How come nobody buy the 80-400mm VR lens??

[Reno]

Waaa...u slowly release some tips...

No lah... its my findings...... i was wondering how come my bird photos are are sharp but there is no feather details shown on the photo, so i was playing around with the settings and by chance i found that the feather details will be shown in RAW rather than JPEG. But then when i shoot RAW, the sensor noise is killing my photos if i shoot at ISO400 and above on my D200.

Since you using D700, these should not be a problem for you.

 

[AxeLa]

No lah... its my findings...... i was wondering how come my bird photos are are sharp but there is no feather details shown on the photo, so i was playing around with the settings and by chance i found that the feather details will be shown in RAW rather than JPEG. But then when i shoot RAW, the sensor noise is killing my photos if i shoot at ISO400 and above on my D200.

Since you using D700, these should not be a problem for you.

Ok....today took these shots while @ Marina Barrage....parrot?

 

[AxeLa]

 

[Reno]

Ok....today took these shots while @ Marina Barrabe....parrot?

its a ringneck parakeet. Very noisy fellow.... making a lot of noise during flight. You can find them a lot at changi village.

 

[Reno]

Taken using D200 with 80-400mm tripod mount with Sidekick. Too tired to handheld.

Common kingfisher

 

[AxeLa]

its a ringneck parakeet. Very noisy fellow.... making a lot of noise during flight. You can find them a lot at changi village.

Thks.....phew....:bsmilie:

 

[Reno]

One of my favourite photos taken in Dallas, Texas.

D200 with 80-400mm VR handheld.

 

[AxeLa]

One of my favourite photos taken in Dallas, Texas.

D200 with 80-400mm VR handheld.

Very nice....:thumbsup:

 

[knpan]

No lah... its my findings...... i was wondering how come my bird photos are are sharp but there is no feather details shown on the photo, so i was playing around with the settings and by chance i found that the feather details will be shown in RAW rather than JPEG. But then when i shoot RAW, the sensor noise is killing my photos if i shoot at ISO400 and above on my D200.

Since you using D700, these should not be a problem for you.

Hi Reno, VERY TRUE !!

I encounter the same problem when converting from Raw. Must shoot below ISO 400 if not there is noise for d200! That will only happen when, Sharpess is MAX out at 100, Luminance is 0. Color Noise dont really affect, but i leave it at 10.

Cause i want sharpness, so i totally remove out the Luminance. Set it to 0. Because the 80-400 is not that sharp as prime, have to sacrifice noise in the pic for sharpness.

For example when i use the 50 1.4, it is so sharp, i can afford to put some luminance control to about 50 percent and still, the image is very sharp.

For the 80 400, to counter that noise, i make luminance to 0, sharpenss to Max at 100, then, after that use filter and make noise reduction to 100 percent. Note that when it is at noise reduction at 100 percent, all the noise is gone totally at Iso 800 and below, but the pic becomes totally soft !So, i layer out the area that i want it to be sharp.

overall good pic with photoshop.

Cheers

 

[prolensdreamer]

I cant stop following this thread as it is so educational. I really pick up alot from those who shares.Thanks guys.

brother reno, you are not only good in taking pictures, you are also an bird expert, just from 1 look at a picture, you already know what bird it is.:thumbsup:I shall address you "bird man" in future

BTW, I also been poisoned by this thread. I think I may end up burning my year end bonus(If have lah)on this beauty.:sweatbye bye my AFS 80-400mm, cant wait anymore)

 

[AxeLa]

Ha ha.....by year end maybe got new model??:sweatsm:

 

[Reno]

Hi Reno, VERY TRUE !!

I encounter the same problem when converting from Raw. Must shoot below ISO 400 if not there is noise for d200! That will only happen when, Sharpess is MAX out at 100, Luminance is 0. Color Noise dont really affect, but i leave it at 10.

Cause i want sharpness, so i totally remove out the Luminance. Set it to 0. Because the 80-400 is not that sharp as prime, have to sacrifice noise in the pic for sharpness.

For example when i use the 50 1.4, it is so sharp, i can afford to put some luminance control to about 50 percent and still, the image is very sharp.

For the 80 400, to counter that noise, i make luminance to 0, sharpenss to Max at 100, then, after that use filter and make noise reduction to 100 percent. Note that when it is at noise reduction at 100 percent, all the noise is gone totally at Iso 800 and below, but the pic becomes totally soft !So, i layer out the area that i want it to be sharp.

overall good pic with photoshop.

Cheers

I suspect its the camera body itself, unless i got another better body to test with, i can't help but to suspect the body sensor problem.

Lens quality helps a lot if you want sharp photos, we cannot compare it to a prime lens of the similar length. The built and quality is totally different as the price and weight tells you why prime lens cost so much. If one wants to go for sharpness, one have to bite the bullet and go for the best lens.

 

[Reno]

I cant stop following this thread as it is so educational. I really pick up alot from those who shares.Thanks guys.

brother reno, you are not only good in taking pictures, you are also an bird expert, just from 1 look at a picture, you already know what bird it is.:thumbsup:I shall address you "bird man" in future

BTW, I also been poisoned by this thread. I think I may end up burning my year end bonus(If have lah)on this beauty.:sweatbye bye my AFS 80-400mm, cant wait anymore)

you are too kind, there are a lot of birders here, just that they are not that active here. My knowledge in birds are limited, it just happen that i got to know them from photos from the hardcore birders who post their photos here for comment..

 

[alvin]

I rented the 80-400 for a few days, today I went to the SBWR, later today I'll probably try it out at the bird park, and zoo later.

Right now, while the IQ is pretty good, I'm not used to the handling, and the AF speed on my d200 is.... lacking...

Here's some pics:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCCOYEvX8I/AAAAAAAACPY/FsF1-9IPZuc/s1600-h/dsc_7471_web.jpg


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCCwdh1PNI/AAAAAAAACPg/KXUSMSYCkQA/s1600-h/dsc_7515_web.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCEEKdWHyI/AAAAAAAACPo/2Yg5_hVHKd0/s1600-h/dsc_7528_web.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCERW-zF4I/AAAAAAAACPw/US_RJl0kYEE/s1600-h/dsc_7534_web.jpg


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCEnZKHwcI/AAAAAAAACP4/2brfU_sexXs/s1600-h/dsc_7540_web.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCE3tdAt4I/AAAAAAAACQA/Dw8h-JR54wQ/s1600-h/dsc_7558_web.jpg

This one was with the 16-85: I dare not use a rental lens in the rain!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCGHkg9E7I/AAAAAAAACQQ/hKAEpH28CXo/s1600-h/dsc_7667_web.jpg

 

[AxeLa]

I rented the 80-400 for a few days, today I went to the SBWR, later today I'll probably try it out at the bird park, and zoo later.

Right now, while the IQ is pretty good, I'm not used to the handling, and the AF speed on my d200 is.... lacking...

Here's some pics:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCCOYEvX8I/AAAAAAAACPY/FsF1-9IPZuc/s1600-h/dsc_7471_web.jpg


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCCwdh1PNI/AAAAAAAACPg/KXUSMSYCkQA/s1600-h/dsc_7515_web.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCEEKdWHyI/AAAAAAAACPo/2Yg5_hVHKd0/s1600-h/dsc_7528_web.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCERW-zF4I/AAAAAAAACPw/US_RJl0kYEE/s1600-h/dsc_7534_web.jpg


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCEnZKHwcI/AAAAAAAACP4/2brfU_sexXs/s1600-h/dsc_7540_web.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCE3tdAt4I/AAAAAAAACQA/Dw8h-JR54wQ/s1600-h/dsc_7558_web.jpg

This one was with the 16-85: I dare not use a rental lens in the rain!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCGHkg9E7I/AAAAAAAACQQ/hKAEpH28CXo/s1600-h/dsc_7667_web.jpg

Thks for the contributions....:thumbsup:

 

[Reno]

I rented the 80-400 for a few days, today I went to the SBWR, later today I'll probably try it out at the bird park, and zoo later.

Right now, while the IQ is pretty good, I'm not used to the handling, and the AF speed on my d200 is.... lacking...

Here's some pics:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCCOYEvX8I/AAAAAAAACPY/FsF1-9IPZuc/s1600-h/dsc_7471_web.jpg


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCCwdh1PNI/AAAAAAAACPg/KXUSMSYCkQA/s1600-h/dsc_7515_web.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCEEKdWHyI/AAAAAAAACPo/2Yg5_hVHKd0/s1600-h/dsc_7528_web.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCERW-zF4I/AAAAAAAACPw/US_RJl0kYEE/s1600-h/dsc_7534_web.jpg


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCEnZKHwcI/AAAAAAAACP4/2brfU_sexXs/s1600-h/dsc_7540_web.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCE3tdAt4I/AAAAAAAACQA/Dw8h-JR54wQ/s1600-h/dsc_7558_web.jpg

This one was with the 16-85: I dare not use a rental lens in the rain!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRCGHkg9E7I/AAAAAAAACQQ/hKAEpH28CXo/s1600-h/dsc_7667_web.jpg

Remember to bring along your flash.... the lightings in the birdpark is bad...

 

[alvin]

Reno, thanks for your advice! Indeed, the light was bad that day, in fact it was overcast and raining at times, I was really wishing that I owned a D700 and could use some high iso to compensate! I'm also interested to get a flash soon, will probably rent one first before deciding. Thus far, I've relied mostly on my 200's fill flash. Seems to work reasonably well.

Here are a few pics using the 80-400 from the JBP.

Oddly enough, when I was there, while the AF was still slow, it only hunted once or twice. I managed to get some nice zoom tracks of a pelican landing. Unfortunately, it was next to useless attempting to focus on birds flying towards the camera Even my 70-300 was not able to keep up. Ah well.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRRSZIdiBvI/AAAAAAAACQY/Kp-DS42xAdQ/s1600/dsc_7748_web.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRRSryvNh_I/AAAAAAAACQg/0KlILRSpU7I/s1600/dsc_7777_web.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRRTO2YEPWI/AAAAAAAACQo/GKxyk3xzPQc/s1600/dsc_7828_web.jpg <- does anyone know what species of bird this is? I kinda forgot
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRRVzbOVFtI/AAAAAAAACQ4/EteOlX-dlkU/s1600/dsc_8304_web.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRRUdq4UBxI/AAAAAAAACQw/6xGe2lPapAc/s1600/dsc_8086_web.jpg <- this one is shot using the 70-300VR.

All pics resized using Gimp, no USM used. Bibble 4.10 for raw processing.

Shooting at 400mm is really difficult, man, I gotta work on my technique.

 

[AxeLa]

Reno, thanks for your advice! Indeed, the light was bad that day, in fact it was overcast and raining at times, I was really wishing that I owned a D700 and could use some high iso to compensate! I'm also interested to get a flash soon, will probably rent one first before deciding. Thus far, I've relied mostly on my 200's fill flash. Seems to work reasonably well.

Here are a few pics using the 80-400 from the JBP.

Oddly enough, when I was there, while the AF was still slow, it only hunted once or twice. I managed to get some nice zoom tracks of a pelican landing. Unfortunately, it was next to useless attempting to focus on birds flying towards the camera Even my 70-300 was not able to keep up. Ah well.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRRSZIdiBvI/AAAAAAAACQY/Kp-DS42xAdQ/s1600/dsc_7748_web.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRRSryvNh_I/AAAAAAAACQg/0KlILRSpU7I/s1600/dsc_7777_web.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRRTO2YEPWI/AAAAAAAACQo/GKxyk3xzPQc/s1600/dsc_7828_web.jpg <- does anyone know what species of bird this is? I kinda forgot
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRRVzbOVFtI/AAAAAAAACQ4/EteOlX-dlkU/s1600/dsc_8304_web.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KY8u6Ufs4rs/SRRUdq4UBxI/AAAAAAAACQw/6xGe2lPapAc/s1600/dsc_8086_web.jpg <- this one is shot using the 70-300VR.

All pics resized using Gimp, no USM used. Bibble 4.10 for raw processing.

Shooting at 400mm is really difficult, man, I gotta work on my technique.

Link broken...:cry:

 

[alvin]

Ops, dang, perhaps blogger does not allow hotlinking? Those links work for me

Anyways, here's my blogpost about this:
http://wolfbrother.blogspot.com/2008/11/nikon-80-400-day-2-jurong-bird-park.html

Hope that works mate!

Alvin

 

[Zeddy]

Link broken...:cry:

Works fine here.