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      06-05-2015, 09:47 AM   #4949
dcstep
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Drives: '09 Cpe Silverstone FR 6MT
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Colorado

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2009 M3  [8.40]
Quote:
Originally Posted by happos2 View Post
Oh boy, just bought my first non kit lens! Woot Woot! Nikon 70-300mm. I figured this would be a good starting lens to shoot wild life and nature scenes. Now I can get friendly with the birds on the birdfeeder from afar!
Congrats.

That is a good focal length range for wildlife. It also works extremely well for portrait, many landscapes, automotive, etc.

Try to shoot the birds when they're on limbs near the feeder, waiting to feed, not on the feeder. Try to get a highlight in the eye and reject your shots with the head turned away or tail feathers in flight. Take hundred of pictures at a time and expect less than 10% keepers. Enjoy and be sure to share with us.

Oh, I almost forgot, with any zoom, use digital lens optimization to correct for geometric error, chromatic aberration, vignetting, etc., automatically at every focal length and every aperture. Lightroom has add-ins to do this. I haven't used it, but I can't believe that Nikon wouldn't include it in the RAW conversion software that ships with the camera. I use DxO Optics Pro for my RAW conversion and it's included DLO since before 2009. DLO can be so good that it make zoom images so sharp that you can't tell them from prime lens images.

Dave
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