Female Red-Winged Blackbird

[Daniel Grossi]

It was tough saying goodbye to my 600mm f/4 rental - but it sure was nice carrying this "lightweight" lens around after. My first shot post 600mm...

D500
Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6e VR @ 500mm
1/250
f/5.6
ISO-800
Matrix Metering

Cleveland, Ohio
May 2017
Cool and overcast 2 hours after sunrise

[Alex Becker]

Must've been a bummer to send back the 600mm but looks like you had a lot of success with it and making a lot out of the 200-500 as well. I like the perch, HA, clean background and eye. DOF looks good too. I feel the bird could use just a tad more sharpening but see what others think. I think I would have tried to go to iso 1600 and 1/500 or higher here as these guys always seem to fidget. TFS

[Daniel Grossi]

Must've been a bummer to send back the 600mm but looks like you had a lot of success with it and making a lot out of the 200-500 as well. I like the perch, HA, clean background and eye. DOF looks good too. I feel the bird could use just a tad more sharpening but see what others think. I think I would have tried to go to iso 1600 and 1/500 or higher here as these guys always seem to fidget. TFS

Thanks Alex! Needless to say I'm saving for that 600mm - I'm a little over half-way there ;). I agree on a little more sharpening with the bird. My settings were based around keeping my shot at ISO-800. ISO-1600 on my camera is nearly unacceptable for shots like this it seems to me. I need to improve my PP regarding sharpening and noise reduction. 99% of the time my method is selective smart sharpen and noise reduction filters in PS.

[Isaac Grant]

Very nice pose, perch and background. I agree that you should have gone with a higher ISO. Bill and Joseph have shown that the d500 handles high ISO's very well. More shutter speed would have helped you here. Bird looks good but not tack sharp to me. Also I think I would play with a more vertical 8:10 type crop on this shot. Give it more room above and a little less on the right. On a separate note a good friend bought the new 600 Nikon recently and it is great. Just a little heavier than my 500 ii canon but feels more balanced to me. Certainly worth saving for.

[Daniel Grossi]

Very nice pose, perch and background. I agree that you should have gone with a higher ISO. Bill and Joseph have shown that the d500 handles high ISO's very well. More shutter speed would have helped you here. Bird looks good but not tack sharp to me. Also I think I would play with a more vertical 8:10 type crop on this shot. Give it more room above and a little less on the right. On a separate note a good friend bought the new 600 Nikon recently and it is great. Just a little heavier than my 500 ii canon but feels more balanced to me. Certainly worth saving for.

Thanks Isaac! I know my camera handles high ISO well however, I think it's my PP that's not making it work like other peoples APS-C high ISO shots. I'll keep working at it.

[Arthur Morris]

This is quite lovely. I have been seeing lots of sharp images made with the Nikon 200-500. I love the background and the fact that you have moved the bird back in the frame. You might have tucked her a bit more into the right corner. Sharp with a good EXP.

with love, artie

[Daniel Grossi]

This is quite lovely. I have been seeing lots of sharp images made with the Nikon 200-500. I love the background and the fact that you have moved the bird back in the frame. You might have tucked her a bit more into the right corner. Sharp with a good EXP.

with love, artie

Thanks Arthur! Like you I've seen some absolutely amazing images shot with the 2-5. What I liked about the 600 was how it seemed to give me more time to compose images. The AF in the 600 is so fast and confident it's almost an afterthought. In fact, I would say that the 600 focuses in poor lighting about as good as the 2-5 does in ideal lighting. And for BIF... they barely compare. It's unbelievable how well it holds a panning focus. I hand-held the lens the entire time I had it. I found that I could last about 4 hours before it became a burden. The good thing is that I typically shoot for 3-4 hours around sunrise/sunset anyway. Once I came up with a system, it was very manageable. Aside from the weight, the only negative I can add is that it garners a lot of unwanted attention and comments. Regardless, I'll be picking one up in a few weeks.