Nature with the D5300

[Richard A]

I have purchased a used Nikon D5300 as a second body as my photography in the field is not suited to constantly changing lenses as required with only one body available. I will be using this camera with my Sigma 105macro as well as the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 and 70-300 f4.5. The camera exhibit quite heavy back focussing but this now appears to have been sorted out by Nikon here in Cape Town.

The following are some examples of the new camera. For small creatures like ants the extra zooming offered by Sigma 105mm ( now equivalent to 150mm) comes in useful as the subject is larger or one can shoot from further away. It does however mean having to up the shutter speed some to eliminate camera shake. The bird images take using the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VRII.

1st bird - African Darter
2nd bird -  Crowned Cormorant

[elsa hoffmann]

good stuff Richie
are you enjoying the 70-200?

[armando_m]

I really like the second image! Great pose

[Bjørn Rørslett]

I have a (red) D5300 camera for IR only. It has been converted for the purpose. Image quality is excellent and after some practice, handling the camera goes pretty well too.

I had a major gripe with the poor GPS feature, but after Nikon Nordic told me to download and install an AGPS file to the camera, GPS suddenly sprung to a new life and while still is quite slow to get a satellite bearing, it does so in 1-2 minutes compared to 1 hour or more before.

On a side note: your Sigma lens still is 105 mm and you don't get any higher magnification with it than an FX camera would provide. Only more cropping of the frame. However, as the actual field of view is narrower on the DX, it follows that the DX capture will be more susceptible to camera shake (as you already have found out).

[Gary]

Good looking images. The camera should serve you well. I've found that a two camera setup is much more useful and enjoyable than switching out lenses. Good Luck and Good Shooting.

Gary

[Richard A]

Thanks to all the posters. The little camera is growing on me. The 70-200 certainly has already. I also have been using my old 70-700m Vr lens with this D300. at max. zoom the reach is now equivalent to 450mm but I avoid this extreme focal length as this lens is not really up to the task although being cropped it does not suffer from the same corner softness one gets on full frame. The only gripe I have with the camera so far is that noise already becomes visible (at 100%) from ISO400 onwards - this is not what I am used to having used the D700 & D800.

Images below:
1 - Bokmakierie shrike with 70-300mm @ 270mm (jpg original)
2 - Cape Batis with 70-300mmm @ 230mm (jpeg original)

[elsa hoffmann]

At least you get round to using the baby - I have hardly used mine - never mind put it to the test !