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<blockquote data-quote="BackdoorArts" data-source="post: 120112" data-attributes="member: 9240">Birds will always push cameras to the edge in terms of ISO and lenses in terms of focal length.&nbsp; If you're shooting birds you want VR.&nbsp; Period.&nbsp; A shot like this, where the bird is at least perched, camera movement will get you just as easily as bird movement.&nbsp; Even if your shutter speed is enough to cover your focal length (which it is here), the bird's head may still move enough that 1/400 will still not capture the details.&nbsp; Most bird guys I know want to shoot at and preferably above 1/640sec, and at 1/1000 for birds in flight.&nbsp; Only way to do that reliably is to bump up the ISO.&nbsp; You're at 800 already, which is pretty typical in my experience for bird shots on an overcast day.&nbsp; A lot of folks I know will go to 1600, but my experience with that and my D7000 is that it's pushing the noise envelope.&nbsp; You may do a little better with the D300, but perhaps not.It's all a trade-off.&nbsp; I do a lot of birds and am completing a move to shooting nothing but FX.&nbsp; I get much better noise reduction at the ISO's I want/need to shoot at, but at the cost of the 50% bump I get in focal length on the DX (500mm on an FX acts like a 750mm on a DX).&nbsp; But I've found that by cropping a little more I actually get a better image, though perhaps at the loss of megapixels.&nbsp; So I don't go past 8x10's on some of the prints, right?&nbsp; Hope that helps.&nbsp; I would definitely stick with a VR lens for the work you're doing.&nbsp; Know how far you can go with the ISO under specific conditions, shoot RAW (if you're not already) and use the noise reduction features in Lightroom or whatever post processing software you're using.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="BackdoorArts, post: 120112, member: 9240"] Birds will always push cameras to the edge in terms of ISO and lenses in terms of focal length. If you're shooting birds you want VR. Period. A shot like this, where the bird is at least perched, camera movement will get you just as easily as bird movement. Even if your shutter speed is enough to cover your focal length (which it is here), the bird's head may still move enough that 1/400 will still not capture the details. Most bird guys I know want to shoot at and preferably above 1/640sec, and at 1/1000 for birds in flight. Only way to do that reliably is to bump up the ISO. You're at 800 already, which is pretty typical in my experience for bird shots on an overcast day. A lot of folks I know will go to 1600, but my experience with that and my D7000 is that it's pushing the noise envelope. You may do a little better with the D300, but perhaps not. It's all a trade-off. I do a lot of birds and am completing a move to shooting nothing but FX. I get much better noise reduction at the ISO's I want/need to shoot at, but at the cost of the 50% bump I get in focal length on the DX (500mm on an FX acts like a 750mm on a DX). But I've found that by cropping a little more I actually get a better image, though perhaps at the loss of megapixels. So I don't go past 8x10's on some of the prints, right? Hope that helps. I would definitely stick with a VR lens for the work you're doing. Know how far you can go with the ISO under specific conditions, shoot RAW (if you're not already) and use the noise reduction features in Lightroom or whatever post processing software you're using. [/QUOTE]

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