Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge

[Øivind Tøien]

Here are my first tries with the 500mm f/4 PF on D500 at Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, a resting place for many birds migrating to the Arctic. It is cleared of snow each spring and grains spread over the field to welcome our winged friends. The bulk of the Trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator) had already continued on up north, but a single couple were still hanging around. Other species are White-fronted goose (Anser alifrons),  Canada goose (Branta canadensis), American wigeon (Mareca americana), Northern pintail (Anas acuta), Northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata) and Snow goose (Anser caerulescens). While the first ones were captured with the lens wide open which is ideal, I used TC-14E at f/9 for a while (#5 and 6 + #1 in next post) and forgot to set aperture back afterwards. Shutter speeds were on the long side for some of the BIFs after this. (Open images in new tab for larger versions, continues in next post.)[
[Edit: Replaced images with the intended larger versions]

[Øivind Tøien]

Continued

[ColinM]

Congratulations Øivind
I'm guessing there are some different challenges to the astronomical photography we often see you share with us.

I've never used anything longer than 300mm plus T 1.7 but I remember renting a 300mm f2.8 a few years back and struggling to get as good results handheld as I'd managed with a lowly F4 non-afs.
What sort of success rate are you finding (esp getting focus where you want it)?

You've got a nice selection of species to choose from.
I particularly like the composition and wing/body shapes you've caught with some of the BIF's
e.g. 3,7 & 10 from the first set
And 7 in the second set

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks Colin, it was a lot of fun with the BIFs, those are among my favorites too.. I have to adjust my muscle memory though, being used to the super lightweight 300PF, but it is amazing how accurate the focus is when it locks on. However it can sometime be challenging to avoid the lock-on grabbing a high contrast background way out of intended focus instead of the target. The heavily cropped Sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis)  below,  which was the only one that had arrived so far, was particularly troubling in this respect. There will be more of them hanging around through the summer. The Northern pintail portrait is a very heavy crop.

[Ann]

What a beautiful set of photographs!

I particularly enjoyed the humour in the head-on shot of a goose in  2024-04-28-2007N-2894-md.jpg

[Bent Hjarbo]

What a beautiful set of photographs!

I particularly enjoyed the humour in the head-on shot of a goose in  2024-04-28-2007N-2894-md.jpg

+1 the new toy used with skills.

[Nasos Kosmas]

Very nice Oivid 500pf plus D500 is an unbeatable pair
And you found a very good use of the combo besides stars as Colin  mentioned!

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks Ann, Bent and Nasos.
I am also partial to the frontal view of the While-fronted goose - I find the circular pattern of the feathers quite fascinating.

+2 to 500pf plus D500 being an unbeatable pair. I am using 25 point dynamic AF-C mode with back button the whole time, so the challenge is to get the focus point placed before locking on, but once locked on the success rate is very high. There was hardly any need to zoom in to previews to check for accurate focus, as it was very evident when it locked on; focus was either right on target or very blurry.  I was really surprised it worked for the 7th frame from the top in the first post, where both wing tips are almost covering the target. My only issue was accidentally getting as low as 1/800 shutter speed, but it gave some nice effects with the blurry wing tips in some of the BIF captures. The experience focusing with the TC-14E seemed better at f/8 than I recall from the 300PF with 2x TC-20E III, also at f/8.

[Nasos Kosmas]

Last summer I used this combo successfully for birding but as always I need some more, so I left D500 for Z8
With this change I had cleaner files and I am able for more cropping if needed
The use of 1.4x , 1.7x and 2.0x can be done easy with no limitation as D500, plus there is eye bird AF and 20fps raw files
A big plus is bird tracking that is easier with an FF than a DX crop camera

See an example here and more to come
https://nikongear.net/revival/index.php?topic=1938.msg199139#msg199139

[Øivind Tøien]

Interesting comment about the TC's Nasos. Unsurprisingly AF with the 500PF and 2x TC does not work at all with the D500, perhaps with the exception of live view.

And don't talk, there is $500 off on the Z8 in the US this month...   


[Edit: I updated the images in the first post with the intended larger versions]

[ColinM]

... so I left D500 for Z8
... I am able for more cropping if needed

Interesting.
I've had a similar conversation with Elsa Hoffman (a regular member a few years ago) who now uses the Z8 with the 180-600mm (she's getting amazing results for certain situations)

I guess it comes down to the quality of the pixels involved?
Am I right in saying there are more pixels involved if you use the D500 than if you use the DX mode on the Z8?

[Ian Watson]

The D500 has 5,568 by 3712 pixels.
The Z8 in DX mode has 5,392 by 3,592 pixels.

[Øivind Tøien]

That would be about 3% more pixels on D500, not enough difference to be noticed.

The used TC-14E III that I ordered arrived - did some comparisons to TC14E (1) that can be seen in the old thread for it here:
https://nikongear.net/revival/index.php?topic=1202.msg199348#msg199348

[Bent Hjarbo]

Last summer I used this combo successfully for birding but as always I need some more, so I left D500 for Z8
With this change I had cleaner files and I am able for more cropping if needed
The use of 1.4x , 1.7x and 2.0x can be done easy with no limitation as D500, plus there is eye bird AF and 20fps raw files
A big plus is bird tracking that is easier with an FF than a DX crop camera

See an example here and more to come
https://nikongear.net/revival/index.php?topic=1938.msg199139#msg199139

I have done the same switch, and also changed from 200-500 to 100-400, I don’t look back

[Nasos Kosmas]

Yes the pixel count on D500 is higher  than Z8 dx crop but-I can’t explain why- the final image looks cleaner with more details
For this reason my captures are always cleaner than my friends that using D500/200-500 even we are in the same distance with exactly the same lighting condition when we are out for birding

Of coarse it’s the lens difference but this is not so big comparing D500/Z8 sensor difference
For this reason I can use higher cropping in the case of small birds

As already said you can use 1.7x and 2.0x with AF  capabilities but with more delay in response time, practically I use only bare lens or 1.4x for BIF
As for 1.4III I didn’t show any marginal difference from my previous 1.4e

Me too I don’t look back