but it is light years ahead of my D700 and if I am honest, I prefer the output over the Fuji's I have been using.
And the 800mm 5.6 delivers the detail! This is a 100% crop from the Z7, processed with utmost care, but processing does not add what was not there, sharpening was minimal but no-noise AI was applied as the Z7 at ISO 800+ is noisy for my taste.
Sharp focus thanks to focus peaking, when the eye iris glows red focus is nailed.
For those of you that have a Z series body and not using the FTZ adapter, how are you keeping track of which lens is being used? Do you keep a log? I wish Nikon would fix what I feel is an oversight…if you have the non-cpu lens selected in-camera, it should show in the EXIF. Right now the only way this seems to work is if you use an FTZ adapter.
Rafael, excellent photographs of the Egret, terrific lens and processing. I did some reading and the oldest recorded Great Egret was 22 years + 10 months, they do live long and prosper.
James, great captures of the snowy Robins.
Samy, great capture of our orbiting neighbor.
A few more of my favorite structure in Rome, The Pantheon.
The resting place of the great Renaissance artist Raphael. It is amazing what he was able to accomplish in a short 37 years.
The lighting is terrible, a decent light diffuser would be most welcomed.
Madonna over the tomb, sculpture by a pupil of Raphael,1524. To the left is a bronze bust of the artist.
I got plates of welding glass at various darkness for about $4 each and plan to make something like a Cokin filter holder for the lens hoods. I can’t really afford multiple darkness of 122mm and 95mm ND filters. Edit:The optical quality of the welding glass is terrible. Just like cheap UV filters, don't put a $4 filter on a $1000 lens and expect good results.. I guess I'm not shooting the eclipse.
Here is an old shot with the 400/3.5 + 1.4x converter (heavily cropped with a 12mp D700). I don't think it's been shared before.
We are in the direct path here in Allen and area. However, our current prediction for the day is cloudy and rain possible. We are expecting a large crowd of people in the area, and they are NOT going to be happy campers if this prediction is correct!
kwoodard wrote:
For those of you that have a Z series body and not using the FTZ adapter, how are you keeping track of which lens is being used? Do you keep a log? I wish Nikon would fix what I feel is an oversight…if you have the non-cpu lens selected in-camera, it should show in the EXIF. Right now the only way this seems to work is if you use an FTZ adapter.
If I am out playing with a specific lens, then the files are downloaded to a folder with the name of the lens. If I am out focused on the subject, then the lens data does not matter, only the photo.
And the 800mm 5.6 delivers the detail! This is a 100% crop from the Z7, processed with utmost care, but processing does not add what was not there, sharpening was minimal but no-noise AI was applied as the Z7 at ISO 800+ is noisy for my taste.
Sharp focus thanks to focus peaking, when the eye iris glows red focus is nailed.
