Black-Headed Heron

[Morkel Erasmus]

Since getting my Nikon equipment, I have not had the chance to test out the D7000 with BIF. I found time this afternoon to stake out our local "bird-pad". There are lots of birds around now that the season is changing and Spring is returning. The willows have already got green leaves and last year a friend of mine recorded over 70 species at this pond.

I have set up my D7000 to work in the same way as my D3s - that is to use Manual Exposure mode, set the aperture and shutter speed I desire, and use "auto-ISO" to manage the EV setting. This works magnificently on the D3s as you can imagine, and I was curious as to how the IQ of the D7000 would hold up when the ISO goes up, and to how the AF will perform.

I was impressed with overall AF performance - with the camera easily acquiring focus on birds even with a contrasty BG, and holding/tracking nicely after that. The buffer is a tad small even with high-speed SD cards inserted, which can be expected, but you can still fire off enough images in a burst to get a few keepers.

This black-headed heron was coming in to roost for the night.

Techs:
Nikon D7000 with Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f7.1 @ 1/2500 SS @ ISO-2800
Exp +0.3

[dankearl]

Morkel, nice photo, how much NR did you use?
My D7000 doesn't look this good at iso2800, I never shoot above 1600.
Nice PP at that high iso.
I also use manual settings with auto iso and it works well.
I program the U1 setting for flash settings, the U2 setting for manual, auto iso, etc., and then I can use the regular manual setting and
set the iso I want for still subjects.
The best thing about the D7000 is the custom settings, IMO.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hey Dan. Thanks for the comment.

I have not set up my custom settings yet...still need to spend some time on that. I am waiting for my battery grip which will give a more solid feel (it's a bit small when paired with the 500 :S3:).

I ran 2 rounds of my standard NR action on the BG alone...nothing on the bird.
Here is a 100% crop of the high res file with NO PP done whatsoever.

[Tom Redd]

Morkel, excellent shot at that ISO. Good lighting and nice and sharp.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Definite improvement in your IQ sinse using the 500...Very nice and impressive IQ from that ISO used...Nice one mate.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Really nice image first off with a great calling pose in flight and great underside light.. I am impressed with the image quality as well at that ISO.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Lovely IQ here !! Like the open beak BIF . The BG is slightly busy , but then it is also the best way to test AF in a body :w3.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks a lot for taking time to view and the constructive comments and compliments, folks...
:bg3: