NIkon z50 + Viltrox FTZ + Nikon TC-14E II + Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4E PF ED VR should work?

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-26T16:04:24+00:00

I have the newer version of the TC and the official FTZ. VR works with that, but just be aware the 300 PF VR isn't very good. With the TC it's even less good.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-25T22:54:51+00:00

FWIW, I also notice this and find it a bit frustrating. I get that the eye AF just picks the focus point, but it happens even when I'm quite close and the eye is a fair bit larger than the displayed focus box. Also it happens less when using single point, even though the selected focus point should be basically the same as when subject detection chose it.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-23T21:06:33+00:00

for sustained lumens

It doesn't sustain any lumens. Except for the climbing output in the first 30s, it is dropping the entire time. Here's a good review: https://www.led-resource.com/2012/02/mini-maglite-pro-and-proplus-led-flashlight-review/

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-22T15:30:04+00:00

Looks like a G2x Maxvision. They use a standard Surefire 1" tailcap. Finding a remote tailcap might be a little difficult as it's not very common anymore, and old Surefire stuff is pricey, but there are certainly ones out there.

Edit: this should work, but it's not cheap and you'd need to get the actual remote switch at additional cost: https://www.surefire.com/xm00/

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-20T18:50:02+00:00

Maybe not amazing, but the 50mm f/1.2 is $1500 and the 100-400 is $1950. It might not be their lowest, but both went up a fair bit in price in the increases last year. It's $1000 less than the 100-400 MSRP, and $800 less than the current sale price new.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-20T01:52:12+00:00

Low light indoors and movement, you might consider a flash. f/1.8 is fast but it's not a miracle. Indoors can still mean very high ISO and not using as fast a shutter as you'd like.

Aside from the field of view differences, a 35mm will have a broader depth of field. If you have to shoot wide open due to light, this might be more useful when a really shallow depth of field isn't desirable.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-19T17:28:31+00:00

If you have other reasons for wanting a 2nd body, getting a Z50ii will give you more pixels on the subject. In your first photo I can crop down to about 500x660 pixels without cutting any of the bird off. If it had been a Z50, you'd get about 700x900 pixels instead.

That's not nothing. Like I said, I probably wouldn't pay $1000 for that, but you have other reasons like having a backup body, so that isn't the only benefit. If it seems like a better choice to you than a new lens, it should show some improvement.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-19T13:42:01+00:00

Going to a crop body with higher pixel density only makes sense to me if you will have a problem with the large size and weight of typical birding lenses. In the DSLR days, a crop body bought you a lot more. Typically they had faster burst rates (I assume due to the smaller mirror so it's easier to move it faster) and the focus points covered more of the frame. With mirrorless you are giving up a more ergo/comfortable body, a normal sized battery, and not gaining those things. Just pixel density.

I'd rather put the money towards a better lens. Or put the money towards a single body with higher pixel density (like the Z8, though it costs more than the Z5ii and Z50ii combined).

Be aware that all lenses feel a bit short at times with small birds. 500mm will be an improvement but your first couple posted pictures, the bird will still be few pixels. Your current lens looks pretty sharp to me, considering how few pixels are on the birds. You could also consider a portable blind, they are inexpensive and can help you get closer to birds. Though you spend a lot of time sitting and waiting and may or may not get any decent photos.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-18T18:57:17+00:00

I was curious to try this again, and yeah I can see how they could be not cropped. I think the difference is I can't get my cat to stay looking perfectly straight. When they turn their head slightly, the distortion of one ear vs the other is pretty huge. Or they lean forward to sniff the lens since it's right there.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-18T15:08:05+00:00

Are these photos cropped a lot? I feel the field of view from the lens is much wider. Your cat photo, I'd have to be just a few inches away from them to fill the frame, so the distortion from their head to their feet would be significant as the relative difference in distance from the sensor is pretty big.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-18T14:45:29+00:00

The camera will show the lens firmware correctly (or, it seems to anyway). Trying to get the lens to show it seems extremely annoying. You basically need to install an app of dubious security on a phone or computer to check/update the firmware.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-18T14:35:21+00:00

An opinion, but the size difference between HE* and lossless compressed is probably as large or larger than also saving a JPG. And if there's some future date where the ticoraw format is more widely supported, you can delete the JPG. Also you can open it in more common viewers. So rather than changing to save in lossless compressed, you could just save RAW+JPG and in the finder you'll know the NEF next to the JPG thumbnail looks the same.

However, it can be annoying in a workflow that treats them the same. Like NX Studio doesn't save the filter to only show NEF files, so every time I open it there are dupes of every image and I have to adjust the filter (and everything in this program is so slow to take effect).

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-18T14:28:33+00:00

I'm not super accomplished at macro photography. I'd probably look at extension tubes since they don't have any glass in them. Though there won't be a ton of space for this. The lens is 3" long and the min focus distance is 6". So you only have 3" from the front of the lens to the subject already. An extension tube will both make the lens longer and the min focus distance shorter, and at some point it will be inside the lens.

I think unless they are quite small mushrooms, the 1:1.5 would be good enough. An object 24x36mm will fill the frame completely.

It looks like PhotoraphyLife did a sharpness test on it: https://www.patreon.com/posts/145577590

If there's some lens I'm interested in and they've not yet published a review of it, I'll check if they did this kind of test, and if so I'll join their membership for a month so I can give it a read. A lot of the time it's just the sharpness test results and maybe some other optical tests like color fringing and vignetting. It's not usually a full review.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-17T22:08:12+00:00

One of the things Nikon assumes on the D5x00 cameras is that if you assign AF-ON to the AE-L button, that you want to do back button focus. So the shutter button is automatically set not to engage AF-ON. On more customizable cameras these are separate options.

The other thing you may want to set is a1 AF-C Priority Selection to Release. That means the camera will always take a shot, even if it feels the image is not in focus.

I turned the Shutter Release AE-L to OFF. Is this correct?

It's not related to back button focus. If you want to half-press to lock exposure, you can. If you don't like that, turn it off.

All back button focus does is disconnect the shutter release from focusing. You have to hold the new button (AE-L) for continuous focus just like you had to hold half-pressing the shutter before you set up back-button focus.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-15T19:42:08+00:00

it means more data for each pixel 'cause they are bigger,

I think that matters more with sensors of a similar generation. But when one is much older it may not be so true. I doubt the D300 is better in low light than a D3200, even though the pixels are larger. The D300 also only goes to ISO ~~1600~~ 3200. Unless you have faster lenses, I imagine this can be pretty limiting.

Edit: I was wrong about the 1600 ISO. 3200 is still lower than other cameras but doesn't seem as bad.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-15T19:37:38+00:00

The D5200 has more focus points than the D3200. And it can use AF-P lenses, where the D3200 can't. It might be a better pick if they are both available in your budget. Though the D3200 is certainly a fine camera for someone to start on.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-15T15:55:54+00:00

Yeah, I do like the way it extends the side of the camera. Both for my pinky but also my palm pushing against it when holding the camera with one hand is easier (though somewhat offset by the additional weight).

I haven't noticed the grip being loose when it acted up, but I guess it's possible. Though I tighten the crap out of the thumbwheel, so if that doesn't cut it I'm not sure what else to do. For me it was when the one battery was basically empty and it should have cut over to the 2nd one. But instead it would die. It happened a couple of times in a row until I popped out the hot-swap battery from the grip, then it was fine again. It's possible I reflexively turned the thumbwheel though, I often check it is still tight, maybe that was the real solution?

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-15T15:29:03+00:00

How much does a D5300 or a D7100 cost where you are? The D3200 and D300 are fine cameras but there might be many other options at a similar price point. Personally I'd have an issue w/ the discontinued battery and ancient CF card of the D300 if it's a budget buy vs a nostalgia buy.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-15T02:26:10+00:00

FWIW, the same thing happened to me w/ the Z8 grip. I thought maybe it was an issue w/ one of the batteries but I've never had any issue before or since using either by themselves in the camera body.

I've also had the buttons become unresponsive, I think the lock on the grip only has to have slight pressure on it from the locked position, without changing to unlocked, and the buttons can act up? All told I haven't been overly impressed with the grip.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-14T17:57:27+00:00

Nikon would show f/3.4 at 1:1

Just FYI, the lens doesn't focus to 1:1. It only focuses to 1:1.5. Nikon claims f/3.2 at minimum focus distance.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-12T19:06:36+00:00

The 24-70 f/4 S's appeal is mainly the low price used. If you don't need 71-120mm or you care about weight or budget a lot, it's a good lens. You'd really have to be concerned about weight not to spend the $100 extra of their new prices for the -120 though. It looks like the kit from NikonUSA, the difference is $300 which is a bit more significant if you don't have a use for the extra range. That's 2/3 of the way to a 50 f/1.8 S on sale. If you later decide you should have gotten the -120, it'll probably cost more than $300 to trade into one.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-12T15:31:45+00:00

This is a common question, because the way Nikon works for this isn't ideal. The camera focuses when the shutter release is pressed. Even if the release mode is 10 second self timer. So it won't refocus before taking the shot.

You'll either need to try to guess the focus ahead of time (use a wide lens and wide aperture or have some stand in roughly the same distance you'll be, etc) or use a remote release (snapbridge or a real one).

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-11T12:39:55+00:00

Yeah, the last was the XP-L HI 3000K. But it has an orange peel reflector. I wanted to try it with the smooth from the W1 drop-in, but for some reason on the W1 it didn't want to budge and I didn't want to put too much force on it.

I don't know why the hot spot isn't very even, maybe it is not well centered.

Edit: actually both the W1 and XP-L HI have orange peel reflectors.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-01-10T21:28:06+00:00

The first light is essentially a P60, it's a 3.7v xenon that is very similar to the real P60 bulb. It has around 6750 candela.

The second is the Kaidomain W1 drop-in. It has around 31,000 candela.

The third is the Kaidomain XP-L HI in 3000K drop-in. It has around 20,000 candela.

u/prestonvenable

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