a_g5

Well, this has been an interesting discussion. A few comments though:

armando roldan - I will try taking pics of larger birds...ha ha

KL IX - when you get my old lens chipped can you also install the AF-S? That would indeed solve my problem!

Lee Hamiel - Are you a Nikon emploee? You sure seem to take this thing too seriously!

Vivek Iyer - how many pop cans to one 300/4 AF-S? Maybe I'll start collecting them.

Arnab Pratim Das - not sure you can shoot a wild turkey with a 50mm. Have you tried?

Ady

We all work within our constrains, so advising someone to buy something that he cann't is not helpful. Also changing format, changing back to slides etc. I have thausands of kodakchromes sitting in boxes. I almost never have the time to access them and enjoy them. Will just not go there again.

It is also not true that to get a perfect picture you have to have the best and mose expensive equipment. A lot of it will depend on the day, the conditions and with birds luck is never a bad thing. You can have the best lens available, but if it makes you sit in your car and wait for the birds, you will never get some pics.

A good sharp lens is a lens that reliably produces sharp images when conditions are good (standing object, good light). After a while you know what to expect from your lens.

For example I used my old FM camera with a sigma 400/5.6 and never in about 2 years got a picture that I could say was 100% sharp. With my Nikkor (which is older) I often get such pics even at low speeds. Now, unfortunately somone at Nikon decided that 300mm was the cut off and that beyond this they will make only big glass lenses. This leaves an empty space in Nikon's lens arsenal. I don't know how many people would have bought this lens, but I suspect many birders would have liked to have something just like that.

I really don't see a good solution here. I will consider the 300/1.4TC, but this wouldn't have been my choice if there was something to choose from.

Ady

Thank you all for your comments (though I don't see how switching to a D2H would help...). Bird photography is a hobby for me, but if there is one thing I have noticed during the years I've been taking birds of birds, it's that they have to be sharp. A 'soft' pic of a bird is just not worth doing anything with (at least in most cases, excluding maybe some stylized pics). Buying a big glass is nice if you can afford it or if you are a proffessional, but it also limits you, as you are not likely to chase warblers in the bush with it. Anyway it's not an option for me.

So it really come's down to this (and I really need people with specific experiance with this combo to comment on this) - is the Nikon 300/4 with the TC14 sharp? and I mean S_H_A_R_P!!! ?

Ady

Hi,

I do mainly bird photography (hand held, flight and movement).

Switched to digital recently with a D70 body, but have no lens for

it. In the mean time I use my old 400/5.6 manual focus but works

only in manual mode with no metering....

It appears that Nikon has no 400/5.6 AF-S and has no intension of

making one (I asked). Canon on the other hand has the 400/5.6 USM

which is a good lens and can be used with their line of bodies.

Other Nikon lenses include 400/2.8 (heavy, expenssive)

Nikon 300/4 good but is only a 300..

300/4 + TC x1.4 - I have bad experience with TCs... Never got sharp

images.

Sigma 400/5.6 - Bad experience....

At this point I am seriously thinking of switching (for the first

time) to Canon.

Any advise?

Ady

Hi there,

Is there really a NOTICEABLE difference between CF cards. Each card

now comes with different speed specifications (e.g. 10x-80x, or

MB/sec, "Ultra 2" etc) and prices are obviously higher for the fast

cards. The question is - can you really feel the difference when

taking pics? Is this a limiting factor for continous mode shooting?

If so, what would be the minimum speed that would allow fast

shooting?

AG

Again, thanks for the answers. I figured as much looking at their "deals". Makes you wonder what the real operation is, as I cann't see them doing much selling with this reputation.

A G

This company ("Royal Camera") from Brukline NY, offeres crazy (too

good to be true) deals on the D70. All I could find on the web is 2-

3 bad comments about them. Any experience with this company?

AG

Thanks everyone.

AG

Hi,

Is anyone using the D70 for fast moving objects (e.g. birds) with a

fixed telephoto lens (e.g. Nikkors 300 or 400mm). If so, have you

encountered any problems with focusing (AF or manual) and with the

viewfinder/ focusing screen? I am about to buy this camera and use

it for this kind of shooting. Would appreciate advise (other than

buying a D2H for 3 grand).

Thanks,

AG

Hi there,

Has anyone tried the above combo (i.e. D70 + 24-85mm f/2.8 lens)?

Here's the thing; The "kit" lens for D70 has no macro capabilities.

I don't want to be carrying around more than 2 lenses and I am

willing to pay for having a reasonable macro by loosing some wide

angle.

Would appreciate any thought about this matter.

A.G.