fcotterill
Well-known member
My 800 PF arrived early May not long before I left on a long (and long awaited) trip into northern Kruger Nat Park.
I took many more images with the 800 PF than anticipated, which meant the Z9 was mostly glued to this lens. But in retrospect, a 400 f2.8E FL has been my previous workhorse for almost 4 years, and too often has been paired with a TC2 III. In total, this was at least 9000 images on the 800; but, admittedly, I shot several hundred images in some encounters: notably unusual sightings of leopards in their duration and the cats' behaviours.
The late rains accounted for unusually high grass and the mopane woodlands were still in full green leaf, which presented interesting challenges but also opportunities dealing with the vegetation clutter.
There are now many examples shared and published which demonstrate the quality of the 800 S PF, so here are a few examples of situations that dictated much more telephoto-reach beyond what is feasible even with a 800mm lens on a FX body. Note this leopardess image is also cropped. She was on the opposite bank of a wide river, and perhaps I should have used the ZTC2 instead. The ISO's are unavoidably high in many cases, especially early morning or on cloudy days. This is the trade off, for as soon as surfaces begin to warm the heat haze kicks in! The following in this post are all 1120mm with ZTC14, and I'll add some more example below this post.
Bush Squirrel grooming in early morning sun on huge Nyalaberry tree
Leopardess Poses....
Hippo Bull displaying
I took many more images with the 800 PF than anticipated, which meant the Z9 was mostly glued to this lens. But in retrospect, a 400 f2.8E FL has been my previous workhorse for almost 4 years, and too often has been paired with a TC2 III. In total, this was at least 9000 images on the 800; but, admittedly, I shot several hundred images in some encounters: notably unusual sightings of leopards in their duration and the cats' behaviours.
The late rains accounted for unusually high grass and the mopane woodlands were still in full green leaf, which presented interesting challenges but also opportunities dealing with the vegetation clutter.
There are now many examples shared and published which demonstrate the quality of the 800 S PF, so here are a few examples of situations that dictated much more telephoto-reach beyond what is feasible even with a 800mm lens on a FX body. Note this leopardess image is also cropped. She was on the opposite bank of a wide river, and perhaps I should have used the ZTC2 instead. The ISO's are unavoidably high in many cases, especially early morning or on cloudy days. This is the trade off, for as soon as surfaces begin to warm the heat haze kicks in! The following in this post are all 1120mm with ZTC14, and I'll add some more example below this post.
Bush Squirrel grooming in early morning sun on huge Nyalaberry tree
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Leopardess Poses....
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Hippo Bull displaying
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