Wings up Northern Harrier....bad news, good news.

[Jack Backs]

Full frame. Bad news...just a bird in the sky.....good news....I managed to get focus lock because of only a bird in the sky. I'm shooting from the window of my vehicle where maneuverability is limited.
I've had a couple of other close flybys below the horizon and at that close of a range I haven't been able to get the bird centered enough for my D500 to release focus lock on the background until the
bird is well past me. I have repositioned the bird as I clipped parts of the top 3 feathers. I fortunately had another frame that I could use to reconstruct the tips. The Z9 can't get here fast enough. I'm
going to be pi....disappointed if I don't get one on the first offering. Not sure if I have the white balance correct. DxO applied(still evaluating) and Denoise standard noise set to 0, sharpening 5
Nikon D500, 500mmF4VRII, TC-14EIII
1/3200s, f7.1, iso 640

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice image, I don't see any signs of repair I do however see a slight halo around the wing tips. Eye/head good and sharp.. I wish I could jump in my car and bag a harrier!

[Jack Backs]

I'll admit it's pretty nice to be able to sit in your car and drink coffee while waiting. There will be none of that when I turn my attention to ducks.

[Arthur Morris]

Yes to very nice. I love the wings fly up flight pose. And personally, I have nothing against blue skies. Good job on the repair; I am not seeing any halos.

with love, artie

[Volkan Akgul]

hi,

congratulations

[arash_hazeghi]

Looks good Jack, this was a close pass I can tell, you got all the nasal feathers here too! good job on the repair I can't tell either. I agree with you that a plain sky background is not as attractive as a varied BG but you made the best shooting from a tight space (been shooting from a truck so I know what's it like).

I hear you on the DSLR being tough to grab focus against color, no comparison with MLIC and if the Z9 is only half as good as the Sony A1 you will notice a huge difference with the D500. Having said that I had great luck with Nikon DSLR's (within their limitations) and there are a few tricks that are going to help, do you have the Nikon BIF guide?

cheers

[Daniel Cadieux]

Good repair job indeed. Nice colours and sharp. First time I notice the feet completely hidden from view like this!

[Dorian Anderson]

Really nice! Lovely lighting and detail, Jack! Sure clean blue sky isn't perfect, but this is still a really strong image. I have nothing of this species, so I'd take this any day. Just enough eye contact to suck us in. We can really see how aerodynamic the body is in this view!

[Jack Backs]

Thanks Arash. I have no doubt that the Z9 won't be as good as the A1, at least initially, but with +40 years of Nikon equipment, ergonomics and muscle memory I'm not switching unless Nikon goes belly up....which has been a concern as they have had a couple of horrific years financially.
Hopefully the Z9 will stop the hemorrhaging. Any improvement in AF will be welcome, but I'm most stoked about a larger field of view with the same pixel density and blackout free view(compared to 60% on the D500). At almost 300,000 shutter actuations my current D500 has become a
little unreliable...lockups, throwing black frames, stopping AF until the the lens is unlocked and relocked. I just refused to purchase a D850 as I've wanted to switch to mirrorless.