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by 06Honda on Fri Sep 04, 2015 4:16 pm

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Back home after some shopping, purchased a Nikon D7200 body and a new NIKON AF-S 80-400MM F/4.5-5.6G ED VR lense, battery charging. Will try out tomorrow at Presqu'ile Park shooting shorebirds. Any suggestions on settings would be helpful, I am thinking AF-C with spot?? Most other settings in menu are straight forward, thanks again.

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by Mark Picard on Fri Sep 04, 2015 5:23 pm

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As a side note, make sure you adjust your auto focus fine tune in the camera - IMHO it can make a huge difference in sharpness! That's a great combo you purchased - awesome handheld from boats, kayaks, canoes, vehicles, etc. I used to have the 200-400mm VR lens, but replaced it with the 80-400mm - 5X zoom compared to 2X of the 200-400mm. You get to do away with a 70-200mm lens in the process too. Never looked back!

You do lose a stop of light though, but not that big of a deal. Good luck! :)

Mark Picard
Website: http://www.markpicard.com
Maine Photography Workshops

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by 06Honda on Sun Sep 06, 2015 5:33 am

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Thanks Mark, good tip.

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by Gary Irwin on Sun Sep 06, 2015 7:21 am

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Congrats Paul! Agree with Mark on the need to fine-tune. AF-C is what I'd use but not spot metering can be tricky, especially when shooting a white(ish) birds. Personally I just use matrix metering but be prepared to take some test shots and dial in some compensation when necessary in A mode, or you could just shoot manual if the lighting on the subject isn't changing much. As good as the DR is with Nikon sensors it's still easy to blow-out highlights if you're not careful, especially when shooting white birds in bright light!

Have fun!

Gary Likes Nature.

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