| Joined: | Thu Apr 19th, 2012 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 4428 |
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I have been testing the D850 with the big 500mm AF-S f4 lens for first time with the x1.4 extender giving a 700mm lens. Depth of field is a serious problem and even at f9 focus must be spot on. This was dull light today so 1250 ISO and 1/800 sec at f9 hand held. Even with the x1.4 extender the Sparrow is not even 1/2 of the total frame size.
Well that's a pretty decent shot...despite your reservations about cropping.
No noise issue...sharp on the eye....even a highlight in the eye! Lovely IQ.
Thinking aloud......
It's normally ideal to fill the frame in the camera. But when the subject is moving erratically and quickly it's harder to keep a full frame subject framed. So one HAS to back off magnification to be able to follow movement. This inevitable means cropping of the final image....and therefore the quality of the sensors pixels and noise control become more important.
Of course this is true for birds in flight also, but these tend to be bigger birds.
So in some ways having longer lenses or getting closer with lesser tele lenses may not be the key to getting best shots from smaller birds.
Getting the little b@@@ers to stay still, knowing their location and probable movements are bigger contributors....along with best sensor.
I am there leaning towards your preferred combination D850 with 80-400mm and 1.4tc. Although reading some US photographers take on this, they go one stage further. They suggest the bigger pixels of the D5 give better low light performance and reduced noise levels even superior to the D850 even when cropped! Interesting thought.
Last edited on Sat May 26th, 2018 08:50 by Eric
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Eric