i'm becoming a real Nikon shooter

DoctorIt

turns out this brand is really useless for anything but birds, and I think my AARP card is in the mail...

:hide

Actually, Snappy left me a nice comment on this one in my dailyphoto project, so it gave me the courage to share a few of my birds from this weekend.

Duck on saturday:



Gulls on sunday:







and an artistic flyaway to close it off:



I'm really liking this VR lens. Flying rats and run of the mill Mallards are about the only thing I can get close enough to with 200mm, but man, this glass tracks like lightning and the colors and sharpness is excellent. Pretty minimal post-process on all of these.

Thusie

Nice going!

Rohirrim

Nice captures Erik. I really like the gull on the ground, nice and sharp, well exposed, as a nit I might consider cloning out the OOF one in the background. The in flight shots are also nice, though I'd like to see a tighter crop.

DoctorIt

Rohirrim wrote:

Nice captures Erik. I really like the gull on the ground, nice and sharp, well exposed, as a nit I might consider cloning out the OOF one in the background.

funny you should mention that, I had several nice on the ground shots, but I tend to like having that sense of a group of birds. seems more real to me than that sterile "audobon catalog" style shot. I actually framed this one on purpose with a shallow DOF to blur the bird in the background.

The in flight shots are also nice, though I'd like to see a tighter crop.

Psssst - they're already cropped! Only so much you can do with a 200mm lens.

thanks!

DoctorIt

i forgot this flying rat that I was reasonably happy with. If only the background wasn't so white, but it was a dreary gray day.

snapapple

DoctorIt wrote:

i forgot this flying rat that I was reasonably happy with. If only the background wasn't so white, but it was a dreary gray day.

Nice series, Erik. I noticed the "Nikon" when I checked the exif on your daily photo. I meant to comment on that. I had no idea you had gone over to the other side.:D

Seriously though, I've really been thinking long and hard about plunking down some $$$$ for a serious lens. I'm getting tired of blur, grain and all manor of garbage on my shots. I just can't decide on the short lens for flowers and bugs, or the 70-200. I think I need the IS 'cause I'm getting shakey in my old age. AARP or not, I still like my Canon.:D

Your shots are clear and sharp. Is that 'cause of the lens or the photographer? Nice work.

DoctorIt

snapapple wrote:

Nice series, Erik. I noticed the "Nikon" when I checked the exif on your daily photo. I meant to comment on that. I had no idea you had gone over to the other side.:D

Yeah. The basic motivation was that a wanted a pro-level body with super fast buffer/frame rate/AF. Canon had nothing to offer at my price point, Nikon (and good timing) did.

Seriously though, I've really been thinking long and hard about plunking down some $$$$ for a serious lens. I'm getting tired of blur, grain and all manor of garbage on my shots. I just can't decide on the short lens for flowers and bugs, or the 70-200. I think I need the IS 'cause I'm getting shakey in my old age. AARP or not, I still like my Canon.

Your shots are clear and sharp. Is that 'cause of the lens or the photographer? Nice work.

When it comes to the birds, I'd like to think it's a little of both. I've definitely learned a thing or two about tracking, and lucky with some good light. But I have to admit, the D2H has super fast AF so it's helped my keep/toss percentage. And, just like in Canon land with the coveted 70-200 IS, the Nikkor 70-200 VR is an amazing lens. There is no substitute for f/2.8 at 200mm and a good VR/IS system. I had a Sigma 70-200/2.8 for a short time, and it was great, but not quite as good.

I would add though, that if I was getting a bird lens, I would sacrifice the VR for more length. 200mm is not enough. I would once again buy the Sigma 100-300/4 like I had with my Canon lineup. But since I wanted to be ready for bicycle racing rather than birds, I went shorter and faster.

That enough TMI for you yet?

Harryb

Good series Eric. The ducks shots were my favorites. The 70-200 is an amazing piece of glass. Everytime I've used it the results were excellent and the AF is rock solid.

DoctorIt

Harryb wrote:

Good series Eric. The ducks shots were my favorites. The 70-200 is an amazing piece of glass. Everytime I've used it the results were excellent and the AF is rock solid.

Thanks Harry! I am lovin' this setup. Still waiting for my birds to grow a bit bigger, but in the meantime, it's nice getting so many keepers.