San Diego Wild Animal Park

mmrodenmmroden Registered Users Posts: 472 Major grins
edited May 2, 2007 in Wildlife
First time ever really trying to shoot animals!

Perched on a rock:
148265643-M-1.jpg

Hidden in the trees:
148269147-M-1.jpg

Catching up on social poop:
148273518-M-1.jpg

Lazy under a tree:
148274465-M-1.jpg

And a giant moth with an eye:

148278025-M-1.jpg

Did it with a 24-120 vr nikkor. To be frank, these shots reminded me of why I put this lens down in the first place for the 17-55. But when it all comes down to it, the 24-120 is better than the 17-55 at 120mm... but any lens recommendations for this situation would be appreciated. I'm leaning to the 105 macro vr, for having stellar quality, fairly long reach, and also able to get macroness.

Any other comments and critiques welcome!

Comments

  • JenGraceJenGrace Registered Users Posts: 1,229 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2007
    mmroden wrote:
    Catching up on social poop:
    148273518-M-1.jpg


    lol3.gif

    Cute shot! Now that so many zoos are (thankfully for the animals) leaning towards more natural appearing habitats, it's usually beneficial to have a 200 or 300 mm lens to get any decent head shots.
    Jen

    Gallery of mine...caution, it's under CONSTANT construction! | Photo Journal

    In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary. ~Aaron Rose
  • mmrodenmmroden Registered Users Posts: 472 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2007
    JenW wrote:
    lol3.gif

    Cute shot! Now that so many zoos are (thankfully for the animals) leaning towards more natural appearing habitats, it's usually beneficial to have a 200 or 300 mm lens to get any decent head shots.

    Thanks, glad you like!

    I was looking at picking up an 80-200 (at the moment, I could probably part with $500 or so, but not enough for a 70-200) or the newer 70-300 vr. I've perused the various reviews and so forth, and also scoured the different images on pbase produced by the various lenses. Consensus seems to be that the 80-200 is excellent, but no vr sucks with handholding, while the 70-300 is good but you need the vr because it's that much slower anyway. Does that seem about right?

    I see the sticky at the top there about the lenses, but that seems to be the big glass that's getting talked about there...
  • ShepsMomShepsMom Registered Users Posts: 4,319 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2007
    Wonderful set of great pictures!! Love the 1st one thumb.gif That Rhino shot is histerical rolleyes1.gif
    Marina
    www.intruecolors.com
    Nikon D700 x2/D300
    Nikon 70-200 2.8/50 1.8/85 1.8/14.24 2.8
  • mmrodenmmroden Registered Users Posts: 472 Major grins
    edited May 1, 2007
    ShepsMom wrote:
    Wonderful set of great pictures!! Love the 1st one thumb.gif That Rhino shot is histerical rolleyes1.gif

    Thanks, glad you like!
  • jonh68jonh68 Registered Users Posts: 2,711 Major grins
    edited May 1, 2007
    The VR is a seperate issue in regards to focusing. It helps once the subject is in focus. From what I have read, the 70-300mm vr is not too shabby in the focus dept.
  • mmrodenmmroden Registered Users Posts: 472 Major grins
    edited May 1, 2007
    jonh68 wrote:
    The VR is a seperate issue in regards to focusing. It helps once the subject is in focus. From what I have read, the 70-300mm vr is not too shabby in the focus dept.

    I'm not so concerned with focus as I am with the image being good. The 24-120 produces images which remind me of point-and-shoot quality, and take a bit of massaging to get them to look decent. These shots were the best out of 360 or so, and my keeper rate was much lower than it is with a prime or with the 17-55.

    The more I read, the more I think the 1992 version of the 80-200 is what I'm looking for...
  • jonh68jonh68 Registered Users Posts: 2,711 Major grins
    edited May 1, 2007
    mmroden wrote:
    I'm not so concerned with focus as I am with the image being good. The 24-120 produces images which remind me of point-and-shoot quality, and take a bit of massaging to get them to look decent. These shots were the best out of 360 or so, and my keeper rate was much lower than it is with a prime or with the 17-55.

    The more I read, the more I think the 1992 version of the 80-200 is what I'm looking for...

    If you are concerned with images being good, focus IS critical. Ever since I went with a lens with VR, my keeper rate has improved. This is in response to your question about VR helping because the lens is slow in regards to the 70-300mm VR. VR doesn't help fast focus, it just makes sure it stays in focus when the button is pressed. I have been very happy with my 18-200mm VR and I shoot animals, sports, landscapes etc with it and my images have been much sharper.
  • mmrodenmmroden Registered Users Posts: 472 Major grins
    edited May 2, 2007
    jonh68 wrote:
    If you are concerned with images being good, focus IS critical. Ever since I went with a lens with VR, my keeper rate has improved. This is in response to your question about VR helping because the lens is slow in regards to the 70-300mm VR. VR doesn't help fast focus, it just makes sure it stays in focus when the button is pressed. I have been very happy with my 18-200mm VR and I shoot animals, sports, landscapes etc with it and my images have been much sharper.

    is it focus, or is it lens wobble? I was typically shooting these at 1/1000 of a second at iso 200, the lowest the d70 can go. If the 70-300 looks as good as an 80-200 f/2.8, then that's really all the reason I need.

    Unfortunately, I've learned recently that this is all a theoretical discussion anyway-- until stuff shapes up at work, ain't no lenses gonna get bought.
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