Finally got my Tamzooka today.
- Thread starter Grumpa
- Start date
You are going to LOVE LOVE LOVE itLooking forward to seeing some shots. You'll not likely have any problem handheld. If I can do it anyone can!!
I shoot handheld also, but it gets really, really heavy when those birds of prey are over your head for long periods of time.
Well, my first outing with it didn't turn out quite like I'd hoped. No great shots, a few pretty good ones and a ton that will go in the trash bin. I'd like to blame it on the overcast dreary day we had but I think it had more to do with me not knowing my equipment than anything else. I played around with the settings all day long and don't think I ever did hit on the right combination. May take me awhile but I'll get it figured out eventually. I'm a slow learner but when I get it; I got it.
Due to the low light conditions we decided to go to a preserve where the residents are used to seeing people so aren't as spooky as they would be out in the real world so they'll often let you approach fairly close. Don't have any long shots to show off cause all the long shots were terrible, no way I'm showing them to anybody. ( : But I shot some mallards at about fifty yards or so that turned out alright and we were treated to a couple of bull elks sparring with each other so close I had to zoom way in just to get them both in the pic. Hadn't seen that before so that was pretty cool and managed to get a few shot's of that that came out alright,and one red-headed woodpecker.
Due to the low light conditions we decided to go to a preserve where the residents are used to seeing people so aren't as spooky as they would be out in the real world so they'll often let you approach fairly close. Don't have any long shots to show off cause all the long shots were terrible, no way I'm showing them to anybody. ( : But I shot some mallards at about fifty yards or so that turned out alright and we were treated to a couple of bull elks sparring with each other so close I had to zoom way in just to get them both in the pic. Hadn't seen that before so that was pretty cool and managed to get a few shot's of that that came out alright,and one red-headed woodpecker.
Thanks mikew, I managed to come up with a few good shots but my keeper percentage was way down there in the basement. But looking at the radar just now it looks like we should get some sunshine for a couple of hours this morning so hoping the better light conditions will help me some.
J-see,the elk shots were kind of cheating. The preserve where we did our shooting yesterday is the only place within several hundred miles that you'd see any around here. I don't often go there because it's sort of like shooting zoo animals, not quite that bad since they do freely roam about a large area but they've lost most of their natural wariness so it's not much of a challenge to get close to them. Only reason for going there yesterday was because I knew I'd need to be close to get good shots in the dull light we had. Today looks more promising though with sunshine in the forecast.
Missouri has a great Conservation commission and they've preserved many natural areas across the state. Check with your state conservation commission and see what they have near you. Wetlands in particular are my favorite. They're great places to find a big variety of wildlife. This time of year they fill up with migrating waterfowl which stop over to rest up and feed for awhile before heading further south. With so many ducks around, predators like coyotes, fox, eagles, etc. are also drawn to the areas so you never know what you might find there. Spring migration is even better because hunting season is long over by then and the ducks aren't quite as jumpy. Don't know where you live but surely there are some natural areas within reasonable driving distance, or maybe not, but check around, you might be surprised.
Missouri has a great Conservation commission and they've preserved many natural areas across the state. Check with your state conservation commission and see what they have near you. Wetlands in particular are my favorite. They're great places to find a big variety of wildlife. This time of year they fill up with migrating waterfowl which stop over to rest up and feed for awhile before heading further south. With so many ducks around, predators like coyotes, fox, eagles, etc. are also drawn to the areas so you never know what you might find there. Spring migration is even better because hunting season is long over by then and the ducks aren't quite as jumpy. Don't know where you live but surely there are some natural areas within reasonable driving distance, or maybe not, but check around, you might be surprised.
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We have some areas around here that have small wildlife but it requires patience and silence. Sadly it not only is hunting season, plenty of people going for a walk in nature, or ride their mountain bike, think it is great to have conversations anyone within two miles can hear.
It's pretty hard to find woodpeckers when all you hear is local gossip.
If all goes as planned, I start roadtripping around next summer. Then I can pick the good spot all through Europe.
It's pretty hard to find woodpeckers when all you hear is local gossip.
If all goes as planned, I start roadtripping around next summer. Then I can pick the good spot all through Europe.
Here as well, the elk we shot yesterday are an exception because they are fully protected and have grown used to people gawking at them. If those elk were truly wild it would likely require an hour long stalk followed by a hundred yard belly crawl to get that close. My belly crawling days are long over so I usually just find a likely spot and make myself as inconspicuous as possible and wait for the wildlife to come to me. Nothing hard about it but patience is definitely required.
Thanks grandpaw. I tried several different ISO settings yesterday, everywhere from 100 all the way up to 800 in order to get my shutterspeeds up in the dull light we had but I haven't figured out how to remove the graininess yet caused by the high ISO settings. Up until very recently I'd been processing my photos with an ancient Paint Shop Pro program that I bought way back around the turn of the century and only recently bought Elements 12 so I'm kind of just fumbling and stumbling around with it and trying to learn on the fly how to use it. I see the exif on so many photos with extremely high ISO settings that look great so I know it's possible to remove the graininess, I just need to play with it some more and eventually I'll figure it out. Thanks for the advice.
Took it out today and had a lot better light and came home with some pretty nice shots, enough to know I'm gonna love this lense! Thanks again for the advice.
Took it out today and had a lot better light and came home with some pretty nice shots, enough to know I'm gonna love this lense! Thanks again for the advice.
Vixen
Senior Member
I think you did well on your first outing. All new lenses have a trial n error factor at first. The Tamzooka is pretty big and that in itself is a challenge at first.
I tend to set to Aperture Priority, aperture as open as it will go, ISO on auto (but limited to 2000) and let the camera choose the shutter speed. I set my image area to 1.3 crop and focus to continuous tracking. I shoot mostly birds but it seems OK with animals too.
I tend to set to Aperture Priority, aperture as open as it will go, ISO on auto (but limited to 2000) and let the camera choose the shutter speed. I set my image area to 1.3 crop and focus to continuous tracking. I shoot mostly birds but it seems OK with animals too.
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If you still struggle with noise you could try the Nik tools,its a plug in for elements and you can have it on a free trial,it does other great things also.
https://www.google.com/nikcollection/
https://www.google.com/nikcollection/
Thanks Vixen, I know that a lot of photographers use the Aperture Priority mode and I may eventually go there myself but I'm still in the experimenting stage with the D7100 (and now the Tamron) so I've been shooting almost everything in straight manual so far. I do that because it allows me to try anything and everything which is pretty much what I do. If I get a cooperative subject I'll often try several different settings just to see the results. I can read a hundred articles on something but I usually end up more confused that when I started so just experimenting in the field is what works best for me. The hardest part is remembering what works and what doesn't. One definite positive result of all the tinkering though is that I'm slowly getting to know my way around the camera and how to quickly find the right button to push or wheel to rotate, etc etc. ( :
Like you, I shoot birds more than anything else too and because of that I have the U1 setting set up just for flyers. Aperture wide open, fast shutter, low ISO and multi-focus points. But lately I've been practicing on slow flyers with just a single focus point though and will probably go to to that for everything before long. It does a lot better job of picking the bird out from the background, if I manage to stay on it that is. Doesn't seem to matter too much in the open sky but with a tree line or what not in the background the camera gets confused using the multi focus points. I generally shoot birds with the 1.3 crop too since I usually end up cropping away most of the image on the computer later anyway.
Thanks for your ideas, I like hearing what others do. Always looking for a better way.
Like you, I shoot birds more than anything else too and because of that I have the U1 setting set up just for flyers. Aperture wide open, fast shutter, low ISO and multi-focus points. But lately I've been practicing on slow flyers with just a single focus point though and will probably go to to that for everything before long. It does a lot better job of picking the bird out from the background, if I manage to stay on it that is.
Doesn't seem to matter too much in the open sky but with a tree line or what not in the background the camera gets confused using the multi focus points. I generally shoot birds with the 1.3 crop too since I usually end up cropping away most of the image on the computer later anyway.Thanks for your ideas, I like hearing what others do. Always looking for a better way.
Thanks mikew, I'll check that out. For now I probably should just spend some more time working with Elements before I jump into something new. I've got a lot to learn about it yet so if I keep after it I may figure out how to use it to take care of the noise problem, hopefully....
When I use this lens on the D7100 I put the camera in manual mode and set the speed to 1/1000 or faster, aperture to wide open or a click closed and let auto ISO deal with the rest. I've regularly had results at 3200 I'm happy with so that what I set the auto ISO max to.
As mentioned Nik filters do a great cleanup job. The worst thing is to under expose and them use lightroom to boost by a couple of stops as it will get noisy.
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As mentioned Nik filters do a great cleanup job. The worst thing is to under expose and them use lightroom to boost by a couple of stops as it will get noisy.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
That's something I need to work on. I have a lot of trouble seeing the image clearly on the monitor which obviously makes it hard to judge if my settings are right or not so I tend to underexpose since a darker image shows up better and fools me into making adjustments towards that end. I wish I could review the shot just taken through the viewfinder as I can judge the exposure a lot better there.
That's two votes for the Nik filters. I may end up going there but I already blew the budget buying the Tamron and now I need to get a better tripod to hold that beast and that's a priority with me right now so I'm gonna hold off on the filters and keep working with the software I have for now.
Thanks
Try using the histogram to judge exposure with a preference to expose to the right but not as far as blowing the highlights. My wife and I use a strong Manfrotto monopod (681b) with ball head rather than a tripod.
I use Nik Tools too, and Lightroom, but I also have Elements - I started a thread this morning along the lines of ISO noise... On my D7100, I find noise can be removed pretty easily up to 3-5000, and I had reason to use 6400 last night. There's the thread here, could be useful - http://nikonites.com/general-photog...se-reduction-how-do-you-do.html#axzz3KwYtwwJQ