mike_halliwell

180-400mm E TC FL VR f4 ?

Bit heavy and might need a second mortgage, but...😉

Inside the likes of the D2 and D3 families, there is a button battery you can replace as an owner, so as the D700 is D3 era, I'd guess it's there, but you can't swap it yourself.

Sounds like the on-board battery in both is DEAD/DYING. It takes some power to remember settings etc.

The D700 is very old tech now.

7 hours ago, robert_bouknight1 said:

I admit that I am a sucker for a deal on things that used to be expensive.

I know the feeling!

That's how I ended up with my 400mm 2.8 Fl.... 😂

and, yes, DoF is razor thin so subject isolation can be a delicate balance between 'deep' enough subject sharpness and creamy background.

It is possible to over-do-it... 😉

Still interesting no-one has made a Nikon AF, or AF-D lens > Nikon AFZ body adapter.

Landing imminent!

Z8 + 800mm PF. 1/4000 ISO 1400 f6.3. Peregrine Falcon bringing in food to the chicks on the local church tower nest.

Z8 + 400mm 2.8 FL. ISO 64 1/1000 f3.2. Hooded Vulture at a Hawk Conservation Trust. (UK)

22 hours ago, Dieter Schaefer said:

Immature Bald Eagle

Is it ringed or is that a funny feather on it's upper right leg?

It's amazing how much they change into adult plumage.

19 hours ago, ShunCheung said:

800mm PF lens @ f6.3, ISO 10000 with LightRoom denoise

Nice!  How much of a crop is it?

The actual cells withing the casing are all standard sizes. I believe the EnEl4 takes 4 x 18650.

Any competent electronics person could swap out the exhausted cells.

It's the chips inside that tell the camera what's happening, so as long as they are intact, you have a new battery and the camera agrees! 

22 hours ago, joseph_smith3 said:

The images with my F mount 200mm f4 macro lens on my Z9 are so good

The sales of which were never great for film, but I wonder with the advent of DSLRs and now Mirrorless, could open the window for the Z treatment?

or maybe a 300mm f4 1:2 macro that takes TCs.... 😉

3 hours ago, Dieter Schaefer said:

'loose'I'd have the clamp release without me having to pull a lever or turn a screw.

Funny that, I'm playing with a magnetic 'holder' I built at the moment. It's two cylindrical magnets that fit into 2 cylindrical holes, maybe 0.5mm bigger in dia. There are opposite polarity cylinder magnets at the bottom of the holes. (in the foot)

They were far too strong to start with and you could pick up the tripod via the body/lens! It's surprising just how strong these small neodymium magnets are 😂

As I'd stupidly stuck the magnets in, my way of reducing the pull was small discs of plastic, the thickness of a yoghurt pot. 5 discs down the hole was about right to not come out too easily, ie accidentally, but with an up pull was free quite easily.

I'd thought to have the magnet 'pegs' on the foot, but they ruined the hand-holding.. The magnet pegs protrude by about 10mm... ouch on the palm !

I tried tapered 'pegs' for easier location, but rotational twist made them come out too easily.

The fore-aft twin cylindrical shape prevents normal pan and tilt movement releasing the foot.

I made a non-magnetic version, with just pegs and holes which worked OK, but i was worried it would escape too easily... although the parallel peg/hole was pretty good. 5mm was way too short. 15mm was too long... 10mm was Goldilocks' porridge. 😉

Prototype 2 will have smaller magnets or maybe same size but with steel inserts in the foot.

I'm many miles from my workshop at the mo' but will try and send some pics soon!

NB. This was for a Manny 501 HDV fluid head. A 'loose' ball head may dump your lens 😮

59 minutes ago, ShunCheung said:

Their information is completely wrong, at least for Nikon USA D850.

Hummm, is it total fiction or is the Y Axis scale wrong and/or exchange rate inaccurate?

Is there a Mother's Day Sale every year?

Errr, entry level Z8, ?

Nah.... !

12 hours ago, ShunCheung said:

Somehow Nikon USA no longer discounts the flagship model, e.g. Z9

I wonder if they're focusing (!) on areas where they have xs inventory and don't want used bodies.?

.... before the Z10 comes out! 😂

The only 'troublesome' Nikon RAW file type is the NEFX, the file produced by the Z8s Pixel Shift. 

DxO doesn't support it yet.. 🙁

Nikon Z8 + 24-120mm @ 120mm. 1/400 F7.7 ISO 1000.  Green Alkanet.

Nikon Z8 + 400mm 2.8 FL. ISO 64 1/1000 f5. Cowslip.

https://nikonimglib.com/nxstdo/onlinehelp/en/supported_formats_4.html

Says ALL NEFs...

15 hours ago, themaz said:

Full frame source image

Time for some new pads?

9 hours ago, ilkka_nissila said:

the camera seems to have focused on the rock rather than the animal.

Sometimes I wonder whether PIN would work for subjects like your stationary Lynx?

Here's a radical idea for cold climate wildlife... a Thermal subject target indicator for AF assist. 😉

7 hours ago, ilkka_nissila said:

To my eyes it looks like the bird's eye is not in focus

Yup, with a diameter of just 12 pixels, that eye isn't so sharp!

Same crop from a 24MP sensor would be much worse.

48MP > 1MP is pretty severe.😂

With a plain background and a dark bird 75m away, I'm not sure the AF was off, as such.  However, out of about 20 frames, some are definitely better than others.