What Settings on D750 for birds?

Hi Kim.

That Tamron is a very useful lens, the zoom is extremely helpful at finding birds in the viewfinder at 150mm and then zooming out to 600mm to get closer. It's also much lighter than the 500 or the Sigma sport.

One thing you might consider if you mostly do bird photography is purchasing a D7200 which will give you a 1.5x field of view magnification versus the D750. You could keep both cameras if your finances allowed, or just sell the D750 which will give you more than enough money to buy the D7200.

Thanks Matthew. I fully intend to get the D7200 just that my computer blew up and I had to spend the money for the D7200 + on the new computer so it is back to the savings drawing board to get the D7200, plus I was waiting to see if it was defect free before leaping in.

I would consider the D7200 to be defect free. It has flaws like all cameras but no defects.

Wait a a bit before you declare that it has no defects considering Nikon's recent history.

Mike in O wrote:Wait a a bit before you declare that it has no defects considering Nikon's recent history.

I've used the thing daily 6 weeks and if there were any serious problems that I might not have experienced, it would be all over the Internet.

Kim,

if you are trying for small bush birds you'll find some interesting challenges. I use Canon but the overall idea should be more or less the same.

First of all I shoot Av and f8-9 mostly, helps with DOF issues, trying to place the AF point on a fast moving bird is a real challenge, now try placing the Af point on the eye. Next I use rear button AF and Ai servo (continuous) autofocus. When tracking the bird you use your thumb to activate AF then when in focus take your thumb off and recompose if desired. I'm assuming your model camera has this but am not familiar with it. I almost always use single point AF , way too many stray twigs for the camera to grab focus on to risk using expanded AF points in the types of forest I shoot in.

I shoot a lot under the canopy of eucalypt forest, so I'm often struggling for SS, I'm working with a 500 + 1.4x and shooting with a gimbal head and I will go down to 1/100 or sometimes lower, generally ISO1600 is my limit and I'll open up a bit at times to f6.3 to 7.1 if I really need to. Handheld or with monopod you'll be looking for more shutter speed of course. So if you can afford it a tripod and good head gives you additional degrees fof freedom.

Thanks Chris. I do shoot at F8 and yes I can do AF-one[rear button focus] if required. I have favoured single point with continuous focus but have been experimenting with the new focus options Nikon have introduced in recent models.

I shoot similar birds to you in similar conditions only I tend to walk along dirt roads in the bush and there is a little more light. The birds are attracted to puddles of water on the roads after rain too. The Nikon is good to 2000ISO. I do have tripods and good heads but they are too heavy for me to carry with the camera and the long lens.