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After having the new D800 for over a week, I finally got to head out on Saturday and test it on some birds. I was hoping the camera still had Kris' magic lingering on it. Alas, the camera did only what *I* made it do, rather than remembering what HE told it to do. 
I love this thing, even for birding. I can definitely see where the crop sensor matters for that long reach of bird photography, but the difference in low light is way more than enough to make up for it.
I went out early Saturday morning. Couldn't decide whether to head north an hour to one of my favorite general birding spots, or south 90 minutes to my favorite Osprey spot. So…I did both. Went north first, then headed south around noon and spent the rest of the day with the Osprey.
On my drive up to the first spot, it was beautiful--gorgeous sunrise, clear skies, shaping up to be an absolutely perfect day. I get to my spot…and the fog is thick as pea soup! I kept thinking it would burn off anytime--well, it did finally burn off, at about 10 a.m.!
With the D7000, in that kind of thick fog, my ISO would have been cranked so high, the pictures would have been pretty much useless except for maybe viewing online with a LOT of noise reduction.
With the D800, the results were far better.
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher:
Yellow Warbler:
Prothonotary Warbler (PW): These loud little birds were everywhere. I've only ever seen a couple of them before this weekend. Saturday, I probably saw at least 20-24 of them.
This PW put on a show for me. It came zipping by my ear, I almost had to duck it flew so close to me. Then it landed on a branch RIGHT behind me, less than 4 feet away. I had to back up to get to a place where I could get some shots of it, but it just sat there, not concerned with my movements at all. Then it start flapping its wings, in what I assume was some sort of mating ritual.
Then, I headed off south to Dayton, TN, home of my favorite pair of Osprey.
This was where I had my first significant learning-curve issues with the D800. Kris had the camera set to BBF, which I've never used, but I thought since it was already set up that way, I might as well take advantage and learn how to use it. I tried ONCE on my D7000 and didn't like it, but I really didn't give it a fair chance at the time, literally set it that way for about an hour then switched back.
So far, once I got used to it, I've like the BBF. But then came the Osprey…and I missed focus on almost every single in-flight shot where the birds were coming toward me. Just could NOT lock focus on them! Missed what should have been some truly excellent shots--I ended up with ONE OIF (Osprey in Flight) shot that I thought was decent.
Got a few nice ones of them in the nest, though.
Osprey Pose
Osprey Tug-of-War
The ONE OIF shot I liked:
All in all, I'm loving the D800. Being able to crop the bejeebers out of a photo and still have something usable left is pretty awesome. If I continue to miss the in-flight stuff I may try switching back to shutter focus, but since I plan to shoot a lot of stuff BESIDES birds with this thing, I'm trying to give it a fair chance.
As always, general comments, C&C and witty banter are appreciated!
I love this thing, even for birding. I can definitely see where the crop sensor matters for that long reach of bird photography, but the difference in low light is way more than enough to make up for it.
I went out early Saturday morning. Couldn't decide whether to head north an hour to one of my favorite general birding spots, or south 90 minutes to my favorite Osprey spot. So…I did both. Went north first, then headed south around noon and spent the rest of the day with the Osprey.
On my drive up to the first spot, it was beautiful--gorgeous sunrise, clear skies, shaping up to be an absolutely perfect day. I get to my spot…and the fog is thick as pea soup! I kept thinking it would burn off anytime--well, it did finally burn off, at about 10 a.m.!
With the D7000, in that kind of thick fog, my ISO would have been cranked so high, the pictures would have been pretty much useless except for maybe viewing online with a LOT of noise reduction.
With the D800, the results were far better.
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher:
Yellow Warbler:
Prothonotary Warbler (PW): These loud little birds were everywhere. I've only ever seen a couple of them before this weekend. Saturday, I probably saw at least 20-24 of them.
This PW put on a show for me. It came zipping by my ear, I almost had to duck it flew so close to me. Then it landed on a branch RIGHT behind me, less than 4 feet away. I had to back up to get to a place where I could get some shots of it, but it just sat there, not concerned with my movements at all. Then it start flapping its wings, in what I assume was some sort of mating ritual.
Then, I headed off south to Dayton, TN, home of my favorite pair of Osprey.
This was where I had my first significant learning-curve issues with the D800. Kris had the camera set to BBF, which I've never used, but I thought since it was already set up that way, I might as well take advantage and learn how to use it. I tried ONCE on my D7000 and didn't like it, but I really didn't give it a fair chance at the time, literally set it that way for about an hour then switched back.
So far, once I got used to it, I've like the BBF. But then came the Osprey…and I missed focus on almost every single in-flight shot where the birds were coming toward me. Just could NOT lock focus on them! Missed what should have been some truly excellent shots--I ended up with ONE OIF (Osprey in Flight) shot that I thought was decent.
Got a few nice ones of them in the nest, though.
Osprey Pose
Osprey Tug-of-War
The ONE OIF shot I liked:
All in all, I'm loving the D800. Being able to crop the bejeebers out of a photo and still have something usable left is pretty awesome. If I continue to miss the in-flight stuff I may try switching back to shutter focus, but since I plan to shoot a lot of stuff BESIDES birds with this thing, I'm trying to give it a fair chance.
As always, general comments, C&C and witty banter are appreciated!
