[The1]

she found out about chewy eh?


sorry to hear the planning isn't going smoothly, how much time left to figure things out?

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by The1

who was the lucky owner of that lens? how was it to shoot?

That's my 500mm with the EF 1.4x TC added. It's great for static subjects and slow moving flight shots, but it's pure hell for quick reaction shots. I tried it yesterday and missed a just flushed pheasant cock in great light, a bald eagle flying directly over and nortern harrier hovering in the wind at close range. I would have gotten two out of three at 500mm, but missed them all at 700mm. The problems are that the AF slows down a little and it's hard to aim and keep the subject with an AF point on it.

I'm going back soon, without the TC and wishing for half the opportunities that I blew yesterday.

[fluidkaos]

Your making me want to get a 500mm now. Sadly the Nikon one is $9k! The Sigma is still $5k.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by fluidkaos

Your making me want to get a 500mm now. Sadly the Nikon one is $9k! The Sigma is still $5k.

When the Sigma was a few grand less, then I considered it a great option, but at 5-g I think it's IQ is not up to snuff vs. Nikon and Canon's primes. I wish they'd (Sigma) would make more supertele primes instead of all those zooms. There'd be a market for it.

The Series II Canon 500mm is now up to $9500, if you can get it. The yen, earthquake and tsunami are killing Nikon and Canon prices. I thank my lucky stars that I bought a year ago at $6,100. My lens is worth what I paid for it after a year of usage, and inflation.

I think the strategy for today is to spend a month or two searching for a used Nikon 500mm. Most of them are in great shape. The online lens rental shops are selling all their series I Canons and replacing them with Series II, but I don't think that something similar is going on with Nikon. Super-tele is the one area where Canon gets most of its Nikon converts. They really support the super-tele market for their users.

Another lens to consider for Nikon, if you can find one of course, is the 200-400mm f/4 and then use it with a teleconverter to get out at 500+mm.

[UdubBadger]

Originally Posted by The1

she found out about chewy eh?


sorry to hear the planning isn't going smoothly, how much time left to figure things out?

July 2nd is our date but it was colors for dresses and getting invitations out that was the pressing matter this past week.

[fluidkaos]

Originally Posted by dcstep

When the Sigma was a few grand less, then I considered it a great option, but at 5-g I think it's IQ is not up to snuff vs. Nikon and Canon's primes. I wish they'd (Sigma) would make more supertele primes instead of all those zooms. There'd be a market for it.

The Series II Canon 500mm is now up to $9500, if you can get it. The yen, earthquake and tsunami are killing Nikon and Canon prices. I thank my lucky stars that I bought a year ago at $6,100. My lens is worth what I paid for it after a year of usage, and inflation.

I think the strategy for today is to spend a month or two searching for a used Nikon 500mm. Most of them are in great shape. The online lens rental shops are selling all their series I Canons and replacing them with Series II, but I don't think that something similar is going on with Nikon. Super-tele is the one area where Canon gets most of its Nikon converts. They really support the super-tele market for their users.

Another lens to consider for Nikon, if you can find one of course, is the 200-400mm f/4 and then use it with a teleconverter to get out at 500+mm.

I'm sure back when the Yen was 100=1 prices were much better.
I looked at the 200-400mm, but went with the 80-400mm instead. I loose a bit of IQ, the ability to slap on a teleconverter, and the newer AF and stabilization on the 200-400mm, but considering the price difference it was worth it to me at this point. I'm still just an enthusiast shooting when time allows, which is not nearly as often as I would like.

[The1]

Originally Posted by dcstep

That's my 500mm with the EF 1.4x TC added. It's great for static subjects and slow moving flight shots, but it's pure hell for quick reaction shots. I tried it yesterday and missed a just flushed pheasant cock in great light, a bald eagle flying directly over and nortern harrier hovering in the wind at close range. I would have gotten two out of three at 500mm, but missed them all at 700mm. The problems are that the AF slows down a little and it's hard to aim and keep the subject with an AF point on it.

I'm going back soon, without the TC and wishing for half the opportunities that I blew yesterday.

right... I forgot about your teleconverter...

I can only imagine trying to aim and focus 700mm. And was that on top of the 1.6 crop ratio? or were you using the 5D?

[fluidkaos]

A huge sea turtle I saw off of Thailand. He was at least a meter wide. He was so docile as to sit still for 8 divers to take pictures of him before he moved.

[The1]

sweet. reminds me of snorkling in Barbados last year, there were a bunch around and they would come up and check people out, they aren't very nervous of humans at all.

[fluidkaos]

I swear the false clown fish in the first shot was a cam whore. As I would float forward in the current, he would repost at a perfect distance for taking a picture. Lion fish are real easy to shoot because they are poisonous, and know it. I guess the figure if you are dumb enough to mess with them, you deserve to get stung.

[The1]

I love the lionfish, i had one in a fish tank and he'd always swim towards my hand while i was cleaning the tank while all the other fish would go to the opposite side.

Then i'd get nervous, and clean further away from where he was... then he'd turn and head towards my hand again. This would happen 5-6 times before the tank was clean.

I took your turtle picture and i played with some of the curves on it out of curiosity, do you mind if i post the adjusted one back up?

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by The1

right... I forgot about your teleconverter...

I can only imagine trying to aim and focus 700mm. And was that on top of the 1.6 crop ratio? or were you using the 5D?

I had the 7D, so that'd be like trying to hand-hold 1120mm on the 5D2! Maybe I should try the 5D2, but its AF is quite a bit slower than the 7D. I'm pissed that I missed three great opportunities, all within about ten-minutes, but I did learn something.

I'll keep using the 1.4x TC, but only for static birds, like the starling. Here's a hawk that I took a few minutes earlier:


Hawk up close by dcstep, on Flickr

Can't complain about the IQ of the 1.4x TC. BTW, this is around an 80% crop, so it really shows off the details that the 7D is capable of capturing at ISO 800, which used to be considered high ISO. (Needed here to hand-hold all that focal length).

Dave

[The1]

lol, looks like we are about to start another Bokeh convo again

Nice shot dave, As scary as i find high ISO it really is an issue of the past with the cameras that are starting to come out these days.

I was shooting my 5DII on the weekend at ISO2000. Of course i could see grain, but considering the size of the images, if i printed them, nobody would have a clue. And the amount of detail is still there at 100% crop. It's pretty increadable that we don't even give it a second thought anymore.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by The1

lol, looks like we are about to start another Bokeh convo again

Nice shot dave, As scary as i find high ISO it really is an issue of the past with the cameras that are starting to come out these days.

I was shooting my 5DII on the weekend at ISO2000. Of course i could see grain, but considering the size of the images, if i printed them, nobody would have a clue. And the amount of detail is still there at 100% crop. It's pretty increadable that we don't even give it a second thought anymore.

I'm still a little leary of my 7D above ISO 800, but I'll crank the 5D2 up to ISO 6400 without hesitation. I love being able to shoot street scenes, hand held at night with the 5D2. It's a whole new world of photography for me.

Dave

[The1]

yeah, I was taking some shots of horses jumping on an indoor ring again this weekend, I handed my 7D off to someone to play with while i tryed to get the important shots with the 5DII I just can't get the 7D high enough to get fast shutter speeds indoors without popping the flash, and i don't want to spook the horses. The end result is a bunch of blurs going over fences.

I did shoot some around 2500 with the 5D, but it starts bugging me too much at that point, but again, it's one of those things, how big does the picture really need to be before i realize how little noise there really is at those levels.

I proved that point to a buddy of mine who shot his 60D at 1600ISO by printing a 5x7 photo, and it came out perfectly without processing of any sort, he's now no longer worried about the way they come out on TV.

[dcstep]

I'm viewing my ISO 6400 5D2 shots at 47" 1080p (from several feet) and 24.1" 1920p (up close) with no issues at all. A 5"x7" should be a piece of cake. Same for the 7D for everything up to ISO 800 with some successful shots at ISO 1600.

I haven't quite figured out when the 7D works at 7D works at ISO 1600 and when it doesn't, but the failures are nasty. They're not just noisy, but the detail dissappears and some are almost cartoonish or like someone painted with a broad brush. On the bad shots, there's lots of contrast and the middle and dark areas get really messy, even with +1EV.

Dave

[Litos]

my D700 at 6400 ISO is KING !!!!!

lol

[The1]

Originally Posted by Litos

my D700 at 6400 ISO is KING !!!!!

lol

proof req'd

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by The1

proof req'd

I'll play the first card:


Napoleon House by dcstep, on Flickr

[The1]

I'm of no help, never shot at 6400

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by The1

I'm of no help, never shot at 6400

Well, you've got everything that you need. Get busy.

[The1]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Well, you've got everything that you need. Get busy.

lol maybe i'll take a night shot from the balcony on my 16th floor later with it