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83x anyone? The new Nikon P900 (1 Viewer)

Love this filter or not debate it comes up so often.
First thing to say is all my P900 shots were taken with a filter and lens hood,i dont see a lot wrong with them,one important factor is buy from a reputable source,there are a lot of fake filters about,not long ago ebay was awash with fake Hoya filters.

To think that in this day and age a company like Hoya cannot make an opticaly perfect small circle of glass is nonsenses.

A few considerations are,a filter can affect IQ if it brings the front element forward so makes it more likely to have flare and you dont use a lens hood,on the other hand small damage to a front element is unlikely to matter with IQ but try to sell or trade the camera a couple of years down the road thats when it will matter.

I will not use a lens without a filter or a lens hood,filter for protection lens hood as it keeps the glancing light off the filter or front element.

The filter will not protect against impact damage which a lot of posters use as the proof a filter does not protect the lens
 
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Love this filter or not debate it comes up so often.
First thing to say is all my P900 shots were taken with a filter and lens hood,i dont see a lot wrong with them,one important factor is buy from a reputable source,there are a lot of fake filters about,not long ago ebay was awash with fake Hoya filters.

To think that in this day and age a company like Hoya cannot make an opticaly perfect small circle of glass is nonsenses.

A few considerations are,a filter can affect IQ if it brings the front element forward so makes it more likely to have flare and you dont use a lens hood,on the other hand small damage to a front element is unlikely to matter with IQ but try to sell or trade the camera a couple of years down the road thats when it will matter.

I will not use a lens without a filter or a lens hood,filter for protection lens hood as it keeps the glancing light off the filter or front element.

The filter will not protect against impact damage which a lot of posters use as the proof a filter does not protect the lens

Interesting that your excellent P900 shots were taken with both hood and filter. Would you please also share the specific models you used, as clearly Gander is having problems with his hood setup.
Separately, my experience with filters has been less positive and I've become a hood advocate instead, but I'm not usually in blowing sand/salt environments.
 
When I first got my P900 I was a little disappointed with the image quality lacking clarity/contrast. Adding a Hoya UV filter eliminated the problem. I wouldn't use the camera without now. Photos are now punchy and good contrast. The P900 is my primary camera nowadays. It's repeatedly taken better photos of distant birds than my DSLR with Canon 400mm f5,6, even when using a 2x converter and even with birds in flight as long as they're slow moving. Plus of course it's much lighter to cart around on longer walks.

I mostly use it in birdwatching mode though I don't particularly like the 1/500th sec limit nor that it doesn't use the spot focus. For flight shots I use it in AV or manual exposure and for birds in vegetation using the spot focus which I find picks them out from foliage much more easily.

I found using a lens hood with my Canon SX50 vastly reduced flare, but to date I've not used one with the P900. Mostly because I must be getting a little clumsy in my dotage having had to replace the lens hood three times now after dropping the SX50. I guess it helped protect the camera though as that's still working just fine. I've not yet dropped the P900.

I have noticed though that flare is sometimes an issue on occasions with the P900 when I have to shoot into the sun, even obliquely. More so due to loss of contrast through flare. Similar shots sat in a hide with no sun on the front of the lens come out fine. I might give it a go with a lens hood.
 
A rubber hood serves both as a flare reducer as well as a cushion against bumps for my scope, so it might be an option here. Whether one suitable for the P900 would be light enough for the lens motor to handle is tbd.
 
Interesting that your excellent P900 shots were taken with both hood and filter. Would you please also share the specific models you used, as clearly Gander is having problems with his hood setup.
Separately, my experience with filters has been less positive and I've become a hood advocate instead, but I'm not usually in blowing sand/salt environments.

Thanks,the lens hood i bought off ebay is no longer acailable but it looked just the same as the one i linked to.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Phot-R-67mm-Universal-Collapsible-Rubber-Multi-Lens-Hood-for-Wide-Angle-Lenses-/261560329243?hash=item3ce635e41b:g:JlkAAOSw0HVWCRZb&clk_rvr_id=1219573786119&rmvSB=true

The filter was a Hoya UV bought from my local camera shop,sorry but thats all the details i have.

I wil just add i may have tweaked the in camera jpeg settings as i find Nikon factory jpeg settings a bit soft,just looked at the exoif on one of my shots and it says.

Saturation high
Sharpness hard

This is a link to a shot at full zoom with filter and lens hood you can check the exif

https://www.flickr.com/photos/7239177@N07/26585291293/in/dateposted/
 
So with camera indicating fully charged, I headed out this morning for round two. I spent three hours shooting away with no battery problems. 210 shots taken, so looks like I never gave the battery enough of an initial charge.

Only problem I had today is that the lens movement failed a few times. I had a Neewer lens hood attached, and I know it is causing the problem, but I don't quite know how yet. The last time it happened, the hood was pretty jammed on. Once I took it off and left it off for the second half of the session, there were no repeats of the problem. I took a photo or two of a Yellowhammer without the hood, then briefly put the hood back on to take a couple more shots. I have had a look and can't see the difference, so hood stays off unless I get glare problems somewhere.

The problem leaving the hood off gives me is that I wanted it primarily as protection for the exposed lens. I have got a Hoya UV filter, so I think that I might try that as my protector, and see if it changes the camera performance at all.

A few photos from this morning below. Light was variable. All shot in bird watching mode. Only change I've made to the camera is set the NR to low. My plan is to test the camera initially by having it set in one particular mode for each session. Once I've got a grip of the performance in each mode, I may look at adjusting Exposure Compensation.


You say lens movement failed a few times,thinking back i did have this odd times but it was nothing to do with the lens hood it was the way my hand was on the zoom control on the side of the lens.

I would be interested to know your settings for these and how much of a crop.

One setting i allways used was continuess shooting as i found my first shot was often not as good as my second or third.

I would have used shutter priority most of the time with auto ISO possibly capped at about 800 and the lens wide open to give the highest SS and lowest ISO.

Remember nearly all Canon/Nikon Dslr uses would never use a 2000mm lens hand held,and the sensor on the P900 is a high desitity pixel sensoe 16mp on such a small sensor will show the slightest error in technique.

You look to be getting there but this camera does require practice to get the best from it.
 
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You say lens movement failed a few times,thinking back i did have this odd times but it was nothing to do with the lens hood it was the way my hand was on the zoom control on the side of the lens.

I would be interested to know your settings for these and how much of a crop.

All were shot in bird watching mode, with single point focus. I have not cropped any of the photos, and I tried to avoid going into digital focus. The only one I lightened slightly was the Wren.

I'm not sure if there is a way of reading what settings the camera selects in auto for each photo?

I am going to try the hood again. It is very light, so shouldn't be giving the motor problems. It only seemed to cause the malfunction if the camera went to sleep.
 
I used Nikon view NX1 to download the images,it shows settings and focus points,the new version is 2 not sure what it does.

Had a quick look at some flickr images and the best ones had in camera adjustments made for jpegs as i said above.

Saturation high
Sharpness hard
 
Had a play about with the camera this evening. With the hood on it seems to only stick when the power is taken off totally. It won't let you put the power back on until the hood is removed.

Think i'm going to bin this hood and try a type as advised above.
 
Had a play about with the camera this evening. With the hood on it seems to only stick when the power is taken off totally. It won't let you put the power back on until the hood is removed.

Think i'm going to bin this hood and try a type as advised above.

Just guessing, but possibly there is some sort of micro switch in the lens.
Maybe holding the camera vertically so it does not feel an excess drag would allow it to turn on.
 
I have worked out the problem with the Neewer hood. When I turn the camera off, the lens goes to its rest position. However, with the Neewer hood on, it is not allowed to do this, as the back of the hood butts up against the rim of the lens tube. Turning the camera back on does not help as it still seems to be looking for the 100% retracted position before it allows the lens to be used again. In other words, if you switch the camera off, you have to take the lens hood off before you start it again.

I received one of the foldable type hoods this afternoon, and it works perfectly on the camera. It does not butt up to the lens shell when the camera is switched off, and does not therefore cause a malfunction.

The Neewer hood was recommended in the Alexander White guide, so I don't know why this problem has not been picked up previously.
 
Someone commented that in BIRD setting, the cameras limits to 1/500. I tried mine out and focussing on a bright green shrub it Went to 1/640. Took the pic and it was shown on display as 1/640 sec


Den
 
Just to add a bit more re the 1/500 sec, tried again a few times, and it seems that if I focus to the side of the bright green shrub, the camera picks 1/500th, but if I them move to get the BGBush in the shot the timing changes briefly, up to 1/800th today. Remove finger from button and it settles back to 1/500th.
A bit nerdy I know ��
Den
 
Hoya UV filter - Digital, Pro Digital or HD Digital?

...or even Gold HD Digital £70 :eek:

Which one have you chosen?

Thanks

Marco
 
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After much deliberation, I finally decided to upgrade from the SX40 to the P900. I'm aware that a successor may be announced in the coming months, but wanted to take advantage of the summer weather while I can. I definitely appreciate the more eye-friendly viewfinder, and don't particularly mind the extra bulk and weight.

In terms of accessories, I've purchased a Lowepro Toploader Zoom 45 AW camera bag (I didn't go for the AW2 as I prefer the carry handle on the top as opposed to the side), a Hahnel HL-EL23 spare battery, and a B+W 67mm UV filter, which I intend to use when the lens is in danger of encountering sand or sea spray.

So far I've been alternating between Auto (though I now realise Program is ultimately better so shall use this in the future) and Shutter Priority, for when the light is good enough to shoot in the range of 1/1000th or 1/2000th of a second. I currently have the Function button set to changing the focusing mode, as I often flick between Target-finding AF and Spot Focus depending on the situation. I also appreciate the focus peaking feature when using Manual Focus for insects.

Attached are some photos from a couple of RSPB reserves local to me. All have been cropped, either as a result of extreme distance from the target, or the fact that it's difficult to get close macro photos of insects using such a large lens. Regardless, I look forward to using this camera for the foreseeable future!
 

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Resurrecting this thread :)

Since this thread appears to have little activity, I thought I'd resurrect it by adding an image taken with my P900 several weeks ago. Distance was about 100 yards, and once again, this remarkable camera delivered the goods!
 

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A small activity push for this thread.
 

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