Nikkor 800mm f6.3S PF with Z-TC's for African mammals and Birds

[ElenaH]

AND I used Dynamic-Area Medium to reach through to her - other modes just got stuck in the foliage and Yes I start with manually focusing the AF point at the centre of the dynamic-area on my target and "hand-off" to AF-C when I press the shutter to allow for movement later. (I use the switch on the side of the lens to swap between MF and AF-C when I wish to do this and some of these shots were taken in MF). ANy softness in this image comes from me - and then the use of ISO 1600 and a low shutter speed of 1/500th

WoW! great! I see your excellend workflow and field-skills! espcially - to switch MF to AF-C on the lens! I did it on the camera earlier (D850) but on the lens is much better! Gerat image by the way. It transport a lot of emotions. I was your flickr-fan. Andy before I joined BCG ;-) You ofen posted good labeled test-pictures and that was very valuable. I also love to look into your galleries now. So, after your very first post in BCG about Athena I had a look at others in flickr
And you are right, Z-lenses are better. And they are tuned for corrections in the camera and profiles in LR. But it is very difficult to bring it through the heart and sell 400/2.8 FL ...

 

[agrumpyoldsod]

WoW! great! I see your excellend workflow and field-skills! espcially - to switch MF to AF-C on the lens! I did it on the camera earlier (D850) but on the lens is much better! Gerat image by the way. It transport a lot of emotions. I was your flickr-fan. Andy before I joined BCG ;-) You ofen posted good labeled test-pictures and that was very valuable. I also love to look into your galleries now. So, after your very first post in BCG about Athena I had a look at others in flickr
And you are right, Z-lenses are better. And they are tuned for corrections in the camera and profiles in LR. But it is very difficult to bring it through the heart and sell 400/2.8 FL ...

Thank you Elena -- sadly I do not get back to Africa very often and I, like a junkie, "need to" !!!. I only use local guides and my two Maasai were great on this trip.

If you look closely at the shots of Athena as she was dashing away from her tree -- to escape the large bunch of hyena that had surrounded her/it -- you will see she was "leaking" as she ran -- so clearly scared and rightly so. Not by us, but by vicious skulking hyena who were hunting her (and her meal).

I completed my deep runthrough and initial processing of all the still images I took (over 20,000) and ended up with a few over 3,000 that are unique and different (well some are) - I am yet to pick and really go to work on a much smaller selection. Few birds this trip - but 6 leopards and many many Leos -- only one Cheetah chase though -- the Hyena would just not leave the Cheetah alone to hunt, so the Cheetah boys just gave up until they could sneak away and catch another Toppi

In the meantime I posted 5 rough cut vids of a selection of the 8k footage I shot on YouTube -- these are long and only roughly graded. I now will move on to see if there are a few stories I can weave from this footage. I have to say that having an UltraSync Blue TimeCode source in my bag and paired to both Z9 has made editing these clips easier. I hope this also helps when combine them with with audio recorded on my Tascam Porta Capture X8 (32-floating bit), which was also paired to this source -- but I really should have bought a few of my decent XLR mics with me as well - not just rely on the built in mics on the top of the X8. I am yet to find a find windshield that works well on the X8's mics, whereas even just one decent shotgun mic would have worked well / much better.

After recieving my first Z9 it was not difficult to choose to move to an all Z-mount set up for action and sports. AND so I sold all my f-mount gear (over 50 items). This became very easy one Nikon announced the 400 and 800, and then a year later the 600 was the next nail in my coffin.

The decision to "dump" F-mount was turned by the difference in the Z versions of the holy trinity -- which are so much "better" on a Z9 than even the latest AF-S version -- the Z14-24/2.8S and Z70-200/2.8S are huge steps forward.
I consider the Z24-70/2.8S to be "better" as well -- but this may come from the additional controls and the fact that there are no-Issues when using these Z-mount lenses on a Z, whereas there are "differences" when using older f-mount glass -- focus peaking etc... The Z105/2.8MC is leaps ahead of the older AF-S version as well.

When we get to the 100-400 well the first question is what to compare it to -- choosing the 200-500 is not fair to the much cheaper and lower spec 200-500/5.6. BUT then there is the 80-400 -- which I hated -- I kept mine until I sold the bunch but UGH!! -- surely I had a bad one. The Z100-400 is light years ahead - faster AF and and and
The 100-400 is NOT a replacement for the 180-400/4.0E TC or the AF-S NIKKOR 200-400mm f/4G ED VR II -- both of which are much more expensive and high spec. I am willing to say I consider that beyond the obvious differences in aperture the Z100-400 is a better performer than the older 200-400/4G that I owned -- a big heavy lens. I would almost say it is remarkably good for such a cheap lens. I wait to see If/when Nikon will come out with another 180-400/4 TC in Z -- or maybe a Z version of the AF-S NIKKOR 120-300MM F/2.8E FL ED SR VR -- pro-sports shooters / indoor shooters love these zooms. Neither were cheap in f-mount - I can but hope Nikon sells them with an internal TC.

The built in TC is what makes shooting in dusty hot places like the Mara so much easier (safer) -- I carry a bin liner to use when changing lenses when it is dusty -- but on the few occasions I did this on my last trip what I needed was my rain cover not dust cover (it being the rainy season --- well almost).

In summary Z-lenses great, but then only you can judge if swapping from an f-mount version to a Z-mount version is good value for you. I have been very lucky to receive all the Nikon lenses I ordered very quickly - other have not been as lucky.
It clearly was a good decision for me Or I am just more than a little nuts now I have so much free time on my hands.
I am looking forward to having a Z8 which is more usable for street -- but I am sure when one pops a Z85/1.2 on it it will be "fairly visible".

A couple of other points -- I hate how LRC/ACR renders Lossless RAW images from the Z9 - so use DxO PureRAW 3 -- BUT PR3 does not have the correct lens profiles for the latest Nikkor Z lenses - so I use LRC's corrections for this and the built in corrections are fine.The other advantage the PR3 brings is that the DNG comes with the subject/focus distance "uncovered", whereas I am yet to find another way to see this basic information. I also use Topaz DeNoise AI - to "wipe" the backgrounds clear of noise and add a wee bit of sharpening -- yes my process uses a lot of computing power and storage -- so what..... My stills use only a fraction of the space the vids I took.

 

[ElenaH]

@Andy Miller Photo UK . hank you very much for such a detailed reply!
The video of Athena I saw already in previous posts but the others - oh, man, they are long!! In video about cheetahs there is a statement: "Media is offline" I think, you need to check it. I love the video of Lorgogol. It is again made of stills and oh, God, they are good! where he is going on the tree - blue sky, orange-yellow leopad, excellent sharpness and color contrast, just super!

Did you shoot some Astro with 14-24? I wanted to have a look but you have so many pictures in flickr! I don't know how to search ;-) looked also in albums.
Just want to know what you think about it? I still have F-mount version, but it is so bis and heavy.. I assume you had an F-mount version, too and can compare. I have also 24-70 first F-mount version but rarely use it. It si also big and heavy ;-) I bought 24-120 of Z and used it quite a lot in Zimbabwe and Europe.

It is interesting - you are writing about using Z8 for street-photography? You have so many interests! I do wildlife, birds. landscapes and plants and barely have time for all Just cannot cope with all subjects and scopes. I also do astro-photography, timelapses and video... And you do all of this plus sports, street and portraits? wow.. or you just work as a photographer?

Lossless RAW - is a normal RAW? I know there is an option for lossless compression for RAW but when I bought Z9 I canot process the images and since then I use just normal uncompressed RAW... perhaps there are already updates for DXO and LRC and I haven't tried it ;-)

My procession workflow is actually like yours:
1. I cull the images in Photomechaic becasue it is very fast!
2. Choose best and send them to DXO PureRaw 3 in batch (now I have new MacMini M2 and don't need to do it during the night anymore ;-)
3. Process the images in LRC
4. Edit in PS and sometimes in NikFilters
5. Finetune in Topaz DeNoise AI

 

[agrumpyoldsod]

@Andy Miller Photo UK . hank you very much for such a detailed reply!
The video of Athena I saw already in previous posts but the others - oh, man, they are long!! In video about cheetahs there is a statement: "Media is offline" I think, you need to check it. I love the video of Lorgogol. It is again made of stills and oh, God, they are good! where he is going on the tree - blue sky, orange-yellow leopad, excellent sharpness and color contrast, just super!

Did you shoot some Astro with 14-24? I wanted to have a look but you have so many pictures in flickr! I don't know how to search ;-) looked also in albums.
Just want to know what you think about it? I still have F-mount version, but it is so bis and heavy.. I assume you had an F-mount version, too and can compare. I have also 24-70 first F-mount version but rarely use it. It si also big and heavy ;-) I bought 24-120 of Z and used it quite a lot in Zimbabwe and Europe.

It is interesting - you are writing about using Z8 for street-photography? You have so many interests! I do wildlife, birds. landscapes and plants and barely have time for all Just cannot cope with all subjects and scopes. I also do astro-photography, timelapses and video... And you do all of this plus sports, street and portraits? wow.. or you just work as a photographer?

Lossless RAW - is a normal RAW? I know there is an option for lossless compression for RAW but when I bought Z9 I canot process the images and since then I use just normal uncompressed RAW... perhaps there are already updates for DXO and LRC and I haven't tried it ;-)

My procession workflow is actually like yours:
1. I cull the images in Photomechaic becasue it is very fast!
2. Choose best and send them to DXO PureRaw 3 in batch (now I have new MacMini M2 and don't need to do it during the night anymore ;-)
3. Process the images in LRC
4. Edit in PS and sometimes in NikFilters
5. Finetune in Topaz DeNoise AI

Thanks again for your post.

So Yes the initial 3 vids of lions, leopards and cheetah are just assembly version -- and I have no idea why DaVinci Resolve 18 struggled to render all the clips and the media offline turned up. Given just how long it takes to upload a vid onto YT I did not both to correct this version - even though I have rerun the render and the problem went away.
As to Astro -- I live in one the brightest parts of the UK and there simply is no point. In Kenya I normally get up at 4am (sometimes earlier) to get out on our first game drives by ~5-5:30 - then we get back typically between 10-11am (much earlier if it is really hot). We go out again at 4pm and sometime do not get back until very late - (7-8pm). So NO time for astro -- not that the weather would have allowed it this trip.
Many folk shoot Milky Way (MW) and Northern Light shots with a 20/1.4 or f/1.8 Or wider The only reason I have heard against the 14-24 is it is big and heavy -- so folk using a small star tracker have struggled. I follow Hudson Henry's YT channel and he runs workshops on MW shooting.
I live in outer London and so the "street" is on my doorstep. BUT like many capital cities one has to be careful when shooting alone at night with very expensive gear. Some folk like it when I am carrying my X2D -- because it has an H logo and a big orange button. I wait to see how they react to the 85/1.2
I am retired and never a professional shooter.
The ONLY use "Lossless Compression" RAW (this is Nikon's term) and as a result bought large fast cards and lots of storage -- I simply do not "need" the benefit of HE formats. I also use a range of software when until very recently these would not touch HE - I am still sceptical on the benefits of HE* over Lossless. Capture One is still my preferred tool for tethered shooting with a Nikon Body (and Phocus with Hasselblad) so who knows if I will ever change.
My process is similar to yours - except I INGEST (import) all my images using LRC -- it is very fast on a Mac Book Pro using the Delkin Card reader and fast cards and cables, writing to the internal SSD - everytime I use PM6 I go straight back to LRC.
I only build minimal previews as part of this process. LRC 12.3 (which uses ACR 15.3) has got a lot quicker and works much better with Apple Silicon (M1 Ultra and M2 Max chipsets) than previous versions. My LRC import process renames and applies my standard import preset to all images and puts them where I want them to be. Once ingested I make an immediate back up -- technically a full copy, prior to reviewing the images and rejecting obvious misses/errors.
In the field I review images to hunt in camera for "shots" I remember taking and RATE THEM in camera -- like the Athena chase, or Cheetah jumping a river or Lion hunting a buffalo calf -- these ratings come as part of the import and help me get to the those I want to focus on immediately. BUT given that my eyes are not as good as they used to be I only make a final selection when on a larger screen -- often I miss blades of grass or very slightly soft images when I look at them in camera -- so often look at adjacent shots before making my selection. I NEVER delete images in the field - in camera or in my tent. I just carry a lot of storage.
Like you once I have selected the images I want to work on (initially) I run these as a batch through PR3 (with lens corrections disabled if DxO does not have the correct optical module) but as part of my selection I will have made a basic crop and my preset already applies 3 masking adjustment -- to apply a basic tonal shift to subject, background and sky. So other than this may most basic in field processing is very swift. Once the DNG comes out of DxO Pr3 I then make sure the edits I made to the RAW file in LRC are transferred to the DNG - sync settings does a good job - I often work on the Raw copy while PR3 is running through the batch -- most often the AI masking needs fixing and I end up making a bunch of other minor tweaks. As noted anything that goes on Flickr or other social media has to look sharp and clean and I use Denoise AI to do this -- again fast and simple to use for a batch of images.
With the recent changes to LRC I have effectively stopped using PS. But while I do take a lot more care with the very few images I want to print or use downstream -- I do not as a rule do more than clone away or heal minor "issues". I am not one for moving lots of pixels or comping images. This is not what I want to do. Yes some folk I follow have created spectacular results with their images and appear to spend days and days editing -- as did I in the long distant past - now I simply do not want to spend that amount of time on a single image.

 

[ElenaH]

I only build minimal previews as part of this process. LRC 12.3 (which uses ACR 15.3) has got a lot quicker and works much better with Apple Silicon (M1 Ultra and M2 Max chipsets) than previous versions. My LRC import process renames and applies my standard import preset to all images and puts them where I want them to be. Once ingested I make an immediate back up -- technically a full copy, prior to reviewing the images and rejecting obvious misses/errors.

very clever!
I always tell myself I need to use some preset by import (at least some key-words of national park or so) and never do it
You are more organized and consequent!

 

[fcotterill]

Would love to hear your thoughts about that statement ;-)

In a word, Versatility. To add more...there's the butter bokeh; relatively fast across 180-400 f4; with instant 'reachout' to 560 f5.6. The ability of a zoom to almost instant recompose the frame can be absolutely essential. I strive to capture interactions and behaviours, for which a zoom has so many advantages. It's the ideal obviously, but I really hope Nikon releases a 300-600 TC14 one day!

I must confess one of the 2 reasons I bought mine are Brad Hill's tests and his images. The other was finding a bargain of a Used copy last year! I tested it intensively having read some negative comments, but this copy delivers very well. I also falsified some reports the 180-400 TC can handle a 2nd TC. Not this copy - as it has big IQ impacts

However, it weighs 3.5kg. However, I find the 180-400 to be really well balanced with the weight concentrated more in the rear. Still, this is better for in-vehicle photography or hiking to a fixed point, such as a hide.

For me - I think it is better a good (from composition and interest point ) image than no image at all. I am much faster with lighter lens than with "bazuka", it is clear. And often you can miss the shot.
Z-lenses are also tuned for Z-cameras and the profles in LR (which are coming from Z-cameras) make images to stand out.\

For African mammals, we now have the 100-400 S Nikkor, which weighs 2kg less. Brad Hill and others are most complementary about its positives. Having both, I still prefer the TC giving f5.6 built into the 180-400. And of course it's a superb rig on the D6

Fenton, @fcotterill - I had a look already on most of your posts (except domestic cats ;-) which I will admire now ) becasue you are from Zim/SA and you are a good photographer what makes a valuable combination for somebody like me, who are visiting Zim every year I often meet with other Zim-photogrphers (Frank Boormann, Gail Odendaal) in Mana and with Jens Cullmann from DE. Frank has Nikkor 180-400 and it looks like a good choice for wildlife photography as well..

I'm in SA until later this year. Much of my time is spent in Matabeleland, particularly the Matobo Hills of which I'm particularly fond. I've been closely involved in research there for many years, including the detailed submission for its World Heritage Status. This landscape has the world's highest recorded density of leopards, but they are most furtive unfortunately; however I have plans on this front
The Zambezi valley is indeed a very special place, particularly the Mana-Sapi-Chewore region....an outstanding wilderness. Over the past decade +, a great deal of my photography has dovetailed with research trips into the Congo basin, Angola, E Africa and especially Zambia. But I'm planning to get in more focused photographic trips going forward...

 

[ElenaH]

I'm in SA until later this year. Much of my time is spent in Matabeleland, particularly the Matobo Hills of which I'm particularly fond. I've been closely involved in research there for many years, including the detailed submission for its World Heritage Status. This landscape has the world's highest recorded density of leopards, but they are most furtive unfortunately; however I have plans on this front

WOW! I've bee many times in Him between Hwanage and Mana but never been to Matobo. I thought, there are only rocks and a few rhinos. But rocks can be also beautiful, of course. But somehow, it didn't persuade me to drive there ... Perhaps, Matobo is underrated.
And now when you write about Matobo with such enthusiasm it wakes my interest very much! You are talking about leopards and I always thought it would be the last place where I would search for them So, it shows how less information I have!
I am jealous you could take part on research! It is great! I assume you put wild cameras in he park and catalog all leopards
Is that research available for public? Can I read about it? Do you have some articles somewhere? Or maybe some posts about Matobo on BCG? It would be great to know more about it!

 

[Rookie Roy]

Thanks for sharing your photographs! I really enjoyed them along with your thoughts on the various lens and TC combinations you used.

 

[DHL]

Ina word, Versatility. To add more...there's the butter bokeh; relatively fast across 180-400 f4; with instant 'reachout' to 560 f5.6. The ability of a zoom to almost instant recompose the frame can be absolutely essential. I strive to capture interactions and behaviours, for which a zoom has so many advantages. It's the ideal obviously, but I really hope Nikon releases a 300-600 TC14 one day!

I must confess one of the 2 reasons I bought mine are Brad Hill's tests and his images. The other was finding a bargain of a Used copy last year! I tested it intensively having read some negative comments, but this copy delivers very well. I also falsified some reports the 180-400 TC can handle a 2nd TC. Not this copy - as it has big IQ impacts

However, it weighs 3.5kg. However, I find the 180-400 to be really well balanced with the weight concentrated more in the rear. Still, this is better for in-vehicle photography or hiking to a fixed point, such as a hide.

For African mammals, we now have the 100-400 S Nikkor, which weighs 2kg less. Brad Hill and others are most complementary about its positives. Having both, I still prefer the TC giving f5.6 built into the 180-400. And of course it's a superb rig on the D6


I'm in SA until later this year. Much of my time is spent in Matabeleland, particularly the Matobo Hills of which I'm particularly fond. I've been closely involved in research there for many years, including the detailed submission for its World Heritage Status. This landscape has the world's highest recorded density of leopards, but they are most furtive unfortunately; however I have plans on this front
The Zambezi valley is indeed a very special place, particularly the Mana-Sapi-Chewore region....an outstanding wilderness. Over the past decade +, a great deal of my photography has dovetailed with research trips into the Congo basin, Angola, E Africa and especially Zambia. But I'm planning to get in more focused photographic trips going forward...

Fenton, Your research and co-authorship of the book is very impressive! Can you provide a link to your research on killifish? I used to raise killifish when I was a young kid (many years ago) and continue to be an avid scuba diver and UW photographer.

 

[fcotterill]

Thanks for your interest and kind words

Fenton, Your research and co-authorship of the book is very impressive! Can you provide a link to your research on killifish?

All the publications are listed here, with links to the pdfs

I used to raise killifish when I was a young kid (many years ago) and continue to be an avid scuba diver and UW photographer.

Great!

 

[DHL]

Thanks for your interest and kind words

All the publications are listed here, with links to the pdfs

Great!

Thank you for the links.