Gorillas in the Mist
Posted on January 28, 2017
Many have seen or heard of the movie “Gorillas in the Mist”: the story of Dian Fossey, who lived and worked in the forests of Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda, studying mountain gorillas. Her death remains unsolved, although it was clear she had been murdered, many believe by poachers.
The Rwanda government picks up several million dollars each year from visiting tourists, effectively making the gorillas multimillionaires… And the government does everything to protect its multimillion dollar investment: the gorilla viewing trips are highly regulated – and protected by many mountain rangers in the park, armed to the teeth with, amongst others, kalashnikovs to deter anyone even thinking about taking the life of a gorilla. These forests must be amongst the most heavily protected in the world, and poaching here is equal to suicide.
‘Agashya boss‘
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL @ 98mm on Nikon D4S, f/2.8, 1/640 s., ISO 110
There are several gorilla groups which can be visited. Tourists are each assigned to view one group, and are accompanied by park guides after receiving a briefing on various topics, one of which is ‘gorilla language’. A very important phrase is “I am your friend” – but then in Gorilla off course…
I’ve spoken that ‘phrase’ a couple of times during my second viewing day and the silverback actually replied! It was really special to feel we were communicating, and even agreeing on something :)
‘Thinking about it…‘
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL @ 130mm on Nikon D4S, f/2.8, 1/640 s., ISO 180
On my first trip we were surprised by a rain shower I had never experienced before; more water than in your own bathroom shower! As the trips are capped at 1 hour max, I was getting a bit worried after about half an hour of torrential rain. However, it did clear up a bit and I pulled out my new 70-200mm f/2.8E fluorite zoom lens, attached to my D4S. Even though I did not have any rain protection with me for this combo (long story…) I decided to go ahead with it, and as expected, the combo proved very much weather proof: both the lens and camera were exposed to the (mild) rain but were not affected whatsoever. I guess it pays off to have professional gear after all…
‘Kwitonda baby after the rain‘
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL @ 200mm on Nikon D4S, f/2.8, 1/500 s., ISO 900
The challenge on the second day was a different one: where we found our gorilla group on the first day simply on the forest floor after about a 30 min. trek, on the second day our new group was having breakfast on a mountain slope. And there were no paths to the gorillas… So the park rangers simply made a path for us cutting away the vegetation towards the group.
With the help of our amazing park guide (‘François’, one of the last park guides who actually worked for Dian Fossey!) I managed to get a couple of portraits of the group’s silverback boss.
‘Silverback …or alien?‘
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL @ 160mm on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/640 s., ISO 1600
‘Kwitonda baby & mum‘
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL @ 200mm on Nikon D4S, f/2.8, 1/500 s., ISO 900
After every burst, I was saying to my new acquaintance: ‘I am your friend’ (in gorilla language) and he seemed to believe me when he replied back a couple of times ‘I am your friend’, looking straight at me with what almost seemed, a smile…
‘Agashya portrait‘
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL @ 150mm on Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/500 s., ISO 500
The youngsters are the most difficult to frame within a decent composition and in focus: they’re just all over the place! When you’ve got them looking into one direction, they’ll change their position causing you to re-compose your image, after which they’ll change position again, and so on… They’re also highly playful, and will sometimes approach you for a game. Fortunately the park guides are always nearby to tell them ‘no not now!’ after which they will back off again and play with their own family & friends. The whole idea is that they shouldn’t get too used to humans, and must be protected from human diseases as well.
Interestingly, Dian Fossey was an opponent of gorilla tourism, yet this tourism is the very reason why the mountain gorillas of Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda are thriving, and earning millions for Rwanda and the Rwandese people.
An amazing, life-changing and unforgettable experience.
‘Snack time!‘
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL @ 135mm on Nikon D4S, f/2.8, 1/800 s., ISO 800
Please note that these images are protected by copyright and are not allowed to be used in any commercial way. If you’re interested in personal use only (like using as personal desktop/tablet/mobile background) then that’s fine; however any other use is prohibited by law.
And as usual, for any questions, comments or feedback, simple add comments below (preferred) or otherwise drop me a note at: enquiry@fliek.com
A ‘killing combination’: lion vs. zebra with the Nikon 600mm f/4E FL & D4S
Posted on January 22, 2017
In this second article on my recent trip to Tanzania and Rwanda I thought I’d focus on something I had never seen before: a kill by a big cat. In this case a lioness chasing a group of zebras, picking an unlucky one, managing to kill it and leaving it for her family of cubs and sisters. An amazing experience!
My driver had his sights on a single female lion, slowly walking towards a group of zebras, quite far away. He told me he would like follow the lioness, while the other tourists were happily busy with their mobile phones shooting little critters far away, not realising how they would appear on their images…
Anyway, we continued to pursue the lioness very slowly, at around 100 metres distance, and at some point in time we actually lost her in the bush: their colour actually blends in perfectly in the dry Serengeti grasses… Then, all of a sudden, the zebras started to run in all directions, dust and grass was blowing in the air and I managed to spot the lioness chasing the zebras. The action was so fast and chaotic that I had no real idea where I was pointing my 600mm lens. I had prepared for some form of action: I had my shutter speed at 1/1600 s. and my aperture wide open at f/4 to keep my ISO down, knowing I would still get sharp images, as long as my D4S would be able to track the lioness. But as I didn’t really know where she was, it was all a bit of a gamble. Basically, while I had my D4S shooting away at 11 frames/sec. I could only hope that my D4S was tracking the lioness as I had no clue what was happening… All images are at 100% crop, so don’t expect any astronomical IQ!
Let’s see what happened:
“Acquire target”
“Consider alternatives”
“Ignore alternatives”
“Refocus”
“Increase speed”
“Anticipate direction”
“Steady…”
“Steady…”
“Prepare to engage”
“Use rudder to stabilise”
“Target engaged”
“Increase speed”
“Prepare to capture”
“Target captured!”
“Grab hold”
“Terminate target”
“Mission accomplished”
“In case of any confusion…”
“Allow me to clarify:”
“This is my…”
“My…”
“My precious!”
Article 3 on my Tanzania and Rwanda trip coming soon!
Please note that these images are protected by copyright and are not allowed to be used in any commercial way. If you’re interested in personal use only (like using as personal desktop/tablet/mobile background) then that’s fine; however any other use is prohibited by law.
And as usual, for any questions, comments or feedback, simple add comments below (preferred) or otherwise drop me a note at: enquiry@fliek.com
Adventures in Africa with the new Nikon D500 and 70-200mm f/2.8E FL
Posted on January 17, 2017
…and actually also my workhorse D4S and the 600mm f/4E FL lens, but that would make for a rather lengthy and potentially boring title!
This article, and the following ones on the same topic will hopefully not be boring at all; at least my recent trip to Tanzania and Rwanda were far from it. In fact, the trip to Rwanda was a life-changing one, as many people have described it as well who have experienced the same as I have: encountering mountain gorillas in the middle of dark Africa. It’s an experience that is hard to describe so I will mostly let my images speak for themselves.
My travel started in Tanzania where I wanted to shoot images of leopards; something I had not been able to on previous visits to Africa for years. Leopards are very tricky to shoot: they are often in trees, either sleeping or waiting for lunch to drop by. And against a blue sky they make for a pretty lousy artistic shot. So on the very first day I was incredibly lucky to find this young leopard walking around, searching for prey. And I wasn’t the only one: I’m assuming I’m talking to a rather large, mixed crowd of photographers via my blog and that would mean some of you use iPhones or something similar to take pictures while on a safari. Perhaps not many, but probably a few… Well, when you’re on safari in the Serengeti in Tanzania the ratio iPhone (or similar) vs. DSLR would be something like 90 to 10 – not joking. I was amazed how many tourists use their mobile phones on a safari. Something I fail to understand to this very day. Let’s just be very clear: please don’t. Looking at the images you are trying to get – and weren’t able to will (most likely) make you regret your decision when you’re back.
Anyway, back to the story… In this specific case I was surrounded by a dozen (4×4) cars or so (not a strange phenomenon in the Serengeti unfortunately), and there are about two lanes of them obstructing my view with my D4S and 600mm combo. Through some small miracle my driver managed to squeeze in and I actual got a shot of this beautiful creature without any movement to navigate, nor time available to consider any alternative positions or gear.
Nikon 600mm f/4E FL on Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/1250 s., ISO 280
This bad boy then decided to relax a little on a small mound, waiting for anything interesting to walk by. I could’t believe my luck when (s)he decided to give me a nice pose…
Nikon 600mm f/4E FL on Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/800 s., ISO 220
After this experience I felt this trip was a big success and anything else wouldn’t come close anymore. Little did I know about mountain gorillas in Rwanda. However, before we go there, other really amazing animals do cross your path with a bit of luck. And they’re not all of the biting kind:
‘Superb Starling’ (quite common in the Serengeti)
Nikon 600mm f/4E FL on Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/1250 s., ISO 220, hand held
And in terms of the creatures that do bite: these tend to take very long naps during the daytime and so you’re lucky when you meet some who are quite active and thinking about things only they know:
Nikon 600mm f/4E FL on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/800 s., ISO 320
You may have noticed I did not present any image that was actually shot with the new Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL lens, which I briefly tested in my previous article. Well, one of the key reasons I decided to get that pricy gadget was for my trip to Rwanda. I had done a bit of research and the stories were all the same: chances are you will get quite close to the gorillas so forget about a 600mm super telephoto lens. In fact, you may get so close (very close… too close) even a standard 70-200 zoom may be too much. However I decided to carry two camera/lens combos with me: the new 70-200mm attached to my D4S and the 200-500mm attached to my D500, just in case.
The first time you see a wild gorilla, is something you may never forget. The first time you see a fully grown silverback male in the wild, or even staring at you, is something you most certainly will never forget. The only way I can describe it would be as if I’d be looking at an alien who just landed: you just don’t know what to say or think (consciously); a moment when you’re frozen and you loose sense of time. Basic natural instincts seem to take over: you’re on high alert but are still admiring what you’re viewing and experiencing. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of it all: their behavior is so similar to that of humans; you’re looking at an animal that reminds you of a human (a big one!) yet isn’t… and so your thoughts and admiration continue…
Gorilla mum with baby
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL on Nikon D4S, f/2.8, 1/400 s., ISO 1400
Visit time are restricted to one hour; strictly enforced by the park guides and park guards accompanying you on your trip. So I was rather disappointed, to say the least, when our first 30 minutes were lost as the biggest torrential rain I had ever experienced came washing down on us. I’m talking water volumes comparable to that of a bathroom shower. And then some. But after that half hour the skies seemed to clear up a little; enough for me to take out my D4S and 20-700mm combo. It was still raining and my gear was getting wet, but I felt quite comfortable it would easily handle the rain – and it did (it’s weather-sealed, and it better be for that price). My guide had already noticed I was something of a different ‘tourist’ as the others (yes, with mobile phones… nice people though! In fact, very nice group with great stories, more on that later) and he took me on a little ‘private tour’, going straight through the thick jungle, not having a clue where we were going. Before I knew it I got another shock: staring right into Mister Silverback; about 5 meters away…
‘Behold… KONG!!!’
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL on Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/500 s., ISO 800
My guide told me story: there was a male tourist once who bragged about being able to arm-wrestle a gorilla, a silverback. Apparently the guy had some muscles and felt he was very strong. And not afraid. My guide told me the guy was the first one in the group who ran away the moment he laid eyes on a silverback, probably staring right back at him.
By the way: I must have been as scared as that guy; however I knew I just had to continue to shoot. This was what I had come here for, and I wasn’t going to give in (or up). When this big boy came slowly towards me my guide did come to me though and told me to very slowly step back… More on that in my next articles. On that note, I’m not sure yet how many articles I will write about this visit, but given the amount of shots I took I think there will be another 4 or 5 – at least. Hope you will stay tuned!
Please note that these images are protected by copyright and are not allowed to be used in any commercial way. If you’re interested in personal use only (like using as personal desktop/tablet/mobile background) then that’s fine; however any other use is prohibited by law.
And as usual, for any questions, comments or feedback, simple add comments below (preferred) or otherwise drop me a note at: enquiry@fliek.com
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G vs. the new 70-200mm f/2.8E FL
Posted on December 5, 2016
First and foremost, I have to say upfront that it’s not my intent to turn this photography blog into some kind of gear review site! So why another (short) review?
I recently got myself Nikon’s improved version of the already very good 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens. For those who haven’t noticed yet: Nikon is involved in a wave of lens improvements, where some are equipped with its latest fluorite lenses and technology. Fluorite means less weight and increased sharpness, even at lower apertures, and across the entire lens, so from center to edge. So where’s the catch? If there is one, it’s definitely price. These new lenses are up to 25-50% more expensive than their predecessors. But, sharper at lower apertures can easily mean one stop gained, and a reduction in ISO of 50%, which means better quality images, especially in combination with high shutter speeds (birdies flying, predators running etc.). For example, I was used to often shoot the 70-200mm f/2.8G ‘old’ lens at f/4 as it was just a little soft at f/2.8. Starting at f/4 my images were usually tack sharp. Now, the promise is that the new lens may already be acceptable sharp at f/2.8 which makes for a very tempting upgrade.
And there are some other benefits as well. The 70-200mm f/2.8G lens is known for its ‘focus breathing’. Basically, subjects shot at 200mm from a close distance look as if they were shot at around 135mm. Pay for 200mm, get 65 mm less… The new lens is also a bit shorter (few mm) but more importantly, 110 gr. lighter. Not a big difference, but nice.
I can be quite critical when it comes to these expensive toys, so I actually want to make a compliment as well for a change (which is also critique by the way…): there’s a smart person or group of people out there at Nikon who realized the previous lens cap didn’t have the most useful shape: you couldn’t rest the lens on the cap when attached to the lens. Not something you would do all the time but sometimes it does come in handy if you quickly need to put your lens on a flat object; e.g. table, chair/seat, or similar. The current shape allows you to do just that: the cap is now perfectly shaped to put your lens on a flat object, relatively stable.
However, perhaps there has been another group at Nikon who felt it was useful to switch the zoom ring for the focus ring. On the previous model you could shoot with the cap attached reversed on the lens; on the new model you can forget about that as the cap sits in the way of the zoom ring. An additional disadvantage is that you easily touch the focus ring while zooming: an issue that did not exist with in the previous model. I do sometimes think people can actually get their PHDs from studying the decision-making process at Nikon…
OK, let’s have a closer look at the performance of the new lens compared to its predecessor. Now, I only spent a couple of hours shooting and comparing the images, and as a result I mainly focused on the performance differences at f/2.8 which is where I’d like to shoot this lens at on my coming trips. All images shot wide open (f/2.8) with a Nikon D4S attached. All images processed to JPG with Nikon ViewNX-i, not sharpened, and full crop (100%).
Not too bad, yet visibly soft even at center focus.
So I just spent a significant amount on a lens that at least outperforms its predecessor! I’d say a combination of 2 benefits: less focus breathing and better sharpness. Also better contrast with the new Fluorite lens, something I also noticed with the new 600mm FL lens compared to its predecessor.
Let’s have a look at one of the left focus points; not te very edge of the lens as I was shooting with a D4S and was using the focus point. I may give it another try some time moving the lens to its very edge… (focus and recompose).
Same result: the new lens is better. Now for the right focus point:
Result the same. How about infinity (couple of hundred meters) and still at f/2.8?
At infinity the old lens doesn’t show any significant focus breathing anymore, so the images pretty much have the same size. But the IQ on the new lens is better: better sharpness and better contrast.
So normally I would end this article with a couple of nice nature or travel shots, but I simply don’t have any yet with this new lens! Stay tuned for a couple of weeks and I will share some hopefully amazing shots. Some of those will hopefully have been taken with a Nikon D500 DSLR: an amazing camera I recently acquired and is slowly exceeding my expectations…more on that soon as well.
For any questions or comments, as usual please add them below (my email provider linked to this website is not helping very much and has messed up the ability to reply to incoming messages…)
Happy holidays!
“Low-ISO high dynamic range”, humpback whales, Nikon D4S… and New York?
Posted on October 22, 2016
This may seem a rather weird combination of topics to address in a single article, yet there is a relation believe it or not :)
I recently had the opportunity to visit New York City: an amazing city with amazing people, and some amazing architecture. This city truly doesn’t sleep: you’ll see crowds of people at 16:00 PM as well as at 04:00 AM on the streets… and even more during the weekends. Nonetheless, as a true opportunistic travel & nature photographer I brought my Nikon D4S DSLR and my 600mm FL + 200-500mm combo; just in case (and I don’t visit zoos for wildlife shooting)…
When you’re in New York (Manhattan), this is a typical view:
iPhone 6S plus, Empire State Building, New York City, New York, USA
Travel about an hour however in a south-eastern direction, and New York City looks quite different:
Nikon 600mm f/4E on Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/2500 s., ISO 110
This is the view you get when you book a whale watching trip with American Princess Cruises at Breezy Point in Rockaway, Queens. Yes, whale watching in New York! Before I came across this company I had already made plans to rent a car and travel for several hours along the Atlantic coastline to try and find a whale watching tour guide. So I was quite surprised when I came across this company who organizes marine wildlife/whale watching tours. And when I talked about it to New Yorkers after I returned to my hotel in Manhattan, most were not even aware you can actually watch whales (humpbacks) close to the New York coastline…
The tours typically start at 12:00 PM (noon) and take about 4 hours: an hour to sail to the viewing spots in the Atlantic and around an hour going back. For photographers this is absolutely the worst possible time to shoot: the sun is at its highest and you’ll get the most unforgiving, harsh light. The differences between light and dark are horrendous. You’ll need seriously professional and therefore expensive super modern/latest sensor to fight blown out highlights and lost darks. And off course, besides all these challenges you also need to be lucky enough to actually encounter one of these amazing creatures!
However, after about 3 hours staring at the sea I finally managed to capture the shot below. I had already set my shutter to around 1/2500 and my aperture to f/5.6, just to keep my D4S from overexposing due to the harsh daylight.
Nikon 600mm f/4E on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/2500 s., ISO 320
Such amazing creatures; if they could only be left alone all over the world to be admired all over the world! Anyway, back to the image… This is your typical “low-ISO high dynamic range (DR)” image (perhaps not typical). And under these circumstances, the darks will be as black as a black hole (well almost) and those shiny highlights will destroy any usable information on your sensor. In fact, on my original image the humpback’s tail is completely black and the sea is pretty much white washed. The amazing high dynamic range at low ISOs of the D4S enabled me to retrieve the darks and trim down the highlights, and I managed to retrieve an actual whale from my shot instead of a collection of blacks and whites. I actually noticed that humpback tails have blues, reds, blacks, greens… amazing! And noise? None (noticeable).
Back to the Nikon D4S. As many will know, the D4S has been replaced by the D5. And as I’ve indicated before, it doesn’t hurt to know about the low-ISO high dynamic range of the D5. Much has already been written about it. Nikon has improved upon the D4S in terms of an amazing, and possibly the world’s best autofocus system, an extra 4 megapixels (nice step forward from 16 in the D4S) and another frame/second: not a game changer, and still lagging behind the Canon 1DX(2), but still nice. But would I have been able to capture the same shot with the D5 as with my D4S, after processing? I honestly don’t think so. Why? Have a look here: Nikon D5 has lowest base ISO dynamic range of any current FF Nikon DSLR. I was quite shocked the first time I read this article on DPReview (as I was really intent on upgrading), and I must admit I’m still quite surprised about the reactions on the Internet about D5 buyers and how most of them “shoot high ISO anyway so it doesn’t matter…”. For a camera that’s about $/EUR 1000 more than a D4S (I’m not joking: the D5 goes for EUR 7100 retail in The Netherlands – seriously) and has such poor DR I can only say that there’s no way I could have taken a similar shot of my little humpback as I have: the DR of the D5 wouldn’t have been sufficient for the job.
Now this is all very personal, qualitative, nonscientific and opinionated information off course! However… if you find yourself in New York City, and suddenly for some strange reason wanting to capture great shots of humpback whales in the middle of the afternoon… bring your D4S and leave your D5 ehh.. somewhere else, at least until Nikon introduces its super improved D5S with the most amazing DR ever engineered (and we can stop wondering why on earth Nikon comes out with a new flagship DSLR with lower/poorer DR than its predecessor). Nikon works in mysterious ways indeed…
Nikon 600mm f/4E FL vs. Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E
Posted on August 24, 2016
Recently I was asked about the ‘image quality’ (IQ) of the (very expensive) Nikon 600mm f/4E lens compared to the (relatively cheap) Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E telephoto zoom lens. Many photographers will probably think I’m close to insane even by bringing this subject up.The 200-500mm has not received the very best of reviews and the 600mm is considered to be the very best super telephoto prime lens out there; e.g. have a look at the lenscore.org website here: AF-S Nikkor 600mm f/4.0E FL ED VR
So why would anyone in their right state of mind think there could only be minor differences between the 2 lenses? I think I’ve figured out the answer to that question when I went on to take a couple of test shots with my D4S attached to my 600mm and my D750 attached to my 200-500mm, both hand-held and VR on both in ‘normal’ mode. I know, not a highly standardized test with too many different factors etc. but the results were quite satisfying, to me anyway.
Let’s first have a look at a very nice and sharp shot taken with the 200-500mm:
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 E @ 340mm on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/2500 s., ISO 3200, +1.0 exp. corr.
Nothing wrong with this one I would say: tack sharp and no sign of any lens softness (in areas where I don’t want it). However, note that this image is not cropped at 100%; it’s probably more around 20% or so, so there are a lot of pixels left to play with and give me the sharpness I need (only some minor/local sharpening applied with Nik software). In fact, most images I shoot with the 200-500mm on either my D4S or D750 look absolutely fantastic. So how can I measure the differences between a lens that costs around $13K and one at close to $1.5K, almost a tenth of the cost? I went back to my trusted test subject and took a number of test shots with my D750 and 200-500mm; however this time the images are cropped at 100%; no sharpening applied:
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E @ 200mm on Nikon D750, f/5.6, 1/320 s., ISO 200, 100% crop
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E @ 300mm on Nikon D750, f/5.6, 1/320 s., ISO 250, 100% crop
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E @ 400mm on Nikon D750, f/5.6, 1/320 s., ISO 400, 100% crop
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E @ 500mm on Nikon D750, f/5.6, 1/320 s., ISO 400, 100% crop
Not too bad. And now, the 600mm attached to my D4S (still no sharpening applied):
Nikon 600mm f/4E on Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/640 s., ISO 500, 100% crop
Ouch! The 200-500mm looks really nice in terms of IQ even up to 500mm, at 100% crop. Until the moment you compare it directly with the 600mm, also at 100% crop: some photograph enthusiasts may actually be close to crying if they only own a 200-500mm and see the difference. However all this sadness may evaporate in an instant when they realize the 600mm is close to 10 times the cost of their 200-500mm, and they will happily continue shooting with the 200-500mm and simply not crop at a ridiculous 100% :)
I was happy with my 600mm and I’m even a little happier now, knowing I have a lens with incredible IQ, sharpness and excellent contrast (even at a ridiculous cost). And when I shoot with my 200-500mm lens and look at my perfectly sharp shots I’ll again ask myself why on earth I bought that 600mm monster… Welcome to the wonderful (and sometimes a bit crazy) world of photography! :)
The image below was shot recently in an area around Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where we have deer and foxes (amongst other wildlife) freely walking around (I keep trying for the foxes…). It was taken with my D4S and 600mm, hand held, and I still have no regrets that I got the 600mm (while the 200-500mm is always there in my bag…).
Nikon 600mm f/4E on Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/640 s., ISO 320, app. 10% crop
Please note that these images are protected by copyright and are not allowed to be used in any commercial way. If you’re interested in personal use only (like using as personal desktop/tablet/mobile background) then that’s fine; however any other use is prohibited by law.
And as usual, for any questions, comments or feedback, simple add comments below (preferred, as I’m having some email issues: I can receive but not reply) or otherwise drop me a note at: enquiry@fliek.com
F-stop Tilopa and Sukha backpacks, and LensCoat TravelHood
Posted on August 23, 2016
In this article I’ll focus on two items that can be quite useful and sometimes critical in your photography travels. If you’re into nature and wildlife photography there’s a pretty good chance you’re carrying several kilograms of long lens glass and at least one or more (semi-) professional DSLRs. And when the opportunity comes up, that shot you’ve been waiting for, for months or even years, you want to have access to your gear as quickly as possible without having to dig around, attach a different lens to your camera, struggling to keep your bag and gear upright instead of falling into the sea or off a cliff… just to name a few of the many challenges for nature photographers.
Ideally, you’ll have immediate access to your camera, attached to your super telephoto prime lens. There are however not many camera bags out there designed for this purpose. Let’s go through a couple of examples: I have a 2 ThinkTank bags that wil help me get a lot of my gear on a plane. But they’re not going to help me in comfortably walking long distances and having immediate access to my gear. I also have a Lowepro Pro Trekker 400 AW bag which I’ve carried on my trips to Asia; last time to Bohol in the Philippines (check out my previous article: Gremlins vs. the Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E). Similar to the ThinkTank bags, the Lowepro can store a lot of gear but it will not comfortably store your 600mm prime. And on my last trip I discovered the Lowepro is insufficiently waterproof when water had entered the bag after I left it for about 20 minutes outside in the rain (drizzle).
On my last trip to Canada, where I had the opportunity to capture some amazing images of Snow Owls (see Snow Owls of Canada, Part 3 (and: a little on image editing) I tried a new bag: the F-stop ‘Sukha’. One of the key reasons I got the Sukha is its design to store a 600mm prime lens attached to a DSLR – upright, and to retrieve the entire set quickly from the top opening of the back. F-stop bags use an internal ‘bag’ for your gear called ‘Internal Camera Unit’ (ICU), available in various sizes. You can add one big ICU in your bag, or a combination of several smaller ones depending on your personal preferences; e.g. the type of gear required for the day, or several days, the type of environment, the type of photography etc.
The largest ICU to be used with the Sukha is the rather massive ‘Tele Master’ ICU. This ICU wasn’t available at the time I got the Sukha, so I went with the second largest ICU, the ‘XL Pro’.
F-stop Sukha (left) and Tilopa (right) backpacks
When the Tele Master ICU did finally become available I decided to buy it and see how it would fit in the Sukha. What a combination! The ICU fills the entire bag and (obviously) has the unique top opening, so you can have access to your gear in an instant, without having to open the zippers on the inside of the bag first (F-stop bags open from the inside, rather than from the outside). There’s just one problem: due to its size it’s a (near impossible) struggle to get the Sukha on a plane as carry-on baggage (for obvious reasons). One time I actually had to remove the XL Pro ICU with my gear from the backpack as it didn’t fit anymore in the overhead bins. With the Tele Master ICU inserted, forget about bringing your Sukha on a plane; it will have to travel separately as checked-in luggage.
While F-stop indicates the smaller version of the Tilopa, the ‘Ajna’ is suitable as carry-on baggage, the Tilopa should be accepted with a number of airlines as well (with a bit of luck; after all I did manage to get the Sukha on a plane…). It’s a little less tall (app. 9 cm/3.5 inch) than the Sukha and is a perfect fit for the XL Pro ICU, which became unemployed after I got my Tele Master ICU. So how does this combo help you in the field? Here’s how I plan to use these bags:
F-stop Tilopa:
- Short (day/weekend) trips, should have sufficient time available to get the gear, change lenses etc.
- Not too much gear; e.g. 2 DSLRs, 2 long (disconnected) lenses (1 prime, 1 zoom)
- Very suitable for (very) long-duration tracks due to the relatively low weight
- Storing your bag & gear as carry-on baggage in overhead bins on a plane
F-stop Sukha:
- Long (week/month) trips, quick access to your gear
- Medium/large amount of gear; e.g. 2-3 DSLRs, 2 long (attached) lenses (1 prime, 1 zoom), various wide angle lenses for landscapes, etc.
- Short to medium-duration tracks (due to higher weight)
- Storing your bag as check-in baggage, same for the ICU; e.g. pack both in a larger bag and fill with other travel baggage
So where do you keep your precious gear when you’re on a plane with your Sukha checked in? Well, why not in your Tilopa and XL Pro ICU, which you’ll store nicely in the overhead bins! And even if the airline staff starts complaining about the size of the Tilopa, you simply take out the ICU and easily place it in the overhead bin separately. It should easily fit in the ‘standard’ medium to long-distance carriers but also on some of the shorter distance ones (as I’ve experienced).
These bags are made to the highest standards and can withstand almost any kind of weather: I’ve used the Sukha in snow and rain and everything stayed dry inside. And if you plan to use them under some kind of waterfall (…why?) you can even add one of the F-stop protective covers. Lastly, no: I’m not being sponsored by F-stop. I just believe these bags are really great and I will use them a lot during my nature photography trips… And I hope to write about any new and hopefully useful experiences, tips & tricks.
The other very useful gear ‘gadget’ I recently acquired is the LensCoat TravelHood (no, not getting sponsored by them either …). Lens manufacturers often provide relatively long protective lens hoods with their super telephone prime lenses, and the challenge or rather issue is that these hoods can take up a lot of space, can easily damage, and are (very) expense to replace. On one of my Alaska trips I saw a photographer drop his Nikon 600mm ‘G’ lens: the hood absorbed most of the impact but cracked as a result: $500 instant write-off …! And if you want to carry your big glass in your Sukha or Tilopa bag (for example), there is very little to no space left for a bulky lens hood. This is where the LensCoat TravelHood comes in.
Nikon D4S, Nikon 600mm f/4E FL, and original Nikon lens hood
Nikon D4S, Nikon 600mm f/4E FL, and LensCoat TravelHood
The TravelHood weighs less then the original lens hood (in my case the Nikon 600mm f/4E FL) which is a nice ‘plus’; it also easily folds flat so it won’t take up any serious amount of space – you can simply store it in your backpack (e.g. front compartment) and it’s around half an inch (1.25 cm) shorter compared than the original hood as well; i.e. measured from the end of the lens to the end of the hood. In less than a minute or so, you simply fold the TravelHood over the outer edge of your lens (there’s a soft rubbery cushion) and the Velcro strips ensure a tight fit. It’s not exactly the cheapest alternative but it’s a very nice invention, you’ll save some weight and precious backpack space, and you will not risk cracking original lens hoods anymore, with associated costs. I’ve now removed my original Nikon lens hood and will store it; instead I’ll be using the TravelHood from now on.
F-stop Tilopa backpack with a Nikon D4S, Nikon 600mm f/4E FL and LensCoat TravelHood
Initially I had in mind to include in this post a comparison between the Nikon 600mm f/4E FL prime lens and the excellent 200-500mm f/5.6E telephoto zoom, but I’ll create a new article for that one. Should be ready in a day or two…!
Gremlins vs. the Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E
Posted on June 19, 2016
In fact, the Tarsier, or Carlito syrichta, is one of the world’s smallest primates, measuring between 8 and 16 centimeters.
…And they look just like little gremlins! :).
I recently had the opportunity to visit two Tarsier sanctuaries on the island of Bohol in the Philippines. Tarsiers are nocturnal animals: they are on the hunt at night, and during the day they prefer to stay in their own little hiding place, under some palm leaves hanging on to a tree branch to cover them from the daylight and sun. This is also where the photography challenges come in. Let’s name the factors: ‘small’, ‘dark’, ‘relatively distant’ (up t0 about 5 meters) and distance changes with the subject (some closer, some further away). Well, at least they’re not moving (too fast)! (which would make things even worse…)
“Hiding in sight”
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 E @ 500mm on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/100 s., ISO 1400
So how do these factors translate into photography equipment? If you shoot full frame (like me; I don’t have the D500 -yet) you’re looking at up to 500mm to capture these little furballs nicely in your frame without having to crop too much afterwards in post processing (cropping an image you took at up to ISO 10.000 or so does not exactly help in bringing down your noise…) However, sometimes you find 300mm is OK, sometimes 400mm, so anything between 300-500mm typically works. Ideally you’ll be carrying a 300mm f/2.8 and 400mm f/2.8 with you, but if you want to stay alive a little longer in the Philippine jungle with temperatures towards 35 degrees centigrade and something that feels like 100% humidity, you’re better off with a zoom to save some weight (and yourself from dehydrating).
“In the jungle”
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 E @ 500mm on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/60 s., ISO 360
Off course I used my 200-500mm f/5.6 for the job – yes, the lens that has received quite some negative feedback in various forums and test sites… I did actually start with my Nikon D750 + trusted 70-200mm f/2.8 combo. The results were pretty bad: the little gremlins weren’t filling my viewfinder enough @ 200mm and the D750 was struggling to focus in the dark. I got a few shots, but soon turned to my D4S in combination with the 200-500mm f/5.6 super-telephoto zoom lens.
“Through the leaves”
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 E @ 500mm on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/100 s., ISO 2200
Soon, I noticed the ISO (which I always have on ‘Auto ISO’ – I shoot fully manual) jumping to 10.000 and over 12.000 ISO in the middle of the jungle. So it was time to test the VR of the 200-500mm f/5.6 E to the max: I was setting my shutter speed to 1/60 sec. and sometimes less to bring ISO -and noise- down. Not all show were sharp off course, but much to my surprise, I got a remarkable high number of tack sharp shots.
“Looking at you”
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 E @ 450mm on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/50 s., ISO 4500
Please note that these images are protected by copyright and are not allowed to be used in any commercial way. If you’re interested in personal use only (like using as personal desktop/tablet/mobile background) then that’s fine; however any other use is prohibited by law.
And as usual, for any questions, comments or feedback, simple add comments below (preferred) or otherwise drop me a note at: enquiry@fliek.com
Which (Nikon) lens? 600/500/400/300 mm?
Posted on May 2, 2016
One of my readers was asking me the following question: “given I’m mostly shooting birds in low light, which (super) telephoto lens should I choose? (600mm f/4 or 400mm f/2.8)”
…What would you suggest?
I thought I’d spend an (small) article on this, rather than trying to answer in just a couple of lines. And also, it was a nice opportunity to dig into my images from my trip to the Galapagos a couple of years ago (I hope to post more!).
“Hey… you!!”
Galapagos Owl, Nikon 300mm f/2.8 G on Nikon D3S, f/2.8, 1/500 s., ISO 1800
So, let’s ‘parameterize’ the statement a little: “birds” and “low light”. Now, this is not exactly the ideal situation for a wildlife photographer! Basically, to get the very best images with the best bokeh and the best image sharpness with the highest shutter speeds (to ‘ freeze’ those flapping wings) and to shoot these while chasing the birdies all over the place (cause that’s what these creatures tend to do…) you simply need an f2.8 (or better, f1.2) lens @ about 800mm-1200mm weighing just a couple of ounces (hundreds of grams). Unfortunately, scientific progress in optics has left us all a little behind, and a lens like this – if ever manufactured – would weigh a couple of hundred tons, or more (and cost tenfold, or also more…). So, we have to choose the best of what is currently out there. Actually, my recommended choice is a combination of 2 DSLRs and 2 lenses, but I’ll get to that in a second (depending on your reading speed…).
In general, it hard to get close to birds. This means you need a lens with a large focal length: at least 400mm or more; 300mm can do as well (even 200mm or less) but you basically have to be at the Galapagos islands or something similar where you can approach the birds up to just a meter or so (see image above)! I owned the Nikon 400mm f/2.8G lens and found this better for large mammals (e.g. bears, deer etc.) at relatively close (20-30 meters) distance and not so much for smaller animals especially at larger distances.
The (current) 500mm and 600mm lenses are all @ f/4 aperture, meaning you’ll loose a stop compared to the 400mm f/2.8. However, the (required) larger focal length will result in less cropping and therefore better ISO (more remaining pixels will effectively reduce visible noise). If you combine this with a DSLR that not only has great IQ at higher ISO values, but perhaps even more importantly, can bring back those underexposed highlights, you’ve got a winning combo. This seems to apply for DSLRs like the Nikon D4S and D750, as well as the new D500. However, for those hard fans who are contemplating the new Nikon D5, please check out dpreview.com. You may be unpleasantly surprised with the dynamic range of the successor to the D4S! As for me, I’m definitely holding on to my D4S until a D5S comes out, hopefully with a dynamic range that fits the huge price tag (i.e. not the case with the D5…).
So the better choice would be to go with a fast prime and sufficient focal length. Traditionally, ‘birders’ go for the 500m f/4 because of reach, fast zoom, and last but not least: weight. Now we’re getting personal: if weight is more important to you than reach, go for the 500mm f/4. If you care a little less about weight (and cost for that matter) and welcome more reach (app. 40% more than the 500mm) go for the 600mm f/4. In terms of teleconverters: the whole idea of a TC (let’s say 1.4) is that you need them only on occasion: if you find you’re using your TC almost always… get the longer lens! (again, budget permitting…)
But this is not where my recommendation stops: I have discovered on pretty much every trip (perhaps with the exception of Galapagos) that my prime lens was insufficient in capturing all the images I was after. I simply also needed a flexible, relatively long-range zoom to get the images my fast prime is too close for. Until about half a year ago I was using the 70-200mm f/2.8 for that purpose, and as it often didn’t reach far enough I would add a 1.4 TC, and use it @ f5/6. This combo gave me an effective 100-280mm on full frame, and the image quality (IQ) wasn’t too bad at all! That was until Nikon surprised the entire (photography) world with their release of the “AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR”, providing an attractive alternative to competitors such as Tamron and Sigma. The 200-500mm f/5.6 is now a bestseller and has been tested extensively. Much to my surprise, it hasn’t received the best reviews, but all I can say is that my copy is incredibly sharp. How sharp? OK, I’m already starting to regret this… but my D750 +200-500mm f/5.6E perhaps shows me more detail (perhaps) than my D4S + 600mm f/4 combo. I’ve taken a lot of test shots and the result is the same each time. It’s just amazing.
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 E @ 340mm on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/2500 s., ISO 3200, +1.0 exp. corr.
The combination of a D4S + 600mm f/4 and D750 + 200-500mm f/5.6E is a very powerful one: The pro DSLR/prime combo will give you the reach you need in those situations you can ‘control’, and if you have the time you can add a 1.4 TC as well, giving you 800mm f/5.6 in exceptional cases (again, if you always need 800mm then perhaps better to sell your house and buy one…). When things tend to get ‘out of control’; e.g. Alaska bears suddenly running around (or towards) you; drop the prime (slowly…) and quickly reach out to your backup DSLR (or in the case of the D750, a very nice landscape body as well) and use your flexible zoom to get those tack sharp shots while the action is happening.
In summary: if you’re a millionaire/billionaire, by all means by all lenses and see what works for you. For everybody else, consider a pro DSLR + fast prime (500mm for weight, 600mm for reach) and backup DSLR (e.g. D750/new D500) + the sweet 200-500mm f/5.6E combo. This will take care of your birding needs. If you’re mostly after small/none moving and reasonable large mammals, consider the 400mm f/2.8 especially in low light situations, or if your budget is not helping you much, simple consider the 200-500mm f/5.6E-only, assuming you do have enough light for both low ISO shooting and AF tracking.
Any questions, comments or feedback, simply add below (preferred) or otherwise drop me a note at: enquiry@fliek.com.
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E FL ED VR lens review part 3: vignetting
Posted on April 17, 2016
During a recent sunny weekend, I had the opportunity to take a couple of test shots against a nice blue sky and check the extent of vignetting with the new Nikon 600mm f/4 E Fluorite lens. I had noticed before that the 600mm does vignette with a TC-14E III teleconverter attached on my trip to Alaska, as also reported on various photography forums.
Luckily I still have the ‘old’ (TC-14E II) next to the new TC-14E III teleconverter and so I decided to do some comparative analysis: how bad is the vignetting with both teleconverters, and how easily is it corrected? And what about vignetting without a teleconverter?
For those of you who are not so interested in apertures, shutter speeds, vignetting and other photography ‘tech talk’, just skip to the end of this article for a nice image I took in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, Canada about 4 years ago (and took me 4 years to post, more on that below…).
So let’s get started. First, the standard configuration for those who need that extra reach: the 600mm + Nikon’s latest TC-14E III teleconverter.
As expected, and reported, a rather nasty vignette that requires some post-processing correction. I’m using Adobe’s Camera RAW (ACR), part of Adobe’s PhotoShop Creative Cloud.
Unfortunately, you can’t get rid of the vignette completely: small dark corners remain. The only option is to crop; i.e. remove part of the image. This shouldn’t be a big issue in most cases, but it’s not ideal. If we stop down by 1 stop; so f/8, the result should improve:
Much better indeed, but still those small dark corners. Let’s see if these can be removed in ACR:
The dark corners have almost disappeared; however I would still crop a little if I need to have my entire image at the same brightness…
Now, one would expect: newer versions of technology are better compared to their older versions, right? Just like the new Nikon 600m is expected to perform better against the older – which I’ve written about earlier, etc. So surely, the old teleconverter would not outperform the newer (and more expensive) version, right?
Hmm strange, the ‘old’ TC-14E II teleconverter also shows vignetting, but less pronounced; i.e. the corners are smoother compared to the new TC-14E II. And if that is correct, post-processing should be able to fix this better:
Wow, vignetting is pretty much gone, shot wide open at f5.6. How about stopping down to f/8?
Without even applying corrections in ACR, there’s hardly any vignetting. and if that’s correct, the image should be near perfect after post-processing in ACR:
And so it is! Vignetting is pretty much gone. So where does this leave us?
Yes, the new Nikon Nikon 600mm f/4 E Fluorite lens does vignette with a 1.4 teleconverter attached. Is this related to the 600mm f/4 lens or the teleconverter? Or both? Well, the test shots above demonstrate that the vignetting is at least partly due to the TC-14E III teleconverter. The older TC-14E II produces less vignetting, and it is more easily corrected in post-processing.
But this means that Nikon has created a newer version of its 1.4 teleconverter with less quality. By the way… I did also check for sharpness differences in the images and I couldn’t find any. Why on earth would such a high-tech company come up with new technology with reduced quality? If anybody has the answer, I’d be very keen to hear and understand!
Let’s just check the vignetting of the Nikon 600mm f/4 E Fluorite lens without any teleconverters attached. Perhaps I missed something after all…
Definitely visible vignetting, however quite smooth and expected to easily correct in ACR.
And indeed; vignetting pretty much gone after applying the corrections in ACR. What about the differences between wide open (f/4) and f/5.6?
Vignetting is visibly less compared to f/4, and still ‘smooth’ so expected to be easily removed in ACR.
Exactly, just minute traces left of vignetting after playing around in ACR.
It’s conclusion time:
- The Nikon 600mm f/4 E Fluorite lens vignettes when shot wide open.
- Vignetting is also visible when a 1.4 teleconverter is attached.
- The new Nikon TC-14E III teleconverter leaves vignetting traces that are impossible (very difficult) to remove in post-processing (I’ve also tried Nikon’s Capture NX-D with similar results).
- Surprisingly, the previous teleconverter model, TC-14E II, produces less/’better’ vignetting which is easier to remove in post-processing.
- Vignetting in images shot with the Nikon 600mm f/4 E Fluorite with or without the old teleconverter (TC-14E II) is easily removed in post-processing.
- And… now for the bizar conclusion: to me it seems the new Nikon TC-14E III teleconverter is of lesser quality than its predecessor, the TC-14E II. Perhaps a harsh statement, but how else can this be described?
I will seriously consider taking the TC-14E II with me going forward and use it when I need to reach 800+mm. The TC-14E III will stay in the bag (or I’ll sell it…).
Now for the image below: this bad boy (or girl) was walking close to the Kootenay highway back in 2012 (or thereabouts) when I was driving there with a well-known Canadian professional wildlife photographer. In fact, he spotted this coyote first and stopped the car after we took our gear and started to take our first shots. I had my (new) Nikon D4 and my (also new) Nikon 400mm f/2.8 G AF-S ED VR lens (the ‘previous’ model). It was early morning and some of my shots were OK, some were horrible, and some were nice except for the totally failed white balance. I guess the D4 had a hard time with the greens of the fields, blues from the sky, and brown/reds of the coyote against the early morning sun.
Just a couple of weeks ago (so 4 years later) I decided to give it another try using ACR, PhotoShop CC and the Nik suite, and I finally managed to get my coyote to look as I remembered it…
“Kootenay Coyote”
Nikon 400mm f/2.8 G on Nikon D4, f/5.6, 1/400 s., ISO 1400
Please note that these images are protected by copyright and are not allowed to be used in any commercial way. If you’re interested in personal use only (like using as personal desktop/tablet/mobile background) then that’s fine; however any other use is prohibited by law.
And as usual, for any questions, comments or feedback, simple add comments below (preferred) or otherwise drop me a note at: enquiry@fliek.com
Snow Owls of Canada, Part 3 (and: a little on image editing)
Posted on March 28, 2016
In this last part of my Snow(y) Owls series I’ll write a few words on image editing: a topic that gets a lot of attention on various forums and blogs. Image editing is something completely different from the experience of getting out there into the nature, and preparing yourself for the greatest shot of some wild and beautiful animal somewhere in the middle of nowhere!
It’s a very creative, yet quite boring activity: working with your favorite or collection of favorite software programs and somehow retrieve the image at the time of shooting; a nearly impossible task given (1) everyone’s perception is different (and therefore subjective) and (2) DSLRs do not capture images as we see it (for a whole range of reasons).
Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL on Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/3200 s., ISO 560, +2.0 exp. corr.
With I started with digital photography (in 2009), I tried various image editing software such as Adobe Lightroom, DxO, Nikon’s own ViewNX 2 and CaptureNX 2, and Phase One’s Capture One Pro. ViewNX isn’t too bad if you want to have a quick look at how your RAW files look like, and it produces quite ‘natural’ looking files for further processing.
Lightroom is very user friendly but I never liked the colors too much of the generated images. And then there is Capture One Pro which renders quite nice images for wildlife, but I never did manage to get natural colors from my ‘people images’; it must be something I’m doing wrong as Capture One Pro is used by many studio photographers…
Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL on Nikon D4S, f/8, 1/2500 s., ISO 900, +0.7 exp. corr.
During my photography trips I noticed most professional photographers use the ‘simple’ combination of Adobe’s Camera Raw (ACR) and PhotoShop (CC). As I was never impressed with the Adobe’s Lightroom colors I had assumed (Adobe’s) ACR would produce the same -and unsatisfactory- result. And so I continued with a varying combo of ViewNX, Capture One Pro, and PhotoShop CC.
Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL on Nikon D4S, f/8, 1/2500 s., ISO 1800, +1.0 exp. corr.
Sometime during the editing of my snowy owl images I decided to give ACR another chance; mostly because I was fed up with Capture One Pro’s lack of lens profiles (e.g. the Nikon 600mm F/4E FL) and ViewNX 2’s lack of proper image editing. Actually I had also tried Nikon’s latest Capture NX-D software not that long ago but there’s something very wrong from a software architecture point of view: it’s slooooow and eats up way too much memory. I’ll just wait for another decade or so before I try that one again .
ACR is certainly not as sophisticated as Capture One Pro but I was impressed with its image editing features, and support of (Nikon) lenses (e.g. for correction of vignetting and distortion).
Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/2500 s., ISO 900, +2.0 exp. corr.
Together with additional PhotoShop add-ins for luminosity masks, which come in handy when editing landscapes, and the Nik software suite, which recently was released free by Google, the combination is a pretty powerful one, and at least at the moment gives me all the tools I need to satisfy my image editing requirements.
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 G @ 200mm on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/2500 s., ISO 900, +1.0 exp. corr.
Editing snowy owls brings up quite a few challenges. White is not simply white during the course of the day: from sunrise to sunset you’re faced with a whole range of whites, both from the snow and the owl, and your camera’s white balance metering system is usually simply wrong, which means: post-production editing! Each generation of DSLR has improved white balance compared to its predecessor and Nikon’s latest D5 DSLR promises better white balance compared to the ‘current’ (i.e. old) D4S, but I’m sure the journey of improving camera white balance will continue for the next decades.
Here’s a typical shot taken just before sunset, where the whites of the snow and the owl are reddish-pink rather than white.
Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/2500 s., ISO 8000, +1.0 exp. corr.
Capturing images of snow(y) owls is an amazing experience; something I hope to repeat again soon.
Please note that these images are protected by copyright and are not allowed to be used in any commercial way. If you’re interested in personal use only (like using as personal desktop/tablet/mobile background) then that’s fine; however any other use is prohibited by law.
And as usual, for any questions, comments or feedback, simple add comments below (preferred) or otherwise drop me a note at: enquiry@fliek.com
Snow Owls of Canada, Part 2 (or: how to shoot birds in flight)
Posted on March 18, 2016
If you want to capture birds-in-flight (“BIF”) you need some pretty good equipment to help you do so. Basically, you camera will need the very best autofocus system to acquire initial focus, the very best autofocus system to continue acquiring focus on a fast moving target, a ridiculous frame rate to capture as many shots as possible while your little birdie is quickly moving out of sight, an even better autofocus system to somehow calculate where it should re-acquire focus after the next shot on the moving target, and so on and so forth.
The good news is that today’s top pro (and ridiculously expensive) DSLRs are able to do all this, the bad news is that you’ll unfortunately have to figure out for yourself which combination of half a dozen settings will help you to achieve the best result. As I’m a Nikon shooter I’ll outline my preferred settings on the D4S, which took me at least 2 full days to figure out (while shooting snow owls, and getting a lot of misses…).
Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL on Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/3200 s., ISO 640, +2.0 exp. corr.
Nikon DSLRs have a setting called 3D-tracking. Without going into all the details, the camera basically acquires initial focus and then tries to maintain focus on your subject, regardless of the movement of our subject, or your movement for that matter. Of all the other autofocus options (e.g. 9/21/51-point dynamic-area AF) this one does part of the trick. But that’s not all…
Second, the “AF-C Priority Selection” menu setting controls how quickly the camera is allowed to take an image depending on acquiring focus or not. I had always set this to either ‘Focus’ or ‘Release + Focus’ where the camera gives priority to focus rather than advancing frames. However, for shooting BIF I noticed I got the best results when this was set to ‘Release’: the camera will capture images even when it hasn’t acquired focus… strangely enough.
Third, the “Focus Tracking with Lock-On” menu setting controls how much the camera should ‘stick’ to the focus while other things change; for example something else jumps into the scene, or the distance between the subject and camera suddenly changes. I had always set this to #3 (Normal), but in the case of shooting snow owls coming at you at about 20 km/h or more, setting this to ‘Off’ works miracles!
Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/2500 s., ISO 800, +2.0 exp. corr.
In the various photography forums much has already been written on Nikon’s 200-500mm f/5.6 E super zoom. There seems to be some variance in the quality/sharpness of the different samples. I must be lucky as my copy is really tack sharp (and I’m definitely not always lucky, based on my experience with the Nikon D8xx series…). The other experience or perhaps opinion mentioned is that it’s not well-suited for BIF due to it’s slow autofocus.
The only experience I have is that my copy is able to obtain and maintain focus with BIF very, very close to my 600mm f/4 E FL prime. On the final day of shooting, I tried my 200-500mm on a few occasions and all my shots were tack sharp (with my newly discovered combo of camera focus settings…). Example? Here’s one:
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 E @ 340mm on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/2500 s., ISO 3200, +1.0 exp. corr.
Snow owls are amazing creatures. They will track their prey pretty much like a (Nikon) DSLR: never loosing sight, regardless of movement, distance and speed! All you need to know is the right settings and off you go …! :)
Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL on Nikon D4S, f/8, 1/2500 s., ISO 1250, +1.0 exp. corr.
Please note that these images are protected by copyright and are not allowed to be used in any commercial way. If you’re interested in personal use only (like using as personal desktop background) then that’s fine; however any other use is prohibited by law.
And as usual, for any questions, comments or feedback, simple add comments below (preferred) or otherwise drop me a note at: enquiry@fliek.com
Snow Owls of Canada, Part 1 (or: getting serious with the Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL)
Posted on March 13, 2016
I had the pleasure of visiting Alberta, Canada recently. Canada is a wildlife photographer’s walhalla (second to Galapagos probably…) and most who visit will travel to the Canadian Rockies to view one of the most amazing mountain ranges in the world, and the abundant wildlife that goes with it.
To the east of the Canadian Rockies are Alberta’s prairies and farm land. Here is where migrated Snow Owls from the arctic (where they breed) spend their winter time feeding (amongst others) on lemmings and mice. Male Snow Owls are almost completely white, relatively small and quite shy; the females have more flecks, are bigger and more inquisitive.
Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/2500 s., ISO 800, +2.0 exp. corr.
On this trip I had the opportunity (or rather very difficult challenge) to practice with my Nikon D4S and both 600mm FL super-telephoto lens and 200-500mm f/5.6 super-telephoto zoom, a photographic concept/technique known as ‘birds in flight’ (BIF). I’m actually not a huge (generic) birding fan; however raptors are an exception: their two forward-facing eyes and expression make them somewhat easier and more exciting to ‘associate’ with, in a way.
Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL + TC-14E III @ 850mm on Nikon D4S, f/8, 1/2500 s., ISO 800, +1.0 exp. corr.
Chapters and probably whole books must have been written on how to shoot Birds-in-Flight, and photography forums are rich in advice – and even more in opinions. I must have tried pretty much every possible option on my D4S in terms of autofocus tracking, but the one combo that finally worked for me was the continuous autofocus in 3D-tracking mode, in combination with two other autofocus setting. In fact, I had never used those other settings before and was always under the impression they were quite useless. Well, now I know why those settings exist: to capture tack-sharp images of birds in flight, flying straight towards you which must be the trickiest situation for any autofocus systems to manage.
Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL on Nikon D4S, f/8, 1/2500 s., ISO 1250, +1.0 exp. corr.
While I only managed to capture my best shots at the final day of my 4-day trip (using 3D-tracking mode), I did manage to identify about 70 really good keepers out of over 5000 shots, which is a new high score for me :). No worries, I won’t post all 70 but I will probably make a further selection and post more images over the next few weeks in 2-3 articles.
Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/3200 s., ISO 1800, +1.0 exp. corr.
Please note that these images are protected by copyright and are not allowed to be used in any commercial way. If you’re interested in personal use only (like using as personal desktop background) then that’s fine; however any other use is prohibited by law.
And as usual, for any questions, comments or feedback, simple add comments below (preferred) or otherwise drop me a note at: enquiry@fliek.com
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E FL ED VR and Nikon AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR: images from Khao Yai National Park
Posted on February 14, 2016
I recently visited Khao Yai National Park in Thailand. Experience from my trips to Alaska had taught me that adding a wide-range, super-telephoto zoom lens to your big prime will get you that level of versatility you need to capture those furry little (or big) creatures, especially when jumping and running around.
So for the first time, I left my trusted 70-200 f/2.8 zoom behind and took my brand new Nikon AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR with me, next to my 600mm f/4 FL. Obviously nicely tucked in a LensCoat lens cover! (no, still not getting paid by them…)
Nikon AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6
When we came across a group of macaques, the 200-500mm proved to be very versatile indeed. I had started shooting with my 600mm f/4 FL on my Gitzo tripod (yes, in ‘Sport’ mode!) but soon wanted to take some shots from within the group. Luckily it seemed they were used to people – apparently – so I was able to shoot from anything between about 5 and 20 meters, a perfect range for the 200-500mm, attached to my Nikon D750.
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 on Nikon D750, f/6.3, 1/250 s. ISO 1000, -0.7 exp. corr.
Nikon 200-500mm f5.6 on Nikon D750, f/5.6, 1/400s. ISO 640, -0.7 exp. corr.
The 600mm f/4 was performing perfect on my tripod with VR in ‘SPORT’ mode:
Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL on Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/320 s. ISO 400, -0.3 exp. corr.
But sometimes I needed the range of the 600mm f/4 FL while trying to ‘catch’ fast-moving gibbons high up the trees, which turned out to be almost impossible. I was very lucky to get this one; I was shooting hand-held, with VR set ‘NORMAL’:
Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL on Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/320 s. ISO 4000, +0.3 exp. corr.
And now for something completely different! :)
On the last day of my trip, my guide spotted a large croc on the other side of the river. While I was bing sucked dry by a million or so mosquitos, I carefully set up my tripod, positioned by D4S and 600mm f/4 FL and started shooting. Meanwhile, the croc just went about its business, which was pretty much nothing other than lying down and taking a nap, or so I thought. I decided to add the new TC-14E III teleconverter to give me 850mm @ f/5.6 and saw my little croc was perhaps just as interested in me as I was in him.
To give you an idea of the incredible range 850mm gives you, I also shot the overall scene with my iPhone:
Croc with iPhone …hint: near the river, mid/left of the image
And now…:
iPhone vs. Nikon 600mm f/4 E FL + TC-14E III on Nikon D4S, f/5.6, 1/320 s. ISO 400, -0.7 exp. corr.:
I… See… You…!
Best wishes for 2016 from Life/Nature! &…2015 Reflections, 2016 Projections
Posted on January 7, 2016
First of all, my very best wishes for a peaceful, prosperous 2016 to all of you, full of Life & Nature photography!
By the end of 2015 and in just a little over 1 year, this site was viewed over 8,100 times by people from 72 (!) countries across the globe – something I had certainly not expected when I started this site!
Back in Nov/Dec 2014 my initial intent was to just post some of the images I had captured from around the world’s most beautiful places, rather than keeping them on my hard drive or to print and put on a bookshelf to gather dust. And next to posting images I guess I was inclined to also share some impressions on the gear I’m using, perhaps triggered when I got my new Nikon D4 DSLR and I immediately noticed the flimsy/loose memory card door that actually ‘squealed’ when I held the camera. I was surprised nobody else had picked this up, or had written about it. More recently, my review of the new Nikon 600mm f/4 Fluorite super telephoto lens has seen a lot of reads and reactions across various blogs around the globe.
And so, this site has moved to a bit of a mix of gear review as well as image posting, which is something I’ll aim to continue in the new year. What else is on the agenda for 2016?
I terms of images, I’ll do my best to at least post my ‘top-10’ images, now sitting idle on my hard drive, from places I’ve visited before: South Africa, Galapagos, Myanmar, Canada, and (off course) Alaska. And if I’ve been on a photography trip with some of the big names out there that has really been totally amazing, you’ll read about that as well!
In terms of reviews, I’ll certainly be putting my new Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 to the test. A (repeated) note on that subject: you will not see any (semi) scientific reviews on this site regarding gear, which you can see on the many other (more or less) established sites out there. Instead I’ll be focusing on real/practical use. For example, when I use my Nikon 600mm f/4 Fluorite super telephoto lens it’s almost always on a tripod and with multiple, short bursts. So you will not see me running an Imatest-test with remote trigger and VR: off in a lab to check image sharpness – it will just never happen (with me at least) in real life!
And to get all that content in a user-friendly way to my readers, I’ll dig into the wonderful mysteries of WordPress (hosted) blog structures and see if I can at least simply create some sliders for my images. Sounds simple, in theory ;)
On a final note: I’m receiving quite some reactions on my posts via email, which is certainly welcomed! However, please also do feel free to add any questions or comments to each blog post, so that others may benefit, learn, and/or react as well. Some photographers use comments and others (deliberately) don’t. Let’s give it a try and have some good discussions.
Happy 2016! :)
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G vs. Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E (FL) test: minor update
Posted on November 16, 2015
In my original post I used image size reduction in Photoshop which did not help in viewing the actual differences between the images of the two lenses.
The images are now reduced in size by using JPG quality compression instead (not size reduction) without any visible loss in quality. This should hopefully reflect the differences between the lenses better!
One final note: the differences are (mainly) visible at 100% crop and obviously with some pixel-peeping. Still, the quality differences are visible (at least to my eye); everyone can and should make their own decision as to the extent these differences merit a choice in one lens over the other. All I can say for myself, is that I’m even happier I selected the new Fluorite lens over its predecessor.
Life/Nature, November 16 2015
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G vs. Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E (FL) test & review: Clash of the Titans! (or simply: old vs. new…)
Posted on November 15, 2015
[This post was updated on Nov 16, 2015: in my first post I used image size reduction in Photoshop which did not help in viewing the actual differences between the images of the two lenses. The images are now reduced in size by using JPG compression instead without any visible loss in quality. This should hopefully reflect the differences between the lenses better!]
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G vs. Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E (FL)
Ever since I decided to spend a ridiculous amount of money on the amazing Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E FL (Fluorite) super telephoto (the ‘new’) lens, I hoped that it performs better than its predecessor, the Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G (the ‘old’ lens). It’s a bit like you hope your new iPhone/Android performs better than your previous model, your new car runs faster than your old one, your new DSLR has better ISO performance than the one you bought just a few years ago … etc.
After some email communication with a professional – and well known – nature and wildlife photographer from Canada who I’ve had the pleasure visiting a couple of years ago, I was interested even more in any differences as he was/is quite confident both models would be similar in optical performance. He shoots (mostly) with the new Nikon AF-S 400mm f/4 E FL but still owns the ‘old’ AF-S 600mm f/4 E G lens as well and is not looking at replacing for the reason mentioned.
So in other words, I may have spent thousands extra on a lens with similar quality as its predecessor. And if that’s truly the case, that would, let’s say, suck quite a bit… Right, as we say in The Netherlands: ‘meten is weten!’ which translates to something like ‘to measure is to know!’ (rimes better in Dutch… :) ).
I had the opportunity to hire the ‘old’ Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G at my local camera retailer and I started checking out the differences – and similarities. Both models are actually sold currently, although the new model is only available in (very) small quantities. While I don’t have the facts, I can image Nikon is ramping down development of the old model to give way for the new one, albeit that the price difference is significant (app. 4K EUR/$) and customers may still opt for the old model.
Before I go to the comparisons, the first thing that struck me was that the hoods can actually be interchanged! Much has been said about the (too) large size of the 2-part hood of the ‘old’ AF-S 600mm f/4 G lens; well the new one has about the same hight and diameter. And the old hood fits perfectly on the new lens and vice versa!
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G hood (right) vs. Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E hood (left)
My understanding of Nikon’s new Fluorite lenses is, and has been that they are already very sharp at maximum aperture (e.g. ‘wide open’) and exhibit that sharpness in a more lineair pattern, unlike the previous generation that reaches maximum sharpness somewhere between f/5.6 and f/8.
I used the same object as in my previous tests (little transformer box at app. 100 meters/yards) and mounted the new and old 600mm lenses to my Nikon D750. I wanted to get as much resolution as possible out of the images – that’s why the D750 and not my D4S (I don’t have the D810 – as I wrote about a couple of blogs ago…). The whole set was mounted on a Gitzo tripod and Wimberley gimbal head; the D750 was set with a 3 second shutter delay mode to prevent camera/shutter shake as much as possible. I took shots ranging from f/4 to f/8 and with speeds of 1/250 and 1/500 sec. and VR was set to off. By now I’m sure you’ve figured out I’m not using any quantitative, semi-scientific measurements like Imatest or similar. Instead, I look at the results on my Dell 4K resolution monitor with Nikon ViewNX2 displaying the images at 100% and converting the RAW files at the highest JPG quality settings. What this means is that I will not be able to specify with 10 decimals which lens outperforms the other in terms of sharpness, vignetting, bokeh, etc. but it does mean that I get a pretty good idea, qualitatively based on my own observation. So… let’s get started!
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G vs. Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E – f/4, 1/250 sec.
Surprisingly, there are surprises :)! First thing I noticed: the rather significant difference in sharpness. The images with the 600mm G lens were all soft (or soft + blurry) whereas only a few with the 600mm E lens were ‘blurry’; i.e. due to camera/lens shake. Also the color rendering of the new lens is different compared to the previous one. My white balance was exactly the same as I only changed the lenses; my camera stayed the same between shots. I guess, different glass, different colors! Based on the number of shots I took and the varying sharpness in the shots, I came to the following conclusions:
- Wide open, the AF-S 600mm f/4 G is softer than the AF-S 600mm f/4 E
- Possible reasons: the glass & construction on the AF-S 600mm f/4 E is simply better (and more expensive, so it better be!) than on the AF-S 600mm f/4 G
- Additional reason: the new AF-S 600mm f/4 E lens has an electronic diaphragm, which is electrically activated, compared to the AF-S 600mm f/4 G which is mechanically activated. And the smallest mechanical move with these types of long focal lenses may cause the smallest, additional shake and therefore blurry/softness (my theory…)
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G vs. Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E – f/4, 1/500 sec.
At 1/500 sec. and wide open, the AF-S 600mm f/4 G is a fraction better than at 1/250 sec. (which is in line with my ‘shake by diaphragm’ – theory) but still visibly softer than the AF-S 600mm f/4 E. Let’s move on to f/5.6!
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G vs. Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E – f/5.6, 1/250 sec.
At f/5.6 the and 1/250 sec. the AF-S 600mm f/4 G catches up. The new lens still, in comparison, has the edge in terms of contract and sharpness (see next images on that as well).
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G vs. Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E – f/5.6, 1/500 sec.
At f/5.6 and 1/500 sec.: same story. The differences between the old lens and the new one are a bit more visible; i.e. better sharpness and contract for the new Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E.
OK, the basic comparisons are done and it’s clear (at least for me) who the winner is. Let’s try and get some more ‘evidence’! How about comparing each lens at different apertures:
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G: f/4 vs. f/5.6, 1/250 sec.
Just as I expected – there is quite a difference in sharpness when you shoot the Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G ‘old’ lens at f/4 or f/5.6. And this is in line with pretty much all literature and other measurements/experiences from photographers related to these types of Nikon lenses. How about the difference with the new Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E?
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E: f/4 vs. f/5.6, 1/250 sec.
If I really had to choose, I’d go for the one shot at f/5.6, but the differences are very, very small. Again, this is in line with the current literature and findings/reports/blogs/etc. from around the world: the new Nikon Fluorite lenses are much sharper across their aperture range; i.e. the curve is more lineair compared to the previous generation of lenses.
My last comparison is between my sharpest shot with the G, and with the E lens, so regardless of aperture and shutter speed: the Best vs. the Best!
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G vs. Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E: “best vs. the best”
The image on the left from the ‘old’ G lens looks pretty good! However it’s still not on par with the image on the right from the ‘new’ E lens in terms of sharpness and contrast. The settings? The Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G was shot at f/8; the Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E was shot at f/4, both 1/250 sec.
Conclusion of conclusions:
- The new Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E outperforms its predecessor in weight, sharpness, and contrast (perhaps other factors as well but I did not measure, incl. VR).
- The colour differences are interesting, but do not bother me that much. I’m happy with both and can accept that different glass materials result in (slightly) different colors.
- I can get up to 2 stops gain with my new Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E compared to its predecessor. To me, this is significant. I’m basically going to shoot with my Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E wide open all the time unless for ‘Depth of Field’ (DOF) reasons.
- I’m not saying the ‘old’ Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 G is bad! The new model is just better! – and it better be for that amount of money Nikon is charging…
For those photographers out there who (still) truly believe these lenses are optically the same (to a large extent), please feel free to run your own test and publish your results!
For any questions or feedback, just drop me a note at: feedback@fliek.com
Life/Nature, November 15, 2015
Alaska fishing bear goes viral …and for sale!
Posted on October 18, 2015
During my very first visit to Alaska in 2014 I encountered this brown bear (ursus arctos), or more often referred to by its sub-species name: ‘Alaska coastal bear’ (ursus arctos alascensis) in Hallo Bay, fishing for salmon at a late afternoon.
I was in a small group walking on the beach with my Nikon D4S DSLR attached to a Nikon 500mm f/4 super telephoto lens with 1.4 teleconverter attached, and the whole package resting on a Gitzo tripod and Wimberly gimbal head (yes it weighs a ton). When these cute little furballs (they get up to 1500 pounds; larger than grizzlies) are busy catching fish, the action usually only takes a second or 2. And that action is observed from a very safe distance, so at least at around 100 meters/yards unless the bear decides to run and jump towards you.
It was low tide and just before sunset when this one indeed came running towards me, chasing a fish, while I had my finger on the shutter, continuous autofocus switched on …happily shooting away at 11 frames/second. The poor guy (or girl) actually ended up missing the fish and then looked at me from a not-so-far distance as if to say “this isn’t my day” (disclosure: (s)he did catch other fish soon after and surely was a happy bear again :).
Splash!
Ever since I started this website I received a lot of positive comments on this image, and more recently I’ve also received requests for actual prints. To make this a special opportunity, I thought it would be nice to offer the first 25 prints of this Alaska brown bear in a ‘limited first edition‘: a ‘certificate of authenticity’ will be added to each print and/or my personal signature (in case I’m able to provide the print in person). The prints will be created and delivered by a professional printing company I’ve had and still have very good experience with. I will also offer the prints in this limited first edition at a 25% discount compared to the list price, with the following types and dimensions:
Photo print on 3mm aluminum dibond, matte finish
- “Easy to place on most walls” – 60×40 cm (23.6×15.7″): € 379,00 (list: € 499,95)
- “Cool size” – 75×50 cm (29.5×19.7″): € 419,00 (list: € 549,95)
- “Mega cool size” – 90×60 cm (35.4×23.6″): € 449,00 (list: € 599,95)
Photo print under acrylic glass, 3mm aluminum dibond, matte finish
- “Easy to place on most walls” – 60×40 cm (23.6×15.7″): € 399,00 (list: € 529,95)
- “Cool size” – 75×50 cm (29.5×19.7″): € 449,00 (list: € 599,95)
- “Mega cool size” – 90×60 cm (35.4×23.6″): € 526,00 (list: € 699,95)
The rates above are incl. 21% VAT and excl. shipping costs. If you’re interested in becoming a distinct owner of a ‘limited first edition’ print of this Alaska bear with this attractive discount, or if you have any related or other questions or comments, just drop me a note at:
enquiry@fliek.com
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E FL ED VR lens review: part 2 (‘long lens technique’)
Posted on October 4, 2015
So, you’ve finally made the purchase of your (photography) life, and from now on you’ll be capturing the very best images in the whole world, outperforming everyone, right? Sometimes you hear about people buying a Ferrari and wrapping their beautiful little toy around a big old oak tree that didn’t move when the driver wasn’t sure what he was doing and that tree was approaching at high speed…
Well, a Nikon 600mm requires some special handling as well, or any long lens for that matter. After my second trip to Alaska I noticed, or at least felt that the number of (tack) sharp shots was lower than after my first trip. Which didn’t make sense as I often had an effective 700mm with a 1.4 teleconverter attached to my 500mm prime lens during my first trip. So what was different?
First, I had the previous model of Nikon super telephoto primes, which had a ‘tripod’ mode. The new models don’t have that setting anymore. During my second trip I always had the VR settings on my lens switched to “ON”. Second, I used a Really Right Stuff Long Lens Support package (no, I’m still not getting paid by them) to support my 500mm. During my second trip I didn’t use it as I thought my latest state-of-the-art VR would surely take care of any camera shake and lens vibrations. And then there may have been other differences as well that can affect image sharpness, like if/how you hold your hand on your lens while your other hand is busy shooting.
So I decided to spend a couple of my precious weekends figuring out the mysteries of how to capture sharp images with a long lens (perhaps better if I had done that before leaving on my second trip to Alaska…), in this case not just any long lens but the very latest and supposedly (one of the) best of Nikon’s primes. Browse through the web and you’ll see a lot of articles, opinions (but not too much actual research) on whether to use VR (vibration reduction) in combination with the use of a tripod, or in combination with high shutter speeds, or even a combination of the two. In fact, I’ve been looking at the following ‘parameters’ that can affect images sharpness:
- Camera
- Shutter speed
- Tripod vs hand-held
- VR ON, SPORT, or OFF
- Single or burst shot
- “long lens technique”/(RRS) lens support or not
When you’re out there playing with a 600mm super telephoto lens you typically are out to catch action. Not always, but usually. And action requires a camera that can take a lot of shots in a very short time. So I decided to first check my Nikon D750 in singe shot mode for any interesting differences with my D4S, which I almost always use in burst mode (11/sec.). For each measurement with both the D750 and D4S I took a number of shots ranging between 10-25. My ‘target’ was a small electrical transformer box at app. 100 meters/yards distance:
Nikon D750, 50mm, f/5.6, 1/200 s., 100% crop
DSLR: Nikon D750
- 1/320 sec., VR ON, tripod, single shot, no RRS support: app. 10% sharp
- 1/320 sec., VR OFF, tripod, single shot, no RRS support: app. 30% sharp
Observation: VR ON in combination with a tripod is not good…
- 1/500 sec., VR ON, tripod, single shot, no RRS support: app. 0% sharp
- 1/500 sec., VR OFF, tripod, single shot, no RRS support: app. 40% sharp
- 1/500 sec., VR SPORT, tripod, single shot, no RRS support: app. 40% sharp
Observation: VR SPORT in combination with a tripod is better than VR ON
- 1/1000 sec., VR ON, tripod, single shot, no RRS support: app. 0% sharp
- 1/1000 sec., VR OFF, tripod, single shot, no RRS support: app. 50% sharp
- 1/1000 sec., VR SPORT, tripod, single shot, no RRS support: app. 60% sharp
Observation: VR SPORT in combination with a tripod is definitely better than VR ON
Observation: image quality increases slightly when VR is OFF with increased shutter speed
- 1/1600 sec., VR OFF, tripod, single shot, no RRS support: app. 0% sharp
- 1/1600 sec., VR SPORT, tripod, single shot, no RRS support: app. 60% sharp
Observation: The D750 doesn’t like long lenses too much (without long lens support)…and/or vice versa
Nikon D750, f/4, 1/1000 s., 600mm f/4 FL, tripod, VR OFF
Nikon D750, f/4, 1/1000 s., 600mm f/4 FL, tripod, VR ON
DSLR: Nikon D4S
- 1/1250 sec., VR OFF, tripod, single shot, hand loosely on lens: app. 60% sharp
- 1/1250 sec., VR OFF, tripod, single shot, hand not on lens: app. 20% sharp
Observation: hand-on-lens technique with VR OFF improves IQ
- 1/1250 sec., VR OFF, tripod, burst, hand loosely on lens: app. 50% sharp
- 1/1250 sec., VR OFF, tripod, burst, hand not on lens: app. 60% sharp
- 1/1250 sec., VR SPORT, tripod, burst, hand not on lens: app. 35% sharp
Observation: hand-on-lens technique is unpredictable; VR OFF without hand on lens improves IQ
- 1/1250 sec., VR OFF, tripod, burst, RRS support: app. 60% sharp
- 1/1250 sec., VR SPORT, tripod, burst, RRS support: app. 85% sharp
Observation: RRS support really works; VR SPORT is pretty good on a tripod with support!
Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/1250 s., 600mm f/4 FL, tripod, RRS support, VR OFF
Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/1250 s., 600mm f/4 FL, tripod, RRS support, VR SPORT
- 1/125 sec., VR SPORT, tripod, burst, RRS support: app. 100% sharp
Observation: VR SPORT works miracles at slow shutter speeds
- 1/1250 sec., VR OFF, tripod, burst, RRS support: app. 80% sharp
- 1/1250 sec., VR SPORT, tripod, burst, RRS support: app. 55% sharp
Observation: with luck, you can get more sharp shots with VR OFF at high shutter speeds
- 1/1250 sec., VR OFF, tripod, burst, RRS support: app. 25% sharp
- 1/1250 sec., VR SPORT, tripod, burst, RRS support: app. 35% sharp
Observation: …but you’re not always lucky
As I was getting a little disappointed, I decided to switch my autofocus setting to “Focus” in the continuous shooting mode on my D4S. Hopefully that would increase my number of keepers…
- 1/1250 sec., VR OFF, tripod, burst, RRS support, AF-C Priority: Focus: app. 69% sharp
- 1/1250 sec., VR SPORT, tripod, burst, RRS support, AF-C Priority: Focus: app. 48% sharp
Observation: VR can indeed impact sharpness at higher shutter speeds
Observation: setting VR AF-C Priority to <Focus> increases chance of sharp images
- 1/1250 sec., VR OFF, tripod, burst, RRS support, AF-C Priority: Focus: app. 27% sharp
- 1/1250 sec., VR SPORT, tripod, burst, RRS support, AF-C Priority: Focus: app. 70% sharp
Observation: with VR OFF you have to be lucky; with VR SPORT you need less luck!
Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/1250 s., 600mm f/4 FL, tripod, RRS support, VR OFF
Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/1250 s., 600mm f/4 FL, tripod, RRS support, VR SPORT
- 1/2000 sec., VR OFF, tripod, burst, RRS support, AF-C Priority: Focus: app. 47% sharp
- 1/2000 sec., VR SPORT, tripod, burst, RRS support, AF-C Priority: Focus: app. 40% sharp
Observation: at higher shutter speeds, VR OFF takes the edge
- 1/2500 sec., VR OFF, tripod, burst, RRS support, AF-C Priority: Focus: app. 17% sharp
- 1/2500 sec., VR SPORT, tripod, burst, RRS support, AF-C Priority: Focus: app. 50% sharp
Observation: however VR SPORT is your safest bet
Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/2500 s., 600mm f/4 FL, tripod, RRS support, VR SPORT
Nikon D4S, f/4, 1/2500 s., 600mm f/4 FL, tripod, RRS support, VR OFF
- 1/8000 sec., VR OFF, tripod, burst, RRS support, AF-C Priority: Focus: app. 34% sharp
- 1/8000 sec., VR SPORT, tripod, burst, RRS support, AF-C Priority: Focus: app. 34% sharp
Observation: the dilemma will continue…
Now let’s try and bring this test to some form of conclusion:
- Unless I’m hand-holding my new Nikon 600mm f/4 FL the whole time/day (yeah, right) I will not use VR ON. If I want VR, I’ll select VR SPORT. In fact, I may never use VR ON anyway…
- If I can, I will shoot at low shutter speed, which will not only give me better ISO but will increase my number of keepers.
- I’ll shoot with multiple, short bursts. These increase your chances of getting sharp images. A D4S will therefore increase your chances compared to s D750 for example where you will not have the benefits of the fast frame rate.
- Try to avoid 1/1000 s. shutter speed, at least when shooting on a tripod. The sample frequency of the VR runs at 1000 Hz. and the results can be very unpredictable.
- The sharpest image with VR OFF is always sharper than the sharpest image with VR SPORT. However, your chances of getting sharp images with VR OFF seem to vary. If everything’s perfect, use VR OFF. If not; e.g. you shake, your car shakes, the wind blows, or whatever else, use VR SPORT and your chances are a little better compared to VR OFF.
- I’ll be using VR SPORT going forward at most shutter speeds. If the situation allows, I’ll try and take double shots/series: a few bursts with VR SPORT and a few with VR OFF just to increase my chances of keepers. However there will probably not be too many of these situations. Time will tell… (and I’ll be sharing my experiences!)
Here in The Netherlands we just had ‘de bronst’ where male red deers are fighting for their female partners. This shot was taken 2 weeks ago (September 2015) with the D4S, 600mm f/4 FL and VR SPORT on a tripod and with the RRS support package. Definitely one of the keepers!
Red deer (Cervus elapses) at the ‘Hoge Veluwe’
Katmai National Park, Alaska, 2015 with the new Nikon 600mm FL
Posted on September 6, 2015
After writing about my first impressions with the new Nikon AF-S 600MM F/4E FL ED VR super telephoto lens, I went on to visit Katmai National Park for the second time, hoping to find a variety of wildlife opportunities and to put this new toy to the test. In a small group of 4 wildlife photographers I was the only one on this trip without a long range zoom lens, and this was an additional learning point for me: if your photography is involving (very) mobile creatures a zoom does come in handy. However, funny things can happen as well if you don’t…
It must have been the first or second day of the trip when we were at Geographic Harbor and the bears were happily fishing for salmon. I was expecting the bears to keep their distance, which they did every now and then, but they also did come quite close every now and then. I had already added a 1.4 teleconverter on my 600mm earlier when this bad boy came jumping at me, spotting a juicy salmon less than 5 meters and an effective 850mm focal length lens between us (NIKON RAW data lists 850mm instead of 840mm, so I’ll just stick to that). If I would have had a zoomlens I probably would have zoomed out, but then I would not have captured this remarkable close-up with some serious amount of detail – check out those claws!
“Salmon Drama” – Nikon D4S, VR 600mm f/4E @ 850mm, f/5.6, 1/1000s, +0.7EV Exposure, ISO 640
A couple of days later, we arrived at Hallo Bay in the early evening, and similar to last year we had a nice sunset with several bears fishing, and a sow with cubs who decided to take a nap on a small sandbank. Still quite far away for my 600mm so I added my TC14E III teleconverter again. This is a good time to form your impression/opinion about the bokeh you get with this lens wide open…
“Water Sunset” – Nikon D4S, VR 600mm f/4E @ 850mm, f/5.6, 1/1250s, +0.7EV Exposure, ISO 400
The next day, back on the beach we were welcomed by the cutest, very inquisitive little red fox – actually these little ones range from red to black in different phases, and this one was a bit of a mix. Again, I was using my 600mm while this boy was walking around and it wasn’t easy to get the right distance between us…
“Hello” – Nikon D4S, VR 600mm f/4E @ 600mm, f/4, 1/1250s, +0.3EV Exposure, ISO 320
For some reason this little guy took quite an interest in me. When I went back to pick up my tripod (yes, the 600mm does get a little heavy after hand-holding it for more than 10 minutes…) he decided to follow me, stay at a distance of about 2 meters, and simply continued to look at me! Perhaps he had been fed earlier by others, who knows. It was a special experience nonetheless…
“Waiting for You” – Nikon D4S, VR 600mm f/4E @ 600mm, f/4, 1/1250s, +1.0EV Exposure, ISO 280
Somewhat ‘off the beaten track’ in Knak Bay, we found this grown cub hanging around at the rocks looking for something…soon afterwards (s)he joined mamma bear again without any luck in finding whatever was there…
“Look what I can do” – Nikon D4S, VR 600mm f/4E @ 850mm, f/5.6, 1/1000s, ISO 4000
The final image in this series (more to come off course!!) is a group of harbor seals we encountered between Knak Bay and Geographic Harbor. These funny animals were screaming and shouting while our boat was keeping its distance – it must have been close to one hundred meters yet it seemed to cause quite a stir!
“Much ado about Nothing” – Nikon D4S, VR 600mm f/4E @ 850mm, f/5.6, 1/1000s, +0.3EV Exposure, ISO 250
I’ll be adding more images as well as changing the structure of this website in the coming weeks…stay tuned for updates. In the mean time, for any comments or questions just reach out at feedback@fliek.com
All images and content copyright © 2015 fliek.com
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 E FL ED VR lens review: part 1
Posted on July 17, 2015
A super telephoto lens for a wildlife photographer is something like a scalpel for a surgeon, a car for a taxi driver, a computer for a programmer… well, you get the picture. Now there are super telephoto lenses in all sorts and sizes, but there are only a few that are up there in that ‘special group’. It’s a combination of image quality – and therefore price, aperture, weight, build, prime vs. zoom, etc. that define the rank within that special group.
Among the very best are the primes. There are great zooms as well, but the primes are unbeatable in terms of performance/quality. I used to have a Nikon 300mm f/2.8 and I loved it. The image quality was amazing; seriously outperforming my 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom, which is already a very, very good lens. However, 300mm is too short for wildlife (from a considerable distance) so I went on to buy a Nikon 400mm f/2.8 – the ‘previous’ version (and sold my 300). Lookup on the various websites on the quality of this lens and you’ll see it’s one of the very best in the world. Absolutely amazing. However… 400mm will do nicely when you shoot relatively large animals from a not-so far distance, but anything smaller will become troublesome (as your little birdies will simply fly away…). So, most wildlife photographers will either include a 500mm or 600mm within their wider collection of glass, and if they’re very serious indeed (budgets permitting…) they’ll go for the so-called ‘fast primes’; i.e. f/4.
Last year I captured a lot of grizzlies in Katmai, Alaska with a rented Nikon 500mm f/4 (I had sold my 400mm f/2.8 earlier), and every now and then I added a 1.4 extender, giving me 700mm which I stopped down to about f/7.1 for good balance between sharpness and ISO. However, I did miss shooting at f/4 which gives me better ISO and perhaps even more important, much better bokeh. So what I was missing was a prime without extender, that would give me reach and quality; ideally a lens that allows me to capture little birdies if & when I like to, but also to captures mammals from a large and relatively safe distance. The prime for this purpose is called the 600mm f/4, and the one I had my eye on for a long time was the ‘again previous’ Nikon 600 mm f/4, or to be exact: the Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4.0G VR ED. A couple of weeks ago I made the decision: I was going to buy this lens for my wildlife photography. Not more than 2 days later after making my decision, I read Nikon would be releasing their – finally – upgraded version of this lens and the 500mm one, in the same line as their latest 400mm and 800mm fluorite lenses. Given it takes Nikon about 8 years (or more) to upgrade these lenses, I decided to wait just a couple of weeks more, prepare myself even better for the highly unpleasant gap in my bank account this purchase would leave, and place the order with my local camera retailer, who happens to obtain the latest Nikon equipment first in line. So only after 2 days after its global release date, I was at my local retailer looking at (what I think was) the very first Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4.0 FL ED VR prime lens in The Netherlands. And yes, at the price of a nice middle-class car.
Initial impressions
I recall reading somewhere that this lens was not considered to be as ‘cool looking’ as its predecessor. However I can say with certainty that just by looking at it, you get the impression you’ve got something really special and highly valuable in your hands (not holding it for too long; more on that further on…). The first and obvious thing that strikes you is the reduction in weight; it actually weighs as much as the previous 500mm f/4 which is hand-holdable – to a certain extent. I have held the previous 600mm f/4 and have owned and used the 400mm f/2.8 which is similar in weight, and they were very, very heavy. The next thing that strikes you is the VR: I remember trying to shoot with my hand-held 400mm f/2.8 and if I got any sharp shots it was by pure luck. A tripod was mandatory. With this new 600, you can actually shoot hand-held and the shots are (mostly all) sharp! The VR is a clear upgrade from the previous version and it works very well. The only reason why I need a tripod is not so much of shots that are not in focus, but simply because 3.8 kgs (8.4 pounds) is still uncomfortable to hand-hold for longer than a couple of minutes. And wildlife photographers do tend to be busy in the field for a little more than a couple of minutes…
Setting up the 600mm f/4E FL
Nikon has greatly improved the foot which now has a nice rubber piece on top. However, for whatever reason Nikon is still not using the Arca-Swiss style plates, so if you want to focus on weight reduction of your overall kit (believe me, you do) you’re looking at replacing the foot with one that does follow the de facto Arca-Swiss standard. My personal favorite (and I’m not getting paid by them) has been for years Really Right Stuff. The stuff these guys (m/f) make is basically, ‘really right’! They already came out with a lens plate for the Nikon 800mm f/5.6 FL which then also was a fit on the 400mm f/2.8 FL model. So I though by myself: “no guts, no glory!” and I ordered the Really Right Stuff LCF-17 assuming it would also fit on the new 600mm f/4 FL.
When you compare the two, you can see the RRS LCF-17 is built ‘smarter’; i.e. less weight while able to carry the same/similar load. AND the LCF-17 is already Arca-Swiss-compliant so should fit straight on your ball or gimbal head without having to add an additional plate between the Nikon standard one and your tripod head.
The standard Nikon foot is easy to replace and the RRS LCF-17 does indeed fit perfectly! I will actually use the 600mm on my Wimberley gimbal head rather than my RRS ball head while in the field, but the picture below gives a good impression of the new Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens, attached to a Nikon D4s, a Really Right Stuff LCF-17 lens plate and a Really Right Stuff ball head.
Next steps… align before you align!
So what’s next? Actually, a lot, but let’s start with my favorite topic… lens alignment and focus!
As you may have read in my previous posts, I have not been lucky with Nikon’s D800(E)/810 DSLRs. I think there must be a curse somehow/somewhere in that any sample I get my hands on, is simply out of focus. That is, the dreaded left/right focus points are out of focus when I test them. My Nikon D4s is fine, my Nikon D4 was fine, my Nikon D3s was fine, my Nikon D750 is fine, my Nikon D610 was fine. All fine. Except the Nikon D800(E)/810. Very expensive cameras with flaws. Nikon could hire me and I will pick out all their flawed D800(E)/810 copies…simply by touching them.
So moving along to the new Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens: surely this >10K lens will not have any flaws, right? It was time for my nice little LensAlign kit, attached to my D4s, take a couple of shots, and check the results.
This image was taken at f/4, hand held, and you can see the incredible thin Depth of Field (DOF). At the minimum focus distance of the Nikon 600mm you get just about 1cm of DOF! But you may also have observed that the focus is not on-target; i.e. there is a little front focus. I actually suffered a minor heart attack when I first noticed this…
What I obviously not should have done was to hand-hold this remarkable piece of engineering; instead it’s really important to carefully setup the entire set: lens, tripod, measurement card, and it’s key to be straight on the card (90 degrees) – like I actually do with all my lens/camera measurements. With the LensAlign set this means you must be able to see the red holes from the card in the back through the holes from the card in the front. This is quite a delicate task but in the end I got the alignment right (well nearly perfect):
And… we have a winner! It’s as perfect as can be. Now this was taken at about 4.5 meters and I could try again at let’s say 15 or 25 meters, but I’m quite confident Nikon has manufactured a high-quality product here. In fact, I have taken a lot of test shots at around 50 meters and they are all dead-sharp. More on that in a moment.
What else is needed?
You would typically want something that has cost you more than 10K (Euros or Dollars, not much difference anymore these days) and is brand new, to stay looking brand new in the years to come. Fortunately, another high-quality solution is available: LensCoat. I’ve been using LensCoat products for years now (and no, I’m not getting paid by them either), for example on my 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom and their ‘LegCoat’ on my Gitzo tripod which makes it much more comfortable to carry on your shoulders when walking long distances. So, all that is needed is LensCoat’s latest addition to their product line: a LensCoat lens cover for the latest Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens!
Ehh Houston, there’s just one small problem: it’s not there – yet (at the time of this blog’s writing: July 30, 2015). The 600mm FL is so new, LensCoat is only just starting the manufacturing process and the only sample lens covers they have are the hand-made/prototype ones shown on their website. And as I expect to use the 600mm FL (very) soon & often, I reached out to LensCoat for advice.
LensCoat was very kind to let me purchase their (I assume very first & only) hand-made sample cover in “Realtree Max4” pattern and colors. After priority shipment I received it only 2 days later and it fits like a glove! In fact, as you can see in the picture, there’s not much much left to see of the actual lens, but that’s only a small price to pay to keep your pricy toy free from dents and scratches…
(update: LensCoat has now started shipping this cover)
Sample images
Sample 1: Heron on the lookout on a sunny afternoon, Oostvaardersplassen, Netherlands.
D4s, AF-S 600mm f/4E FL ED VR @ f/4, 1/1000 s. ISO 160. VR ON, hand-held @ app. 50 m.
Sample 2: Jumping humpback whale, Aialik Bay, Alaska.
D4s, AF-S 600mm f/4E FL ED VR @ f/4, 1/2000 s. ISO 140, VR ON, hand-held.
Sample 3: Relaxing sea otter, Resurrection Bay, Alaska.
D4s, AF-S 600mm f/4E FL ED VR @ f/4, 1/1250 s. ISO 2500, VR ON, hand-held.
In part 2 of my review of the new Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens I will focus on the ‘real-life’ experiences; e.g. key considerations & lessons learned, do’s and don’ts etc. (around 3rd/4th week of August 2015).
Please let me know any feedback via: feedback@fliek.com
All images and content copyright © 2015 fliek.com
And so it happened: Nikon D750
Posted on June 20, 2015
Today I went to a different camera retailer in my home country, The Netherlands, with the aim to buy a different Nikon D810. Something like “I really need a completely different/properly functioning one, so let’s give another retailer a chance…” However after having read many positive stories on the D750 I actually had a dual aim: a new Nikon D810 but if for whatever reason that doesn’t work out, a D750 (hoping it would have been engineered according to the right quality standards).
As it so happened, the remaining 2 D810s in the store were bought by other clients prior to my arrival, so the only option that was left for me was to wait until next week for another batch of D810s or to go ahead with the D750. I felt like taking a risk, so went for the D750.
And ladies and gentlemen: we have a winner! Shots with a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 at app. 140mm f/2.8, 100% crop so a little softness is expected.
Bang! First shot, dead center, straight focus, no D800(E)/810 nightmares…But how about the other focus points? That’s where the D800(E) failed miserably.
Oh yes!! Right focus point perfectly in focus, no pain, no nightmares, no…etc. Yes!!! OK, but surely Nikon will ruin my recently rediscovered happiness? What about the left focus point?
It’s unbelievable: We have a Winner! It is possible after all, a camera from Nikon without focus issues!
Over the coming days I will put this little toy to the test but for now, I’m pleased that it seems I actually got what I paid for: a properly functioning DSLR!
Nikon D810 focus issues (no…please…surely, not again…??!!)
Posted on June 14, 2015
When you’re out there shooting beautiful sceneries, landscapes, wildlife, or in other words Life/Nature :), you want to carry with you at least 2 camera bodies. For example one for the action and one for the landscapes, or the one as a backup for the other in case something goes wrong. Wrong? Yes, sometime something goes wrong… When I got the Nikon D4 not long after it was released I found that it ‘blocked’ at seemingly random intervals. The camera simply wouldn’t respond anymore to anything. In fact, the only way to get it working again was to remove the battery. Not very nice, to say the least…Nikon did release software patches that fixed the problem(s) but that did not stop some professional photographers out there to simply abandon Nikon – and their rather relatively poor Quality Assurance procedures – and move to a different brand (e.g. Canon). At the time I decided to take the plunge and get second body: a Nikon D800E, and I was really impressed with its incredible IQ and resolution. But, I did read what was going on with the D800 focus problems on all the reviews and blogs out there, so decided to check the focus points on my D800E as well. Lo and behold: they were off. Center was working fine, right and left were not. For such an expensive camera I just knew I wasn’t going to be comfortable with these know defects, so I returned the D800E. I would have to wait for the next generation Nikon D8xx… Fast forward… I currently own a D4S, which is absolutely great. However it’s my only DSLR and so I decided to take another plunge for a second body…and surely Nikon has by now repaired everything that has and/or may have gone wrong with the D800/E, so the choice was made: a D810! The only thing I had to do was simply, and quickly check the focus of the D810 on my Spyder lens calibration tool and I can go shoot high-resolution mountains, rivers, valleys, and the occasional bird and bear at a close distance! So let’s compare the results… (All taken at f/2.8 with a Nikon 70-200mm, no sharpening applied AND 100% crop, so a little soft which is normal for f/2.8 with this lens; D4S and D810 shot with remote and mirror-up to avoid ANY shutter shake.) 1st shot: Nikon D4S, center focus point.
Yes, that’s in focus. It better be, it’s a $6000+ camera! Nikon D810, center focus point:
Auch!!! That hurts…!!! Wait a second…no I don’t believe it. It’s even the center point!! This is not a Nikon D800/E. This is its successor, the renowned D810! There can only be one explanation, it’s my fault. I’m an amateur and I’m doing something wrong! Let’s take another 20 shots! (which I did, different shutter speeds, different everything…with the same result…) Nikon D810, right focus point:
Aj…still pretty bad. Again, there can only be one explanation: it’s my fault! Surely a high-tech company like Nikon with all those incredibly intelligent scientists and most complex machinery will not have any expensive cameras to be sent out and sold with these kinds of defects? Impossible, it must be me… Nikon D810, left focus point:
Hang on, wait a second. This one’s clearly sharper than the other two! It’s not perfectly in focus, but it’s almost there! So… the left focus point (actually, second one from the far left) focuses better than the center one and the right one(s)!! But how can this be? Could it be that…no, surely Nikon did not again make mistakes with the focus points on the D810, did they? Surely, it’s my fault! ..but then why do I get good results with my D4S? And why did I get good results with the D610 I previously owned? Let’s see… the constant factor in those cases was …me. The varying factor in those cases was…the Nikon DSLR. Actually, there was another varying factor: D4S: Japan. D800/E: Japan. D810: Thailand. Oh my… Epilogue: I will return my D810 to my camera retailer and will ask for a new body, straight from the Nikon factories. In case that model turns out fine, I will be able to focus again on my photography despite this unpleasant experience. If however the new body will NOT be fine, I guess I will simply have to accept that the Nikon D8xx series is not for me, and will wonder how it’s possible that for others it is… Perhaps the D750 will then be a possible new candidate. To be continued… stay tuned!
…and back to Alaska
Posted on May 3, 2015
I finally managed to find some time and continue posting images to naturephotographers.net, and I selected one of my 2 ‘mama bear and cubs’ images…let’s see what valuable critique amateurs and professionals will be able to share! :)
Oh and by the way: I slightly changed this image compared to the one on my homepage … ever so slightly. If you can spot the difference, let me know!
Images from Myanmar (2012)
Posted on March 29, 2015
U-bein bridge nuns, Mandalay, Myanmar
(Nikon D3S, VR 70-200mm f/2.8G @ 200mm, f/4, 1/250s, ISO 500)
Monks at Ananda festival, Bagan, Myanmar
(Nikon D3S, VR 70-200mm f/2.8G @ 200mm, f/4.5, 1/400s, ISO 200)
Posting on NPN…and what to do with the feedback.
Posted on March 29, 2015
I’ve started posting images (well, 2 for now…) on a well-known nature photography website (http://www.naturephotographers.net) to get some understanding on how my images are perceived by other professional and non-professional photographers. And off course, those perceptions and feedback can help put my impression of my images into perspective and hopefully help me further develop my photography.
My first post on NPN resulted in a relatively large number of views (>400) and comments. Most of these were about the postion of the bear in the image, and the bluish tint of the image. In fact, one contributor on the site took a copy of my image and changed it to a mostly yellow/reddish bear (like on Mars, except for the water…) to stress the point there we too many blues in the images. While the NPN moderator commented on this action as inappropriate (my approval wasn’t requested upfront) I did take up the challenge to apply a few minor changes; in the end I’m quite happy with this new version.
Let me know which one you prefer (see the previous one in the post below) and why!
Katmai… just starting!
Posted on January 30, 2015
I know that I mentioned in my previous post The Myanmar Series are up next. Yet with a collection of hundreds (& hundreds) of images I gathered over the past years I guess I’m tempted every now and then to post any of those images that just draw my attention.
The image below is from the same series as the one you can see on my home page. This was a female bear (I think…) trying to catch fish while we were shooting. It’s probably just my imagination, but I recall a few occasions during the entire trip where a bear would slowly approach me, and at the last moment would back off and go back to its business; e.g. fishing or fighting with other bears.
Nikon D4S, VR 500mm f/4G @ 700mm, f/6.3, 1/1250s, +0.7EV Exposure, ISO 560
The experience of a bear approaching you and looking straight at you after a missed catch (like this one) from just a couple of meters distance is something that’s really hard to describe. You feel there’s some form of communication being set up, but the semantics are not really getting through… The impression I got from this bad boy/girl was something like “Just look at this… all this effort and look what happened! Life isn’t fair…sniff”. On the other hand (s)he might have thought: “I think this was all your fault, and now I’ll show you an angry bear!”.
…I’d like to go with the first option :)
And below another one from the same series (also on my homepage slider)
The Myanmar series (2012-2015)
Posted on January 16, 2015
The “Life”-part of this website is about my travel photography. In all honesty, I wouldn’t even be able to define travel photography… is it confined to certain countries (i.e. not your own)? Can it include all objects (e.g. buildings)? And what about people?
All I know is that I’m drawn to capture images of remote destinations (realizing ‘remote’ is a relative concept…) and the people who live there; their religions and beliefs, traditions, history, (ancient) temples they have built, ruins left behind…
After having seen images of the countless stupas and pagodas on Myanmar’s Bagan plains, I wanted to visit this country and learn more about its people and culture, see the buddhist monasteries, and try and capture something which I guess what I would call the ‘spirit’ of this country and its people and cultures.
Ananda festival, Bagan, Myanmar, 2015
(Nikon D4S, VR 70-200mm f/2.8G @ 200mm, f/4, 1/125s, ISO 2200)
I took 4 trips to Myanmar between 2012 and 2015, and each one was a complete different experience. On my first trip I visited the Ananda Pahto festival in Bagan – by coincidence. Only afterwards I realized how lucky I was to have been present during this only once-in-a-year unique event. On my second trip I took more time to capture the stunning Bagan temples. On my third trip I visited various Buddhist monasteries near Mandalay and Nyaung Shwe (Inle Lake) and on my fourth trip I visited the Ananda Pyatho festival in Bagan again and realized Myanmar how is changing with more tourists pouring into the country each year.
“Enlightened”
Kan Gyi Kyaung (Monastery), Nyaung Schwe, Myanmar, 2014
(Nikon D4, VR 70-200mm f/2.8G @ 175mm, f/4, 1/250s, ISO 1100)
Over the coming weeks I will gradually post the images by category; while I’m not sure yet about the exact categorization these will definitely include Bagan sunrise shots and pagodas, Buddhist monks at Bagan and at monasteries, and shots taken around the famous U Bein bridge at Amarapura/Mandalay.
Head Monk, Shwe Yaunghwe Kyaung (Monastery), Nyaung Schwe, Myanmar, 2014
(Nikon D4, VR 70-200mm f/2.8G @ 140mm, f/4, 1/200s, ISO 1400)
Please let me know any feedback via: feedback@fliek.com
For any enquiries, any questions, request including queries about image offerings: enquiry@fliek.com
A small step…
Posted on November 22, 2014
After my last photoshoot in Katmai, Alaska, I decided to (finally) bring some of my images ‘live’ and create this website.
More on Alaska and that incredible experience in my following posts! (which will probably include my personal frustrations with configuring WordPress websites ;∼)