# Egrets, Herons, 1 Eagle, and a new 7100



## matthewo (Jan 25, 2014)

Well I had been needing a secondary body for a quite some time.  lets keep it short and sweet the d7100 fit the bill nicely for the offerings that Nikon has at the current time.  already have a d800 that was my one and only body and love it.

On location at the dam again, and what better time to give it a try.  after a few clicks and reviewing them in camera zooming in, it struck me, this may be a very good camera.  using the 500mm with the d800 always seemed a tad bit short at times,  then I do have a 1.7 teleconverter I use sometimes.  but this d7100 and the 500mm for 750mm FX equivalent is pretty much perfect.  I had not used a DX camera in a while with a 500mm lens. so using it without the teleconverter and still getting the nice 1.5 crop factor was great.

I was also surprised at how well it focused, I might even say better then the d800, also the pixel density is greater then the d800 as well, so with subjects at the same distance using the same lens, you will have more pixels on the subject using the d7100.  I might even give the edge to the d7100 for sharpness, maybe not having the AA filter makes a bigger difference then I thought, really on images you may crop.  having the d800 not the d800e this was something new to me.

obviously there are times were the d800 will still be better, when I can fill the frame easier with the 500mm and total 36mp resolution is possible.  as well as the wider angle stuff.  after using the d800 for about 2 years I got used to the 4 fps and was ok with it.  I never filled the buffer, because it would have taken like 20+ shots at 4fps and that would have been way more then enough for any birds in flight.  but the d7100 is a bit quicker with a slower buffer, so my first sequence was cut short by a camera that wouldn't take another photo after 5 or 6 shots,  at first I thought something stopped working until I remembered I was not using my d800.

regardless these are small issue.  overall for the price I am quite astounded how well this d7100 works with the 500mm lens, its quite amazing the detail that is resolved.


1) two egrets arguing over who should get this fish that is below them






2) egret jumping out of a tree, they perch in trees along the bank waiting for fish





3) heron flying towards me





4)another egret





5)another egret





6)heron grabbing a fish 50% crop I think





7)immature eagle perched in a tree, I hated that the branch was in the way, and all the other shots the head was behind the branch.





7)the egrets were chasing each other a lot.  then the heron would chase them when they got a fish.





9) I just thought it was funny, the captain heron





10)this was shot with my d800 cause it was too close and I went and got my 70-200 out of the car. this little guy didn't even see us, we could have touched it, was so close.  probably due to his one eye


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## JacaRanda (Jan 25, 2014)

Wow.  These are all fantastic.  1 & 2 Seriously?????


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## baturn (Jan 26, 2014)

Yes. Amazing all! But 1 and 2 are crazy.


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## Don Kondra (Jan 26, 2014)

Good stuff Matt !

One thing about the D7100 you might not be aware of..

If you keep the shutter button down it will continue to shoot at a slower rate but obviously will take longer to clear the buffer.  

Cheers, Don


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## SCraig (Jan 26, 2014)

Great shots, as usual.  Very well done.


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## pjaye (Jan 26, 2014)

Wow.  Really incredible pictures.


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## coastalconn (Jan 26, 2014)

Awesome!  Love the 2nd one and the rest don't suck either  

Welcome to the D7100 club!  A few thoughts, do you have the sandisk 95 mb/s card?  It is a must with the D7100.  Obviously you have all the extra stuff turned off? ADL, NR, etc?  I have decided to shoot in 12 bit compressed.  It gives you about 9-10 shots before the buffer slows down and still can eek out a few frames per second afterwards for quite a while..  It is a surprisingly god camera for what it is.  Now you might understand the dx vs FX debates that rage across the internet...

I just did a quick test with these settings and I can get about 17 shots in 4 seconds and can continue on at 3-4 fps...


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## Braineack (Jan 26, 2014)

amazing shots.


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## matthewo (Jan 26, 2014)

thanks everyone.

yes kris, I just checked my transcend 32gig card is only 25mbps write speed, so that must be it.  I will go get a sandisk 95mb sdhc


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## Derrel (Jan 26, 2014)

Great write-up on the first outing with the D7100, and also some fine pictures too! My favorite is #2, the egret jumping out of its perch and diving...wow, that just totally conveys the feeling of "diving" to me....the feet up like that is just so cool!


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## BillM (Jan 26, 2014)

Beautiful shots and great writeup on the body, I might just add a D7100 also. And i'm sure the day after I do they will put out a D7200.


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## nmoody (Jan 26, 2014)

Wonderful first set with the new camera! I especially enjoyed #1 the two egrets, very nice capture.


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## randyphotoforum (Jan 28, 2014)

1&6 are my favs, nice work Matt, hope to see you Saturday


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## ORourkeK (Jan 28, 2014)

Wow these are all great. I really like 1, 2, and 4.


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## HL45 (Jan 28, 2014)

Amazing shots, all of them!


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## annamaria (Jan 28, 2014)

Nice set number one is amazing.


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## manicmike (Jan 28, 2014)

All of these are exceptional.


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## matthewo (Jan 28, 2014)

thanks all.  I really like the spot.


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## Josh_Houchin (Feb 3, 2014)

I will be upgrading my old Sony body to a D7100 here in the next couple of weeks.  My goal will to be get quality pics of raptors, and pheasants in flight, I debated for awhile getting the Sony A77 and its 12fps, but ultimately decided on the 7100.  This thread confirms my decision, beautiful photos....


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## astroNikon (Feb 3, 2014)

wow, awesome shots, I love them all !!


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## DarkShadow (Feb 3, 2014)

All fantastic but 1,4 and 5 for me. Absolutely Love the Dark chocolate like back ground on 4 and 5 with white Egrets just pops IMO.


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## FedericoRongaroli (Feb 4, 2014)

wow! the first is wonderful but the second is even more beautiful!!

bye


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## Tom47 (Feb 5, 2014)

Great shots, I too have found many surprises with the 7100 also.  Great camera.


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