viper699
New member
Hi there- discovered Steve's videos by accident-fortunately. Learned of the forum later. I've found info here to be excellent as everyone is focused on wildlife.
Brief background- amateur, really a landscape stills shooter, but love animals- some day some video. For trips my photography goal is to get a FEW great images to print on my wall, or more if I'm lucky.
The z8 is my first pro level, and mirrorless camera. I like it, I'm learning about it, only had it for ~4 months.
I've always been a single point AF shooter, prob because when I compose I put my subject in the dead center of the VF. I'm aware of tracking, having read about it a bit, watched a few videos (I didn't realize in subject tracking there are 2 boxes the camera uses that one can see on the EVF- I tested it ONCE on my z8). Never had a camera with this feature, until now.
There's a zillion youtube videos on virtually any common feature in z series, or photography hah. I have more bookmarks than I know what to do with which generates a lot of paralysis by analysis/data overload. There is no substitute for being out in the field and learning how your gear works, and under what conditions. My area is not very unique, nor does it have the ability to test the limits of my camera so far- not of a lot of wildlife in the vicinity, except chickadees and squirrels . However, the places I travel to have both the environment and the subjects - high species diversity/density.
I've been to the this rainforest region before with my D5500, so I have a reasonable idea of what I MAY see if I'm lucky- small/medium, fast moving colorful birds (tanagers, parrots, toucans, maybe some hummers), small to medium sized primates - from the pygmy monkey, to squirrel monkey to various howler monkey. The howlers are very sedentary, not an issue. However, the squirrel monkeys are FAST, and fleeting, constantly on the move, hopping from branch to branch as they eat. A few other primates fit their activity description. Will have the opportunity to MAYBE see condors in another area.
I shoot RAW+JPEG-- sometimes JPEGS are good enough for my needs.
With that said, I definitely need to setup my z8 for wildlife with subject tracking. I'll have a z 100-400 (may or may not use 1.4x TC), and z 600mm PF too. I didn't do too bad w/my D5500, about every 3rd shot was pretty good in most cases. However, there were many more times where my FPS was too slow (expected), or there were cases I feel subject tracking would have been helpful- again, never had this feature so I cannot confirm for sure.
SOOO, when it comes to wildlife settings/technique etc, I always start with Steve's YT site. I haven't watched the video below, and I don't expect any single video to provide all the info one needs for setting up a camera. Who knows, maybe there is more recent information? I recognize this is a BIF video. I know BIF seems to be its own specialty of sorts.
Are there other videos I should consider watching today? I'd like to setup my z8 today for subject tracking, and test it tomorrow, and the next few days to start, if I can find birds (hard to do), and if I have questions, come back here and ask them.
Thank you!
Brief background- amateur, really a landscape stills shooter, but love animals- some day some video. For trips my photography goal is to get a FEW great images to print on my wall, or more if I'm lucky.
The z8 is my first pro level, and mirrorless camera. I like it, I'm learning about it, only had it for ~4 months.
I've always been a single point AF shooter, prob because when I compose I put my subject in the dead center of the VF. I'm aware of tracking, having read about it a bit, watched a few videos (I didn't realize in subject tracking there are 2 boxes the camera uses that one can see on the EVF- I tested it ONCE on my z8). Never had a camera with this feature, until now.
There's a zillion youtube videos on virtually any common feature in z series, or photography hah. I have more bookmarks than I know what to do with which generates a lot of paralysis by analysis/data overload. There is no substitute for being out in the field and learning how your gear works, and under what conditions. My area is not very unique, nor does it have the ability to test the limits of my camera so far- not of a lot of wildlife in the vicinity, except chickadees and squirrels . However, the places I travel to have both the environment and the subjects - high species diversity/density.
I've been to the this rainforest region before with my D5500, so I have a reasonable idea of what I MAY see if I'm lucky- small/medium, fast moving colorful birds (tanagers, parrots, toucans, maybe some hummers), small to medium sized primates - from the pygmy monkey, to squirrel monkey to various howler monkey. The howlers are very sedentary, not an issue. However, the squirrel monkeys are FAST, and fleeting, constantly on the move, hopping from branch to branch as they eat. A few other primates fit their activity description. Will have the opportunity to MAYBE see condors in another area.
I shoot RAW+JPEG-- sometimes JPEGS are good enough for my needs.
With that said, I definitely need to setup my z8 for wildlife with subject tracking. I'll have a z 100-400 (may or may not use 1.4x TC), and z 600mm PF too. I didn't do too bad w/my D5500, about every 3rd shot was pretty good in most cases. However, there were many more times where my FPS was too slow (expected), or there were cases I feel subject tracking would have been helpful- again, never had this feature so I cannot confirm for sure.
SOOO, when it comes to wildlife settings/technique etc, I always start with Steve's YT site. I haven't watched the video below, and I don't expect any single video to provide all the info one needs for setting up a camera. Who knows, maybe there is more recent information? I recognize this is a BIF video. I know BIF seems to be its own specialty of sorts.
Are there other videos I should consider watching today? I'd like to setup my z8 today for subject tracking, and test it tomorrow, and the next few days to start, if I can find birds (hard to do), and if I have questions, come back here and ask them.
Thank you!
