DIX wma Sunday

[Jon Holcombe]

After an unanticipated 6 week layoff, I took my new 200-500mm lens to Dix WMA for my first "birding" photos. Virtually every shot I took was out of focus. Shooting at 500mm is nothing like shooting at 14mm, you actually have to know what you are doing to shoot birds. One shot shows an osprey landing on another. Saw no eagles (that I could identify).

 

[RednekF350]

Beautiful photos.
I was on the west side of the Cohansey opposite Dix on Saturday whacking groundhogs on a farm that borders a tributary and the ospreys were out in force. We saw several carrying fish in their talons headed back to their nests.

 

[Jon Holcombe]

Thanks Rednek. What a pretty, wild, and mostly unspoiled area. I would guess that 100 years ago, inland of AC and OC probably looked like a lot like the Cohansey watershed.

 

[46er]

One shot shows an osprey landing on another.

It's mating time

Shooting at 500mm is nothing like shooting at 14mm, you actually have to know what you are doing to shoot birds.

Very nice shots; some tips I found helpful from Moose, sturdy tripod with a gimbal head helps more than you'd think;

http://www.moosepeterson.com/techtips/longlens.html

 

[RednekF350]

Thanks Rednek. What a pretty, wild, and mostly unspoiled area. I would guess that 100 years ago, inland of AC and OC probably looked like a lot like the Cohansey watershed.

I love that area and frequently take the 1 hour and 20 minute ride just to shoot groundhogs. The hunting was sub-par on Saturday because of the cold a.m. start and the relentless wind but my friend and I hunted almost 9 hours on Saturday, mainly because we didn't want to leave the serenity.

 

[Jon Holcombe]

Thanks 46er. I figured they were mating but that bird needs a refresher. Thank you for the tips. I have a lot to learn about the basic techniques. These were all handheld, resting on car door, roof, arms in, etc. I probably need to get a monopod, which I believe you suggested before. Birding is a whole different kettle of.. birds... than landscape, and would certainly require a separate backpack, crop sensor camera, new head as you suggested, etc. I may do it though, because landscape shots are best at sunrise and sunset, which leaves all the time in between.

 

[46er]

These were all handheld, resting on car door, roof, arms in, etc.

Handheld is tough, and throw in movement from flying, breathing, etc; it all has an effect at those focal lengths. Try filling a gallon zip bag with rice or beans to rest on, make sure the car engine is off. Even a slight breeze will move a car on its suspension enough to cause some blur. I tried handholding a couple of times, but its not worth it using what I have. Or you can put the camera in high burst mode and hope to catch a good one, many folks do that. I like to be more deliberate We should consider putting a Piney photo expedition together during the autumn migration.

 

[RednekF350]

I played with my new tripod and PhoneSkope for a few minutes at the truck on Saturday but it was futile. We had sustained 20 mph winds with gusts to 30+ all day.

 

[46er]

Birding is a whole different kettle of.. birds... than landscape, and would certainly require a separate backpack, crop sensor camera, new head as you suggested, etc.

I know you use a Nikon full-frame, but not sure which camera you use. Most if not all of their full-frame models, allow you to switch between full-frame and crop mode. My son's 750 does this. I had found an article when I was preparing for the Joint Base air show a few years back. It's a bit old, but the recommendations are still valid. You might have to search a bit in your manual to find the corresponding settings. I found they work equally well for birds or any subject that is moving. Some Nikon's also have the Shooting Menu Banks, 4 of them in my case, that allow you to set settings for different subjects, i.e. Flight, Landscape etc. You then just choose that bank instead of having to adjust things each time. All of these make things much, much easier and more accurate.

http://www.digitaldarrell.com/Tips-D2x-HowToPhotographAirshows.asp

 

[Jon Holcombe]

Most if not all of their full-frame models, allow you to switch between full-frame and crop mode.

I have actually given this quite a bit of thought. I have a Nikon D810, with 36 MP. On Sunday, I started in FF, then switched to DX 1.2 and 1.5 Crop Sensor mode, until reverting back to FF. There is a lot of discussion on "dpreview' about whether any advantage is gained from switching to DX 1.2 or 1.5 mode on a Nikon FF body (and thereby extending a 500mm reach to 600mm or 750mm). I think the resulting DX mode images are somewhere in the neighborhood of (not 100% about this) 15 MP and 22 MP respectively. But many think that by cropping down from 36 MP, you are effectively doing the same thing as using crop sensor mode. The discussion gets real technical (pixel pitch, percentage of noise, the effect of crop sensor mode on a FF lens, etc). But there seems little dispute that using a long lens with the Nikon D7200 or D500 is the way to go for those serious about photographing birds (or airshows). My original thought was to have a single backpack for landscape and birding so a few weeks ago I added the 500mm to my pack. The big lens increased the weight of my pack to 33 lbs, and when hiking to West Mill Rd 17 days ago I blew up my lower back, which is just now beginning to recover. So I am probably going to have two separate backpacks - one for landscape and one for birding. Since I have found that I can only shoot landscape 1/2 hr before sunset to 1/2 hr after sunrise, I would use backpack #2 the rest of the day. I think my main problem on Sunday was I did not know how to achieve sharp focus at 500mm. I also have to figure out best time of day (I've heard early and late for raptors), and how not to disturb the birds. I have not used the shooting menu bank yet and I should. Your suggestions have been very helpful.

 

[46er]

I normally ignore the technical mumbo-jumbo and just use my results to see what works for me, most of it is just opinion anyway. Had enough of the techy stuff when I worked. My son uses the 750 with a 500/4 + 1.4x tc in both modes, and gets some drop-dead amazing stuff, especially the birdies. His web site at the link;

http://www.kjknutsenphotography.com/