Sandy Vongries Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 There used to be, long ago, a gyroscopic add on for binoculars when Yachting. Wonder if you could find one -- it worked very well in rough seas. That & VR.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Naka Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 There used to be, long ago, a gyroscopic add on for binoculars when Yachting. Wonder if you could find one -- it worked very well in rough seas. That & VR.... The video guys have something like that. It smoothens out the video when the cameraman is walking. But the picture that I saw of it in use looked rather clumbersome/bulky. Basically it is a 3-axis rotational stabilizer (like your gyroscope). Then cameras VR would take care of the linear axis stabilization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilkka_nissila Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 Which AF settings did you use? It may be worth fine tuning the camera to the lens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff-hol Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 So I've had the D7200 for a couple months now, and I've got to admit I'm struggling with it a little bit. Mainly with focusing. I'm getting most of my pics out of focus. I'll get one shot in focus, then the next 9 seem to be slightly out of focus. I was using AF-C with D9 as my settings, and back button focus. Mostly using shutter priority. I haven't fine tuned the camera to the lens though....I even rented a 80-400 last weekend for an event, and had the same issue with that lens. I might take it back to the store for them to take a look at, although I have a feeling that it's user error, and I've just got a menu setting incorrect for my style of shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 For back-button focus, do you mean lock focus once and then press the shutter release to shoot a moving target continuously? Since you have moving boats, the camera needs to continuously re-focus between frames to track those moving targets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff-hol Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 For back-button focus, do you mean lock focus once and then press the shutter release to shoot a moving target continuously? Since you have moving boats, the camera needs to continuously re-focus between frames to track those moving targets. I'm using the back button (AE-L) to focus, holding it down as I track with the boat (so that it's constantly focusing), and releasing the shutter to take the pics. I've also tried by just using the shutter to focus and release to shoot...same result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 And you are using AF-C continuous AF? Perhaps you need to get more AF points involved. It is best to post some Representative images to show the issue. In particular, any boat is a fairly large subject and it is not easy to get the entire thing in focus. AF accuracy is a difficult subject to discuss over the web, as there are many ways to get it wrong. While it is not in the same league as the D5 and D500, the D7200 should give you very good AF results. I have used the D7100 and D7200 for wildlife photography for a few years before the D500 came along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff-hol Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 A couple examples attached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike_halliwell Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 (edited) Hum, the first one show's camera and/or boat shake. It's @ 340mm @ 1/800th @ 5.6 @ ISO 320. Focus looks OKish, but lots of relative motion. The second is at 400mm on your 80-400mm with same setting other than ISO 640 This one looks soft and the water drops show weird movement. Go much faster, maybe 1/2000th and f8 and let ISO sort itself out.. Not sure whether your hire-lens was the newer VR AFS version, the earlier was notoriously slow at AF. My EXIF doesn't show whether VR was on or not? Lots of small camera movements can look like poor focus. EXIF seems to show a LOAD of changes to the standard picture control, with sharpness, contrast, colour etc all altered. Edited July 20, 2017 by mike_halliwell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 To Jeff the OP, can you confirm that the 80-400mm zoom is the newer, AF-S G version of that lens? I would use at least 1/1000 sec for this kind of action capture. It is hard to draw a conclusion based on two images, but optically this particular lens seems a bit sub-par. It is not totally sharp and chromatic aberration is high. I have used three samples of the 80-400mm AF-S. The best one was the first test sample I received from Nikon, and it is excellent. I was very impressed. I tried to save money and bought a refurbished one, which was still a bit defective and wasn't totally sharp at 400mm, f5.6. I ended up returning that lens and bought a brand new one. My final lens is excellent and is almost as great as the test sample I had earlier. I never had both lenses at the same time so that I couldn't do an A/B comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilkka_nissila Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 I think rather than focus, sharpness in your example shots is limited by movement and lens aberrations at f/5.6. Try increasing the shutter speed to a value such as 1/1250s or 1/2000s and stop down the lens to f/8. Let the ISO go as high as it needs to go to get correct exposure. These parameter changes should improve the results significantly. I would turn off VR on this lens for such fast shutter speeds and if possible, consider using a tripod (I realize the difficulty in panning but with the right head it should be possible). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thequintessentialman Posted July 22, 2017 Share Posted July 22, 2017 (edited) Just wondering why the the Sigma Sport 150/600 is not on the list. I went through the comparison process a couple of years ago; I've been rather happy with it on my d800. I don't recall the Nikon 200-500 being around when I got it so don't know how they compare. It seems to be quite sharp but does need lots of light. I've even gotten some good BIF shots. There were better lens available but this seemed the best value for me. YMMV... Edited July 22, 2017 by thequintessentialman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Vongries Posted July 22, 2017 Share Posted July 22, 2017 If you have PSE 14 or newer, or can access a free trial version, you might try their shake reduction tool. Since boat to boat there will always be some motion the lens may not be the whole answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilkka_nissila Posted July 22, 2017 Share Posted July 22, 2017 Just wondering why the the Sigma Sport 150/600 is not on the list. I think the issue is which lens gives good results and acceptable mobility and ease of use in the OP's case. The lens you are suggesting is quite heavy and may not be so easy to hand hold. The 200-500 Nikkor is a bit lighter and personally I found even that lens to be more comfortable to use on tripod or monopod, but it can be hand held in a pinch. I suppose this depends on your body strength and level of practice hand holding long lenses. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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