It’s finally here – my Nikon 500 PF review and full field report! And let me tell you, it’s a doozy!
In fact, I may have to apologize for the length. This review is really detailed and goes on for a bit longer than I wanted. I’ve had so many questions about this lens and there are so many different facets to it that it was difficult to keep it …
So…
A few months ago I released a video where I discussed my various tripods, heads, and how I use them. It generated a lot of comments and a few really stuck in my mind – they were about using a gimbal head with a monopod.
At first, I sort of dismissed the idea. I mean, why would you want to place a giant gimbal head on a monopod when …
“Wow! That’s a big bear,” I exclaimed as I pulled the truck off the road.
As I brought the pickup to a halt, my wife was quickly scanning the nearby woods, “Where?”
I pointed at the 2 o’clock position from the windshield, “Down there, on the ground.”
As I opened my door and climbed out of the truck, I heard her make an excited religious reference – something about a …
So, there you are, face to face with a once-in-a-lifetime shot, but your AF seems less than confident. As you attempt to focus, it tries, misses, tries again, and finally, reluctantly, latches on. However, as you study the image in the viewfinder, the “sharpness” of the subject leads you to suspect that maybe the solid green focus confirmation dot is overly optimistic. You pop off a few shots, and a …
“Hey! You’re doing it wrong!”
That’s what I want to shout pretty much every time I’m out and spot other wildlife photographers with gimbal heads. It seems that well over half of them believe they have their gimbal properly balanced when they really don’t. It’s a shame too – a properly balanced gimbal head is so much nicer to work with than one that’s only half way there.
In the …
(NOTE – when I refer to “fast glass” in this article, I’m referring to the maximum opening, not AF speed.)
Do we really need fast glass anymore?
After all, with all that fantastic high ISO performance we find in modern cameras, should we all just agree to relegate fast glass to the Jurassic section of the Camera History Museum? Is it time to stop spending crazy amounts of money on …
I’m a sucker for a nice, clean background. In my opinion, nothing ruins a wildlife shot (or portrait shot, if you roll that way), faster than a busy, distracting background.
The thing is, it wasn’t that long ago that if you wanted to do wildlife, fast glass and full frame cameras were the rule. However, with cameras like the D7500 and D500, we now have some serious DX options. In …
I have to admit, I always believed I was alone when it came to my love of tripods. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I use them for nearly every shot I make. Still, I never thought anyone else really cared all that much about our three-legged photographic friends, especially based on the lack of discussion found on internet forums and such. The fun stuff – bodies, lenses, and such …
In just a few short weeks, I’ll be back in Costa Rica running our May workshops. (Yeah!) So, it’s probably not too much of a surprise that visions of rainforests have been sneaking into my thoughts with increasing regularity.
At the forefront of those musings is one of my favorite species, squirrel monkeys. Now, before you click away with the idea that this article may not apply to you, just …
So, here’s the thing, I travel quite a bit. If you’re a regular here, you know this isn’t exactly the kind of news that would cause any concern over at the USGS earthquake monitoring center. Since I do get around, the images on the site and in my articles tend to reflect those adventures – almost to the point where one could conclude that doing serious wildlife photography requires packing …
