Storks! Storks and more Storks... and a snake.

[Darren]

Originally posted by willyfoo
Wow.. nice shots... I wonder if the new D-SLRs are able to reduce their shutter lag and focus fast enough to capture this too...

based on the previews of the D60 and D100, there should be minimal shutter lag (the D30 had a slightly higher lag, which reportedly has been fixed). EOS1D currently has the lowest shutter lag of all D-SLRs, while the D1 series shutter lag is reputed to be less than 55ms (based on F5 specs, but this is slightly higher/slower than EOS1D).

As for focusing, no comments yet on D60 and D100 - have to wait for the more detailed reviews. A large part of focusing speed also depends on the lens in use (altho the focusing module does play a vital part - in this instance, the D60 may lose out to the D100).

And to be totally fair, can even argue that shutter lag and focusing speed is not the only determinant in taking pics like these ;p . You can take similiar ones with a manual focus camera on an older body - prefocus and anticipation and experience all helps.

 

[Fundee]

well, what can i say.........SIMPLY BREATH TAKING.....
*APPLAUSE*

 

[Darren]

Originally posted by Falcon
Do you need special lens to take this kind of shot?

For these particular storks, even a 105mm lens will do as the birds fly pretty close, but a 70-200mm zoom lens will be the best bet.

 

[Jed]

Hi Darren,

Great set of pics!

And you've managed to solve the white-out problem as well!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[Fred]

Hi Darren,

Very nice pictures ;-0

BTW do you shoot RAW (NEF) or JPG? The reason I ask is because I'm not impressed with the quality of jpg that I've shot as shown here http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2527

I usually shoot compressed NEF, but changed to jpg due to faster the 'write time' required for the event.

 

[Darren]

Hi Fred,
These particular set of pics are in JPG as I was not too keen to process NEFs this time around.

But i do shoot NEFs for other things.

My particular JPG settings are NO Sharpening, Normal Contrast.

 

[Fred]

Originally posted by Darren
Hi Fred,
These particular set of pics are in JPG as I was not too keen to process NEFs this time around.

But i do shoot NEFs for other things.

My particular JPG settings are NO Sharpening, Normal Contrast.

Mine as well, Thanks for the quick reply ;-0

 

[Kho King]

Hi Darren,
Are you the Darren working with Intel using D1x that I know?

Great shot!

 

[Jed]

Fred, you'll get better speed from shooting uncompressed NEF files... the lossless compression work done by the camera takes forever, and unless you have a real snail of a CF card, you will be better off writing the 8Mb uncompressed than the 4Mb compressed.

I've got no qualms shooting with JPEGs. Or at normal instead of fine for that matter, since normal is about equivalent to Photoshop's 10 setting, based on resultant file sizes. Which is what I use to save scans or files in Photoshop normally anyway. And I've some huge prints from JPEGs from before I could process NEFs, and IMHO they still look stunning.

 

[Fred]

Originally posted by Jed
Fred, you'll get better speed from shooting uncompressed NEF files... the lossless compression work done by the camera takes forever, and unless you have a real snail of a CF card, you will be better off writing the 8Mb uncompressed than the 4Mb compressed.

I've got no qualms shooting with JPEGs. Or at normal instead of fine for that matter, since normal is about equivalent to Photoshop's 10 setting, based on resultant file sizes. Which is what I use to save scans or files in Photoshop normally anyway. And I've some huge prints from JPEGs from before I could process NEFs, and IMHO they still look stunning.

Hi Jed,

Thanks for the tip ;-0

I shot compressed as it has smaller file size, and I agree with you on the better write-time uncompressed NEF provides.

BTW what's the biggest (good quality) print you've gotten from a fine jpg?

 

[Jed]

Hi Fred,

Bearing in mind that quality is subjective, I have a corking shot of a rhino facing off with a little bird. I took the shot in horizontal, but cropped it down to vertical and output it to about 13"x16", and it still looks staggeringly good to my eye. Which puts it effectively as a 16"x 24" enlargement. Also bear in mind that I was looking at it closely as well, so I have no doubt 20"x30" is not a problem, and quite a bit bigger at normal viewing distances.

On that note, I have a D1 shot from the Cup Final last year of the team celebrating, and that shot has been done up to about 6m x 4m, and from normal viewing distances you wouldn't have a quibble with it at all.

 

[Jed]

Actually, about the only time I shoot NEF is when I know I'm going to need all the resolution I can muster. If you only use Capture 2 to open in the native 3008 x 1960 resolution, then personally, I think it slows down the workflow too much without improving the quality too much. But on certain subjects, being able to import a native 4000x2632 (or whatever) file is useful.

BTW, I generally shoot with sharpening on low. The rhino shot is taken with sharpening on normal (just got the camera a few days before so I wasn't playing around with anything at that time).

Nikon's promotionals for the D1x at trade shows and such are A2 full frame (at least, assumedly full frame). That's a very healthy 16"x24" and if you think about it, they really did not need to go bigger than A3 and people would probably have been happy. So Nikon were obviously very comfortable with the camera's quality at A2, if that helps.

 

[mpenza]

Originally posted by Jed
Hi Fred,
On that note, I have a D1 shot from the Cup Final last year of the team celebrating, and that shot has been done up to about 6m x 4m, and from normal viewing distances you wouldn't have a quibble with it at all.

It's out of topic but are you a Liverpool fan? ;p

 

[Jed]

Originally posted by mpenza

It's out of topic but are you a Liverpool fan? ;p

Erm, yes, but not what you're thinking! I had quite a good cup season last year... of course everyone will know Liverpool won three, the Newcastle basketball team I shoot for got to their finals (but lost) and the Newcastle Falcons Rugby FC that I also shoot for also won the Tetley's Bitter Cup. And that's actually the Cup Final I was talking about...

Alas, my agency couldn't get football accreditation last year so I didn't shoot any of Liverpool's matches last season. But the Rugby Cup Final was great... 78000 sellout, and guess who was in the winning team's dressing room after that as their official photographer?



They play in the semi-finals again this year on Sat... wish them luck, cause I want to go to Twickenham again!

 

[Fred]

Wow, I'll try a print out with a jpg and see how it holds out ;-0


All my previous prints are from C-NEF, and I'm very very happy with A3 size, never tried bigger size as my printer does support it ;p