ShunCheung

Sting Rays

It takes a bald eagle chick about 4 to 5 years to mature. In North America, they typically hatch around March to April and grow up very fast in terms of size. It takes about 10 to 12 weeks to reach adult size (I am only talking about size; it takes much longer to reach maturity.) and start flying, but they are initially very dark and it takes those 4 to 5 years for the plumage to gradually change color. There is a page to help identify the age of a juvenile: https://avianreport.com/age-and-identify-a-juvenile-and-sub-adult-bald-eagle/ The eagle in Dieter's image is probably from the 2022 season and is now 2 years old. Unlike human babies that are born year around, bald eagle chicks hatch in March/April 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 .... You won't get one that hatched in October 2022, for example.

For me, the problem is that the D850 cannot do 10fps, 12fps so that it never replaced my D5 and D500. I took the D850 to Antarctica in February 2019 and then realized that my 24-120mm/f4 is not sharp on the wide end and the edges @ 24mm is pretty poor. I was much better off using the Z-mount 24-70mm/f4 S on the Z6 on that trip. However, I was also glad that I didn't take the heavy 24-70mm/f2.8 AF-S VR. By then Z quickly replaced everything F-mount on the wide end. By the time the Z9 was available, Z just took over completely.

Thanks Dieter. That chart looks pretty much correct, but Nikon started shipping the D850 in late 2017 @ $3300, or $3299.95 and slightly discounted to $3296.95 at some stores. We saw the first discount to $3100 in January 2019 as I mentioned, and it was discounted to $2500 many times between 2020 to 2023, until the recent drop to $2200. That is probably the final blow-out sale. The D850 is certainly my final Nikon (D)SLR, but looking back, I shouldn't have even bought that. After the D850, Nikon has introduced the D3500 in August 2018 and then finally the D780 and D6 in early 2020. Those are the end of the F-mount. The final 120-300mm/f2.8 FL AF-S VR was also introduced in January 2020, along with the D780.

Note: Consider keeping uploads no larger than 1600 pixels on the long side when it matters, and sticking with 1000 pixels when the image feels no pain at that resolution. On data size/compression, try to keep things under 1mb, shooting for 600kb when you can stop there. Note that this includes photos hosted off-site (at Flickr, Photobucket, your own site, etc.). New to this thread? The general guidelines for these Wednesday threads are right here: https://www.photo.net/forums/topic/398109-guidelines-for-nikon-forum-wednesday-image-threads. For now, we're sticking with 1, 2, or 3 images per week as you see fit. Back in April, I spent two weeks in the Galapagos Islands; it was the four time my wife and I went there. Before the trip, I had scheduled to start Nikon Wednesday threads automatically for a few weeks, and that worked, but I was surprised that our small cruise ship had StarLink wifi access, although the bandwidth was limited and access was intermitten.Still, I even managed to post a short HD video to FaceBook. The Galapagos is of course an amazing place for nature photography. Those bright red Sally Lightfoot Crabs are colorful, and for the first time I saw lava flowing into the ocean over there.

Galapagos penguins at sunset

Their information is completely wrong, at least for Nikon USA D850. (Gray market is a different story.) Nikon announced the D850 in August 2017 for US$3300. For whatever reason, there was unusual shortage for the D850 in the US and was still in somewhat short supply after a year, while it was easily available in e.g. Europe. There was no discount for the D850 throughout 2018, including the holiday season. Since I had a trip to Antarctica in February 2019, I bought a Z6 as soon as it was available in Thanksgiving 2018, and I had a hard time searching for a then new 500mm/f5.6 PF. Eventually, in January 2019, I finally bought a D850 from B&H and paid the full $3300, but shortly after, Nikon USA had the very first discount for the D850, for a modest drop to $3100, and I got the refund for the $200 difference from B&H. I still have various advertisement e-mail from Nikon USA. For example, in December 2022, during the holiday season, they discounted the D850 to $2500. In December 2023, it was still $2500. I think the current $2200 is a new low. I doubt that Nikon is still manufacturing any new F-mount products. They may be dumping all remaining F-mount stock.

I think this particular Nikon USA sale is, at least partially, driven by the low exchange rate for the Japanese yen. I mentioned Mother's Day sale because that is in the URL Nikon USA is using. By no means these are products intended for mothers, at least not all of them. But I can see some mothers using a Z8 for children sports. BTW, using some punctuation such as : -) for the smiley is out of date. Nowadays we use emojis 🙂😃 as they are more obvious. Photo.net provides them in the menu above the reply box. I am sure they are also available on all sorts of phones and tablets.

Entry-level Z8 is an oxymoron. Maybe we are talking about a Z5 or Z6ii? The Z7ii is relatively cheap @ $2000, but I would imagine that the Z7ii will soon be discontinued.

I have several Hejnar feet for various lenses, such as the 500mm/f5.6 PF, Z mount 70-200/2.8, 400/4.5 and 100-400, but for the 800mm PF, I have the Kirk foot that seems to work pretty well also.

Great frigatebird

Those prices in Finland are pretty crazy, although I assume VAT is included. With this current discount, in the US, a new Z7ii is $2000 and Z8 $3500, and sales tax is also included if you use B&H PayBoo. I am sure a lot of people would go for gray market in Europe.

Somehow Nikon USA no longer discounts the flagship model, e.g. Z9, and they are using these trade-ins to discount it. I recall that the D5 and D6 have never been discounted either, but they used to do that for the D3 back in the days, e.g. around 2008/2009.

Essentially all F-mount bodies and lenses, similar to other (D)SLR equipment, worth a lot less today, regardless of whether you dump it or not. I am still holding onto most of that, but I have mostly newer Z-mount lenses now. Life is too short to worry about cost, and I feel that I might as well use top-of-the-line equipment while I still can.

My personal opinion is that the Z8 has already replaced the Z7ii. Keep in mind that back in 2018, Nikon introduced the Z7 @ $3400, but the Z7ii was dropped to $3000 in 2020. With the Z8 @ $3500, there seems to be no room for any Z7 series any more. Concerning the Z6iii, Nikon has already introduced the Zf recently with the same 24MP sensor and Expeed 7 @ $2000. I know retro is not for everybody, but I wonder how Nikon can market a Z6iii with specs so similar to the Zf. I wouldn't hold my breath on any Z6iii and Z7iii; perhaps there will be some Z6iii with better video specs and a higher price, but IMO Z7iii is very questionable now.

Please keep in mind that the following link will only be good for the duration of this sale: https://www.nikonusa.com/content/mothers-day-sale The Z8 is discounted by $500 to $3500, which is a new low. Previous discounts were $200 to $300. The Z7ii is discounted by $1000 to $2000. The two ii models are really long on the tooth, as they are only minor updates to the original 2018 Z6 and Z7. The Z6ii is discounted by $500 to $1500. The 600mm/f6.3 PF is discounted for the first time by $500 to $4300, which is IMO still high for that lens. The 800mm/f6.3 PF is again discounted by $500 to $6000. A lot of F-mount products are deeply discounted also, e.g. the D850 down to $2200. I assume the low exchange rate for the Japanese yen, recently touching 160 yen for US$1, may have something to do with the discounts.

Your image makes me hungry. 🙂

Note: Consider keeping uploads no larger than 1600 pixels on the long side when it matters, and sticking with 1000 pixels when the image feels no pain at that resolution. On data size/compression, try to keep things under 1mb, shooting for 600kb when you can stop there. Note that this includes photos hosted off-site (at Flickr, Photobucket, your own site, etc.). New to this thread? The general guidelines for these Wednesday threads are right here: https://www.photo.net/forums/topic/398109-guidelines-for-nikon-forum-wednesday-image-threads. For now, we're sticking with 1, 2, or 3 images per week as you see fit. Lava heron in the Galapagos

Galapagos penguins, on Bartolome Island

Galapagos marine iguana with sally lightfoot crab

It is a 2005 camera. Wouldn't be that surprising that it is no longer totally functional.

Note: Consider keeping uploads no larger than 1600 pixels on the long side when it matters, and sticking with 1000 pixels when the image feels no pain at that resolution. On data size/compression, try to keep things under 1mb, shooting for 600kb when you can stop there. Note that this includes photos hosted off-site (at Flickr, Photobucket, your own site, etc.). New to this thread? The general guidelines for these Wednesday threads are right here: https://www.photo.net/forums/topic/398109-guidelines-for-nikon-forum-wednesday-image-threads. For now, we're sticking with 1, 2, or 3 images per week as you see fit. Starting the thread a bit early: a hotel lobby

Kicker Rock

I know I am crazy, as I currently have four 70-200mm Nikkor lenses, versions 1 and 2 of the F-mount 70-200mm/f2.8 AF-S VR and the 70-200mm/f4 AF-S VR. The only F-mount version I don't have is the last E FL version, which is supposed to be great. The Z 70-200/2.8 is of course excellent. Version 1 of the F 70-200/2.8 is weak into the corners near 200mm. Version 2 is a big improvement but has focus breathing, but it is good enough for me that I didn't bother with the E FL. The f4 is very good also and much lighter, but that doesn't seem to be a popular lens. Since I have the Z 70-200/2.8 S, I don't bother with the Tamron/Nikon 70-180/2.8. That lens has no VR and is a major drawback for this type of lens. I occasionally adapt the 70-200mm/f4 AF-S VR on my Z bodies for video capture.

Lava flowing into the ocean at the Fernandina Island in the Galapagos, Ecuador.