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by E.J. Peiker on Wed Feb 08, 2017 10:02 am
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Cynthia Crawford wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:The 70-200 f/2.8 was used to photograph at hummingbird set-ups so little to no cropping and the 150-600 for other birds.  Yes I do prefer the Sigma to the Nikon 200-500 due to it's 100mm longer reach and more rugged construction which of course also means a lot more weight.  What I don't like about it is it's f/6.3 maximum aperture.

Not sure which one you were referring to when you said "first I've heard of that one"...
Thanks for that E.J. I had not heard of the 70-200.......but I haven't really been looking.
I've heard the 100-600 doesn't really do well at 600....
Am thinking of the Contemporary model for my purposes as the Sport is way too heavy ...and expensive.  Would have to resort to a tripod either way....probably will just stick with 300+1.4.
Nikon 70-200 f/2.8E
viewtopic.php?f=57&t=266323

You may be thinking of the original Tamron which is not good above 500mm, the Sigma (Sport) does not have that problem.  Those that do have either A. Not properly calibrated the lens or B. not employing proper long lens techniques.

The lens does need a quite different focus offset at the long end which can easily be programmed in with the Sigma Dock.
 

by Cynthia Crawford on Wed Feb 08, 2017 10:09 am
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E.J. Peiker wrote:
Cynthia Crawford wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:The 70-200 f/2.8 was used to photograph at hummingbird set-ups so little to no cropping and the 150-600 for other birds.  Yes I do prefer the Sigma to the Nikon 200-500 due to it's 100mm longer reach and more rugged construction which of course also means a lot more weight.  What I don't like about it is it's f/6.3 maximum aperture.

Not sure which one you were referring to when you said "first I've heard of that one"...
Thanks for that E.J. I had not heard of the 70-200.......but I haven't really been looking.
I've heard the 100-600 doesn't really do well at 600....
Am thinking of the Contemporary model for my purposes as the Sport is way too heavy ...and expensive.  Would have to resort to a tripod either way....probably will just stick with 300+1.4.
Nikon 70-200 f/2.8E
viewtopic.php?f=57&t=266323

You may be thinking of the original Tamron which is not good above 500mm, the Sigma (Sport) does not have that problem.  Those that do have either A. Not properly calibrated the lens or B. not employing proper long lens techniques.
Or maybe it's the Contemporary that doesn't fare so well at full 600?
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by E.J. Peiker on Wed Feb 08, 2017 12:13 pm
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Even the C lens does OK but it is imperative that it is properly calibrated to the camera with the Sigma dock which is a long and complicated procedure - it takes me about 5 hours for a single lens and one body to do it properly and I've done at least 50 of them....
 

by Gary Irwin on Wed Feb 08, 2017 3:28 pm
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Cynthia Crawford wrote: How do you capture fast action at ISO 800? It would have to be darn good light, wouldn't it?  (Not the norm here!) I am constantly cranking up the ISO to get fast shutter speed in aperture priority mode.
Yes Cynthia, very good light! My experience shooting action with the D500 mirrors that of Steve Perry's -- SS needs to be well over 1/3000 if you want all those tiny pixels to be sharp! Keeping ISO to 800 max means I don't do BIF in anything but bright conditions...just wasting my time otherwise.
Gary Likes Nature.
 

by DChan on Wed Feb 08, 2017 5:24 pm
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Talk is cheap. How about showing your most challenging fast, really fast, action shots from D500 to show why it is THE camera for them??
 

by Gary Irwin on Wed Feb 08, 2017 6:35 pm
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Here's one where I pre-focused on this speedy little grasshopper sparrow sitting on a perch and hit the shutter button when I "anticipated" launch. Even at 1/5000s the shutter speed was barely able to freeze it but the AF had no problems keeping up.)

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7303/2786 ... 0c3d_h.jpg

What I can also personally attest to is shooting many l-o-n-g sequences of ospreys on fishing runs -- certainly not the speediest shooting event but they were sequences of more than two dozen frames of continuous shooting at 10 FPS and EVERY SINGLE FRAME was in sharp focus. I have NEVER been able to do an entire series and come away with all of them in focus before the D500 (including a D3 & D4), let alone do so repeatedly. Consider me impressed.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8168/2924 ... 73a9_h.jpg
Gary Likes Nature.
 

by Cynthia Crawford on Wed Feb 08, 2017 8:10 pm
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Gary Irwin wrote:Here's one where I pre-focused on this speedy little grasshopper sparrow sitting on a perch and hit the shutter button when I "anticipated" launch. Even at 1/5000s the shutter speed was barely able to freeze it but the AF had no problems keeping up.)

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7303/2786 ... 0c3d_h.jpg

What I can also personally attest to is shooting many l-o-n-g sequences of ospreys on fishing runs -- certainly not the speediest shooting event but they were sequences of more than two dozen frames of continuous shooting at 10 FPS and EVERY SINGLE FRAME was in sharp focus. I have NEVER been able to do an entire series and come away with all of them in focus before the D500 (including a D3 & D4), let alone do so repeatedly. Consider me impressed.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8168/2924 ... 73a9_h.jpg
Those are great Gary- especially the Osprey. What lens were you using?
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by ricardo00 on Wed Feb 08, 2017 9:40 pm
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Cynthia Crawford wrote:
Gary Irwin wrote:Here's one where I pre-focused on this speedy little grasshopper sparrow sitting on a perch and hit the shutter button when I "anticipated" launch. Even at 1/5000s the shutter speed was barely able to freeze it but the AF had no problems keeping up.)

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7303/2786 ... 0c3d_h.jpg

What I can also personally attest to is shooting many l-o-n-g sequences of ospreys on fishing runs -- certainly not the speediest shooting event but they were sequences of more than two dozen frames of continuous shooting at 10 FPS and EVERY SINGLE FRAME was in sharp focus. I have NEVER been able to do an entire series and come away with all of them in focus before the D500 (including a D3 & D4), let alone do so repeatedly. Consider me impressed.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8168/2924 ... 73a9_h.jpg
Those are great Gary- especially the Osprey. What lens were you using?
Not Gary but from his flickr site, you can see that this was shot with a Nikon 600mm f/4 lens.  Thanks Gary for including your EXIF data on your site!
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by Gary Irwin on Thu Feb 09, 2017 8:12 am
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Cynthia, as Ricardo indicated the osprey shot was taken with the Nikon 600E. I also have a few on my flickr page taken with the 300PF. One thing is for certain; those tiny DX pixels require good glass, good technique and fast shutter speeds to get the most out of them. ;) Since acquiring the D500 my 80-400G has fallen somewhat out of favour for distance shooting, for example. Anyway, hope you are enjoying your D500...it's a wonderful camera.
Gary Likes Nature.
 

by DChan on Sun Feb 12, 2017 7:12 pm
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Image

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I think a better test of AF is to shoot small flying birds in close proximity with complicated background. The above sequence of shots - all full-frame - is an example of such an environment for the test IMO. One thing I noticed from the sequence is that even though the bird is off the center of the frame, the D500 still had it in focus like it was tracking it somehow (I actually noticed something similar with the D300). Photos taken with the Nikon 105 f2.8 macro.

The one below - full frame - was an unexpected shot as the pigeon took off from a rail less than 10 feet from me just to turn around and landed on another spot of the rail. On the viewfinder it was like it flew straight into my face (70-200 f2.8 @ 200mm) and I just pressed my finger on the shutter button hopping for the best. And the D500 got it pretty ok:
Image
 

by Cynthia Crawford on Sun Feb 12, 2017 8:44 pm
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DChan-Those pigeon shots are a good test of the autofocus. Well done! --the background certainly could have been a problem and it clearly wasn't. What metering/focus areas/iso were you using?
Cynthia (Cindy) Crawford-Moderator, Photo & Digital Art
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"If I Keep a Green Bough in My Heart, the Singing Bird Will Come"  Chinese Proverb
 

by DChan on Mon Feb 13, 2017 9:31 pm
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Cynthia Crawford wrote:... What metering/focus areas/iso  were you using?
For the BIF sequence: manual exposure mode, ISO 1600, 1/2000 sec, f2.8, 105mm.

For the bottom (head-on) shot : manual exposure mode, ISO 2000, 1/2000 sec. F3.5 70-200f2.8 @ 200mm.

Don't remember exactly if I used d25 or group it was either of them anyhow. I likely had switched to group when the pigeons were flying 15ft or closer and required fast responses from me and the camera.
 

by ricardo00 on Mon Feb 13, 2017 9:48 pm
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DChan wrote:... What metering/focus areas/iso  were you using?

For the BIF sequence: manual exposure mode, ISO 1600, 1/2000 sec, f2.8, 105mm.

For the bottom (head-on) shot : manual exposure mode, ISO 2000, 1/2000 sec. F3.5 70-200f2.8 @ 200mm.

Don't remember exactly if I used d25 or group it was either of them anyhow. I likely had switched to group when the pigeons were flying 15ft or closer and required fast responses from me and the camera.
Thanks!  Another quick question, were you shooting 10 fps?
thanks,
ricardo
 

by DChan on Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:11 pm
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ricardo00 wrote: Thanks!  Another quick question, were you shooting 10 fps?
thanks,
ricardo
Yes, 10 fps by default.
 

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