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A move towards the dark side

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    A move towards the dark side

    for the last 18 months my Son has been living in France, working for WHO in Geneva. As I visit him quite often it is very convenient to travel cabin baggage only but taking my 7DII plus 3 lenses was a huge impediment and risk - I had a row with airline staff at Geneva recently who wanted to put my bag in the hold, when I refused owing to the value of the contents they eventually moved on but the risk of that happening is still ever present.

    Subsequently I have been looking around at the alternative of a bridge camera which can cover most of the focal lengths I need and can still be removed from my bag and hung round my neck if airline staff get stroppy again. After a fair bit of research I settled on, sorry about this, a Nikon P900 which will give me 24-2000mm! I've had the camera about a week now and I'm pretty pleased with results. OK it has a small sensor which implies limited dynamic range, more noise plus it only saves in jpeg and the AF is not up to 7DII standards, but as a travel alternative it should work well. Of course the images will not stand the degree of cropping that a DSLR will cope with but with 2000mm available cropping would be minimal.

    I don't know wether this is against the Forum rules but here is a shot of a Buzzard taken from my bedroom window at 2000mm from about 100 metres, in good light of course which is essential for this small sensor. I've often taken Buzzards in this tree with the 7DII plus Sigma 150-600 and this image is considerably better than I can get with that outfit.

    DSCN0908 by DAVID MORISON, on Flickr

    The Canon outfit is still my favourite of course as it will do many things the Nikon won't but now I have an alternative for restricted travel plus the longer upland treks!

    David
    Last edited by David Morison; 10-01-2018, 17:24.
    PBase Galleries:-http://www.pbase.com/davidmorisonimages


    Canon 7D II, Sigma 150-600mm Sport, Sigma 18-300mm, Sigma 8-16mm, National Geographic Expedition Carbon, Lensmaster RH1 Gimbal.


    "It is better to light a single candle than curse the darkness" - Confucius (551–479 BC)

    #2
    Re: A move towards the dark side

    Its a good shot....but I believe the Admin are not happy for anything to be posted other than shots taken with canon gear.
    I'm very surprised that you say its better than you could do with the 7DII and Sigma?
    Brian Vickers LRPS

    brianvickersphotography.com

    Comment


      #3
      Re: A move towards the dark side

      Thanks. If it is deemed unsuitable then I accept it will be deleted.

      This is an image taken with the Canon/Sigma using the same level of sharpening in Snapheal, of course it has been considerably cropped whereas the other has had no cropping at all. Even allowing for less than ideal lighting conditions the contrast is noticeable and is probably down to the difference between 2000mm and 600mm.


      591A2022-2 by DAVID MORISON, on Flickr

      David
      PBase Galleries:-http://www.pbase.com/davidmorisonimages


      Canon 7D II, Sigma 150-600mm Sport, Sigma 18-300mm, Sigma 8-16mm, National Geographic Expedition Carbon, Lensmaster RH1 Gimbal.


      "It is better to light a single candle than curse the darkness" - Confucius (551–479 BC)

      Comment


        #4
        Re: A move towards the dark side

        All I can add here is the buzzard top shot is in bright light with nothing in the background ,I bought one of them a while back for the zoom range ,it was returned the next day ,never had such an appalling camera .i may well have had a duff one but I certainly wasnt keeping it longer than a day

        Comment


          #5
          Re: A move towards the dark side

          heck thats pretty impressive David ...

          But as I presume you still have your canon kit you could do a side by side shot and then we could do a real comparison
          :- Ian

          5D Mk III, 24-105 / 70-200 f2.8 L / 100-400 Mk II / 100 macro / 16-35 L / 11-24 L / 1.4 & 2x converters and a bad back carrying it all ;o)

          :- https://www.flickr.com/photos/fotosespana/

          Comment


            #6
            Re: A move towards the dark side

            Impressive David, but I can still sense that there is still good in you. May the force be with you

            Tom

            Comment


              #7
              Re: A move towards the dark side

              Originally posted by the black fox View Post
              All I can add here is the buzzard top shot is in bright light with nothing in the background ,I bought one of them a while back for the zoom range ,it was returned the next day ,never had such an appalling camera .i may well have had a duff one but I certainly wasnt keeping it longer than a day
              I must admit that it is a lot easier to get results with the Canon, as you would expect, and with the confusing and less than user friendly menu of the P900 it has taken a lot of trial and error to get consistent results. However I am more than happy to use it as an occasional travel camera and am confident that with care it will achieve some excellent results. I think keeping a camera for a day before discarding is a bit impulsive as even the most user friendly new DSLR would need a month and a couple of thousand images to be comfortable with, but you obviously had an instinct that it wasn't the instrument for you.
              PBase Galleries:-http://www.pbase.com/davidmorisonimages


              Canon 7D II, Sigma 150-600mm Sport, Sigma 18-300mm, Sigma 8-16mm, National Geographic Expedition Carbon, Lensmaster RH1 Gimbal.


              "It is better to light a single candle than curse the darkness" - Confucius (551–479 BC)

              Comment


                #8
                Re: A move towards the dark side

                Originally posted by Tigger View Post
                heck thats pretty impressive David ...

                But as I presume you still have your canon kit you could do a side by side shot and then we could do a real comparison

                Yes, when the weather obliges and the bird as well of course!
                PBase Galleries:-http://www.pbase.com/davidmorisonimages


                Canon 7D II, Sigma 150-600mm Sport, Sigma 18-300mm, Sigma 8-16mm, National Geographic Expedition Carbon, Lensmaster RH1 Gimbal.


                "It is better to light a single candle than curse the darkness" - Confucius (551–479 BC)

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: A move towards the dark side

                  Originally posted by David Morison View Post
                  Yes, when the weather obliges and the bird as well of course!
                  I know this may come as a bit of a shock to bird tog but you can use a camera to photos of other things
                  :- Ian

                  5D Mk III, 24-105 / 70-200 f2.8 L / 100-400 Mk II / 100 macro / 16-35 L / 11-24 L / 1.4 & 2x converters and a bad back carrying it all ;o)

                  :- https://www.flickr.com/photos/fotosespana/

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: A move towards the dark side

                    Originally posted by Tigger View Post
                    I know this may come as a bit of a shock to bird tog but you can use a camera to photos of other things
                    Haha, yes you are right, but I’ll wait for decent weather though!
                    PBase Galleries:-http://www.pbase.com/davidmorisonimages


                    Canon 7D II, Sigma 150-600mm Sport, Sigma 18-300mm, Sigma 8-16mm, National Geographic Expedition Carbon, Lensmaster RH1 Gimbal.


                    "It is better to light a single candle than curse the darkness" - Confucius (551–479 BC)

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: A move towards the dark side

                      Looking at the weather forecast for the next few days it's likely to be c**p here so I took a couple of images of a sapling cage around 30 metres away. 2000mm for the Nikon and 600mm for the 7DII/Sigma. Obviously the Canon had to be substantially cropped to compare with the P900 image, exposures near enough equivalent. No PP except of course the Canon was converted from RAW in LR whereas the P900 is straight out of the camera. Personally I can hardly see any difference that couldn't be adjusted in PP. Just confirms that the P900 will do OK for what I need.

                      Canon/Sigma:
                      591A2141 by DAVID MORISON, on Flickr

                      P900
                      DSCN1008 by DAVID MORISON, on Flickr

                      David
                      Last edited by David Morison; 11-01-2018, 14:33.
                      PBase Galleries:-http://www.pbase.com/davidmorisonimages


                      Canon 7D II, Sigma 150-600mm Sport, Sigma 18-300mm, Sigma 8-16mm, National Geographic Expedition Carbon, Lensmaster RH1 Gimbal.


                      "It is better to light a single candle than curse the darkness" - Confucius (551–479 BC)

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: A move towards the dark side

                        the bokeh on the Canon is a lot better and for your bird game I would have thought a massive factor? but that is a problem with smaller cameras that will will never get as good bokeh as you do with a SLR... I do think however most of these bridge cameras offer bokeh effect so could be worth checking that out ..

                        But otherwise I agree, excellent results and considering the kit your carrying around with the Canon and weight its a stunning result...you really can see why people are moving to these smaller bridge cameras !! 20-2000 AMAZING
                        :- Ian

                        5D Mk III, 24-105 / 70-200 f2.8 L / 100-400 Mk II / 100 macro / 16-35 L / 11-24 L / 1.4 & 2x converters and a bad back carrying it all ;o)

                        :- https://www.flickr.com/photos/fotosespana/

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: A move towards the dark side

                          I am glad this thread has not been deleted , it makes the most interesting reading .Thanks for going to all the trouble with the comparison photos David . There is no doubt you can get exceptional results with the Nikon , if you take the time to use it properly , makes you wonder how much you could squeeze out of it if it had raw shooting ability . Perhaps Bridge type cameras will be the future , but not there yet for me .

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: A move towards the dark side

                            I'm somewhat surprised it doesn't support raw. The Sony compact I had was a similar sensor - possibly a similar design as Nikon have theirs made by Sony - and I used it in raw mode which made a world of difference.

                            Nikon are probably scared of cannibalising their DSLR sales if they make the Bridge cameras too good...
                            EOS 7D mk II, Sigma 150-660C, Canon 17-85 EF-S, Tamron 10-24 and a wife who shares my obsession.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: A move towards the dark side

                              Originally posted by AndyMulhearn View Post
                              I'm somewhat surprised it doesn't support raw. The Sony compact I had was a similar sensor - possibly a similar design as Nikon have theirs made by Sony - and I used it in raw mode which made a world of difference.

                              Nikon are probably scared of cannibalising their DSLR sales if they make the Bridge cameras too good...
                              agree thats odd even my wifes little Fuji did Raw, but you could be right having a bridge with that zoom and Raw could well stop many buying Nikon SLRs
                              :- Ian

                              5D Mk III, 24-105 / 70-200 f2.8 L / 100-400 Mk II / 100 macro / 16-35 L / 11-24 L / 1.4 & 2x converters and a bad back carrying it all ;o)

                              :- https://www.flickr.com/photos/fotosespana/

                              Comment

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