Home Forums Gear Photography getting closer to figuring out the 150-600.....

Those are nice hc.

Any exposure data for the moon shot?

First off The camera must be on an incredibly stable paltform.(tripod) If you are using the 150-600 lens, and taking into account the phase of the moon (the larger the moon in the sky the more light.) I would set the camera at f:5.6 at 125th of a second. You would be surprised at how much light the moons gives off. since we are working with digital. I would the then make my adjustments according to the results Remember it similar to a light bulb against a black background.

The photos are good but it looks like you need a tad high ISO and faster shutter speed.... or a steadier hand.
I think you are shooting the D800 and remember with that many MP's every little thing is magnified.

The Hawk images are at ISO 3200 with shutter speeds of 8000 and 4000. Cant get much higher than that. The combo could perhaps use micro focus adjustments or just smoother panning on shooters part. The second image definitely looks like camera shake to me.

It was pure luck that I could jump out of my rig and get on it. The wind was blowing enough to make being steady a joke.
Less wind made for better results.

f8 1/400 600mm.....IIRC

Fishkilla,

I had no idea what the iso was...I've shot a bunch as 6400 though... (Micro adjustment) ie: Nikon Fine Tune is a necessity but with a zoom it's not as "prefect" as with a prime. You'll need to pick a "more used" happy medium zoom setting and use it for the fine tune. Every time you change the zoom the "fine tune" can be a bit "un-tuned"

Please offer any useful feedback. I am in the learning curve for sure and the transition to nikon is not as seamless as I had hoped.

The hawk pics were on a very windy (25ish mph) day. The biplane was calm.

High Country:
Given auto focus, the dimensions of the lens in hand, and the motion of ones subjects, the birds came out fine. Absolutely nailed and ready for National Geographic? No, but with all those aspects working against you, one's simply not going to score a publication quality image in most instances.

With birds in flight one simply has no time to compose, double check focus, evaluate exposures, etc. Just hit that shutter as many times as possible and fall back on the old premise that one might get one really good shot out of 50 or so attempts.

Looks like you're getting at it, and most of the fun is just getting out there. One or two wall hangers per trip is still a pretty good score. Good luck and keep us up on you doings.

Thanks. You know how it is though.....we don't build custom rifles to shoot moa and wrapping 5 g's up in gear means we aspire to do well....some day.

Good gear gives one a better chance of doing well, but a hawk in flight is not a still life.

One of my best images ever came from a point n shoot Cool Pics. Absolutely nailed the exposure and focus on a caribou at about 100yds. Had the animal been petrified in place, I probably would not be able to replicate the shot. Sometimes luck comes in and at other times sh-t happens.

Good luck,

The images look good, it is like no other transition though, it takes practice. You will learn dynamic range differences, focusing differences, etc. It is like driving a new car, it all falls into place. You have a great setup, just keep shooting it.

considering this lens.

I've the HGX Promaster Digital UV filters on my other lenses.

What UV filter ya'll suggest for this one?

Thanx in advance

GWB

Practice and practice... it'll get there... you'll start to have "ah ha" moments....

UV has no effect on digital. The UV filter is basically protection.

geedubya,
It takes a 95mm filter. Not a lot of folks may stock it. I would call Mark up at Camera Land and see what they have or can get. Their pricing on filters has always been the best I have found.

Download an EXIF viewer and you can look at the stats. Yeah, I know you can shoot at 6400, my point was with a shutter speed of 8000 and 4000 you might look elsewhere for improvement, think about how often you are shooting at such high shutter speeds, I can say almost never. I also understand MFA or Fine Tune on zoom and primes. That was my advice if the OP was looking to improve upon these images.

High Country, that plane shot is nice and at 1/250 proves the lens is capable of producing sharp images without micro adjusting focus or fine tuning focus. It just goes to show how many little factors come into play, nice shooting.

GWB, I do not know if you have considered a CPL for your upcoming Tamron 150-600. I just received a Marumi Super DHG from 2filter. The Marumi is highly rated and prices from 2filter are good. The 95mm are spendy anywhere. Not many various makers of 95mm CPL available.
http://www.2filter.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/Marumi_95mm_Super_DHG_Circular_Polarizer.html

reviews of CPLs:
http://www.lenstip.com/index.php?art=115&roz=24