Tag: Nikon

Nikon Announced the D800!

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Announced in Japan first and is on their website the long-awaited Nikon D800 is here! Rumors were right it has a whopping 36.3 Mega Pixels!

Highlights of new features:

New Nikon FX-format CMOS image sensor

New 91K-pixel RGB sensor for the more accurate Advanced Scene Recognition System

Multi-area mode Full HD D-Movie for movie recording using one of two movie formats

Viewfinder frame coverage of approximately 100%*1 and a lightweight and durable water- and dust-resistant body

Support for high-speed continuous shooting and a variety of battery types with the Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D12 (optional)

Other features:

Other D800 Functions and Features

  • A 51-point AF system for improved subject acquisition and focus performance under dim lighting. In addition, 11 focus points (five at center with an addition three to each side) are fully functional when lenses with a maximum aperture of f/8 are used.
  • A 3.2-inch, approximately 921k-dot LCD monitor with reinforced glass, automatic monitor brightness control, and wide viewing angle
  • A virtual horizon that shows the degree to which the camera is tilted sideways (roll), or forward or backward (pitch) with display in the monitor and viewfinder
  • A new shutter unit that has passed testing for 200,000 cycles and supports a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000 s and flash sync speed of 1/250 s
  • Continuous shooting at 4 (FX-format/5 : 4 image area) or 5 (DX-format/1.2x image area) fps*
    • *When powered by a Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL15
  • CompactFlash and SD dual memory card slots
  • Support for SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0)

Read the whole thing here

“I would be a falcon and go free”~ William Dunbar

Posted in Birds, California, Nature, Nikon, Photography, WildlifeTagged , , , , , , Leave a comment

Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

This morning as I was pulling up to my house I noticed in the tree across the street a Merlin  Hawk perched on a branch. I was so excited I couldn’t get in the driveway, parked ,and out of the car fast enough. I raced into the house, grabbed my long lens then raced back outside all the while hoping he was still there.

He was! I think it’s a juvenile. Well, it looks young to me.

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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I got  several shots of him perched then quick as a wink he took flight. He was so fast I could barely keep up with him panning. There is more motion blur than I would have liked, but his eye is pretty sharp. I definitely need more practice panning. Shooting in Continuous High I only got 4 frames of him in flight before he was gone; this one, and one other have motion blur the other two I only caught his tail in the frames.

Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

It’s the first time in the 25 years I’ve lived here I’ve ever seen a falcon. Several weeks ago I saw a hawk for the first time on my street. This winter food must be in short supply in the country. I can’t imagine anything else bringing them into the suburbs. I hope he comes back and I am around to photograph him.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mm VR@ 300mm| f8| 1/1000 sec| ISO 640| Manual Mode| Hand-held

Update: A reader Tj of TjFivephotography emails, ” It looks more like a Sharp-shinned Hawk or a Cooper’s Hawk b/c this one doesn’t have the markings under the eyes like falcons do.”

He sent a cool link showing photos of both birds. I’m leaning toward this one being a Coopers Hawk. What do you all think?

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/accipiterIDtable.htm

Joe McNally Interviews Little Freddie King

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Joe McNally has his hands on the just announced  Nikon D4 for some months testing it out. One of the newest improvements is the video capability of this camera.  Joe and his crew utilized the new feature while interviewing Little Freddie King. Watch it here.

Read the back story here.

Prendre la fuite!

Posted in Birds, California, Nature, Nikon, Photography, WildlifeTagged , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

On the way home from Monday’s birding and photography day this Red-tail landed in a small field by the highway to catch a ground rat or something. Theresa quickly pulled over, but before the car had stopped I started shooting, and the hawk hearing the car and tires crunching the gravel took flight!

In play back I thought the motion blur made a cool impressionist piece.

Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mm VR @300mm| f8| 1/80 sec| ISO 640| Manual Mode| Hand-held

 

Oh, I see what you’re doing there.

Posted in Birds, California, Nature, Nikon, Travel, WildlifeTagged , , , , , Leave a comment

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

On Monday a holiday in the States myself and two girlfriends set out for the country to do some bird photography. This young Long-eared Owl was high in a conifer tree along with many other owls. My friend Theresa said she stopped counting after 18!
There looked like there might be another breed of owls in there too, but I couldn’t get a good look at any of them.

Exposing for this guy was a bit tricky. He was tucked into the tree behind these pine needles with occasional sun filtering through to highlight him. I took a lot of photographs of him hoping I hit the light just right. After 30 minutes I decided to move on. The best light was going to be in early afternoon. If I was still there I’d try it then. I wasn’t.

My book of North American Birds by National Geographic says this is an Uncommonly seen breed. Making this another fantastic find for me and my girlfriends!

I think Theresa, Rainey and I are probably Uncommon girlfriends too. How many do you know that get together for a day of birding rather than shopping? “)

Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mmVR @ 300mm| f8| 1/50 second| ISO 800| Manual Mode| Tripod

First Photo of the New Year

Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, Holidays, Nature, Nikon, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , , , 3 Comments
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I spent the first few days of 2012 photographing parts of the Eastern Sierras with dear friends. This was our 2nd Annual New Years Photo Trip.
There wasn’t much snow in the high country so we were able to cross Tioga Pass to get to our base camp which was in Bishop, CA. From there we were pretty central to everything we had hoped to photograph. We roamed from Mammoth on the northern end to Alabama Hills in the south.
Sunrises, sunsets, and a bit of scouting during the day was on the agenda, and on our first night we had a clear sky so we drove south to Ancient Bristle Pine Cone National Park and shot in the Patriarch Grove.  The elevation is between 10,000 and 11,000ft.  Because the air is so thin up here these trees grow slowly.  This  harsh environment makes their wood denser and stronger to resist pests, and disease. The oldest tree is 4600 years old! Their twisted limbs and odd shapes make great subjects and foreground for star trails.

Once you get the focus sharp, your settings selected, and your intervelometer set up you can sit back and watch the sky, or  do what we did; go back to the car and turn on the heater. It was 26 degrees outside!

This star trail is made from 82 frames each were 58 second exposures. I cloned out 6 airplanes and 1 shooting star.
The trip was great fun, and I’m looking forward to our 2013 New Years Photo adventure.