Test Shot: Nikon D850 + Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E

Nikon D850

It's a Heatwave!

I still haven't had the opportunity to get out for some landscape photography, but I did take a shot or two in downtown Phoenix using my Nikon D850 and Nikkor 200-500mm mounted on my tripod.

I went out on my lunch break and shot from the top level of the parking garage in the state government plaza area, pointing downtown.

Here's what I found...

The Setup

Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E

I was impressed with the weight of the D850 + 200-500mm lens, including the tripod mount on the lens and 2 quick release plates, one on the camera (it was nice that I didn't have to remove it) and one on the lens tripod mount. That is not a rig I'd want to try hand holding for very long!

After my previous shots, I tried to minimize camera shake and had changed my settings to use Mirror Up mode with Exposure delay mode (d5) = 3s, Electronic front-curtain shutter (d6) = On. I still used the manual shutter release (man I wish it worked with the IR wireless remote). With the additional delay and front-curtain shutter, I do think I got rid of a lot, if not all, of the camera shake.

The Results

Here's one of the pictures I shot. I couldn't tell you how far away the construction crane is but it wasn't next door to my location. For anyone interested, here's a link to the original raw file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hwzgttltd0icvpk/_8500174.NEF?dl=0.

Construction in Downtown Phoenix, AZ
1/400 sec, f/8.0, ISO 64, 500mm

I have done some editing in Lightroom Classic. I added some contrast, sharpening, and luminance noise reduction.

I don't notice any camera shake, and that's the good thing. What I did notice was something I'd heard of but never seen - atmospheric distortion. You'd think that, living in Phoenix where it's just lately got below 70 degree F days, that I'd have seen it. Either I've been lucky (and, I don't really shoot much right in Phoenix) or my other bodies couldn't resolve it.

Here's a crop of the top of the building near where the crane is:

Crop of picture above, showing the heatwaves

That was an interesting result! One I wasn't expecting.

Auto Focus

I was then concerned about how the auto focus would work on something like that. In the picture above, I was using single point AF and aiming at the vertical lines on the lower right side of the construction.

I tried to verify the focus manually, using Live View. But my shaky hands made that impossible with the lens at 500mm. As soon as I touched the focus ring the image was shaking around so much that it was useless. This makes me think about getting a different tripod collar to steady things down more. I have read from others that they don't find the Nikon collar very stable and maybe I'm witnessing that.

Slow Shutter Speed

I also realize (now) that I was using aperture priority and not really paying attention to the shutter speed. I wanted to use what is supposed to be a good aperture for sharpness; f/8 is not in any of the stops. Even though I was at ISO 64, my shutter speed was not meeting the reciprocal rule and should have been sped up a bit more. I couldn't have done that without decreasing the aperture or using a neutral density filter which I don't have for that lens. But, looking at the images, I am not sure how much the slow shutter would alleviate the atmospheric impact. It might some since there would be less time for the distortion to occur.

The Bottom Line

I showed the results to my photography mentor (who now really wants his own D850) and he was impressed with how much detail there is when zooming in to the max of 32x. I hadn't thought about that - I guess I'm already taking it for granted!

I was overall pleased with the shots. No - they're not art but I'm trying to get used to a new and more sensitive camera. I'm trying to figure out how to get sharp images with it and I think these images were a good improvement. I really enjoy trying to refine my technique. Now if I could just calm down my shaky hands!

More Nikon D850 Minutia

Comments / Notes - updated 12/1/2018

I decided I needed a place to post things I've found about the D850 that I want to point out for one reason or another. A lot of these items are likely to be differences between the D610 and D850 - comparing my previous body experiences. These are not listed in any order of importance.

12/1/2018 - Formatting the memory card deletes the settings file

I have been curious about this so tried it out. If you save your settings to the memory card in the D850 (Setup Menu > Save/Load settings), it creates a NCSETUPM.BIN file at the root of the card. If you then choose to reformat your card (), it deletes your settings file! 

When I import files from the memory card I try to also make a backup of the NCSETUPM.BIN file. Another thing to try to do is to save your settings again after formatting the memory card.

I have only tried this with the XQD card.

The Unboxing

Everyone does unboxing videos of their Nikon D850. Well, perhaps not everyone but there are a lot of unboxing videos on YouTube. As I opened my D850, I took a few snaps with my D610, but hadn't shot photos for about a year and a half and I had the aperture opened up too wide to get good depth of field and being hand held, they aren't in focus. So, here's the extent to which I'll share my D850 unboxing:

My Nikon D850 - unboxed, 11/06/2018

In one of the unboxing videos I watched, the guy (I don't think I've seen one unboxing with a woman owner - hmmm) threw his manual back in the box unwrapped (it comes wrapped in plastic). I wish I hadn't opened mine either - I won't read the paper copy. Like him, I had already downloaded the D850 User Manual from Nikon's site (~400 pages) along with the separate Menu Guide (~200 pages). I have it on my iPhone and iPad and that's where I've read it.

Likewise I won't use the D850 camera strap although I sure wouldn't be ashamed to! I am tickled with this camera and glad I got it. And that's without having even gotten out much with it. It's just satisfying knowing that I have what a lot of folks consider the top DSLR of it's time. Now if only I had the skills to go with it!

What about my Nikon D610?

My Nikon D610

I don't know what to do with my Nikon D610. My wife wants me to keep it but I don't see much sense in that. I'm not a pro, and I'm not shooting events where I must get the shot. In other words, I don't need a backup camera. Even if I did, I still have my little Nikon D3200 still.

The downside of selling them is that neither one of the other bodies are worth much. If I sold it to B&H or Adorama, they might give me $300 or so for it. The reason I've kept the D3200 is because it isn't worth much either, and neither are the DX format lenses.

I could get more selling it myself online but I hate messing with that stuff. It's a conundrum.

I'm also surprised that I could let the D610 go so easily, but I don't really have a connection to it like I do my dogs or other material things I sold in the past (like my Yamaha MO6 keyboard). I don't know why that is but I have 2 thoughts: 1) the actual camera body wasn't the focus of my experiences or memories from being out shooting, or 2) I've grown emotionally this year. Either way, I truly enjoyed what the D610 did for me and hope to continue down the same path with the D850.

Nikon D850 - Focusing

Like learning how to focus for the first time - almost

Encanto Park, Phoenix AZ
Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 @ 16mm

I went out to shoot with my new Nikon D850 last weekend and wasn't terribly happy with my results.

I was hoping, okay, expecting, to be blown away with the detail and sharpness of the better sensor. I forgot to account for the ability of the photographer!

The image at right was probably the best result I got. I was using my Nikkor 16-35mm f/4/G lens at 16 mm and f/4.5. I used the autofocus in live view, focusing on the fountain on the left of the little island. I used the self timer mode with a 4 second delay on the shutter release. None of this image seems terribly sharp to me.

On Thom Hogan's site, I had read about which lenses are recommended for the D850 and this lens is semi-recommended (the exception being that an LED used in the vibration reduction circuitry can cause "fogging" of an image). I was aware that there is some discussion about the performance of lenses with the higher resolution sensor so I was worried - was I going to have to replace all of my lenses? I hoped not.

After pondering the issue over the last week, I decided to try some additional settings.

Today I enabled the electronic front curtain shutter (Custom Setting d5). I also used the full Mup release mode. In addition, I manually focused in live view with focus peaking enabled while zoomed in at 100%. Between all of those settings, this new image looks pretty good to me.

Neighbor's Palm Tree, Phoenix AZ
Nikon D850, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D @ f/1.8

This was taken with my lowly Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens, which is NOT on the recommended list for the D850 and it still looks better than any of the shots I did the prior weekend. Woo hoo! This crop does have some sharpening applied in Lightroom, but now I can see what the rig can do even with a less than stellar lens.

Here are the full size jpegs of the above images for reference:

More reflections

Wireless Remote for the D850

One thing I always did with my D610 was to use an infrared (IR) remote shutter release to trigger the shutter. The D850 doesn't have that functionality built in. The IR remote doesn't work with the D850. I've been looking for solutions and am torn about how to address the issue. For now I'll just use the Mup mode with a release delay. I really don't like having to use an attachment with a cord, and am considering the Vello FreeWave Micro Wireless Remote Shutter Release - it has a receiver that plugs in to the 10 pin connecter and doesn't need a cable flopping around.

XQD Memory Card

I have been using a new Sony XQD G series 64G memory card. It's fine and should hold around 589 images at 14 bit lossless compressed (~45 Mb per file for the files I've taken so far). The burst rate of the camera at 7 frames per secong (FPS) is pretty cool and impressed my friend Jon.

However, during my photography hiatus, SanDisk and others have come out with some new UHS-3 SD cards that are impressive for that format - they have write speeds around 250-300MB/s! They're somewhat cheaper than the XQD cards too.

However, since most of what I have shot is landscape, I really don't need to use burst mode to try and freeze a mountain or valley or tree. Consequently, my 95MB/s SD cards work just fine. Getting the XQD was not really necessary, and it also required me to get an XQD card reader. 

I've done it now! My D850 is on order!

Now for the hard part!

Nikon D850

I've just placed my order for a Nikon D850 from B&H (body only). Now I have to try to be patient for it to arrive!

I was poking around the interweb the last day or 2 and decided to look at the B&H site for the D850. I was surprised to see that they had them in stock and were offering free next day delivery! Now I could order it and have it in my hands in a few days!

Decisions, decisions. My wife convinced me to pull the trigger (she'd just spent more money on a horse trailer) and now it's on order.

Woo hoo!

I held off on ordering an XQD card for now - I've got SD cards and for what I shoot I really don't need the extra speed. Once I find I do need the speed of an XQD, I'll order one or more along with a card reader.

I've already been reading the D850 manual for a while; now I'll have to order Thom Hogan's D850 Guide. I liked his D600/D610 guide and know his guide will have a lot of great information. I even made my D850 purchase after clicking through on his affiliate page! Note that I'm not associated with Thom, I just like his technical approach and thoughts.

Now - what to do with my D610?

5 Year Anniversary

I can’t believe it’s been 5 years since I started my photography hobby.

Elmer and I at Marshall Lake, Arizona

I can still vividly remember my “drive about” trip I made with my dog Elmer around my birthday in 2013. I’ve described it before, but basically I took a little Canon point and shoot and my cheap tripod and had a blast taking picture after picture (in JPEG format - the only format the camera shoots in).

When I got home I decided to get a better camera and drove to the local Best Buy. Nikon’s were on sale so I ended up getting a kit with a bunch of stuff that was of little value. It was very exciting - a whole new world full of acronyms and things to learn.

For the next few years I would spend almost every weekend going out with Elmer, camping somewhere and taking photos. In less than a year I moved from my entry Nikon D3200 to a full frame Nikon D610 and some full frame lenses. I shot in Arizona, Utah, California, Oregon, and Washington. I printed some images and hung them on the wall as well as gave them as presents.

The Thrill is Gone

Sometime in 2017, for some reason, I lost my desire to go shooting. I shot a few photographs on January 1, 2017 and that was it for the year. Here it is in the middle of 2018 and I still haven’t shot much and nothing worth keeping.

To make a long story as short as possible, I have been dealing with severe depression and have struggled to overcome it. I think I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel but it’s been a hard road to navigate. I started writing a diatribe about my depression but it was getting too depressing so I stopped.

That Old Time Feeling

Nikon D850

In the last week or two I’ve finally started getting interested in photography again. I’ve started wanting to go out shooting. I haven’t done much yet because of the heat and the fact that I have used all of my time off dealing with my illness.

Lately, again over the last couple of weeks, I’m really looking at getting the new Nikon D850 - not so much as a way to improve my photography but as a hope to motivate me to get out and maybe just re-shoot some of my favorite things and places in Arizona with the more detailed sensor. I have been mildly interested in it, mainly from a curiosity aspect, since it came out in 2017. 

Recently, however, I’ve been a mouse click away from placing my order - I’ve had it in a shopping cart more than once. Even now, as I write this, I want to get mine on order!

The bottom line for me now is that I have fond memories of photography and I want to get back to it!

I Got Everything

I recently got the new B & H catalog. I recently perused through the YouTube suggestions (based on my viewing history). I recently cleaned all of my gear before going to Bryce Canyon National Park. In all cases it made me think about my gear, and even more importantly, that there's nothing I can think of that I need to add! That must mean that I've arrived!

I wrote and recorded a song 5 years ago called "I Got Everything" that comes to mind although that song is more depressing than this issue about photography gear (if you go to the page, http://www.poppavein.com/RRhythmia.aspx#IGotEverything, you can  click on the ">" image left of the song title to stream the song.

My D610 with an old Nikkor 70-210mm F4-5.6D
and my Opteka GPS unit

I can look through the B & H catalog with only mild interest because there's just nothing that I want to get. Oh, if funds were unlimited I might buy a big format printer, perhaps a Nikon D5, or even some faster Nikon lenses. But frankly, at my age of a certain age (or at least approaching a certain age), I am trying to get rid of possessions (such as my music gear!).

This last summer I toyed with the idea of getting a Nikon D810 when I found them online (at B & H or Adorama or somewhere) for about $2,000. I believe they were re-furbished but I'm okay with that - my Nikon D610 is refurbished. I've had it for 2-1/2 years and the only problem I've had with it is due to letting a co-worker handle it and he twisted the mode switch without pushing in the lock and wore it down.

Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G ED Lens

After thinking about it and reading more reviews, the D610 is considered to have better low-light image quality and since I prefer shooting low light images over other images, it just didn't make sense to pick it up. Instead I added the Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G ED lens. That saved me about $1,200 and gave me a wide angle f/1.8 lens!

On the one hand, my lack of desire for additional gear means I don't have to spend money. On the other hand, I kind of miss the excitement I had when I first started this hobby - finding new pieces of equipment I thought I had to have, researching which equipment to buy, ordering it, unpacking it, and finally, using it!

If you're just starting to get involved in photography, I'm jealous! Enjoy and savor your adventure.

Nikkor 200-500mm f/4E Image Quality, continued

Testing the Lens

Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E

I went outside to my back yard a couple of weekends ago, at mid-day, and shot some sample images from my 200-500mm lens at different apertures and focal lengths. I had two goals:

1. Try to be more scientific about knowing my lens – which apertures provide the sharpest images at which focal lengths. 
2. Try to mark the lens for focus at infinity at a known f-stop so I could photograph the upcoming Hunters Moon that night. (http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-hunters-moon).

I don’t have much that I can see or shoot a photograph of from my back yard that is very far away. I settled on a power transmission tower that is about 1,000 feet away. I’m not convinced that it is enough of a distance to make much of a determination from so I’ll have to re-do my tests with a better subject.

Considerations for Depth of Field

According to my DOF calculator, using 500mm at f/5.6, the far end of the focal range is 1,290 feet; I want to go to infinity for the distant sky photography. Even at f/8 the far end is only 1,450. I need something at about 3,300 feet to get the far end of the range out to infinity using f/5.6.

But, what I did shoot may tell me something about the lens performance at this shorter range… Okay, it really didn’t. When I pulled the images in to Lightroom I honestly couldn’t see much difference between any of the shots as far as sharpness is concerned. That means that either my eyes aren’t very good or all of the shots were equally crappy. I think it’s more of the latter.

I noticed that while I was zoomed out to 500mm that the tower was really jiggling in the viewfinder. I had my camera on my tripod sitting on my patio. I don’t get where the vibration was coming from. I took some of the shots at 1/500 second and some with 1/800. I didn’t notice what looked like motion blur in any of the images but they also didn’t look terribly sharp.

Adding weight to the rig

I tried some of the images after suspending a gallon of water from the tripod to see if that helped (a gallon of water weighs about 8 pounds). It didn’t make any improvement that I could detect.
Another thing I noticed is that there was atmospheric distortion. Without looking through the viewfinder I could see heat waves between my location and the tower. I could see that in some of the images too, where the arms of the tower were distorted.

The bottom line for my experiment is that none of my images looked terribly sharp. I hope to try again soon with a more distant subject in a colder location like Flagstaff, Arizona. I also want to try getting some sort of bean bag or something to place on the lens to try to dampen vibrations.

In the meantime, I've uploaded some of the images here. You can click on them to see the full size. These were exported from Lightroom with White Balance set to Daylight, Tone Curve set to Medium Contrast, Lightroom sharpening set to 50, Detail @ 50, and Masking @ 50. Lens corrections were enabled. Camera Calibration was using Camera Neutral v2. All other settings were zero, default, or off.

These images are at 480mm and 300mm, avoiding the limits at either end of the lens. They are at apertures of f/5.6, f/8, f/11, and f/16.

Focal Length at 480mm

Nikon D610 + Nikkor 200-500mm at 480mm, f/5.6, 1/800s, ISO 100

Nikon D610 + Nikkor 200-500mm at 480mm, f/8, 1/800s, ISO 100

Nikon D610 + Nikkor 200-500mm at 480mm, f/11, 1/800s, ISO 100

Nikon D610 + Nikkor 200-500mm at 480mm, f/16, 1/800s, ISO 100

Focal Length at 300mm

Nikon D610 + Nikkor 200-500mm at 300mm, f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 100

Nikon D610 + Nikkor 200-500mm at 300mm, f/8, 1/500s, ISO 100

Nikon D610 + Nikkor 200-500mm at 300mm, f/11, 1/500s, ISO 100

Nikon D610 + Nikkor 200-500mm at 300mm, f/16, 1/500s, ISO 100

Cleaning my Nikon D610 Sensor

Just to be clear, this is NOT a blog about how to clean a sensor yourself. This is what I do to get my sensor cleaned...

This last weekend I got out and shot some photographs. During post processing I saw a number of spots on the images that I had to spot correct. I've been seeing them for a while and have been ready to get my sensor cleaned. I had it cleaned about a year ago at Tempe Camera in Tempe, Arizona.

Apparently I've used the camera enough that it needs to be cleaned again. I haven't actually been shooting a lot this year (since December 2015) due to health reasons so I'm guessing that if I had shot more I may have been at this point a few months ago. I may need the sensor cleaned every 9 months before I pass my tolerance level.

Dirty Sensor
Nikon D610 + 20mm lens, 20mm, f/10, 1/250s, ISO 100

This weekend I noticed that there were a couple of really bad, dark spots near the center of the images. There were a lot of less severe spots in the upper left corner. Note that spots show up more with a smaller aperture (I shot some at f/8 or f/10, not even at f/22).

The spots can easily be fixed in Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop. That isn't the issue for me. What I don't like is when there are a lot of spots it can take a while. Yes, you can copy and paste them in Lightroom, and I have done that, but you still should look at all of them to see if they were necessary or if the area that was used as the source works in the images where the spot corrections were pasted. Due to that, I typically don't copy and paste the spot correction because they really should be handled from scratch in each image.

The second, and more important issue to me, is that when you do a spot correction, data is being copied from one area of the image to another. For skies and clouds, I don't mind it as long as the correction blends nicely and doesn't look like an obvious patch.

However, if the correction is on more significant details such as a mountain side, or perhaps a building, the correction means that you are loosing actual data in the image. And depending on where the spots are, you could be loosing critical information such as someones head, text on a sign, or the middle of a waterfall.

Since I'm getting close to going to Yosemite National Park, I wanted to get my sensor cleaned so that I won't have spots in the middle of Bridal Veil falls.

I have read about cleaning sensors but haven't brought myself to try it. For $60 each year I don't have to worry about screwing up my sensor. Instead, I can drop my body off with a fully charged battery, no memory cards, body cap, per their instructions. Their biggest concern is having a fully charged battery since the mirror up won't happen if the battery level is at 50% or less.

Last year the results were great - I had it done before visiting Oregon and Washington and barely had any spot removals required when I processed the images. I'm hoping for the same thing this year when I visit Yosemite!

First photos with my new AF-S NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED

I got my new AF-S NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED lens yesterday in time to try to shoot the Perseid meteor shower with it. I went out last night to a spot east of Apache Junction, Arizona, with the Arizona Night Photography group from meetup.com. There were quite a few people there; on the website 77 people said they'd be there.

Arizona Night Photography group
Perseid Meteor Shower 2016

The spot had pretty good levels of light pollution even that close to Phoenix. Unfortunately the moon didn't set until about 1AM. Not that it mattered, we didn't really see much of a concentration of meteors. I was there from about 6:30 PM to about 2:30 AM and probably only saw about 20 meteors or shooting stars. A couple were pretty bright but for the most part it was the same as my previous meteor shower outings - pretty underwhelming. I was bummed because this was being touted as the best event of 2016.

This outing worked like my others (I've tried to shoot Perseid and Geminid showers in the past). I'd see a meteor to my left so I'd point the camera that direction and take a number of shots. While doing that I'd see a meteor to my right so I'd recompose. A gal I met last night likened shooting meteors to shooting whales. You never really know where they're going to show until they're already gone. 

If there was truly a concentrated emanation point it might be different. But I haven't experienced that myself.

I still tried to get some shots with my new lens, even if they weren't including any meteors. I really wanted to see how it worked.

The bottom line is that I think the lens works great, at least compared to my AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR. But I still had the same problems using it.

Moon Glow
20mm - f/2.0 - 2.0 sec - ISO 400

I shot 70 images but only got a few that were in focus. I really have a hard time focusing in the dark. The best subject was the moon but that was only good for the distant subjects such as stars. I was able to do that okay and I think the focus is pretty good. I like that I could use a lot shorter exposure time due to the faster (larger diameter) aperture. 

The image at right was shot with my Nikon D610 and the Nikkor 20mm at f/2.0 and ISO 400. I did crop it because the rest of the foreground at the bottom was out of focus.

The larger aperture diameter also reduces depth of field and it really came in to play. I was hoping that the larger aperture would allow me to focus easier since I thought I'd be able to view the subject better, either through the view finder or in live view. It didn't seem to make much improvement over the 16-35mm for me, however. I still struggled to focus.

I tried auto focus too but it was worse than manual focus. 

Focal Plane Example
20mm - f/1.8 - 8.0 sec - ISO 500

I shot this capture of a cactus but you can clearly see that the focus plane runs somewhere through the middle of the cactus. Some of the needles in the upper "crotch"  of the cactus are in focus as are some of the "blooms" on the ground. This image doesn't have any post processing done to it so you can also see the other artifacts.

So even though I shot a few pics, I don't have much to show for it due to my focus problems. I just couldn't focus on close objects. (The problem was not due to auto focus changing the focus when I shot the photograph - I had the auto focus turned off OR I used back button focus - focus doesn't change unless I want it to.)

If I hadn't been with the group of people trying to shoot night photographs I would have lit up the subjects with a flashlight while focusing.

Beyond that problem, which is with my technique or abilities and not that of the lens (since a few images were in focus), I had heard that the coma was really good in this lens. I know I've had issues with coma in my 16-35mm but this lens is a lot better behaved, probably due to the aspherical elements is my guess. And because this is a prime instead of a zoom.

Here's a pic with a bit of exposure adjustment but you can see the coma in a number of places in the corners. It's not bad. I haven't done it myself but I recently watched a YouTube of a photog who edits the stars that have bad coma, I think it was in Photoshop, and he'd just apply a round mask to the offending stars and get rid of the coma shapes.

Coma Example
20mm - f/1.8 - 8.0 sec - ISO 1000

I'm pleased with the lens so far and can't wait to put it through some more paces.

As for the outing, when I left the appointed location I travelled over to the Superstition Mountains to see if it was any better. It was sort of on the way home and allowed me to wait until a bit later. I got there around 3 AM. I got out of my Explorer, waited maybe 15 minutes but didn't see another meteor so headed home. 

I haven't been out much this year due to my health issues and this little shoot was very pleasant. The air temperature cooled after about 11 PM, maybe to 85 degrees F or so. Just sitting out under the sky, seeing part of the Milky Way with my own eyes, was simply wonderful. I got to meet a couple of gals who are knowledgeable about photography (both shooting full frame Sony A7 and A7R) and was able to talk to them for hours about camera gear and post processing. I don't care if I didn't get any good meteor images - I got a lot of pleasure!

AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Review - Part 2

Well, I finally got out and shot a few frames with my new AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens today! As promised, I'll post a bit of a review with some of my thoughts and experiences using it...

Note that in all of the photographs below I had the VR (Vibration Reduction) off since I was shooting from a tripod.

Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E

The Physical World

If you've read anything about the lens you've probably heard it's heavy and big. I certainly don't have anything else like it.

It's weird mounting the camera to it. The lens is heavier than the Nikon D610 (I haven't tried it on my Nikon D3200 yet). I had the lens sitting face down in the bag I'm using to carry it (an Amazon Basics Camera Backpack, which it about fills up). I mate the D610 to the lens and rotate the camera.

I carry the system by either the lens or the tripod mount on the lens.

When I get the lens mounted in my Manfrotto 468MGRC5 Hydrostatic Ball Head sitting on top of my Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod, it is solid. This ball head is paying off now! It's weight capacity of 26 pounds (12 kg) is really not being stressed and the ball head holds the system. The lens (~ 5 pounds) plus D610 (~ 1.6 pounds) is less than 7 pounds total (even with 2 SD cards!).

I did increase the "Friction" setting of the ball head to reduce the amount of play in the head when I loosened it - with that amount of weight the lens does tend to want to sag more. But when the "Friction" is set right, I find that the camera and lens are pretty well balanced. I had no problems at all. I did need to crank on the main knob more than with my other lenses to prevent the lens from drooping after letting go but once you realize that it was no big deal. I don't see a lot of love for this ball head but I sure like it.

Dolly Steamboat on Canyon Lake
Nikon D610 + Nikkor 200-500mm - ISO 100 ■ 500mm ■ f/7.1 ■ 1/160s

Increase the Shutter Release Delay

I didn't get out my IR remote shutter release and instead just used the delay on the manual shutter release button. I noticed by looking through the view finder, however, that when I pressed the shutter release, the camera wobbled more than with my other lenses. I changed the delay from 2 seconds to 5 seconds to compensate - letting the camera settle down before releasing the shutter. I didn't notice the issue in my photographs so maybe it was actually still within the 2 seconds but since I was shooting a lake and desert hills, I felt the extra 3 seconds before the shutter release wouldn't hurt.

Using the wireless remote would probably work fine, unless it's windy. There was some breeze at the lake (Canyon Lake near Apache Junction, AZ), but not enough to visibly affect the camera. I didn't try cranking down harder on the ball head either - that's a chore for next time I guess.

Nikon D610 + Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E
ISO 100 ■ 500mm ■ f/7.1 ■ 1/125s

Auto Focus

As I mentioned in a recent post, I use back button focus. I didn't have any issues using that with the shots I took. It didn't hunt around at all. It acquired focus with no questions asked and it appears to be pretty good. Granted it was a sunny, 97 degree Fahrenheit day in Arizona. I used an aperture of f/7.1 just to get off of the f/5.6 and to get a bit more depth of field.

How's the Focal Length?

I didn't get a chance to shoot any wildlife so I can't comment on that directly. What I can say is that from the Acacia picnic area I wanted to shoot the opening across the lake where the Salt River continues down stream. I couldn't get it all in the frame at 200mm. It made me wonder if the Sigma or Tamron with that extra 50mm at the short end would have allowed me to get the shot.

Nikon D610 + Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E
ISO 100 ■ 200mm ■ f/7.1 ■ 1/160s

Instead, I was able to compose the shot with the sheer wall on the right which is interesting.

In the photograph to the left I've purposefully left the full frame even though the water line isn't horizontal. I wanted to show the difference between the 200mm and 500mm focal length. This is the full image (okay, reduced to a max of 2040px wide for the web).

I did use some post processing in Lightroom, and did increase clarity as well as sharpening - just using Lightroom.

Here's a shot of those mountain peaks at 500mm, from the same location (I didn't move the tripod, just zoomed in to the 500mm focal length).

Nikon D610 + Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E
ISO 100 ■ 500mm ■ f/7.1 ■ 1/200s

I know these aren't great pictures; no one is likely to hang these on their living room wall. That's not the point. I wanted to see how the lens performed and how that 500mm could come in handy. I think I see opportunity here. I've shot landscapes in the past where I wish I could fill up more of the frame with a mountain, for example (like Humphreys Peak near Flagstaff, Arizona). This worked pretty good!

Basically, with a 200-500mm zoom, you should be able to increase the size of the subject by 2.5 times.

Lesson Learned - Update your Camera

One thing I figured out was that I needed to update my camera firmware. When I opened my files in Lightroom it didn't find the lens profile (well, I found out I also had to update Lightroom CC - it wasn't using the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw).

When I looked at the properties of the NEF files the lens information was missing.

I remembered that I'd seen updates to the camera firmware but hadn't bothered with them because I my lenses were already supported. This Nikkor 200-500mm only came out less than a year ago, though, and my cameras didn't know about it. I updated the Distortion Control software on my D610 but on the D3200 I had to do the Firmware and the Distortion Control software.

Now things are cookin'!

The Bottom Line

I'm happy so far with the lens - I think I'll keep it. I really wanted to try it to see if I liked it or whether I should send it back to Adorama but it looks like it's part of my bag now. I just wish it fit in the bag!

Another set of 200mm and 500mm shots for you to ponder. These don't have much processing at all and they both have the same processing. I just think it's interesting to see the difference in composition at both ends of the lens.

Nikon D610 + Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E
ISO 100 ■ 200mm ■ f/7.1 ■ 1/200s

Nikon D610 + Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E
ISO 100 ■ 500mm ■ f/7.1 ■ 1/250s

A short post about Back Button Focus

I am mainly a landscape photographer. My subjects don't often move around much. Consequently, for some time now, when I use auto focus, I've been using "Back Button Focus" on my Nikon D610. I think I've been using it since shortly after getting the D610. I like it.

Hey - why use Back Button Focus?

Most DSLRs (Digital Single Lens Reflex), as far as I know, allow you to press the shutter release half-way down so that the camera can focus on whatever is in it's cross hairs. Note that different cameras and different modes can cause the camera to focus at different areas of the image. I typically use a single focus and metering point so that's what I'll assume here.

When you press the shutter release half-way down and the camera locks in on the focus, you can then move the camera while still holding the shutter release half-way down in order to recompose your shot. For example you might focus on your significant other in the center of the shot and then pan a bit to get more of the Grand Canyon. Once you have the composition you like, you can press the shutter release the rest of the way to take the photograph.

That is pretty convenient, allowing the camera to focus on one thing and then to re-compose the shot after the camera has gained it's focus.

One problem with that technique, however, is that you have to keep the shutter release depressed half way in order to preserve that focus setting. If your finger slips off of the button you have to start all over. So what if you've panned a bit and then someone else steps into your shot? If you want to wait for them to leave, you've got to keep that button held down. 

In landscape photography I often want to focus on something, say a cactus in the foreground, and then re-compose. I may want to try 20 different compositions. And, I use a tripod for almost every shot I take (at least if I want them to turn out I do). Using the "normal" half-pressed shutter release can be a pain in the rear end (so can sitting on cactus).

Another issue with the "normal" focus is if you want to avoid camera shake due to the shutter release, for example if you use a remote release. If you have to hold the shutter release down part way and then trigger the shutter release it can cause unwanted vibration or motion into the camera.

This is where back button focus can help out...

What is Back Button Focus?

Back Button Focus allows you to configure a button on the back of the camera to use as a focus lock. It basically takes the place of the half-press action of the main shutter release button. You move your focus point(s) onto the subject as normal but instead of pressing the main shutter release button half-way to engage the auto-focus, you press the button on the back of the camera. Then, you can let go of that button - the focus will still be locked in. It won't change again until you press that back button again.

The cool thing about this is that you don't have to keep your finger on the button. The camera can even go to "sleep" - the focus of the lens won't be changed.

You can focus on your subject and take multiple images with different compositions and you won't need to focus on the subject again unless it moves. This is great for landscape photography where you can focus on a foreground object and as long as your camera doesn't move much (less than the depth of field) you can recompose without focusing for each shot. There is less time between each shot.

I use manual focus a lot too, but I still often will start with a press of the back button to get the lens either right where I want it or at least close and then I may focus slightly different for one reason or another.

Nikon D610 Back (Official Nikon Image)

How can I set up Back Button Focus?

Most DSLR cameras, at some level above the basic level, have a way to program one of the BUTTONs on the BACK of the camera to work as a FOCUS button. In the case of my D610, I use the "AE-L/AF-L" button, to the left of the rear thumb wheel.

You can usually find out how to set it up by doing a search on the web if your camera instruction manual doesn't outline it (or if you can't figure it out from your camera manual). Here's an example for the Nikon D610 Back Button Focus setup. 

Anything more you can tell me about this?

Luna the Barn Owl - most of him anyway

This subject is on my mind because of my outing at Arizona's Raptor Experience last weekend. I shot a number of images like this one - see anything wrong with it? When I got home I found a number of shots where the feet were cut off.

The problem was, I realized and figured out after shooting 400 pictures of raptors, was that I was setting my focus point on the bird's eye, using the back button focus, and not re-composing or even noticing that I was cutting off the toes of these fine feathered friends. 

I'll admit, it was a little nerve wracking at the shoot. I suppose the more you do it the better you get. But I was paying $190 for the trip to shoot the birds and that added some pressure. I rarely shoot animals successfully and that added more pressure. And the pressure prevented me from getting great shots. 

At one point, when we had some time with a flying hawk, I had to figure out how to get out of back button focus and to let the camera do it's job. Those photos turned out ever worse. I got zero usable shots of the hawk in flight.

My tip would be that, if you start using back button focus, it still is a good idea to practise the other auto focus modes of your camera if you have a chance. Especially if you know you're likely to be needing it at some point in the future.

Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E ED AFS VR Zoom Lens

The Need

Sea Lions at Haceta Head Viewpoint, Oregon Coast
Nikon D610, Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 @ 200mm

Last summer, August of 2015, I took a drive through parts of Oregon and Washington. Along the Oregon coast, at the Haceta Head lighthouse viewpoint (located a mile or two south of the lighthouse), I tried to shoot some sea lions that were in the small cove between the viewpoint and the point the light house is perched on. 

I don't do a lot of wildlife shots, but I do enough to know that a longer lens would certainly help. But besides that, I've had enough cases where I'd actually like to be able to zoom in on landscape features too, and to be able to do it in camera rather than cropping in post production.

For example, I wanted to shoot a mountain (I think it was Humphrey's Peak near Flagstaff, Arizona) but I didn't like the shot and didn't end up doing it. If you're close to a mountain often times you have a strange aspect or can't get it all in the shot. It'd be nice to zoom in from a distance and be able to isolate the subject from a better vantage point. At least that's what I'm telling myself in order to add a longer full frame lens to my growing collection!

I believe that getting a longer lens will answer some more of my composition needs. 

Why the Nikon?

I started out eyeing the Tamron 150-600 f/5-6.3 when it was announced in 2013 and thought I'd eventually add it to my collection. Then Sigma announced their 150-600mm f/5-6.3 in September 2014, in two versions. That also appeared interesting and after some time the reviews seemed to point towards the Sigma as being better than the Tamron. Okay, I adjusted my sights.

Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E ED AF-S VR

Jumping forward to August 2015, Nikon announced their 200-500mm f/5.6! Another option, with a constant aperture although with a shorter focal range. Hmmm...

After another bit of time, once the lens was available to the public, the reviews started coming out. The Nikon had a lot going for it and most reviews I read claimed a better image quality compared to the Tamron and Sigma, not to mention generally better build quality. Not all reviews came to that conclusion (see this Photography Life review, for example, which recommends the Sigma 150-600 Sport over the Nikkor).

The reviews swayed me towards the Nikon, however, included one of my faves, Thom Hogan. While he admits he hadn't had much time with the Tamrons or Sigmas, his assessment of the Nikon was very influential and consequently I've finally got one on order as of May 3, 2016 from Adorama. I'll see how much I like it, and may be able to talk a photographer I know who really likes her Sigma 150-600 Sport to do a test comparison with me. I'm not against trying the Sigma, but one other guy who I also take with a grain of salt, didn't have any reason to get the Sigma over the Nikkor - Ken Rockwell's review.

(update) Basically, I decided to get this lens instead of the Tamron or Sigma because:

• A common thread that the image quality (IQ) is better on the Nikon, and generally better throughout it's focal range.
• A constant aperture throughout the focal length. I don't know if I'll do it, but it supports using a teleconverter (Thom Hogan has tried it but doesn't generally use one either).
• 50mm missing on the short end - this might bother me, it might mean swapping lenses more if 200 is just too long. However I'm already swapping lenses more than my original mentor Jon B. (and suffering / putting up with dirty sensors as a result). 
• 100mm missing on the long end - from what I've read, with few exceptions, the Tamron and Sigma IQ is reported to fall off over 500mm anyway. 

Known issues

I know two things about this lens that will cause me to do something more or different:

1. I will need some sort of case for it that I can strap to a belt or hang over my shoulder. I haven't quite started looking in to this issue yet. I use a LowePro waist bag that I really like. This lens won't fit in it. I don't like backpacks (I have one but don't like using it). I just want a protective case for the single lens that attaches to my waist or hangs from my shoulder but isn't free to move around.
2. I will need to mount a plate compatible with my Manfrotto ball head. I have two plates so it won't be a problem, but I may want to pick up a third (I have the additional plate because I have two camera bodies). However, I've actually been looking at switching to some sort of arca-swiss setup that I can mount on my Manfrotto ball head (I really like it - the Manfrotto 468MGRC5).

When it arrives and I get to spend a bit of time with her, I mean it, I'll write a bit more about what I think. (update, 5/8/2016 3:41PM) The UPS tracking says it's arrived here in Phoenix!