tell me what kind of gear you have and post a shot in this thread

[GatoMoteado]

i'm interested in hearing what kinds of cameras everyone is using (DSLR, mirrorless, P&S, bridge, smart phone or even film).

i shoot mainly with nikon gear (D7200, D750 and D850) but i also have a sony A7RII and lumix GH4 and G9, so i'm shooting with a combo of DSLRs and mirrorless. i prefer prime lenses to zooms because of speed/brightness and image quality (and weight)....maximum aperture is important because i like to really separate my subject from the background.

i mainly do wildlife and portraits.

here's a green crowned brilliant hummingbird shot with the nikon D850 and nikkor 300mm f/4 PF:

[flamin lib]

1. Ok, I'll start.

OMD EM1 mk II, EM5 mkII. Lenses from 8mm to 300f4 + 1.4 tc and I use the electronic 2x in camera.

Also have an EPL1 converted to full spectrum for IR.

Right now shooting mostly wildlife and nature but plan to open a studio to do low/at cost portraits for our city's food bank customers.

My work is at AndyShanks.SmugMug.com

[GatoMoteado]

4. nice gear.....i really like panasonic (lumix) and olympus gear

i mostly use full frame cameras for my wildlife and portrait work but it's nice to get the extra reach from an M43 sensor. and when shooting 1:1 or greater magnification, even my 16MP GH4 gives greater resolution than my 46MP D850.

it's a shame what happened to olympus because of incompetence at the executive level....their R&D was incredible. hopefully the acquiring company will keep things rolling.

i shot this with my lumix G9 and the consumer grade panasonic 42.5 f/1.7 lens. it's amazing how sharp that thing is despite not being pro glass:

[GatoMoteado]

10. just looked at your smugmug galleries

...great work.

do you live in FL?

[flamin lib]

28. Don't live there but visited several times.

Currently living in N TX, just N of Ft Worth. I envy the exotic critters you have in CR but I have white tailed deer and hope to get that one definitive buck photo with sunlight glinting off the antlers.

[Gato Moteado]

29. yep....and you have some other nice wildlife there to photograph as well

with fall migrations, should be a lot of cool birds.

[Major Nikon]

2. Mostly I use my Nikon D7500 these days

I have a few other Nikon bodies like my infrared converted D5000. I have a couple of film cameras I don't use much like my old Nikon FM2 and a Bronica medium format. I have a pretty extensive collection of Nikon lenses including primes and zooms. Some are manual focus like my Nikon 55/2.8 and 50/1.4, both AIS. I have several of the old screw focus AF-D lenses and more modern AF-S zooms. My favorites are the 135/2 DC, which is arguably the best portrait lens made anywhere and my 55/2.8 AIS which lately I have been using more than anything. The 55/2.8 is manual focus and it doesn't meter on the D7500 and only works in manual or aperture priority modes. Still it's sharp as a tack and focuses closer than anything else I have.

[HAB911]

6. I must say, I love this

[GatoMoteado]

7. nice work

my first nikon was an FE that i bought around 1980. i was still in school and couldn't afford pro glass and had mostly series E lenses. i studied photography, as a minor, at loyola university in chicago and did a lot of B&W darkroom work back in the 80s. i love digital and have no desire to go back to chemical processes.

[Sherman A1]

3. That is incredibly sharp! Well Done!

Canon T2i with a Tamron 18-400mm for most stuff. A Sigma 150-500mm long lens and a Sigma Macro lens that I just picked up this Spring and am starting to fiddle around with a bit.

[GatoMoteado]

8. very nice...

....you're all set for wildlife and close ups!

[Sherman A1]

11. My difficulty is getting a sharp photo

similar to yours. Try as I might they mostly come out just a bit blurred around the edges.

[GatoMoteado]

12. you mean blurred around the edges of the photo?

or do you mean your subject is blurred?

what autofocus area mode do you use?

[Sherman A1]

16. around the subject

I use the lens auto focus most of the time, but i find the same in manual mode as well. When I expand the photo the edges of the subject blur.

[GatoMoteado]

17. ok, i'd like to see some good examples of this to see if i can help you trouble shoot...

...there are several reasons why a subject in a photo could be blurred or out of focus.

the reason i asked about AF area mode is because the default setting in a DSLR is ok for snapshots, but you're letting the camera select what it thinks you want in focus, and how often is the camera going to guess correctly? when you're shooting people or animals, you want the focal point to be the eyes, or the nearest eye to the camera. watch some youtube videos on "single point autofocus area mode"....this mode allows you to select the exact spot in the viewfinder where you want the camera to focus and, looking through the viewfinder, you place the single point right over the eye of your subject, acquire focus, and snap the shot.

another helpful trick is to use what's called back button focus. this configuration sets the AE/AF button on the back of your camera to control the autofocus and takes it away from the shutter button, so you don't have to try to press half way down on that button to focus. with BBF you can lock in and track your focus with the AE/AF lock button and then snap the photo independently with the shutter button.

i'm not familiar with your camera, so it would be good to search youtube for videos about setting up and configuring that model...there should be a ton of tutorials out there.

other problems leading to blurred or out of focus images could include things like camera shake, if you're hand holding the camera at slow shutter speeds. but really, i'd have to see some examples of the problem to even begin to guess what might be going on.

if you're doing everything properly and photos are still out of focus, it could be that your lenses need to be calibrated to the camera body. i do this anyway with my cameras to ensure pin point accuracy, but out of the box, calibration should be close enough for non-pro work. but, you never know.

[Sherman A1]

18. I will have to try to track down some images and figure out posting them

I do so rarely that I just don't bother remembering how. I was shooting the full moon the other night using a tripod with the auto focus off and the vibration reduction off as well. The shots were okay, but just not tack sharp as I would hope using the 150-500mm. I will have to look up the Youtubes you suggest and see what I can learn.

[Trumpocalypse]

19. FYI

[GatoMoteado]

21. moon shots might not be the easiest to troubleshoot

i think a thing to try is to pick up a nice canon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens. these should be really inexpensive and they are sharp and bright. practice shooting people and still objects at apertures ranging from f/1.8 to f/5.6 to see if you're nailing the focus on the intended target. this lens, on an APS-C camera (which is what you have), is great for portraiture. once you get the hang of focusing and capturing images with this lens, then you'll have an easier time mastering the 150-500.

the 18-400 is a convenient lens because of the zoom range, but these super zooms, which go from wide angle to long telephoto, are a bit soft IMHO...they're trying to do too much and they end up compromising on image quality in order to give you the convenience of not having to change lenses in different situations. if you play around with a 50mm f/1.8, you'll see not only what a joy it is to shoot with, but, also, how sharp it is.

[HAB911]

5. Nikon here

(after learning with a Minolta SRT-101 back in the '70's)

F2 Photomic (retired)

Df
old glass
24mm f2.8
50mm f2
80-200mm f4.5
500mm f8 cat
1000mm f11 cat
PB-4 Bellows

D750
new glass
50mm f1.8,
28-300 f3.5
200-500 f5

Current project I'm still evaluating for usefulness, weighing in at 10.4 lbs, $35, and a little craziness

[GatoMoteado]

9. nice gear!

i never handled a DF but they look nice and are oerfect for making the jump from the old film nikons to DSLRs. i have a D750 and love it for low light capabilities.....solid camera.

i also have the 200-500 and it's a beast....i'm too shaky to handhold it very still so i use a tripod 99% of the time with it...but i've been wanting to get a harness of some sort so i could be more mobile with it. i'll likely sell it, though, and pick up the 500 f/5.6 PF in the near future.

it looks like you have a TC on it.....how much does that affect image quality on that lens?

[HAB911]

13. I waffled a long time over the 500 vs 200-500

have had it now since March and maybe it's just the photo opps during the pandemic, but I haven't used another lens on either camera yet, lol. That's a TC20 and I find it to be very sharp and have been extremely pleased with the combo. I read that with a minor tab removal mod, TCs can be stacked, may be my next project, lol.


Some examples using the combo on the Df:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/103677745
https://www.democraticunderground.com/103677594

and this one on the D750, at least to these old eyes, the plane couldn't be any sharper

[GatoMoteado]

14. there's no doubt that the 200-500 is really sharp for non-pro glass

but it's so big and bulky.....i love my 300 f/4 PF (small, light and sharp) and from everything i've seen, the 500 PF is razor sharp. there are rumors that nikon is coming out with a 600 PF next year, so maybe i'll wait!

[HAB911]

15. I would definitly like to lose some of that weight

I've started using my dumbbells again because of this lens

[CaliforniaPeggy]

20. A recent one of mine:

We were visiting the Butterfly Pavilion at the Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles. The butterflies were very active and I really had trouble getting any decent photos. This is one.

I use my Nikon D3200 with Tamron 18--400mm lens. I don't like changing lenses, so this is it.

[GatoMoteado]

22. nice shot.....

...what i really like about it is despite the skewed angle of the butterfly, the shadow is perfectly symmetrical.

looks like a malachite butterfly. we have those here.

and, yes, butterflies can be challenging because they don't always stand still for you. the best time to get them is early morning, right at sunrise, when the air is cool and they are not yet active.

the other thing you can do at these butterfly exhibits is hang around the feeders with fermenting fruit. it seems the butterflies feeding there get a bit "drunk" and are less nervous when you get in close to them. you should be able to get good shots of owl butterflies, the ones with the big eyespot on their wings.

[alfredo]

23. Olympus EM10, Laowa 17mm 1.8, Lumix 14mm, 20mm, 25mm. Sigma 19mm, 30mm, and Olympus 40-150.

I have some legacy lenses Yashinon DX 50mm 1.7, Industar 50-2 50mm 3.5, Sears 50mm 2.0, Tokina EL 28mm, 2.8, Mir 1b 37mm 2.8
I have extension tubes, Diopters, and ring lights.

Right now the Laowa is my favorite.

[GatoMoteado]

24. nice gear....nice shot!

keep on rockin'

[alfredo]

27. Thank you. most of my images from the Laowa are at the closest distance, just under 6"

I then crop as needed.

[MichaelSoE]

25. Olympus here

My first digital was a Kodak DC40 back in 1995. Then an Oly E-10 which I still have but it's non functional
Currently I have 2 E-510 ... one converted to infrared and an OM E10 mkIII.
Many lenses but only 1 prime, a macro for the E-510's
E-10


E-510


OM E10 mkIII

[GatoMoteado]

26. nice shots!

[Gato Moteado]

31. what do you shoot for fun?