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The D800E Visits the Wetlands
Hi Y'all,
I've been sick as the proverbial dog for the last few days. My spirits were brightened Wednesday when my local camera store told me that they had just received a D800E and since I was #1 on the list ..... Linda drove to the store and I took possesion of the camera and went home. By Thursday I felt well enough to take it out of the box. This afternoon I was feeling a tad spunky so I went down to the wetlands and gave the 800E a spin.
Initially I was upset with the top and rear LCD because they were so dark I couldn't see a damn thing. My initial captures were done w/o any feedback that I could read from the camera. I stopped for a moment to clean my glasses when I realized I was wearing my sunglasses. Once I took them off the LCD became amazingly bright and readable. :doh
Anyhow here are some of my initial tries
This is the slow time of the year so I ended up taking some captures I would normally pass up.
A sandhill crane flew past
Fortunately the black bellied whistling ducks have moved in and they put on a pretty good show at
sundown
It wasn't bad outing for the first time with a new camera. The AF is fast and accurate. The details are very good and the images require virtually no sharpening. I had more misses than I normally do but I expect that will improve as I get more used to the camera. My results were better when I used a tripod. The large file sizes did not overwhelm my PC and I had no problems processing them.
I've been sick as the proverbial dog for the last few days. My spirits were brightened Wednesday when my local camera store told me that they had just received a D800E and since I was #1 on the list ..... Linda drove to the store and I took possesion of the camera and went home. By Thursday I felt well enough to take it out of the box. This afternoon I was feeling a tad spunky so I went down to the wetlands and gave the 800E a spin.
Initially I was upset with the top and rear LCD because they were so dark I couldn't see a damn thing. My initial captures were done w/o any feedback that I could read from the camera. I stopped for a moment to clean my glasses when I realized I was wearing my sunglasses. Once I took them off the LCD became amazingly bright and readable. :doh
Anyhow here are some of my initial tries
This is the slow time of the year so I ended up taking some captures I would normally pass up.
A sandhill crane flew past
Fortunately the black bellied whistling ducks have moved in and they put on a pretty good show at
sundown
It wasn't bad outing for the first time with a new camera. The AF is fast and accurate. The details are very good and the images require virtually no sharpening. I had more misses than I normally do but I expect that will improve as I get more used to the camera. My results were better when I used a tripod. The large file sizes did not overwhelm my PC and I had no problems processing them.
Harry
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
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I'm a Canon user myself, and for the most part, as a wildlife photographer, have always been very happy with my 7D, however, I'm often greatly frustrated with what I regard as the 7D's piss-poor performance when it come to working with ISOs greater than 400. I can only hope they'll have addressed this issue properly when they finally launch the 7D MK II, whenever that will be, and when they do I'll be in a position to buy it!
BTW, love your BIF shots. While no doubt you're using Nikon lenses, what's the reach of the one you used for these image above?
http://NatureImpressions.smugmug.com
I was using the 200-400 f/4 with the 2.0 TC. One of the big thjngs that got me to go go for the D4 and D800E was the ability to AF at f/8. The focal lengths for the BIFs ranged from 460mm to 700mm. The ISOs were 1600 for the BIfs.
Canon seems to have raised their game with high ISOs with their latest release. I'm betting that the 1DX will be a real advance that will give the D4 a challenge. Its really a sweet time for photographers now with so many outstanding options from so many manufacturers.
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
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Thanks for the feedback Harry!
While the competition between all these manufacturers at least means that discoveries they make, which greatly improves the performance of a camera, are made available to us sooner rather than later, as they all seem to price their comparative models so closely, it still means a large investment each time a new release comes out, which is rather unfortunate, but that's the nature of large commercial business.
http://NatureImpressions.smugmug.com
I watched the same video on YouTube and was kind of left wondering why they would expect the D800E at almost twice the MP be able to transfer data to the buffer and card as fast as the Canon? Or to have comparable frame rates. These are not two cameras that can really be compared using that criteria. I believe the D800E actually transfers data faster than the 5D but just have more per image to deal with, but they never mentioned that.
These are two great cameras. Both will be excellent.
Monte
http://rckimaging.smugmug.com/
Just butter sweet..
Good going
Gale
www.pbase.com/techwish
Hi Monte,
While that guy did a far better job than I could do at presenting, it did feel like he was trying a little to hard to be like Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson; coming across as extremely knowledgeable in an amusing and entertaining way. I think he tended he exaggerate what he regarded as the slightly negative aspects of each camera, as simple truth is, both cameras seem to be very good.
As a wildlife photographer extra frames per second is sometimes very important to me, which is one of the reasons why I like my 7D so much. At the same time, for all people say about more than 12 megapixels being superfluous, there's been plenty of occasions I've been out in the field unable to get close enough to a bird, even with the 7D's multiplication factor of 1.6 and a 1.4x converter attached to my 500mm lens, where I'd loved to have had 36 megapixels working for me instead of the 7D's 18, knowing that I could crop the image greatly and probably still come up with a great image to print.
If I could afford to invest more on equipment right now, while still loyal to Canon, I'd be seriously tempted to go with a Nikon this time, though main reason being the greater performance it gives at higher ISOs.
BTW Harry, I love your Osprey capture, excellent work on the exposure, the detail and textures are fantastic!
http://NatureImpressions.smugmug.com
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I think you could title that last 3 or 4 "coming in for a landing". Love em'
I wonder how well the photos will print in a very large size, given the 36mp. In the past the number of MP was not a consideration for me, but I suspect for your type of photography it could be.
Phil
"You don't take a photograph, you make it." ~Ansel Adams
Phil
Thanks David, so far I'm very happy with my new toy.
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
Congrats on your D800 Robert and I look forward to seeing how you made out at Ding. In the endIprobbaly won't be doing a comparison of the two cameras. They are very different beasts with different strengths and weaknesses.
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
Thanks Gale
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
Thanks Pam, its always fun to take out a new toy and give it a spin.
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
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We will have a blast in Africa. Can't wait to hook with y'all again.
Times have changed Andy. We used to compare Canon to Nikon results. Now its Nikon to Nikon.:ivar
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"