My Plena Adventure

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I just received a rental Plena through NPS last week and photographed a HS Varsity Football game on Friday night. Not your typical field sport lens but the lighting is so bad there I wanted to give it a try, after all in DX crop mode you are at 200mm equivalent and my 100-400 just wasn't cutting it for the dark stadium. This is obviously a small sample size and not sure how it would compare to dogs running at me, but even in the pretty dark conditions I didn't feel like I had any issues with focus that wasn't user error (Had to choose smaller focus box to make sure it was focusing on playing coming toward me). Players certainly were not moving as fast as a bird or dog but not moving slow either. I shot the entire game a f/1.8. I was impressed enough with the lens so far that I plan on getting one in the near future.
 
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Whiskeyman said:
Isn't there a skin softening mode in the Z8?
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What my wife loves are the new adaptive presets for portraits in LRc. There are a few of them. They do the AI masking and break down faces into like 8 parts (can't recall the exact number) and apply different settings to each. She is grateful that I have discovered this since I take a lot of images with her, and the Plena does what the Plena does.
 
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Whiskeyman said:
And a tad more expensive, possibly? :eek:
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Update. Nikon sale hit and decided not to wait for an 800mm Plena :eek: Canceled the loaner set to arrive 11-4 from NPS since this sale would be over before it arrived. Free returns for 30 days from B&H so decided to not pay for the shipping on the loaner.

Supposed to arrive tomorrow if I like it I will probably sell my Z800 f/6.3 since with TC engaged I would get 840 at f/5.6.
 
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I took my Z8 and Z9 out to three middle school basketball games last night. The Plena was on the Z8 and the Z 50mm 1.8 was on the Z9.

I started off really bad, with the wrong camera settings for indoor gymnasium sports. By the time I finished for the night I had dialed in my exposure and increased my ISO to 3200, allowing me to shoot at either 1/640 or 1/1000 second.

Once my performance nearly caught up to my cameras capabilities, I started getting some really good shots with both camera and lens combinations. I really loved the Plena performance on the Z8. Focus performance was very good, and IQ from both combinations was/is stellar when I had the focus nailed.
 
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Ken Miracle said:
Update. Nikon sale hit and decided not to wait for an 800mm Plena :eek: Canceled the loaner set to arrive 11-4 from NPS since this sale would be over before it arrived. Free returns for 30 days from B&H so decided to not pay for the shipping on the loaner.

Supposed to arrive tomorrow if I like it I will probably sell my Z800 f/6.3 since with TC engaged I would get 840 at f/5.6.
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What do you mean by 800mm Plena. Did you go for the 600mm TC?
 
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McStamp said:
What do you mean by 800mm Plena. Did you go for the 600mm TC?
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800mm Plena is in reference to the previous comments I was responding to above about being a birder I would need an 800mm Plena and their comments back about the weight of one and the cost. Yes I did order a Z 600mm f/4 TC supposed to be here today but betting more like tomorrow. If I like it then my Z800mm F/6.3 with the fantastic Zemlin 2 piece hood and lens caps, and Hejnar foot will almost assuredly get sold.
 
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Here is another one.
dramatic flowers.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
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Wade Abadie said:
I own the 50 f/1.8 S and it is excellent!
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The 50mm 1.8s is just spectacular, for what it does for the price is just incredible.

For myself Its sometimes not worth spending 400% more to get 5% more in outcome.

The Plena seems awesome, only have heard good things about it, sadly for myself i just find the fixed 135mm focal range while great in cases its not where i shoot that often.
It certainly brings a lot of joy for those that have it and that in itself is priceless.

Only an opinion
 
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Ken Miracle said:
800mm Plena is in reference to the previous comments I was responding to above about being a birder I would need an 800mm Plena and their comments back about the weight of one and the cost. Yes I did order a Z 600mm f/4 TC supposed to be here today but betting more like tomorrow. If I like it then my Z800mm F/6.3 with the fantastic Zemlin 2 piece hood and lens caps, and Hejnar foot will almost assuredly get sold.
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Your going to get blown away with the 600 F4 TC..........hang on to your hat.(y):ROFLMAO:
 
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wotan1 said:
That is what hooked me in as well.

I too struggle for purchase authority from She Who Must Be Obeyed.
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I must have a weird one, she buys or pays for much of my camera gear for birthdays or xmase, she recently asked is there a new lens or camera coming out i can get you for xmase?, whats wrong with her. She even bought me a new Van, I think she does it to keep me out of her hair so she can surf and do yoga each day :ROFLMAO:
 
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O said:
I must have a weird one, she buys or pays for much of my camera gear for birthdays or xmase, she recently asked is there a new lens or camera coming out i can get you for xmase?, whats wrong with her. She even bought me a new Van, I think she does it to keep me out of her hair so she can surf and do yoga each day :ROFLMAO:
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I unfortunately have a much shorter leash.
 
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