Body workout on bees, with examples

[Frank Fremerey]

In the course of the next days I try to find which of these four will be most helpful
tracking bees in their environment. My neighbour is bee scientist
working on her master thesis. She found 30 species ... taxonomical
differences only ... in the field she is working.

I hope I can track as many of them as possible.

NPS was so kind to lend two extra bodies. The D750 and the D810. With my D3 and the D600 that makes 4.

They also wanted to give me an AFS 105 VR Micro, but they seem to have
forgotten to send it. Currently loading batteries...

Bees bees bees. 30.Wild species. Wow. Habe to ask some friendsbin Bonn
for more Macro lenses

[Jørgen Ramskov]

Good luck!

[Frank Fremerey]

Thank you. 30 species means work. I hope to be lucky. The 105VR is in the post.

[Jørgen Ramskov]

I will be interested to hear your thoughts on the D750 compared to the rest.

[Frank Fremerey]

I performed a comparsion with D800E vs. D600 on the old site

Contrary to my expectation the 800 won the field test and the 600
won in the studio.

This time my expectation is very much that the D810 and the D750
will be very close in both fields.

[Frank Fremerey]

First studio test ad hoc handheld and tripod, focus on handling
all set to base ISO plus F=8 and the 60G Micro as lens.

Annotations:

1) D3 with a high piercing sound, D750 sounds fast and snappy
but also a tad aggressive, D600 similar to D750 but a little more
damped and slower, D810. What a relief. Well damped and elegant
sound. A great step forward from the D800. I would see no problem
using her during a church service.

2) D3 slow Autofocus, D600 noticable delay till focus, D810 and
 D750 instantaneous AF but different sound. Very interesting.
AF in the field is my main interest. I feel I can leave the oldies at
home. Simple as that. Huge difference.

3) misc:

-- The D750 uses the big display on the back for Information I can find in the Viewfinder or
in the Top Display on the other cams. E.g. if you need to know if AutoISO is safely disabled. Not good.
-- All bodies fit nicely into my hands though the D750 gives me the impression I should cut my nails

[Andrea B.]

Well, Frank, where is the D4S? That is what I would choose for such a task. Unfor, I do not have the money to actually own one currently. But nothing tracks better or faster, imho. And you can keep speeds so very fast with its high ISO capability.

I will be very interested to see a report for the various combo of settings like AF-S/AF-C + d9/21/51/GRP/Auto.

If you are not afraid of bees, tracking at a short distance (60mm macro) with AF-C/3D sometimes works as the bee crawls over the flower. It isn't too hard to get a 3D lock on the bee if you are hand-holding. But you have to work quickly and put autofocus on the back button.

[Frank Fremerey]

First report from the field:

I need about f=10 and 1/1.000 s for best results. So I have to pump the ISO to some extent even in good light. I tried some shots with ISO 64 but the bee's movement it too erratic and unpredictable.  The D810 is a big leap forward from the D800E in any relevant respect. I will give no second thought to pump up the ISO to 2.000 which might be a good candidate for upper end of AutoISO. Tonality and noise are still very good, the former harshness is gone.

AUTOFOCUS with 105VR and 60G Micro Nikkors:

I got both D750 and D810 factory reset from NPS and set the AF to "AF-S plus Single point" to compare.

There might still be some difference in factory settings deep down in the menu which I did not yet find, so bare with me if the differences described here might have to do with that.

1) The D750 AF behaves very hectic and erratic and active with both lenses. I saw that in the studio shots yesterday and I saw it all the more in the field. The D810 AF approaches the target from one side and then seems to lock on it without hunting. My impression in that respect is that the D810 seems to expect the next shot in a series to need about the same focus distance for optimum sharpness while the D750 looks in a wider range of focus distances as if she had no prior knowledge of which focus she chose 0.2 seconds before. With 3D tracking this erratic behaviour gets even worse. My impression form a few hundred comparison shots is also that the D750 "pumps" on moving targets while the D810 repositions carefully like an experienced hunter.

2) The D750 seems to be programmed to choose the nearest object as the most likely target while the D810 is searching for the possible target anywhere. She might sniff around houses and trees in the background even if 80% of the frame are filled with flowers and bees in the near field. The "Limiter" of the 105VR did not change that behaviour. The D750 is much more responsive in that respect.

3) The AF system of both cameras is a practical improvement over my D600 and D3 so I can alter the strategy for "bee hunting" a bit. I search the bee by hand, move forward and backward a little until I got her in the single focus field. Then I let the camera track her. With the D600 this did not work. But I could track the bee with AF and when I got her I saved the setting and adjusted by moving my body with the insects.

4) My 60G Micro just came from service but I do not really trust it yet. It stopped focussing suddenly and a camera change and a minute later it did suddenly work again. Hm. Not good. BUT: When the 60 worked it was much faster and better suited for bee hunting than the 105VR Micro. This is an aged 2006 design with early VR-technology (this incarnation from the China make with Serial Number 2004491) and focus speed is much slower. Also a lot of glass has to be moved and the VR produces strange noises, like a heavy pinball moving in a thick bottle.

Now I will review the pictures.

[ColinM]

This is a fascinating exercise Frank.

There are a lot of variables here. I'm not even going to get into whether there's much sunshine where you are (naff all here in the UK) which will affect things.

But what I worry about is that you seem to be evaluating AF success. However there are two factors here

• The bees own movement. I suspect that if it's warm, they aren't still for very long - maybe less time than the 105 needs to acquire focus
• Your own movement. Unless you're using a monopod or other support, you will find it hard to hold position. This just adds the the calculations the AF and any 3D tracking is trying to do!
  Of course you may already have thought of all this! but let us know

> the D750 looks in a wider range of focus distances
> as if she had no prior knowledge of which focus she chose 0.2 seconds before.

Ahhhh, so one of them is female too.......

Please keep us updated

[Frank Fremerey]

Just came back from the former gravel pit where the bee scientist
works. Spent two hours in the blazing sun. Could watch I guess
six or eight different species.

The D810 does not focus with my Micro Nikkor at all.
See if NPS can fix that tomorrow.

So it is D810 plus 105VR Micro and D750 plus 60G micro.

I get another chance to watch the bees on Sunday morning if the wheather is right.

[Frank Fremerey]

Colin. This is not a scientific test. The question is more: do I get significantly more keepers with
on combo of camera and lens or another.

I feel the 105VR is EOL. So many things happened since 02006. The AF got better the VR got better

I have a lot of keepers today.

[Frank Fremerey]

Now, after discovering that this copy of D810 has trouble autofocussing with more than one lens it is more the camera I doubt than the lens.

[simsurace]

Wht are your settings for AF lock-on? Are they the same on all cameras?

[Frank Fremerey]

Simone: AF Lock On? I do not understand what that means. As fas as I remember this has something to do with 3D-tracking which I do not use. Am I wrong?

[Jørgen Ramskov]

That first one is really cool!

Sorry to hear about your camera trouble