Join our zoo community

Your camera kit setup

Discussion in 'Animal Photography' started by Julio C Castro, 26 Jan 2021.

  1. Arizona Docent

    Arizona Docent Well-Known Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    10 Feb 2009
    Posts:
    7,702
    Location:
    Arizona, USA
    This is very interesting, thanks for reply. I am not familiar with that magazine. Is it produced by Nikon themselves, or is it a third party publication?
     
  2. Arizona Docent

    Arizona Docent Well-Known Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    10 Feb 2009
    Posts:
    7,702
    Location:
    Arizona, USA
    @AdrianW1963 Followup question. A quick Google search for "Nikon Magazine" yields these three publications: Nikon World, Nikon User, N-Photo. Is it one of these or something else?
     
  3. AdrianW1963

    AdrianW1963 Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    15 Oct 2016
    Posts:
    856
    Location:
    Black Country
    As far as I am aware this is a third party publication I do now think the dates have changed as I can not find any pre-order dates anywhere on the internet.
    This is a shame as I was determined to get both and make them my last purchases will have to look around and see what it is around now.
     
    Arizona Docent likes this.
  4. Terry Thomas

    Terry Thomas Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    5 Mar 2018
    Posts:
    699
    Location:
    NSW
    I still have a Minolta 101 and agree they were/are pretty good. Have not used it for a while!
     
  5. Julio C Castro

    Julio C Castro Well-Known Member Premium Member

    Joined:
    12 Jul 2019
    Posts:
    1,144
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    That’s actually a nice setup you have there, your macro lens is reminding me of my next lens purchase of the new Nikkor Z 105mm f/2.8 S Macro! How often do you do macro photography when out doing shoots if you don’t mind me asking? I really want to explore that world more especially now the the Children’s Zoo in SD will be opening soon :)
     
  6. demonmoth

    demonmoth Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    14 Dec 2009
    Posts:
    127
    Location:
    Herefordshire
    To be honest not too much macro as the lense I have is not suitable to do what I want but when I do its probably a lot in the summer time for flowers and insects
     
    Julio C Castro likes this.
  7. Arizona Docent

    Arizona Docent Well-Known Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    10 Feb 2009
    Posts:
    7,702
    Location:
    Arizona, USA
    @Julio C Castro When I shot Canon I had a 100mm f2.8 macro that someone gave me. (I do not have a macro lens now, as I didn't use it that much). When I was working on my southwest zoo book I used in reptile houses. You have to ask yourself if you will use it enough to justify carrying an extra lens (for me the answer was ultimately no). The advantage of a macro lens is that it also focuses to infinity and works as a standard lens. If you use an attachment (closeup filter or extension tube) to turn a regular lens into a macro, then it is ONLY a macro lens while the attachment is on and will not focus at normal distances.
     
    RetiredToTheZoo likes this.
  8. Julio C Castro

    Julio C Castro Well-Known Member Premium Member

    Joined:
    12 Jul 2019
    Posts:
    1,144
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    That’s where I’m finding myself asking if it’s a priority lens or something I can maybe get later down the line, I struggle with the urge :oops: Macro photography has interested me very much, especially having seen the work of Joey Terrill who mostly does advertisement photography yet does immaculate work on macro photography. I’ve now wanted to get into that world as well. I wouldn’t necessarily take the lens everywhere but as you mentioned can be also used as a standard lens if need be.
     
    RetiredToTheZoo likes this.
  9. RetiredToTheZoo

    RetiredToTheZoo Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    25 Jun 2015
    Posts:
    165
    Location:
    Arkansas, USA
    Or for me, would I even use it enough to justify the price. At least I don't have to make that decision now as I have to spend about $275 to get my 16-85mm repaired that I broke in Mesa Verde National Park.
     
    Julio C Castro likes this.
  10. Julio C Castro

    Julio C Castro Well-Known Member Premium Member

    Joined:
    12 Jul 2019
    Posts:
    1,144
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Haha that’s the biggest part I should’ve thought of but I was blessed to have paid off my credit card that I’ve used for my camera equipment with my job :oops: It is a big investment for sure, I’ve made a plan as to what lenses I’d want to complete my collection. A super telephoto, macro, and wide angle lenses are the trinity for me that I want to consider it all whole for me. But as you said, price/cost is definitely the main factor to consider if I will truly want to invest time into macro photography.
     
  11. LCPete

    LCPete Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    8 Aug 2011
    Posts:
    157
    Location:
    UK
    My main kit is a Canon R5 mirrorless camera and 300 F 2.8 lens sometimes with 1.4 and 2.0 converters
    Sometimes use a Canon 70-200 F4
    The R5 autofocus especially the eye tracking mode is incredible
     
    Roman Paulov and Julio C Castro like this.
  12. Julio C Castro

    Julio C Castro Well-Known Member Premium Member

    Joined:
    12 Jul 2019
    Posts:
    1,144
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    That’s a sweet combo! And nice to see a fellow mirrorless shooter :) How well does the R5 track different animal eye subjects like birds to mammals or reptiles?
     
    LCPete likes this.
  13. cypher

    cypher Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    19 Oct 2013
    Posts:
    1,236
    Location:
    Toronto, ON, Canada
    Question, for those that shot mirrorless, what are the biggest advantages you're find over DSLR?
     
  14. Julio C Castro

    Julio C Castro Well-Known Member Premium Member

    Joined:
    12 Jul 2019
    Posts:
    1,144
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    One advantage is silent shooting. I have shot many times indoors or in aviaries, having that function has been a benefit for me. I’ve seen how some wildlife photographers have made use of the function to reduce their presence when out shooting. The FPS of mirrorless shooting has been able to produce in many top of the line bodies anywhere between 20-30 FPS in RAW format. My dream body is the Nikon Z9 and is a new beast that it’s scanning rate between electronic/mechanical shutter are almost the same. That is very useful for silent photography and seeing less banding from light sources or other items. I think it will be a while before DSLRs are completely dethroned by mirrorless but so many major publications are switching to mirrorless, e.g, shooting events regarding the White House or during press briefings.
     
  15. cypher

    cypher Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    19 Oct 2013
    Posts:
    1,236
    Location:
    Toronto, ON, Canada
    Very interesting @Julio C Castro. Never thought of that aspect. The Nikon Z9 indeed looks like a beast for sure. That price tag is a killer to justify if you're not a pro shooter.
     
  16. Lafone

    Lafone Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    6 Dec 2021
    Posts:
    1,549
    Location:
    UK
    Main things for me are frame rate (I photograph the horse spot of eventing as well as wildlife zoo stuff and all my photography is outdoor stuff) in relation to size and weight - given the size of the lens for wildlife etc the more compact the camera the easier the weight is to manage overall. I also really like the histogram as I can check exposure and I use it in the EVF all the time. I’ve done so much more photography since I made the mirrorless move (started aps-c now ff too).
     
  17. LCPete

    LCPete Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    8 Aug 2011
    Posts:
    157
    Location:
    UK
    Hi sorry for delay replying it works really well on mammals especially big cats , seems to work well on birds as well , haven’t tried on reptiles
    Basically mammal with a well defined eye , doesn’t always work on elephants but picks up on their head instead
    The only subject that I have found that it doesn’t find the eyes are cheetahs, I think the dark stripe across their eyes confuses the eye tracking still focuses well on the head though, I just have to allow a bit more depth of field
     
    Julio C Castro likes this.
  18. Julio C Castro

    Julio C Castro Well-Known Member Premium Member

    Joined:
    12 Jul 2019
    Posts:
    1,144
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    No problem, we all have busy lives so don’t feel bad :) That’s really awesome, I can imagine the difficulties of capturing eyes where the textures/colors near an animal’s eye may make it hard to get eye AF to catch the eye. The results I’ve seen from R5 make it such a staple for professional and amateur photographers that want to get into the Canon ecosystem!
     
    LCPete likes this.
  19. cloudedleopard611

    cloudedleopard611 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    7 Jun 2022
    Posts:
    411
    Location:
    St. Louis
    I use a Nikon D5300, and I normally use my 300-600 mm Tamron zoom lens. I have a monopod that I use to help with stability, as it is a pretty hefty lens. I also bring along a 70-300 mm zoom lens, a 50 mm prime lens, an 85 mm macro prime lens and the standard 18-55 mm zoom lens in case the need ever arises. The 300 mm is mostly used for very large animals like elephants, or animals that get up pretty close to the glass. The 50 mm prime lens is great for indoor exhibits like reptile rooms, as exhibits like that tend to have low light and the lens can go to 1.8 aperture. The macro lens is great for stuff like butterfly domes where you get the opportunity to actually get up super close to the animals. My zoo has one, so I always bring this lens along. I rarely ever use the standard zoom lens, but I bring it along in case I feel the need to do a wide shot, which isn't exactly my specialty.
     
  20. qthemusic

    qthemusic Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    29 Mar 2020
    Posts:
    81
    Location:
    Rochford UK
    Re silent shooting, I use a Canon 1DX (very old now) and the shutter click is quite loud, but I found this to my advantage when shooting parrots/monkeys/apes etc, as they tend to come and investigate what the sound is. I actually used it to entice a Cockatoo, that had it's bottom towards me and was in a very dark corner of it's enclosure. However silent shooting for wildlife and skittish fauna would be highly beneficial.