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Testing D300s : African Wildlife

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Well captured images, as with the D300 I am sure you will enjoy the "S"

Cheers
Ron
Sydney Aust
 
Hi,
Jola013 said:
I am very happy with the D300s.
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As a one week D300s owner, I share your joy and understand what you mean.

Thank you for sharing these images. Which lenses did you use?

BTW, you are the first one on this forum who is from Jo'burg, a city where I lived for 5 years a long time ago.
--
http://www.olyflyer.blogspot.com/
 
actually some of the better ones I've seen. Were these shot from a vehicle. I am taking D300s and D700 looking for tigers in northern India and was planning on taking the 300 2.8vr,24-70 and the 70-200vr, TCs for myself. My wife will have a D300 ,80-400vr and her favorite 16-85vr and my young son will have the D40x with the 70-300vr. Obviously we can swap out. We will be restricted to shooting from jeeps so I was not planning on taking the 500vr.

Thoughts?
Cheers,
--
Tom
http://taja.smugmug.com/
 
tommiejeep said:
actually some of the better ones I've seen. Were these shot from a vehicle. I am taking D300s and D700 looking for tigers in northern India and was planning on taking the 300 2.8vr,24-70 and the 70-200vr, TCs for myself. My wife will have a D300 ,80-400vr and her favorite 16-85vr and my young son will have the D40x with the 70-300vr. Obviously we can swap out. We will be restricted to shooting from jeeps so I was not planning on taking the 500vr.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
The images were all taken from a vehicle.

I took a 500/4VR with me, but after the first day I left it in the bungalow and mainly used a 200-400VR and a 70-300VR for the closer shots - I've sold my 70-200VR in anticipation of the new model.

Your lens choices sound just right.

The D700 will be very useful for night shots, look at this :

 
martinch said:
Fine images (although is the WB right in #2?) :)

Really like #2 & #3 :)
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Thanks.

It was early in the morning so the light was difficult. I have looked at the WB, and will do so again, but the cubs are definitely more white than the adult leopards.
 
if we see an leopards would probably be in bad light. I really like my new 500vr but figured in a jeep and other shooters it would be hard to handle effectively. I will stick with the plan. I will probably throw the 85 1.4 just in case.
Cheers,
--
Tom

ps I have a good feeling about the new 70-200vr (figure Nikon is going to really come through since they have had enough time to work on it)so may do the same since I use that lens a lot.
http://taja.smugmug.com/
 
jeminijoseph said:
For me these are lifetime pictures :)
Great shots..
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Thanks ! Yes, you don't get many opportunities like these.

The downside to the trip is that my D700+200-400VR fell off the safari truck. Picture No 1 was taken with the 200-400VR after the fall, so I hope that the damage is not too bad, although I have just been to Nikon and the workshop manager ummed and aahed over the 200-400, so there may be more damage than I thought.

The D700 took the weight of the lens, and may have more damage. Funny enough, it still works, but the pictures are not sharp, I expect a higher cost of repair with that.
 
ohhh wonderful shots, in fact I am going to Elephant Plains (and also Kruger) in November. I hope those leopard cubs aren't too much bigger by then! I will be taking a D300 + 200-400VR and also a D200 + 70-200VR, but I am debating whether I should sell the D200 and get a D300s instead...can't really afford it as I just bought the 70-200VR (old version, used) for this trip. Did you feel that you needed to use very high ISO at any time (I find the D300 is really fine up to 800 and even 1600 in a pinch...) It seems the D300s can handle a bit more.

any other tips on Elephant Plains?

and ouch on your rig falling out of the vehicle---how did that happen??
--
Janet
D 3 0 0
D 2 0 0
D 1 0 0
http://www.jczinn.com
 
Janet Zinn said:
ohhh wonderful shots, in fact I am going to Elephant Plains (and also Kruger) in November. I hope those leopard cubs aren't too much bigger by then! I will be taking a D300 + 200-400VR and also a D200 + 70-200VR, but I am debating whether I should sell the D200 and get a D300s instead...can't really afford it as I just bought the 70-200VR (old version, used) for this trip. Did you feel that you needed to use very high ISO at any time (I find the D300 is really fine up to 800 and even 1600 in a pinch...) It seems the D300s can handle a bit more.
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That equipment seems just fine, I only used higher iso (with the D700) for some night leopard shots with just the spotlight (no flash, the flash destroys the ambience a bit). But you could get away with lower iso and different settings.
Janet Zinn said:
any other tips on Elephant Plains?
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Not really, it's a small and homely lodge with pleasant staff.

It's going to be very warm when you are there, but the rooms have aircon, and the game drives are early morning and late afternoon so those will be fine. There is a small pool, so take a bathing costume.

You will be there in the rainy season, so take malaria precautions. I don't think that it is a high risk area, but don't take a chance. They provide you with mosquito nets, and some repellant.
Janet Zinn said:
and ouch on your rig falling out of the vehicle---how did that happen??
Click to expand...
The game ranger was in a hurry and the camera bounced out when we went over a hole - you have to be careful about holding on to your equipment. The seats don't have high sides, so it is easy for a camera to fall out. It is a bit chaotic in the vehicles with people and equipment all over.

The vehicles go off-track (that's why they get such good sightings), but sometimes the terrain is very rough and bumpy.
 
Good like finding tigers. They are few and far between, thanks to reckless poaching.
tommiejeep said:
actually some of the better ones I've seen. Were these shot from a vehicle. I am taking D300s and D700 looking for tigers in northern India and was planning on taking the 300 2.8vr,24-70 and the 70-200vr, TCs for myself. My wife will have a D300 ,80-400vr and her favorite 16-85vr and my young son will have the D40x with the 70-300vr. Obviously we can swap out. We will be restricted to shooting from jeeps so I was not planning on taking the 500vr.

Thoughts?
Cheers,
--
Tom
http://taja.smugmug.com/
Click to expand...
 
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