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Dave, I always read and pay attention to your postings because they are always right on point and imbued with common sense and friendliness.
Nope, the shrike decided to find easier prey.
Absolutely true. The problem is that customer expectations will change as the photos enabled by newer technology enter the market. My photos from 40 and 50 years ago, which sold for one-time use in the hundreds of $$$(1970$) are now virtually worthless because customer expectations have changed. If I were still using the Nikon F and its lenses I could still make the same good photos but it would be for my own amusement only because the market for them has shrunken to virtually nothing.
You are comparing the retail cost of a replacement part with labor and an appropriate gross margin to the cost of a part during the design of a camera. If the shutter really cost $350, Nikon could not sell a D3500 to a retailer below that price so the retailer makes a suitable gross profit. I recall LensRentals doing a tear down on a lens - and it took 8 hours to disassemble and reassemble to make a minor repair. The best time to change parts is when you can change the part and related systems during design. I recall a well known advocate of sustainable design telling me he could reduce energy consumption of a commercial building or home by 50% at no incremental cost if it was designed properly where higher cost items like high efficiency windows were offset by using a smaller HVAC system due to increased efficiency. Simple things that cost nothing - like duct work at 30-45 degree angles rather than right angles - could improve efficiency by 10%.
You may be correct, although as the camera is not in the wild yet, it may need to be seen if that is in fact the case. Certainly, the extra mass of the Z9 and its heat dissipation capacity has been mentioned. I do not know enough about the details of this, nor the replacement costs of CPUs and other electronics to make comment. I have not heard of problems with the Z9 (or Z8) in this respect but of course you may know more. However, as I do not shoot video, even if it were to be an issue as you say, it would not really be a problem for me.... I hope!
I saw the post on DPReview. There is more involved to cause the camera to heat as described - probably extensive EVF use, wifi, or some other feature being kept active for an extended period.
It's a great sequence, but I'm not seeing how this would've been difficult for a DSLR, short of frame rate. The bird is facing you, which means any of the common AF-C DSLR focusing modes would've worked fine IMO. No eye focus necessary. And knowing how Kestrels hover, there was likely very little change in distance, so it's not like it had to track a fast moving subject. Where eye focus is needed is when the eye is out of the focal plane of the rest of the body, particularly if it's behind the rest of the body.
You’re nicer than me but well said. I had someone comment on a photo yesterday saying I should tell everyone I cloned out the background yet I didn’t do anything it’s how I shot it. Once I pointed that out I got no apology, they didn’t delete their post etc. it’s easy to be a critic when you can’t achieve what someone else did.
Respectfully, you weren't there. The shrike was all over the area, up, down, side-to-side, forward and back. I had trouble keeping the bird in the field of view. Did you notice what the shrike was doing as the snake struck out at it? It's leaping upward to avoid the snake's bite. All this within a quarter of a second. Even if the DSLR were able to track the bird, its frame rate falls far short of recording the sequence (and at 50MP too). And if you've photographed birds much you'd have noticed that the bird's eye is rarely in the same plane of focus as the body, unless the standards for 'same plane' are a bit lax.
About 6 months ago I was called fraud by an old lady on the Facebook for a landscape photo, the reason? I took an impossible shot at a well known location.You’re nicer than me but well said. I had someone comment on a photo yesterday saying I should tell everyone I cloned out the background yet I didn’t do anything it’s how I shot it. Once I pointed that out I got no apology, they didn’t delete their post etc. it’s easy to be a critic when you can’t achieve what someone else did.
Oliver, thats one reason I don’t do facebook.About 6 months ago I was called fraud by an old lady on the Facebook for a landscape photo, the reason? I took an impossible shot at a well known location.
I planned everything before hand, the weather helped too.
Multiple people called and explained to her, she refused to believe it because she never saw it.
Oliver
Not remotely the same situation. I've shot Kestrels enough to know that they're a relatively easy bird to photograph when they're in hover mode which is very similar to this Shrike's behavior in these shots. The great part about the images was the behavior, not some exceptional camera capability. And I'm sure I could've handled what ever vicious reply to me would've been.You’re nicer than me but well said. I had someone comment on a photo yesterday saying I should tell everyone I cloned out the background yet I didn’t do anything it’s how I shot it. Once I pointed that out I got no apology, they didn’t delete their post etc. it’s easy to be a critic when you can’t achieve what someone else did.
Respectfully, there's clearly very little vertical movement from the bird, and it looks to me like you were far enough away that the entire bird was in focus. So again, no miraculous focusing ability demonstrated here. Great shots, but they had very little to do with the camera.
Respectfully, you weren't there. The shrike was all over the area, up, down, side-to-side, forward and back. I had trouble keeping the bird in the field of view. Did you notice what the shrike was doing as the snake struck out at it? It's leaping upward to avoid the snake's bite. All this within a quarter of a second. Even if the DSLR were able to track the bird, its frame rate falls far short of recording the sequence (and at 50MP too). And if you've photographed birds much you'd have noticed that the bird's eye is rarely in the same plane of focus as the body, unless the standards for 'same plane' are a bit lax.
No need to continue this aspect of the discussion. Everyone can assess the images with their own perspective.
Do you realize this is a still image, not a video? The bird's movement was erratic, it was dodging the snake's counter-attack and and no, the entire bird was not in focus, at least not by my standards. See for yourself; this file is not sharpened at all.
Amen to that. Thank you Eric!
After migrating to mirrorless I found that DSLRs had been holding me back in numerous ways that I hadn't been aware of. The advantages and the importance of them aren't obvious in the slick marketing, it's using the cameras that makes the differences clear.
The advantages that mirrorless cameras offer really makes things easier and more enjoyable. What the new upper end mirrorless cameras are capable of really do have a noticeable impact. I noticed early on that mirrorless offered advantages and migrated to mirrorless when they were still sort of terrible, really laggy, and didn’t have full sensor pdaf. Now they surpass DSLR in all but a few ways today. With the available adapters to adapt DSLR lenses, there really isn’t a reason mirrorless shouldn’t be your next camera body purchase. It doesn’t mean your DSLR is bad or not good, but I would personally would not replace a DSLR with a new DSLR at this point.
I can totally understand your comments here. I’ve had a Z6 for 4 years and love it. Never worried about AF….I guess I’m “old school” in that I don’t feel I need the AF tools that others seem to do. Recently I bought the Hasselblad X2D which is simply marvellous. No AF gimmickry and very few other techs benefits, just a terrific sensor and Hasselblad colour … so we can concentrate on the image. I now have a Z8 on order, but the X2D will be in my hand most often. Simplicity and beauty.
I have ordered a Z8 which will be my first mirrorless Nikon. I have outlined my reasoning for this earlier in this thread and I absolutely agree about the D850 and its merits. Fabulous camera! However, there are several things about it that have always annoyed me, the worst of which is the centre bias of the focus points. This was a major reason for buying my D500, also a beautiful camera. The distribution of focus points is much better on this.
