I was out and about this morning enjoying the fall weather and taking a few shots in the local area. My first stop was a park with a wildlife habitat located not far from my house.
As in most wildlife habitats there are strict controls on how close you can get to the wildlife. As I wanted to try and get some decent close-ups, I decided to use my Nikon D300 (DX) camera with a Nikon 18-200mm VR telephoto zoom lens to take advantage of that extra 1.5x magnification a DX format provides.
That’s one area a DX camera definitely has an advantage over a full frame (FX) camera, at least with shorter and less expensive lenses. Yes, you could do the same shots with a FX camera but you’d have to either buy longer lenses or use a higher tele-converter, both of which have disadvantages.
In my case even this level of magnification wasn’t enough so I added a 1.4 tele-converter to pull things even closer.
I should mention I’ve had good luck with this particular tele-converter, a Tamron SP AF 1.4x PRO for NIkon AFD. In actual use it regularly exceeds it’s specifications and manufacturer recommendations. In this particular case, the D300 autofocus was still very useable at all zoom ranges with only a slightly longer lock in time.
The images of the Bald Eagle and the Black Bears were taken with the tele-converter but the squirrel image was taken with only the mentioned lens. The focus in the squirrel photo is a little on the soft side as this opportunity took me by surprise.
I was walking from my parked car to the wildlife habitat when this little guy suddenly jumped up on the wooded fence just ahead of me. I only had time to raise the camera, zoom in and fire off a couple of quick shots. After the fact I noticed that the deep shade had resulted in a shutter speed of only 1/25 sec, resulting in a little motion blur. Oh well, I still like it well enough.
After some time at the park I relocated to the historic district of Salisbury, NC for more photos. For this location I switched to my Nikon D700 with a 20mm prime lens. After shooting with a DX format digital camera it’s amazing how wide a 20mm lens is on a FX camera. I’ll post a couple of those photos tomorrow.
Photos (Top to Bottom):
Bald Eagle –
Squirrel on Post –
Spooning Bears –
Wonderful pictures, Earl. I can see the advantage of the 1.5x crop/magnification factor. Please provide information as to where this wildlife habitat is located. Inquiring minds want to know!!! :-)
Hey Paul,
These photos were taken at the Dan Nicholas Park, a little southeast of Salisbury.
http://www.dannicholas.net
Habitat may be a stretch in terms…I think they call it the Rowan Wildlife Adventures and it consist of large cages or fenced in areas. It’s kind of sad but most of these animals have been taken in after being seriously injured elsewhere and are no longer able to live in the wild on their own.
I also go there to shoot around the on-site lake sometimes.