A D800 at last (1 Viewer)

I'm finding the AF of the D800 to be as good,if not better than the D3s. Even though the frames per second are a lot less you get just as many keepers.
On my recent trip to Florida I was using it on the 300/4 AFS hand held for birds in flight.
Neil

Neil excellent images. I am also enjoying using the D800 with a 300F4 and 2xEiii TC as it is a great walk around combination. Not considered using the 300f4 alone for BIF but will try it out this week. So much lighter to hold. Thanks for the idea.

Neil, that's a nice looking Kowa lens/scope. I somehow had a feeling your images weren't shot via a scope with the prism still in the chain. Those are some great shots, you should try to sell prints.

I like the idea of Nikon's 1.7x teleconverter, rather than the 2x...it's a shame Canon never embraced the 1.7x idea. Or better yet, 1.55x.

The Canon 300 f/4 has image stabilization and yet costs less than the Nikon 300 f/4(which has no stabilization)...and this is a relatively "old-ish" Canon lens! So it's a shame Nikon doesn't make a Canon lens mount version (with fully compatible, tweakable AF) for their D800...then EVERYBODY would buy the D800 including me...haha. Better yet, make the lens mount section interchangable for any type of mount...hey I can dream about it anyway! I'm tired of all the different lens mounts locking you into which camera brand to use...at least if you want AF. I know Nikon makes some great lenses too, but overall Canon's lens lineup impresses me more. Personally I only have a couple of L lenses, but I definitely wouldn't want to replace these particular ones with their Nikon counterparts.

I've yet to try the D800 or 5D3, but from what I have read so far, I'm less impressed by the 5D3...maybe it's just me. I haven't even read all that much yet, though.

RMWD said:

Neil excellent images. I am also enjoying using the D800 with a 300F4 and 2xEiii TC as it is a great walk around combination. Not considered using the 300f4 alone for BIF but will try it out this week. So much lighter to hold. Thanks for the idea.

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Rich,
I misled you with the last email as I had the TC14E11 (1.4x) teleconverter on the 300/4 AFS for those flight shots. This is my preferred walk around combo as I find the 2x is a bit slow for fast action and I prefer to use it on a tripod as well.
Neil.

Canon lenses on a Nikon???

Has anyone made a converter which would enable Canon lenses to be use on a D800?

There is a brilliant Canon lens, the 100 - 400 zoom which I'd buy tomorrow if it would fit my Nikons. I like Nikon cameras but their lenses for bird photography are decidely limited.

Anyone have any ideas?

Richard

Unfortunately Canon lenses cannot be adapter to fit Nikons, only the other way around.
Your only alternative is the 70-200mm 2.8 with 2xTCIII or the old 80-400mm - which is rumoured to be replaced by a new version.

Thanks Pasquier,

That's unfortunate about the Canon lenses. If Nikon does bring out a new 200 - 400 zoom that would be very interesting. I have a 300mm 2.8 which I use with a 1.7tc. This is a brilliant rig but it is pretty heavy and bulky particularly when you want to bird for extended periods away from cars & hides. My friends carry the Canon 100-400 and it seems a lot easier on the shoulder than big Nikon.

The 300mm f2.8 and a 2.0TC seems to be a hot favourite for lots of Canon users and has been for some time as Canon seem to have got their 2.0TC right a long time before Nikon did.
The Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 works well with the 2.0TC, not as fast to AF as the 300mm f2.8 with a 1.4 but still achievable.

Pasquier said:

Unfortunately Canon lenses cannot be adapter to fit Nikons, only the other way around.

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Has anyone tried it ? It would solve a few problems for me !

You guys seem to be illustrating my point...that with the D800, Nikon certainly has a fine camera, but their lens lineup seems not quite as nice as Canon's. In my opinion, a crop camera will be better for bird photography anyway, making more use of a telephoto len's detail. A 7D or D7000 and a 300 f/2.8, with whatever teleconverters you like, seems like the best choice to me. I think the pixel size is slightly bigger on the D800 than on the D7000, but I could be wrong...they are very close in size...so the main difference is obviously the wider FOV picture, vastly more pixels, and higher cost.

If you are shooting in mid day with very bright light, then something smaller than a 300 f/2.8 would work as well. I haven't tried the Canon 100-400 (it is rumored to be updated soon), but I did try the older 400 f/5.6. It was very sharp with extremely fast and accurate AF even in low light. But it didn't work well at all with my series II 2x teleconverter. Was difficult to get usable shots (at least with reasonable sharpness) even on a tripod...because it was an 800 f/11, or a 1280 f/11 in full frame FOV terms.

Personally I want to try the Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 with OS. The pics I've seen online look plenty sharp in the middle half of the image, on a full frame...so a crop camera might work at least as well, or better. I doubt it will work well with my 2x TC, if it all, but I'll try it.

Last year I also rented a Canon 500 f/4, along with the new Series 3 1.4x TC. I couldn't get it to AF accurately no matter how I set the micro adjustment in camera, with this 1.4x. And manually focusing (via live view) this 1000mm f/8 combo via my series 2 2xTC (on a tripod), I also never could get much sharpness at all...was apparent even via the live view image, not to mention when I snapped a few pictures while in live view (effectively mirror locked). They inspected the lens after I returned it, and said they found nothing wrong...so go figure. It auto-focused almost 100% accurate with no tc's attached (even on a monopod), but it was still never quite perfect. By contrast, the 200 f/2 I rented a few months later, always AF'd perfectly with no tweaking at all, and had extreme sharpness beyond the resolution of my crop camera...and imparted color gradations that made my camera look more like it was full-frame quality. I didn't wind up using it much with the 2x TC, because I liked the wider FOV and how much subject matter it took in...for my Fall landscape shots. Its image stabilization even gave me almost perfect sharpness with a 1 second exposure...on a monopod!

Carl

I've been using the D800 as my travel/walk-around camera , which I was never able to do with the D3/D3s.
I just had a quick to LA and hung around the Santa Monica Pier . Here are some photos from the trip taken with the "value for money" 50/1.8D.
Neil

Excellent detail and very nice first image. Not tried it with a 50mm prime yet. It usually has a long lens of some sort permanently attached. Will give it a go. The nice thing about the D800 is that one can retake almost anything done before and see new things the format offers. Love it.

I like the ability to take Raw and the NX2 software does a good job of handling the processing , although I wish it was a little faster. Here is an example of a photo that was saved by being shot in raw, but over exposed.
Neil

RMWD said:

Excellent detail and very nice first image. Not tried it with a 50mm prime yet. It usually has a long lens of some sort permanently attached. Will give it a go. The nice thing about the D800 is that one can retake almost anything done before and see new things the format offers. Love it.

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Rich,
Yes, you've got 4, 12 meg images there that can be cropped many different ways and still be printed big.
Neil.

A while ago I posted some macro photos taken in Sydney with a mate's 105/2.8 AFS VR. I also shot some macro with my old faithful 105/2.8 AF which I was quite happy with.
Neil
Nikon D800 and Nikon 105/2.8 AF

Hong Kong,China.
May 2012

When I first got the D800 I rushed down to the harbour to snap some photos with it but I mentioned that the quality of light was not good.
The last couple of weeks the light has been better ( winds from the south), so I headed back to the harbour with a Hasselblad 50/5 (Zeiss) on the camera.
Here are some images from that day.
Neil

Hong Kong,
China.
July 2012

I took the D800 out yesterday in some appalling weather with the Typhoon Signal No.1 up.
I started shooting at iso 3200 and ended up around iso 800. I wasn't happy with the iso3200 images.
At the end of the morning I was shooting in rain as you can see clearly in the last image of the Little Egret in flight.
With the low light level the camera seemed to having problem holding focus although it locked on quick enough. It may be at 5 fps it may not be fast enough to keep up with fast action.
Neil

Nikon D800 and Nikon 500/4 AFS VR Lens and Nikon TC 14E 11 Teleconverter

Hong Kong,
China.
July 2012

Neil said:

I took the D800 out yesterday in some appalling weather with the Typhoon Signal No.1 up.
I started shooting at iso 3200 and ended up around iso 800. I wasn't happy with the iso3200 images.
At the end of the morning I was shooting in rain as you can see clearly in the last image of the Little Egret in flight.
With the low light level the camera seemed to having problem holding focus although it locked on quick enough. It may be at 5 fps it may not be fast enough to keep up with fast action.
Neil

Nikon D800 and Nikon 500/4 AFS VR Lens and Nikon TC 14E 11 Teleconverter

Hong Kong,
China.
July 2012

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I keep on looking at the D800 and holding back. 5fps should be fine for 90% of the time but it's the other 10% where you are most likely to get an outstanding image and not of a bird simply sat on a stick.
I am also concerned that if I took advantage of the full frame maximum resolution shots how would my laptop cope ? I would have to invest in bigger memory cards too.
NX2 isn't the fastest tool at the moment ( and compares poorly with Canon's DPP which you get free of charge when you buy a 1D) so that might need replacing to cope with the file sizes.
I would possibly buy a D4 but it's a silly price in the UK especially when I compare it's performance with my Canon 1DMk1V which cost almost half the amount.
Warehouse Express have stock available of the D4 at £5289. B&H in the USA are asking $6000 ( less 5 cents) which equates to a mere £3922 at the lowest exchange rate we have had in the last 12 months.
The D800 sells at £2599 here and $3000 in the USA. Equivalent of £1960
Both 25% cheaper. How do Nikon justify that ?

Dave Williams said:

I keep on looking at the D800 and holding back. 5fps should be fine for 90% of the time but it's the other 10% where you are most likely to get an outstanding image and not of a bird simply sat on a stick.
I am also concerned that if I took advantage of the full frame maximum resolution shots how would my laptop cope ? I would have to invest in bigger memory cards too.
NX2 isn't the fastest tool at the moment ( and compares poorly with Canon's DPP which you get free of charge when you buy a 1D) so that might need replacing to cope with the file sizes.
I would possibly buy a D4 but it's a silly price in the UK especially when I compare it's performance with my Canon 1DMk1V which cost almost half the amount.
Warehouse Express have stock available of the D4 at £5289. B&H in the USA are asking $6000 ( less 5 cents) which equates to a mere £3922 at the lowest exchange rate we have had in the last 12 months.
The D800 sells at £2599 here and $3000 in the USA. Equivalent of £1960
Both 25% cheaper. How do Nikon justify that ?

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Dave,
I really wanted the D4 but baulked at the price too. But the main benefit I'm getting with the D800 is that I can use it as a travel camera. Try doing that with the D3s/D4. Of course the Canon G1 X makes a nice travel camera too.
I haven't had enough sunny days with lots of birds in flight to really test the D800. Birds are starting to arrive here again on migration so I should get a lot more experience over the next few weeks.
The D800 AF seems to lock on a little faster than the D3s so you can grab the first frame quicker but seems to lose it after about 3 frames. With the D3 I had 17 frames of a Sea Eagle flying straight at me in focus. The D800 doesn't seem as capable. I'm sure the D4 is.
Why not pick up a D3s at a good price if you need the speed?
Neil

Neil said:

Dave,
I really wanted the D4 but baulked at the price too. But the main benefit I'm getting with the D800 is that I can use it as a travel camera. Try doing that with the D3s/D4. Of course the Canon G1 X makes a nice travel camera too.
I haven't had enough sunny days with lots of birds in flight to really test the D800. Birds are starting to arrive here again on migration so I should get a lot more experience over the next few weeks.
The D800 AF seems to lock on a little faster than the D3s so you can grab the first frame quicker but seems to lose it after about 3 frames. With the D3 I had 17 frames of a Sea Eagle flying straight at me in focus. The D800 doesn't seem as capable. I'm sure the D4 is.
Why not pick up a D3s at a good price if you need the speed?
Neil

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That's very interesting Neil cos as I understood it the AF systems in the D800/D4 were identical. I have to say though in the limited time I used the D3x I didn't really see any difference in AF performance vs what I was used to with my 1DMKIII. And the Canon 300mm f2.8/2xTC combo felt like it AF'ed quicker than the 200-400mm/1.4x combo. I can't wait until the day I maybe get a hold of a 5DMKIII to see what that does.