Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2017/08/18

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Subject: [Leica] Dolphin Dance
From: jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj)
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2017 08:18:04 +0530
References: <CAH1UNJ15wJJ5Bx8d_wh2LiCyS=9uQYkKi+YijywVLa9nPNY_FQ@mail.gmail.com> <1257C930-7A36-4387-9E8F-0A350BF576B8@mac.com> <CAH1UNJ1-GyC+iOTj_1RYhSUyFd0WgbWjSS_B598PxSwW0-ToLA@mail.gmail.com> <2604515D-0DB7-4151-A0DD-F2AE65663540@mac.com>

Adam,
IMHO it is a barely acceptable kit as a substitute for a DSLR kit for fast
action sequences. Other than that it is very good, and gives great results.
However, when I am shooting wildlife, I am constantly on the lookout for
photographing creatures doing something, and less interested in static
studies, so this really does not suit me at all.

Birds in the sky are easy, there is nothing that can interfere with the
focus, so you can put any system on automatic/wide tracking focus mode and
get away with it. It is when you want birds in flight to stand out against
a messy/forest background, with the lens wide open to further blur the
background, that the quality of focus acquisition/tracking come into play.
With the Nikon D500/300mm combo in Brazil last year, I was getting
sequences of 150 shots, around 90% in focus. I found this impossible with
the Fuji X-T2/100-400mm combo. Both bodies are APS-C format, so it is
really a like to like comparison!

Hope that clarifies.

Cheers
Jayanand



On Sat, Aug 19, 2017 at 1:22 AM, Adam Bridge <abridge at mac.com> wrote:

> Ah, I understand now Jayanand. I certainly didn?t mean to talk down to
> you. Since I have no investment in DSLR gear at this point I?m simply
> working to make the best of the mirrorless gear I have.
>
> I?m enjoying the challenge.
>
> I certainly cannot argue with the results you have achieved.
>
> Well done and inspiring.
>
> Adam
>
>
> > On 2017 Aug  17, at 10:18 PM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Adam,
> > I know the X system very well, having used it since the initial launch of
> > the X-Pro1, through X-E1, X-T1, X100s to the X-T2 at present. The way I
> > managed here is to take a barrage of photographs to fill up the extremely
> > limited buffer, hoping a few were OK, waiting for the buffer to empty,
> and
> > then letting go with another barrage. The X-T2 lets me take 25 RAW shots
> > before the buffer chokes, while a Nikon D500 lets me take 200 RAW shots,
> > with far, far superior focus acquisition and tracking. The X-T2 is not a
> > patch on the Nikon D500 for wildlife/birds, and I do not want to spend
> $$$$
> > buying a slow telephoto zoom with limited use. IMHO, mirrorless has some
> > way to go yet to catch up with DSLRs for action photography, despite all
> > the hype and hoopla surrounding it at present. I am sticking with my
> Nikon
> > kit for the foreseeable future!
> >
> > Cheers
> > Jayanand
> >
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Aug 18, 2017 at 8:57 AM, Adam Bridge <abridge at mac.com> wrote:
> >
> >> There are a wealth of settings on the X-T2 that interact with the
> >> continuous focus. I found (somewhere) a recommended set that seemed to
> work
> >> quite well for me. Another friend took his X-T2 shooting birds and sea
> >> otters and got very good results - on the order of 80% of his images
> were
> >> in-focus - not bad for white birds against the sky.
> >>
> >> So it?s worth experimenting.
> >>
> >> Adam
> >>
> >>
> >>> On 2017 Aug  11, at 8:01 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at 
> >>> gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Wildlife wise, the best encounter of our Canada trip was with a large
> pod
> >>> of playful feeding Pacific White-sided Dolphin at the waters around
> >>> Campbell River in British Columbia. They were great to see, and I
> spent a
> >>> lot of time taking a break from photography, just looking at them
> >>> frolicking. This trip I had decided to borrow Howard Cummer's Fuji
> >> 100-400,
> >>> and stick with a Fuji X-T2 for the whole trip, not taking my Nikon
> >>> equipment at all, so that I could evaluate the mirrorless kit for
> action
> >>> sequences. It was a decision I came to regret quite early on - I was
> >>> getting around 10% of focused images, on High Speed tracking mode,
> >> compared
> >>> to my normal hit rate of around 80% with the Nikon kit. In other
> words, a
> >>> no contest for action sequences, though as you would expect, it was
> >>> perfectly fine for static shots. Mirrorless still has some way to go,
> on
> >>> both focus acquisition and tracking in high speed mode, and I am not
> >> going
> >>> to repeat the experiment anytime soon! Here are some dolphin captures,
> >>> then, and they are all different ones!
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Leica Users Group.
> >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> >>
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
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>


Replies: Reply from lluisripollphotography at gmail.com (Lluis Ripoll) ([Leica] Dolphin Dance)
In reply to: Message from jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj) ([Leica] Dolphin Dance)
Message from abridge at mac.com (Adam Bridge) ([Leica] Dolphin Dance)
Message from jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj) ([Leica] Dolphin Dance)
Message from abridge at mac.com (Adam Bridge) ([Leica] Dolphin Dance)