Eagles Nest Update - Feeding Time!

[Garfield]

This inexperienced pair of eagles (first timer nesters) need to learn they can't leave the nest unattended when there's an agressive Red-tail hawk lurking in the area. They almost lost one of the eaglettes (which can't be seen but there are two in the nest).

 

[Dave63401]

Now that was a fun video to watch!
Did you have any idea this was about to happen or were you shooting hoping something happened?
Would you mind sharing your video settings, RAW or H264, FPS ,
Focal length, 4k or 1080 ect? I assume the zooming is in post?

 

[Garfield]

Now that was a fun video to watch!
Did you have any idea this was about to happen or were you shooting hoping something happened?
Would you mind sharing your video settings, RAW or H264, FPS ,
Focal length, 4k or 1080 ect? I assume the zooming is in post?

Thanks Dave, glad you liked it! Just one of those "unexpected" moments that you need to be prepared for. Both adults were on the nest and were watching some kind of threat we couldn't see through the trees and inexplicably both left the nest at the same time. Fortunately the male quickly headed back to the nest and intercepted the RTH coming in from behind just in time. The RTH has been a constant threat as we've seen it cruise by the nest from time to time "testing the defences".

As soon as the eagles both left the nest I knew it was "game on" so quickly replaced the Z9+800pf+1.4TC (recording oversampled 4k60) with the Z8+180-600 on the tripod and hit record (4k120) in anticipation of the action. I needed the zoom for the wide angle. It's nice when a plan comes together!

My standard recording setup is
4k H.265
oversampled 30p w/1-2x zoom or oversampled 60p (FX & DX) or 120p (FX&DX) as needed
SS set to 180-degree shutter angle equivalent
Cameras set to manual (always) - ISO floats to 6400 max.
Z9+800pf+1.4xTC on Sachtler flowtech + aktiv8 head
Z8+180-600 or 600pf on black rapid strap (hand held)
1.4xTC (rarely 2xTC) if needed.
Z9 is mostly for high-magnification closeups (mostly manually focused) and the Z8 is for hand-held action; typically auto-area/custom-wide area (smallest box)/custom-wide area (largest box) with subject detect set to birds. I only use those three AF modes and toggle between them.
Everything edited using DR Studio.

Here's some more closeup footage if you're interested...

 

[Dave63401]

Thanks Dave, glad you liked it! Just one of those "unexpected" moments that you need to be prepared for. Both adults were on the nest and were watching some kind of threat we couldn't see through the trees and inexplicably both left the nest at the same time. Fortunately the male quickly headed back to the nest and intercepted the RTH coming in from behind just in time. The RTH has been a constant threat as we've seen it cruise by the nest from time to time "testing the defences".

As soon as the eagles both left the nest I knew it was "game on" so quickly replaced the Z9+800pf+1.4TC (recording oversampled 4k60) with the Z8+180-600 on the tripod and hit record (4k120) in anticipation of the action. I needed the zoom for the wide angle. It's nice when a plan comes together!

My standard recording setup is
4k H.265
oversampled 30p w/1-2x zoom or oversampled 60p (FX & DX) or 120p (FX&DX) as needed
SS set to 180-degree shutter angle equivalent
Cameras set to manual (always) - ISO floats to 6400 max.
Z9+800pf+1.4xTC on Sachtler flowtech + aktiv8 head
Z8+180-600 or 600pf on black rapid strap (hand held)
1.4xTC (rarely 2xTC) if needed.
Z9 is mostly for high-magnification closeups (mostly manually focused) and the Z8 is for hand-held action; typically auto-area/custom-wide area (smallest box)/custom-wide area (largest box) with subject detect set to birds. I only use those three AF modes and toggle between them.
Everything edited using DR Studio.

Here's some more closeup footage if you're interested...

Thanks for the detailed info!
I enjoy seeing and learning from what others are doing with settings.
Your videos look great!
Dave

 

[Garfield]

Thanks for the detailed info!
I enjoy seeing and learning from what others are doing with settings.
Your videos look great!
Dave

Happy to share!

 

[Garfield]

First time seeing the youngsters being fed by Mom!

 

[Dave63401]

First time seeing the youngsters being fed by Mom!

Always fun to see the young ones being fed! Nice.

 

[Rudy Pohl]

First time seeing the youngsters being fed by Mom!

Wonderful footage, Gary. Nice and clear.
Rudy

 

[Rudy Pohl]

This inexperienced pair of eagles (first timer nesters) need to learn they can't leave the nest unattended when there's an agressive Red-tail hawk lurking in the area. They almost lost one of the eaglettes (which can't be seen but there are two in the nest).

Very cool footage, Gary. I missed what was actually going on but then read Dave's comment and realized I didn't see the Hawk. Good shooting to get those birds focused behand all the branches and twiggs.
Rudy

 

[Butlerkid]

Outstanding footage, Gary! Do you change settings when recording a clip? How do you decide what setting to use - 30p, 60 p or 120 p?

 

[Rudy Pohl]

Thanks Dave, glad you liked it! Just one of those "unexpected" moments that you need to be prepared for. Both adults were on the nest and were watching some kind of threat we couldn't see through the trees and inexplicably both left the nest at the same time. Fortunately the male quickly headed back to the nest and intercepted the RTH coming in from behind just in time. The RTH has been a constant threat as we've seen it cruise by the nest from time to time "testing the defences".

As soon as the eagles both left the nest I knew it was "game on" so quickly replaced the Z9+800pf+1.4TC (recording oversampled 4k60) with the Z8+180-600 on the tripod and hit record (4k120) in anticipation of the action. I needed the zoom for the wide angle. It's nice when a plan comes together!

My standard recording setup is
4k H.265
oversampled 30p w/1-2x zoom or oversampled 60p (FX & DX) or 120p (FX&DX) as needed
SS set to 180-degree shutter angle equivalent
Cameras set to manual (always) - ISO floats to 6400 max.
Z9+800pf+1.4xTC on Sachtler flowtech + aktiv8 head
Z8+180-600 or 600pf on black rapid strap (hand held)
1.4xTC (rarely 2xTC) if needed.
Z9 is mostly for high-magnification closeups (mostly manually focused) and the Z8 is for hand-held action; typically auto-area/custom-wide area (smallest box)/custom-wide area (largest box) with subject detect set to birds. I only use those three AF modes and toggle between them.
Everything edited using DR Studio.

Here's some more closeup footage if you're interested...

Gary, regarding digital zooming, which do you find better and why: The internal camera zooming in the ZP (and I presume in the Z8), or zooming in post in Davinci?
Rudy

 

[Garfield]

Outstanding footage, Gary! Do you change settings when recording a clip? How do you decide what setting to use - 30p, 60 p or 120 p?

Thanks Karen!
You can't make these changes when recording a clip, of course, but I'm constantly changing between all three (30p, 60p & 120p, FX/DX) during a shooting session depending on the situation. Firstly, I only shoot 4k -- I don't like 8k due to the file sizes and extra work you have to do in post for noise reduction. The extra DR you get from 8k "raw" vs 4k H.265 is negligible IMO, but then I'm not a pro and only post on social media.

Since my target output is 30p most of the time I shoot 30p at a minimum. I'll purposely choose 30p in two situations: in low light where I need the slowest SS (1/60s) for lowest ISO noise, or because I want to use the 1-2x zoom feature when recording.

If I'm anticipating fast action and know I want to output slow-mo, I'll choose 120p FX or DX with the SS set to 1/250s. But sometimes I'll choose 120p DX just for the 2.3x super-crop feature which is unique to Nikon. But when I do and know I don't want to output slow-mo then I set the shutter to minimum 1/125s so the output (at 30p) doesn't look "too" choppy. The output still doesn't look the best with such a high SS, but it's a compromise.

But most times I try to shoot 60p (SS 1/125s) for the superior oversampled IQ from 8k and to always have the option to output @50% slow-mo to a 30p timeline. Shooting 60p lets me output at 30p without significant artifacts due to uber-fast shutter speeds if I decide to in post. When it comes to fast-moving birds 50% slow-mo can look almost like real-time and 50% slow-mo is often all you need for large slower-moving birds anyway.

So in any given shooting situation I'll often switch between all three scenarios. I now often have a Z8 and Z9 with me each setup differently so I can quickly choose the right "tool" to match the situation unfolding in front of me (wildlife is unpredictable!) which is also depends on lens/TC selection.

Hope this helps!

 

[Butlerkid]

Thanks Karen!
You can't make these changes when recording a clip, of course, but I'm constantly changing between all three (30p, 60p & 120p, FX/DX) during a shooting session depending on the situation. Firstly, I only shoot 4k -- I don't like 8k due to the file sizes and extra work you have to do in post for noise reduction. The extra DR you get from 8k "raw" vs 4k H.265 is negligible IMO, but then I'm not a pro and only post on social media.

Since my target output is 30p most of the time I shoot 30p at a minimum. I'll purposely choose 30p in two situations: in low light where I need the slowest SS (1/60s) for lowest ISO noise, or because I want to use the 1-2x zoom feature when recording.

If I'm anticipating fast action and know I want to output slow-mo, I'll choose 120p FX or DX with the SS set to 1/250s. But sometimes I'll choose 120p DX just for the 2.3x super-crop feature which is unique to Nikon. But when I do and know I don't want to output slow-mo then I set the shutter to minimum 1/125s so the output (at 30p) doesn't look "too" choppy. The output still doesn't look the best with such a high SS, but it's a compromise.

But most times I try to shoot 60p (SS 1/125s) for the superior oversampled IQ from 8k and to always have the option to output @50% slow-mo to a 30p timeline. Shooting 60p lets me output at 30p without significant artifacts due to uber-fast shutter speeds if I decide to in post. When it comes to fast-moving birds 50% slow-mo can look almost like real-time and 50% slow-mo is often all you need for large slower-moving birds anyway.

So in any given shooting situation I'll often switch between all three scenarios. I now often have a Z8 and Z9 with me each setup differently so I can quickly choose the right "tool" to match the situation unfolding in front of me (wildlife is unpredictable!) which is also depends on lens/TC selection.

Hope this helps!

It does help - a lot!

 

[Garfield]

Gary, regarding digital zooming, which do you find better and why: The internal camera zooming in the ZP (and I presume in the Z8), or zooming in post in Davinci?
Rudy

Hi Rudy!

If I know I want to zoom, I'll use the 180-600 or the built-in 1-2x zoom feature that the Nikon supports, though it's limited to 30p. At 1x I believe that the image is still oversampled from 8k, but decreases in acuity as you increase the zoom to 2x due to the loss of oversampling. But at least the native output in H.265 is a high-quality noise-suppressed 4k regardless. I could always zoom in post, but if the native material is only 4k, then the NLE will be forced to up-rezz in post to maintain the 4k output, which is going to affect output quality. Sometimes this is OK, somes not.

I know that some folks purposely shoot 8k to allow them to zoom in post without losing any IQ, but it's not that simple. Aside from 8k file sizes being ridiculously large, 8k "raw" files are much noisier, so you have to apply a lot or NR in post, which at 8k really starts to stress the computer. In theory DR is better with 8k files, but in practice I don't really see it.

But there are many work-arounds. I have FX/DX toggle programmed to a button so can instantly switch between FX/DX which is a kind of "instant zoom" feature. There are many ways to achieve the desired results!