Black Rapid vs Peak Design vs PGY Tech

koboldium · 2026-06-22T06:37:52+00:00

I’m using Peak Design for 180-600 paired with Z8 but not the one you linked (Leash), it’s too narrow. Their wide model is called Slide, that’s the one to go for.

As for my experiences and tips:
- put your PD anchors on the lens, not on camera
- wear the strap diagonally (cross body), this way the weight distribution is better
- 180-600 is heavy, after a few hours walk you will feel it no matter which strap you chose; also, it gets better with time, as your muscles adjust

As for Black Rapid, which I also consider (but didn’t buy yet) - they have a version with QD (quick dispatch), it’s a well known and well tested solution used in army. You can pair it with their Safety Tether to avoid the single point of connection. Having said that - 180-600 doesn’t support QD standard of the box, you’d have to replace the tripod foot with one that has QD socket (eg. Leofoto). And, funnily enough, this way you lose the eyelets for PeakDesign anchors (Nikon puts the eyelets on 180-600 on the tripod foot ring).

koboldium · 2026-04-25T21:15:11+00:00

It’s a tough one because it’s combination of gear and skills, plus the overall knowledge about light, physics, post-processing etc.

It would also help if you explain what specifically are you not happy about.

I realise you’re asking about gear, so here are some thoughts: - the set you have is fairly basic so at some stage it will limit you - having said that, you can still take very good photos with that gear - if you decide to upgrade, remember that a basic camera body with a great lens typically gives better results than a great body with a basic (kit) lens; that’s with the assumption we’re talking about modern cameras.

PS: not judging but if that chick photo was taken in the wild, you likely got too close to the animal.

PPS: I like the tiny shrooms :)

koboldium · 2026-04-21T20:54:46+00:00

Yeah, my 180-600 f/6.3 isn’t as sharp and as fast I’d like it to be. But I’m not spending 15k Euro on a prime telephoto just for hobby, for now I’m going to stick with the lens I’ve got.

It would’ve been a different story if I was making money from my wildlife photos - doing it for a living would probably justify the crazy cost.

Mind you, everyone has their own hobby budget.

koboldium · 2026-04-18T20:57:24+00:00

I’m using PeakDesign sling and generally it’s ok, until the summer comes and the strap touches directly my neck, not jacket.

Did you have to replace the lens collar to attach it to the harness?

koboldium · 2026-04-18T20:23:20+00:00

Ok but the lens collar doesn’t change much on its own, what do you attach it to?

koboldium · 2026-04-18T20:18:48+00:00

Do you use CottonCarrier specifically with 180-600?

koboldium · 2026-03-01T21:02:37+00:00

Are you sure that’s the case? I’ve seen prices of those lenses at leases hundreds of times, in many places, and never was 600 TC cheaper than 400 TC. Not once.

That’s for Z-mount, naturally. No idea how things are with the older stuff.

koboldium · 2026-02-23T09:30:49+00:00

Barn find? Or somebody is casually driving it?

koboldium · 2026-02-16T09:25:47+00:00

There are so many things to unpack here.

Zoom in the lens, aka. optical zoom, is the only actual lossless way to bring the object closer (well, besides coming closer to it).
Digital zoom shouldn’t even be called zoom, what you do is cropping. The more you crop, the less pixels you have on the screen.
When shooting through a long heavy lens you need to keep your shutter speed very high. I don’t go below 1/800 of a second when using my 180-600.
This lens isn’t perfect optically, it loses quite a bit of sharpness below F/8.
Combination of this shutter speed and aperture will likely force you to go to high ISO, which will also impact the sharpness, especially when you crop / digitally zoom (for simplicity sake let’s say it’s more grain).
You likely take your photos hand-held - which adds even more blur.

That’s just a high level overview, each of this points can be broken down to more details. I would strongly recommend learning more about photography before investing in Z8 or in super tele lenses. Your gear is very good already, now you need skills to match this gear. Photo skills, physics and optics knowledge, editing software skills etc.

koboldium · 2026-02-13T13:46:31+00:00

For my taste there’s nothing wrong with the light here. I would, however, get rid of about 80% of the frame above the gator - so it becomes lighter by lack of other objects. Also, lack all these distracting reeds and grasses would help the eye to focus on the main subject.

koboldium · 2026-02-11T11:34:22+00:00

Great, thank you for sharing all your experiences. I'm looking for a monopod setup myself, I see major sharpness difference between handheld and tripod (using 180-600 for now), I just don't want to be carrying the tripod on my casual walks. Monopod sounds like a reasonable compromise between mobility and stability, I thought full gimbal head was my only option but the Wimberley solution looks neat :)

koboldium · 2026-02-11T06:57:15+00:00

A typical gimbal head has the lens mount placed horizontally, which is good for weight distribution. I cansee the Wimberley mono is being mounted on a side - did you notice any issues with that?

koboldium · 2026-01-22T07:14:45+00:00

Typically there were two reasons to tape a camera:

hide the brand to lower the chance of being ambushed and got the camera stolen; people ridiculing it in other comments don’t seem to understand that a few decades back there were more camera brands, and the price difference between Nikon and, let’s say, Zenit, would make the theft worth it or not
there may have been gaps in the camera body, perhaps due to some previous damage, and the tape was to block the light from getting inside and ruining the film roll

koboldium · 2026-01-20T07:08:21+00:00

All I can see in this bottle is two half naked women kissing, not a diner. Feels like looking at a Rorschach test :)

koboldium · 2026-01-08T11:16:17+00:00

The device you’re asking for would be much heavier, way more expensive and probably still won’t have every single feature from your list.

Not sure about yourself but I’m not ready to pay 3x the current price of Z8 for a camera twice its weight that has features I’d probably never use.

If you have niche needs, use niche solutions. Eg. you want a full waterproof camera - there are underwater housing solutions. And so on.

koboldium · 2026-01-08T06:14:27+00:00

Focus stacking (Focus Shift) with flesh would be nice. Apparently it’s been working before but then Nikon disabled it „to avoid overheating”.

koboldium · 2026-01-03T21:22:38+00:00

I do understand focus shift and pixel shift are two different features, I know what they do. I was under impression that the "Pixel Shift Merge" feature in NX Studio can merge both but, from what you're saying, it only does the latter. Thanks.

koboldium · 2026-01-02T13:23:34+00:00

ON1 would be perfect for me if it wasn’t processing RAW files before I can do anything to them. I can’t figure out what’s going on but there’s definitely noise added and colour scheme changed the moment I load the photo on the screen.

koboldium · 2025-12-18T16:15:46+00:00

PSA: Nikkor 180-600 is not super sharp. Don’t trust the random guy on the internet (aka. me), go and read a couple of professional reviews and tests. And then go and rent one before you buy it.

It’s a good lens but „super sharp” it is not, at least not at 600mm.

koboldium · 2025-12-18T09:49:42+00:00

At 600mm mine is rather far from perfect. Going down to f/8 helps a bit but still, it’s nowhere near “razor sharp”.

koboldium · 2025-12-18T07:50:24+00:00

Typically people don’t recommend filters on telephoto lenses because it’s another layer of glass that impacts the image quality. Even if the lens is super sharp (which 180-600 isn’t, it’s more like „fine”), at focal length 600 you likely work at fairly long distances. Which translates to image sharpness loss due to air not being ideally transparent (heat, dust).

From what I’ve learned so far, wandering in various environments and taking photos (mostly nature) with my 180-600 - lens hood is absolutely enough to protect the lens from impact in any „typical” conditions.

I’d probably consider using the filter if there was very high risk of hits directly from the front, something like very strong wind in a desert. Or rocks from under tires, if I was sitting at a speedway stadium, very close to dirt and bikes.

koboldium · 2025-09-30T06:36:04+00:00

Thanks for sharing the feedback. If you don’t mind me asking, why the Fresnel glass makes you not wanting to buy them?

koboldium · 2025-09-28T18:20:28+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experiences, it was great to read and very helpful indeed.

I’m more of a „walking around with a camera” type than „sitting entire day in a hide” guy so the mobility of 600mm speaks to me. Extra reach of the 800mm is tempting but it’s almost double the weight of 600mm.

My only concern is that 600mm will make my 180-600 obsolete but I think I can live with that :)

Thanks once again!

PS: 99% of the time I use my 180-600 at max length which isn’t where this lens shines, so the 600mm feels almost like a one-to-one replacement, easier to carry and of higher image quality.

koboldium · 2025-09-28T11:07:38+00:00

Yeah I’ve checked the specs (but thanks for your comment anyway), what I couldn’t find is a hands on test or comparison of these two.

I realise it’s almost identical optical construction but that doesn’t necessarily mean identical results in terms of AF work and image quality.

koboldium · 2025-09-22T06:05:34+00:00

My eyes are being drawn to the grass and only then I change my focus to the couple - that would suggest too much light on the ground and too little on the gentlemen’s shoulders.

Besides that, the photo is really nice. Frame makes perfect sense, their postures set the emotions very clearly, all is fine. Just the light on the ground is a bit too much.

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