Long lens shooting, first attempt.

csgaraglino

csgaraglino

Senior Member
Learning long lens techniques with the Nikon 200-500mm. This was shot yesterday morning in very low light and my only option was hand-held. This is a young Jake is a little over a year old - but strutting like his poppa Tom would.

While not totally happy with the sharpness - I am ok with what I got. This was a tough shot - as the grass is so tall it kept getting in the way and focus kept locking on it vs the bird.

One cool thing is these guys are just a short drive form me and I can practice with them throughout the winter and have skills ready for the Spring Strut!

IMG_2558.jpg
 
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Blacktop

Senior Member
Not bad for a handheld shot at 500mm with a 1/500th shutter. I don't know how the D810 performs at higher ISO, but you could have at least doubled it to get your SS up to at least 1/1000th which would have given you a sharper shot.

Another thing you didn't mention, is if you had the VR on or not. I find that when shooting birds with that lens, the VR in "sport" mode helps a lot .
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
I agree with Pete (Blacktop) A faster shutter speed will help. I also agree with singlerosa in that a higher Aperture will help. I have found that when I am shooting my 150-600 that the DOF is so short that any extra I can get helps. I generally shoot at F8
 
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robbins.photo

Senior Member
csgaraglino said:
Learning long lens techniques with the Nikon 200-500mm. This was shot yesterday morning in very low light and my only option was hand-held. This is a young Jake is a little over a year old - but strutting like his poppa Tom would.

While not totally happy with the sharpness - I am ok with what I got. This was a tough shot - as the grass is so tall it kept getting in the way and focus kept locking on it vs the bird.

One cool thing is these guys are just a short drive form me and I can practice with them throughout the winter and have skills ready for the Spring Strut!

View attachment 236360
Click to expand...

For shots like these where your shooting into a lot of clutter I've found my best bet is to reduce the number of focus points to 9 or possibly even just 1 and use the center focus point, shoot a bit wide and then crop for desired composition later.
 
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Blacktop

Senior Member
I find that f/5.6 gives me just as sharp shots as f/8 on that lens . The only time I stop down is when I'm in close, so I can get a wider depth of field. It is rare that I can get close enough to a bird here in TN that I need to get to f/8. In FL the birds will stay put and lets you get close, but here they fly off fast.
 
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Friggs

Senior Member
Blacktop said:
I find that f/5.6 gives me just as sharp shots as f/8 on that lens . The only time I stop down is when I'm in close, so I can get a wider depth of field. It is rare that I can get close enough to a bird here in TN that I need to get to f/8. In FL the birds will stay put and lets you get close, but here they fly off fast.
Click to expand...

This is what I have found as well.
 
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