Wildlife with a Nikon D90 and Nikkor AFS 70-300, best settings?
I'm looking for a few tips to set me going, doing birds mainly and maybe foxes etc if I drop on one. I was thinking AP mode and spot metering keeping between perhaps F5.6 and F8 ish, auto ISO and auto white balance? Any good?
What would you go for?
What about the fast little birds like blue tits etc, would you go for SP or fully manual?
Thanks in advance.
What would you go for?
What about the fast little birds like blue tits etc, would you go for SP or fully manual?
Thanks in advance.
As you know he old "shutter speed, Aperture and ISO triangle" is always a compromise. I have that same lens and, whilst excellent value for money, it is not at its sharpest wide open. I would suggest manual mode with aperture at f11 (it is sharp at that point) a fast shutter speed such as 1/1000 sec and auto ISO. If the ISO goes too high that it produces noisy images, adjust your shutter speed down.
This should be a good starting point for you. No doubt others will completely trash my suggestions but I do have and use the AF-S Nikkor 70-300 1:4.5-5.6 G ED VR.
This should be a good starting point for you. No doubt others will completely trash my suggestions but I do have and use the AF-S Nikkor 70-300 1:4.5-5.6 G ED VR.
My main advice is set the auto focus to AF-c unless on a firm tripod with a subject not moving at all.
If you are photographing birds at nearby bird-feeders or a fox in the garden then auto focus and matrix metering should normally work quite well.
Birds like seagulls at the seaside are quite approachable but being predominantly white may require some exposure compensation.
A flock of small birds flying at a distance against a sky background are an auto-focus challenge for a 14 year old AF system and can also be a metering challenge.
For birds at feeders I would advise against spot metering as you need to change the exposure compensation depending on the colour of the bird.
Using spot metering you need exposure compensation for a blackbird and usually none for a greenfinch. Matrix metering adjusts for subject colour for you to a good standard.
If you are photographing birds at feeders consider a small portable hide..
When you sit inside, ideally with the camera on a tripod, after less than 10 minutes most birds will act as though no person is around and you should get much better shots.
Staying with bird-feeders many birds will first fly to a nearby perch and look around to check for safety.
If you set up a suitable perch with a good background you will often get better looking images than at the actual birdfeeders.
As with a lot of photography what you do before you press the shutter can often have a huge impact on the quality of the final images.
If you are photographing birds at nearby bird-feeders or a fox in the garden then auto focus and matrix metering should normally work quite well.
Birds like seagulls at the seaside are quite approachable but being predominantly white may require some exposure compensation.
A flock of small birds flying at a distance against a sky background are an auto-focus challenge for a 14 year old AF system and can also be a metering challenge.
For birds at feeders I would advise against spot metering as you need to change the exposure compensation depending on the colour of the bird.
Using spot metering you need exposure compensation for a blackbird and usually none for a greenfinch. Matrix metering adjusts for subject colour for you to a good standard.
If you are photographing birds at feeders consider a small portable hide..
When you sit inside, ideally with the camera on a tripod, after less than 10 minutes most birds will act as though no person is around and you should get much better shots.
Staying with bird-feeders many birds will first fly to a nearby perch and look around to check for safety.
If you set up a suitable perch with a good background you will often get better looking images than at the actual birdfeeders.
As with a lot of photography what you do before you press the shutter can often have a huge impact on the quality of the final images.
I'm not going to 'trash your suggestion' but I've used that lens on a D90 and I reckon that shooting at f.11 and 1/1000 with auto ISO will generate loads of noise.
I've been photographing birds in my garden for years; nowadays using a Z7 but stationary birds are rarely stationary and while some movement can be a good thing I still usually maintain an exposure time of 1/1000 and about f.8. That's using a Tamron 100-400.
Auto ISO's no longer a problem for me.
My camera's set to auto white balance but I only ever shoot raw so it's academic. If you're planning to shoot Jpegs. you might want to experiment a bit.
I always use matrix metering; I avoid spot metering like the plague and I don't think you'll have much luck using it shooting birds.
For 'fast moving stuff,' I'd stick with your manual settings but auto focus will let you down. In fact, just getting or keeping the bird in the frame will be a challenge!
The D90's now fourteen years old and that lens must be of about the same vintage.
That's not to say that they can't produce good results; I still, sometimes, use my D90 now but shooting the subjects that you're targeting will show their age.
I've been photographing birds in my garden for years; nowadays using a Z7 but stationary birds are rarely stationary and while some movement can be a good thing I still usually maintain an exposure time of 1/1000 and about f.8. That's using a Tamron 100-400.
Auto ISO's no longer a problem for me.
My camera's set to auto white balance but I only ever shoot raw so it's academic. If you're planning to shoot Jpegs. you might want to experiment a bit.
I always use matrix metering; I avoid spot metering like the plague and I don't think you'll have much luck using it shooting birds.
For 'fast moving stuff,' I'd stick with your manual settings but auto focus will let you down. In fact, just getting or keeping the bird in the frame will be a challenge!
The D90's now fourteen years old and that lens must be of about the same vintage.
That's not to say that they can't produce good results; I still, sometimes, use my D90 now but shooting the subjects that you're targeting will show their age.
Quote:I'm not going to 'trash your suggestion' but I've used that lens on a D90 and I reckon that shooting at f.11 and 1/1000 with auto ISO will generate loads of noise.
In bright sunlight or 'cloudy bright' lighting noise should not be much of an issue at f11.
Quote:In bright sunlight or 'cloudy bright' lighting noise should not be much of an issue at f11.
In your opinion Len.
I speak from experience.
As an example I attach a shot taken in winter sun near Edinburgh using my 70-300. The settings were:
1/800 @ f9 and 400ISO on a Nikon D200. The D200 was on its limit for noise (horrible at 800+ ISO).
So 1/1000 @ f11 at 400ISO should be fine in summer sun.
You can judge for yourself.
1/800 @ f9 and 400ISO on a Nikon D200. The D200 was on its limit for noise (horrible at 800+ ISO).
So 1/1000 @ f11 at 400ISO should be fine in summer sun.
You can judge for yourself.
Was that taken using auto ISO?
Those settings clearly worked in that instance; lots of bright sky and snow taking up half the frame, it's effectively a landscape but without auto ISO, I suspect you'd be needing EC to get anywhere near that shooting a sparrow in a tree.
As you rightly say 800's probably as high as you can get away with.
I'm not saying that the OP can't get a decent result with that D90 set up; I know it can be done because I've done it but I'm also painfully aware of how difficult it can be.
Those settings clearly worked in that instance; lots of bright sky and snow taking up half the frame, it's effectively a landscape but without auto ISO, I suspect you'd be needing EC to get anywhere near that shooting a sparrow in a tree.
As you rightly say 800's probably as high as you can get away with.
I'm not saying that the OP can't get a decent result with that D90 set up; I know it can be done because I've done it but I'm also painfully aware of how difficult it can be.
Quote:Whilst a snowy background, there is no snow reflecting on the dark blue sides of the coaches.
The snow's behind the train . . .
I've started using auto ISO with the Z7 simply because noise isn't an issue until the ISO gets to silly levels. It took me a while to trust it though.
I set the aperture and exposure time manually.
I see a few differences of opinion here so this is the plan:-
Matrix metering
Auto white balance
Auto ISO
The birds are mainly on feeders at a bird sanctuary so I'll try F11 at 1/500 to 1/1000th SS first and make a note of how the ISO is behaving on those shots for noise. I'll then bring the F-stop down to F8 and keep my eye on the sharpness.
Then, I'll turn auto ISO off and use my own judgement with the same settings which will bring the exposure compensator into play much more.
I've just been playing with the nikkor 18-105AFS in the garden, the cousin of the 300mm I'm buying.The weather is quite dull but surprisingly the auto ISO kept between 200 and 320 on F8 and the shots were pin sharp but this was on low shutter speeds. If I'm going for twitchy wildlife I'll need the SS way higher and then in this dull weather the problems will start with under exposure on higher F-stops which is when you hope auto ISO and exposure compensation start helping out. I don't like where the EC is located on the D90 at all, I keep missing it being used to EOS's. There is another feature though that switches EC to the main dial which you can enable in the menu.
Sooo...I'll probably go out on my first wildlife session, come back with memory card full of dross but I'll learn something each time and I'll get there.....in the end.
Thanks for all the suggestions BTW.
Matrix metering
Auto white balance
Auto ISO
The birds are mainly on feeders at a bird sanctuary so I'll try F11 at 1/500 to 1/1000th SS first and make a note of how the ISO is behaving on those shots for noise. I'll then bring the F-stop down to F8 and keep my eye on the sharpness.
Then, I'll turn auto ISO off and use my own judgement with the same settings which will bring the exposure compensator into play much more.
I've just been playing with the nikkor 18-105AFS in the garden, the cousin of the 300mm I'm buying.The weather is quite dull but surprisingly the auto ISO kept between 200 and 320 on F8 and the shots were pin sharp but this was on low shutter speeds. If I'm going for twitchy wildlife I'll need the SS way higher and then in this dull weather the problems will start with under exposure on higher F-stops which is when you hope auto ISO and exposure compensation start helping out. I don't like where the EC is located on the D90 at all, I keep missing it being used to EOS's. There is another feature though that switches EC to the main dial which you can enable in the menu.
Sooo...I'll probably go out on my first wildlife session, come back with memory card full of dross but I'll learn something each time and I'll get there.....in the end.
Thanks for all the suggestions BTW.
Provided you can keep the subject within the DoF, I don't think you'll see any difference in sharpness between f.11 and f.8.
You don't say what exposure times you've tried with the 18-105 but bear in mind that each time you halve it, the ISO will double, give the same aperture.
Do that twice and you'll be using ISO 800 which, depending upon the subject, is probably as high as you'll want it to get.
I'd be cautious about using exposure compensation if you're using auto ISO with everything else set manually as it will simply increase the ISO as it's the only setting it can alter. Not a problem as long as you're watching it, of course but you could choose to make that adjustment yourself.
Are you shooting Nefs. or Jpegs?
You don't say what exposure times you've tried with the 18-105 but bear in mind that each time you halve it, the ISO will double, give the same aperture.
Do that twice and you'll be using ISO 800 which, depending upon the subject, is probably as high as you'll want it to get.
I'd be cautious about using exposure compensation if you're using auto ISO with everything else set manually as it will simply increase the ISO as it's the only setting it can alter. Not a problem as long as you're watching it, of course but you could choose to make that adjustment yourself.
Are you shooting Nefs. or Jpegs?
Quote:Provided you can keep the subject within the DoF, I don't think you'll see any difference in sharpness between f.11 and f.8.
You don't say what exposure times you've tried with the 18-105 but bear in mind that each time you halve it, the ISO will double, give the same aperture.
Do that twice and you'll be using ISO 800 which, depending upon the subject, is probably as high as you'll want it to get.
I'd be cautious about using exposure compensation if you're using auto ISO with everything else set manually as it will simply increase the ISO as it's the only setting it can alter. Not a problem as long as you're watching it, of course but you could choose to make that adjustment yourself.
Are you shooting Nefs. or Jpegs?
I might enter the competitions on here once I get confident with the camera which I'll probably have to shoot in jpeg because my raw program wrecks the EXIF data and you must provide EXIF. I'd rather shoot in raw if I'm 100% honest for the rest of the time and convert it for upload to here. White balance becomes no issue if I remember correctly.
Exposure time was low on the 105 if I remember correctly, loitering around 125 - 250th which is slow for any wild life especially birds. The 300 will be even more difficult but I'll just have to learn like I've done in the past. I've made a note of what you guys have said and I'll start the journey there.
If I'm in AP mode and I fix the ISO myself according to conditions, I'll watch the meter to see how low I'm pushing the shutter speed before I balance the camera, if the SS gets too low then I'll just need to change F-stop until I get in the SS ball park and see what my DOF is like on playback. Its the old F-stop, SS and ISO triangle that always limits the way we play.
Quote:You seem to have a full understanding of the pros & cons so time to go and experiment. Good luck.
Once I get the 300, not got it yet.
I've been reading lots of reviews of other 300's besides the Nikon AFS. I'm tempted by higher spec Nikon's TBH or even 400 and 500's.
I thought this D90 was on 8.1k shutter count, this morning I found its on 41k. Peed me off a little but they are tested to 100k so I'm ok with that I suppose.
I have all the time in the world to get a good lens for this cam so I'll take my time and read a lot more before I decide.
