Earnest lad
Well-known member
It will be exciting I am sure getting to grips with this no doubt wonderful piece of equipment.
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request advice upgrading from bridge camera to DSLR (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Earnest lad
- Start date
It will be exciting I am sure getting to grips with this no doubt wonderful piece of equipment.
Earnest lad
Well-known member
Further to the above I have been looking round for a lens to go with the D7100, and, bearing in mind (a) the budget and (b) the kind advice given in the thread, eg about the Tamron G2, I saw a lens at a good price second hand but in good condition : This is the Sigma C contemporary 150-600
I think time will tell if I made a wise choice. I have found out the learning curve is steep. It is more complex than point and shoot with a bridge camera
I think time will tell if I made a wise choice. I have found out the learning curve is steep. It is more complex than point and shoot with a bridge camera
With the bridge camera you might have been getting away with simply focusing on the bird. In the dSLR world the depth of field is less, so now you want to make sure to focus on the head and as close to the eye as possible. This is one of the things included in that learning curve.
Niels
Niels
Earnest lad
Well-known member
Thank you for that information. When I go birding with this lens on the Nikon D7100, should I put the camera in Auto on the dial or is some other setting best?
Also, I took some photos yesterday with the lens and camera, and the ones in the distance didnt look very sharp. Admittedly it was very poor light. To be honest I was a bit disappointed with the results. I wasnt able to autofocus as preciscely as you said onto very distant birds .
Even some of the pics with zoom half way out were not exactly crystal clear in clarity. Mind you however, some close-up photo's came out nice.
Any advice available would be much appreciated please..
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4rlgwhro41g7xyh/DSC_4529.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5sjan4ksdb8b25u/DSC_4539.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7t7luw0nbrp6g0y/DSC_4646.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p7mop7dyahzwkte/DSC_4716.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/885nrefjzq24hsx/DSC_4763.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cinev4g5ohezl4a/DSC_4882.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jq70zurt1dzbyql/DSC_5008.JPG?dl=0
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Some of the distant shots look like the focus is in front of the subject, is it possible the lens dropped a bit so lowering the focus point.
Others just need a bit of PP.
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Earnest lad
Well-known member
Thank you.
I don't know if that happened, but I guess it might well be the case. I shall bear this in mind next time I am out with the lens and care not to let it drop downwards.
Not easy to see but the bottom half of the center box looks more in focus than the top half.You could need some AF fine-tune on the body, easy to do but check first if it's going to need it,you could stand something the size of the duck on short grass then take the picture from the same distance, looking at the image of the grass it will show if focus is on target or infront or behind.
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Birds at distance over water are always difficult to focus acurately especially if single point focus isn't used as any larger group of focus points will pick up the wave patterns in front of the bird. This can still happen with single point focus even with steady hands. A simple focus test as suggested in previous post using single point focus and smallest f number ie widest aperture will give you an idea if you are front or back focussing
Earnest lad
Well-known member
Well after all the wonderful advice forthcoming from this thread I thought it would be nice report back. I had the D7100 plus Sigma 150-600 contemporary over a year now and been out with it over sixty times : A lot of the photos are a lot better also one can take quicker pics than with the superzoom. I started off on auto and moved on to shutter priority later on getting into the habit of utilizing the exposure compensation. The heaviness of the kit is something to get used to though. I must get a sling other than the one that comes with the lens. Also I am thinking to calibrate the lens using the dock. That would appear to be quite a challenge though as well as time consuming. I have a monopod too and have used it only on occasion I must try it out more to see if it helps me have more stillness when shooting. Please does anyone know what the ideal aperture setting is for the lens?
