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RE: Monday Morning Mama Fox — Today and Traveling for Wildlife Photos Got Me Like...
I always get embarrassed when it comes to the gear game...! I'm using a mid-level rig and a few pieces of beautiful glass, but in this case, it was a clunky old Sigma antique. It's a bit heavy, hunts and backfocuses all the time, but it's followed me all over the world and I just can't quit it. I'm a Nikon fangirl otherwise, but it always seems like the best photographers on here are using Canons :)
I did hit the focal points in each image with a gentle soft light edge highlight, though.
Don't be embarrassed! Well, aside from the Nikon! Hahaha, sorry, I had to, Canon fanboyism shining through. Nikons are killer, I'm just partial to Canon due to the firmware hacking scene being very active. You seem to have a nice setup! You're definitely showing the fact that you have skill and know what you're doing though, because those shots are, well, they're fucking legit. Killer job!
Also, IMO, Sigma makes really nice glass! Have you checked out any of those Rokinon cine lenses?
If you're interested in the firmware hacking stuff, check out https://magiclantern.fm/ It's a really cool project.
I'll take a look! I have my eye on a new body so I'm open to the idea - lord knows I flash my phone enough.
I'm definitely picking at least one new piece of glass before I head to Iceland in a few months. Toss-up between a Nikkor, a Sigma, and one of the Rokinon.. but I'm leaning towards a wide-angle Sigma art, as landscape and event is my bread and butter. Thoughts?
ICELAND. Ugh, jealous. That's in the sights very soon, too.
I've got an old Nikkor 105mm lens from the 70s that I adapted to my Mark III body haha, a real mutant, but it takes some nice shots.
I dunno about modern day Nikkor glass or much about Sigma these days, but I can vouch for the wide Rokinon lenses being a killer price-point for quality lens. I've considered buying the entire set before. I constantly hear good stuff.
I've been wanting to do Iceland for years. The way I travel is I have two lists, the REALLY IMPORTANT and the GET HERE SOMEDAY. I keep an eye out for last minute flight deals. If it's on the first list, I book, and that's the majour vacation for that year. If it's on the second list, I'll plan two or three.
I kind of never know where I'm going until I get there :D
Haha, that's the way to do it! I typically spur of the moment decide on a place to go, book it, go, wander, and be really sad when I have to come back. I did that last September with Tokyo for a month. Just went, wandered, hated coming back.
I think I'm about to do that next month with Seoul.
clearly we are cut from the same photographic paper 😂
I use a Sigma 24mm Art and it's one of the very best lenses I've ever purchased. On your D7200 it'll give you an effective focal length of 36mm, but this will be fine in practice.
Your other alternative in the Sigma line up is the 20mm Art. This lens is similar in price, though it's heavier and it has a permanently attached lens hood. I personally wouldn't recommend this lens as it lacks a filter thread, unlike it's 24mm counterpart.
While I'm on the subject of filters, I'd strongly suggest you get a polarising filter to use with your landscape photography. This is the polarising filter I use with my Sigma 24mm, and it's especially useful in bright/hazy conditions.
Your Nikon D7200 is an excellent camera, I've come across several pros who favoured it over their D4s for it's crop factor and lightweight build. I wouldn't look to replace it just yet, unless there's something in particular you don't like about it.
I hope you found this info useful, let me know if you want me to elaborate on anything further. Cheers for now.
the 24mm is exactly the one I've been considering, along with polarizing and neutral density filters, so I'm glad to hear you love it - I've seen nothing but praise. I'm trying to cut down my gear bag as much as possible. I climb/hike with a Cotton Carrier front harness system and a three lens changer at my belt so I can carry whatever I need for living on my back; the reasons you touch on are why I've stayed with the 7200 so long.
However, I was shooting an art gala event last night, and I found on continuous high, given the complex lighting and movement in the space, it was bogging down worse than normal, even if I was only taking three or four photos in quick succession. I think if I continue with special event/concert photography, I may need something that can think a bit faster on the fly.
If weight is major concern, you might also consider the Tamron 24-70mm 2.8. It has excellent sharpness, and with the crop factor it could replace several lenses in your bag. I even knew a guy who very successfully filmed a documentary with it. He swore that he wouldn't mind if someone welded the lens to his camera, as he's never taken it off since purchasing it.
As for your D7200, I'm not sure if you were referring to the shooting or autofocusing speed, as the lighting wouldn't affect the frames per second. If you go into our camera's settings menu, under "Autofocus" you should see two separate entries labelled AF-C/AF-S Priority Selection (probably under a1. & a2. respectively). Set these both to "Release" instead of "Focus". This will ensure that the shutter will continue to fire even if the camera doesn't believe it has attained focus.
You're probably already aware, but a faster memory card can also help with stuttering issues. Another trick you might try is changing the RAW bit depth to 12-bit lossless compressed. This will help ensure that the frame buffer doesn't fill up so fast, and will allow you to shoot continuously for longer.
I'm not sure how much of this you are already familiar with, but let me know if you have any questions.