Stuff
One Sunday we drove up to the high arctic by first heading west and then turning north onto the 890 to get to Gednje and then on to Båtsfjord (where the three of us shared two orders of really yummy French fries. On the way, at Anita North’s suggestion, we turned down a side road to get to the Tana River mudflats. As we drove by a small pool, I commented, “There should be some shorebirds in that.” What happened after that will be the subject of the next blog post 🙂 We found some photographable birds around Gednje as well.
BIRDS AS ART
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Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART
Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please scroll down here or shoot us an e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly — I offer pricing advice to those who agree to the terms — usually sells in no time flat. Over the past year, we have sold many dozens of items. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 100-400, the old 500mm, the EOS-7D and 7D Mark II and the original 400mm DO lens have been dropping steadily. You can always see the current listings by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.
Seven D850s Available Right Now!
Contact Steve below to get yours.
Money Saving Reminder
If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Patrick Sparkman saved $350 on a recent purchase!
Booking.Com
Several folks on the DeSoto IPT used the Booking.Com link below, got great rates, and saved a handsome $25.00 in the process. If you too would like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and to earn a $25 reward on your first booking. Thanks to the many who have already tried and used this great service.
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.
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This image was created at Vadso, Norway with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens and the Nikon D850. ISO 800. Matrix metering + 1 1/3 stops off the gray sky: 1/2500 sec. at f/4.5. CLOUDY WB at 7:57:38pm on a cloudy evening. Center Group (grp)/Continuous (AI Servo in Canon)/Shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was centered on the bird’s inner right wing; one AF point was on the bird’s face. Click on the image to see a larger version. Focus peaking AF Fine-tune: +5. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here. Image #1: Incoming Common Gull screaming/wings up |
The Situation
With a west wind in the late afternoon I decided to take a walk with the 600 to the eastern end of the island. There were about 40 Common Gulls loafing in the grass just before the rocks and the shoreline. Though there were no nests, several birds kept flying right at me screaming. With the dark clouds, dark gray water, and the distant mountains, there were some interesting backgrounds available. I concentrated on the gulls in flight and most especially on the birds that were landing. I stood in the same spot barely moving for close to two hours.
Screamin’ in Love With Nikon AF!
With apologies to all of my beloved Canon-using friends and clients, I must say that in 25 years of using Canon EF lenses and 17 of those years with Canon digital camera bodies, I was never once able to create super-sharp images of birds flying right at me at high speed. Today’s featured images were frames two and three of a three-frame burst, all razor sharp on the bird’s eye.
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This image, the third in a three-frame sequence, was also created at Vadso, Norway with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens and the Nikon D850. ISO 800. Matrix metering + 1 1/3 stops off the gray sky: 1/2500 sec. at f/4.5. CLOUDY WB at 7:57:38pm on a cloudy evening. Center Group (grp)/Continuous (AI Servo in Canon)/Shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was centered on the bird’s inner right wing; one AF point was on the bird’s face. Click on the image to see a larger version. Focus peaking AF Fine-tune: +5. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here. Image #2: Incoming Common Gull screaming/flat flight |
MB-D18 Multi-Power Battery Pack for the D850
I have been remiss here for several months worth of blog posts by not mentioning that my main D850 camera body (identified as MAI) is outfitted with the Nikon MB-D18 Multi-Power Battery Pack ($396.95) and the Nikon EN-EL18b Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery (10.8V, 2500mAh) (149.00). But amazingly, that will not get the job done; Nikon rips you off for another $24.95 for the Nikon BL-5 Battery Chamber Cover for MB-D12 Battery Pack. Not to worry, the Battery Chamber Cover works with the MB-D12, the MB-D17, and the MB-D18 Battery Packs. Just so you understand correctly, they charge you $396.95 for the MB-D18 Battery Pack that is cannot be used without the Battery Chamber Cover; you gotta love that.
Though an over-priced ripoff, these three items enable you to get from seven to nine frames per second. At the cost of the additional weight of course. I renamed the image files from my back-up D850 as BUP. Out of the box all Nikon digital cameras affix DSC as the identifier …
Renaming Your Nikon Camera Body Image Files
To change the three letter identifier on your Nikon body go to the Photo Shooting Menu and scroll down to the fourth item, File naming. Then hit the right arrow, select your new three letter code, and hit OK. This makes a lot of sense if you own more than one body, a must if you do any serious photo trips. Canon names the image files with a camera-specific code right out of the box. As mentioned here previously, that makes a lot more sense to me. One of my 5D Matk IV bodies was _W5A, the other was _P3A. With both Canon and Nikon the underscore before the file number indicates that you are properly set up to capture in Adobe RGB (not in sRGB).
Your Favorite?
Which of today’s two featured images is your favorite, wings up or wings flat? Be sure to let us know why you made your choice.
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An Unsharpened 100% crop of the master TIFF file for Image #2 |
In Case You Thought That I Was Exaggerating On the Sharpness …
The JPEG above is a 100% crop of the optimized image file. Today’s two featured images were healthy crops to begin with. Thus, the tight crop above is a testament to both the Nikon autofocus system and the amazing quality of a sharp D850 image file.
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Typos
In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).
Hey Arthur, Both are nice frames really like the first one though. The three toned background is quite neat.
Another beautiful example of the “ Miracle of Flight ! “. From that point of view my choice is # 1 … the aerodynamic expression of awesome Purpose . They are ALL GREAT ! If I wished to get all three in one print is the sequence they are in in this e-m, would that be possible?
In that regard , in the recent e-m responce that got erased, there was a “ landing Gull “ that I was interested in . As I remember, it was the first Image. Availability ?
Christian
Hi Christian,
Thanks for your kind comments. All BIRDS AS ART images are available as signed prints. Shoot me an e-mail to samandmayasgrandpa@att.net and let me know what sizes you are interested in. I am glad that you re-surfaced. I saw your question about the fighting kittiwakes image and was going to repost it in hopes that you would see it. I did not think that I would lose the comments when I had to delete that post …
with love, artie
Just wanted to point out that when shooting RAW, setting for aRGB is meaningless. That will only affect JPEG files. I’m sure you know this, so curious why you use aRGB?
Nice images, both.
Did not know that 🙂 Why do I do it? Because lots of folks who I was sure were smarter than me told me to do it.
with love, artie
Or, I should have said, the way the wings flow (curvatures).
Wings level. Love the way the line of the wing flows.
Artie: Glad you’re getting better opportunities for photography. I do prefer the bird with the flat (spread-out) wings. As for Canon AF, I am sending you separately an image I made a few years ago with my Canon 7DII and the 400 f/5.6L (your “toy lens”) of a great black-backed gull coming at me head-on in really sharp focus. The image quality could be better but not because of any failure of Canon’s AF. I get that the new Nikons have better AF than Canons, but I don’t get that it’s THAT much better.
HI David,
Thanks for sharing. For me, the Nikon AF is far, far better. With birds flying right at me at high speed with Canon they were always sharp, sharp on the bird’s feet. Again, that is for me.
with love, artie
Dear Artie,
you wrote the following:
… I must say that in 25 years of using Canon EF lenses and 17 of those years with Canon digital camera bodies, I was never once able to create super-sharp images of birds flying right at me at high speed. …
This might be true for you, but not necessarily for anybody else. I use (since foury years) for birds in flight photography very successfully a EOS 6D together with the EF 200-400. I was able to create tons of super sharp images of birds flying right at me at high speed at max. focal length and with the center autofocus point only … and that even with the much maligned autofocus system of the EOS 6D. As long as I keep the center autofocus point of the EOS 6D precisely on the subject, the focus acquisition of the 6D is fast enough for fast birds flying right at me. I as well own a EOS 7D MK II. The autofocus system of the EOS 7D MK II is much better in comparison to the EOS 6D and my 7D keeper rate ist higher in comparison to the 6D.
Hi Hogler, Yes, for me. See my comments to David 🙂
with love, artie
ps: do understand that the speed of initial focusing acquisition has nothing to g=do with AF tracking accuracy.
I prefer the wings flat version. Usually, my tastes lean toward in-flight images with some bend in the wings but not this time. It reminds me of some sort of long-winged jet or glider. Really nice.
Yes, Artie Canon AF just isn’t up to snuff for BIF especially when they are flying right at you. Now, if it’s a 280# LB filling the frame it seems to do just fine.
Superior Nikon AF…….understood….has this improvement come with the introduction of D850 body?
I think you should see this sort of autofocus precision with the D850, D5 and even the crop sensor D500. Of those, I personally only have experience with the D500 but I can tell you it blows away my older full frame D800 body for Autofocus.
Wings flat for me – not sure why. Gorgeous image!
I love the wings level image Artie.
Wow! Believe wings level as they match the horizontal lines in the background.