Cape Peninsula, Timbavati and Sabi Sand in May

[xelas]

@@FlyTraveler I have no photos to compare between the VR On and VR Off. Yet, as any other tool, also VR should be used only when needed. I must have to admit that I am quite happy that my 300 f4 does not have a VR function. One thing less to think about when taking photos.

 

Photographers were capable of taking excellent sharp photos before the VR (IS, VC, ...) was invented. I am sure they can still do it. Thus, I would turn on the VR (on a serious lens) only when handholding it. When on a support, it should be turned off. Same when the shutter speed goes above 1/1000 sec. Which brings us to the Aperture priority vs. Shutter Priority vs. manual topic ....

 

A quick explanation from @@Peter Conan statement "to get the VR spooled before ...": VR is a mechanical function, it starts when the release button is half pressed, yet it does not take immediate action. The system must "read" the vibrations and adjust the counter-vibration of the lens, which might take a couple of (mili)seconds. Shooting fairly static wildlife it is easier for a photographer to wait for a brief moment before pressing the shutter button fully. When the action is hectic, no time for this!

 

I would say, counter-vibration systems are great for many occasions, but not so much for wildlife photography. Of course, the difference will be visible only when all other requirements of taking a razor sharp photo has been incorporated.

 

Should we start also the discussion about the UV filter yes or no ?!

[FlyTraveler]

A quick explanation from @@Peter Conan statement "to get the VR spooled before ...": VR is a mechanical function, it starts when the release button is half pressed, yet it does not take immediate action. The system must "read" the vibrations and adjust the counter-vibration of the lens, which might take a couple of (mili)seconds. Shooting fairly static wildlife it is easier for a photographer to wait for a brief moment before pressing the shutter button fully. When the action is hectic, no time for this!

 

Should we start also the discussion about the UV filter yes or no ?!

 

Thanks for your opinion, Alex! I'd rather keep things simple and the correlation between stabilization on one side and shutter speed on the other is what's in my mind at this moment. We can discuss other things some other time. I understand the joke about the UV filter, but I still believe that the VR issue is something that requires attention.

[Tom Kellie]

@@Tom Kellie

 

There is always so much room to improve, for any person, in so many departments. For example, I would gladly exchange all my (and my wife's) knowledge about photography for only a quarter of your knowledge about nature!!

 

Your photos are most definitively not as taking a mobile phone into the zoo! In fact they are all very good ones. You make good use of your 400 f2.8, and also your wide angle Sony RX1 photos are excellent. That "wow" or "pop-out" factor that is (to your eyes) missing is most probably due to some post processing job done by those more experienced photographers out there. I wish myself to have been younger, and more adept to learn the skills of post processing.

 

As @@TonyQ mentioned above, do not let that "camera" ( = gear, technique, etc) get in a way between the subject (or object) and yourself. For me, a photo is only a tool, a crutch to assist my (now fading too quickly) memory to remember how to visualise the scenes I have been so lucky to enjoy them "live".

 

Also, for us readers, reading a trip report with photos that might not be the best out there, or have been made with not the best gear around, is much more enjoyable than not reading a trip report at all. There was a TR started not long ago, the gear used was top notch, the photos were promising, but ... after 2 pages the trip report stopped. Too much work with post processing? Not happy enough with final results?? Whichever the reason, the final result is ... I cannot enjoy in following it anymore. Too bad.

 

So, keep taking a lot of photos, and keep writing those fantastic long detailed trip reports! Goes also for all other members! I love you all, I would read all and every trip report here, just the time is a deterrent factor. As one member's footnote says, I (still) need to work to earn the money to travel.

 

~ @@xelas

 

Thank you very much for your supportive comments.

My confidence was shaken after looking through several older trip reports yesterday afternoon. The consistent high quality images I saw was breathtaking.

By comparison, returning to my own trip report posting was the pedestrian work of an amateur.

While that in no sense disappoints me, as it's my skill level, it reinforces my sense that there's a gap between more professional offerings posted and tourist snapshots from yours truly.

As my intent is to show what I've observed and enjoyed, I anticipate little to no improvement in my photography level.

My approach isn't to take better photographs, but rather to go out to observe and make images as frequently as possible.

The other day @@JohnR summarized the technical aspects of digital photography in a section about posting an image in response to an Annie Leibowitz quote.

What he explained underscores the very act of seeing, which amounts to the brain assembling various sensory inputs into what seems like a coherent image, but may differ in subtle or great ways from external absolute reality.

Perception is, after all, perception, not ultimate truth.

The act of heading out on a game drive, spotting, observing, making an image — I aspire to nothing beyond that, leaving more artful photographs to those with the talent and inclination to do so.

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

@@Tom Kellie, I add my vote to the sentiments expressed so eloquently by Tony and Alex above. You may not know this, but I am in regular contact with a couple of the best photographers here, and one thing they all have in common is that they all doubt the quality of their own photography.

 

While I certainly don't count myself this exalted group, I do recognize the symptoms. I have come to believe that firstly this is necessary for improvement, and secondly that (perhaps because we regularly look at our own photos at maximum zoom, but never get to see other people's photos at such magnifications),we tend to judge ourselves far to harshly.

 

~ @@Peter Connan

 

As I've replied to @@xelas above, I felt abashed when carefully going through a selection of older trip reports. Their consistently lofty quality, both as to commentary and as to photography, was deeply impressive.

After doing so, I sensed more than ever how pedestrian are my own images and comments. That's highly valuable feedback as it places whatever I upload into a greater perspective.

My purpose in writing a trip report was to offer would-be safari goers a sense of what it's like to go out on game drives, day after day. There are so many disparate experiences and sensations during each game drive and in each location.

It's the whole — days of game drives — which I hoped to convey. Thus any one sighting or any one image was less of a priority to me than the interweaving of all of them into a single comprehensive report of my own impressions of a safari.

I'm never more queasy than when posting any bird image, as I'm not in any sense a birder nor am I a photographer. I enjoy spotting, observing and photographing birds. I enjoy having cameras at hand to record what I see. Yet I've never considered upgrading my skills and aspirations to a more avid, professional level.

My professional responsibilities, my inherent abilities, and my limited waking hours are such that other goals may better suit me. Essentially I do best in supporting others, which may be why I've spent a life in universities.

Tom K.

[xelas]

@@Tom Kellie

 

It is only human to strive for the better. It makes us better. While we feel humbled in front of a better photographer, there are plenty of those that have the same feelings when looking at our photos. Yet it is not about the photo. It is about the feeling you have had when you have taken that photo. And the memories that such photo invokes in you. As we are not pro photographers, we are photographing for ourselves. Many times we are not pleased with our results. But also many times we are having that warm feeling by finding that nice one. Have no doubts in your skills. There are plenty of quality photos you have so far posted in your trip report. They show that special connection that you have with the nature around yourself. At least that is how I "read" them.

[xelas]

@@FlyTraveler

 

OK, back to the VR (for us Nikonians). Leave the VR ON when using wide or medium zooms (like 24-70 or 70-200) as those are mostly used handheld.

 

If shooting long lenses, and wildlife, a support of some type is usually needed, if not for else than for the long focal length in use. When photographing birds a high shutter speed is usually needed. Both times VR should be OFF.

[Tom Kellie]

@@Tom Kellie

That is the selection you show on your camera!

I switch before a night drive and then forget about it (but remember to switch back at the end of the drive) (And remember it is dark on a night drive so difficult to see camera controls)

 

You are wrong about your photos - they are excellent - I am only suggesting what might be worth trying for a night drive. What you do on your safaris works well - and I think it is really important not to worry about your camera and camera settings when out with wildlife. We are there to enjoy watching the wildlife and to appreciate the environment. I think it is really important not to let the camera get in the way of that. If you are worrying about settings you are not familiar with it will impact on your enjoyment and you are more likely to miss a shot.

 

As @@xelas says - stick to what you are comfortable with when on safari. You can always experiment when not on safari

 

~ @@TonyQ

 

When you say that you “switch before a night drive”, what exactly do you mean?

• You switch from what setting to what other setting?

******************************************

I'm willing to experiment with different camera settings during a night drive, should that occur in Sabi Sands.

As it will be an entirely fresh experience, I'm prepared to adapt and accept unfamiliar constraints.

After reflection yesterday afternoon and early this morning, I'm more convinced than ever than I'm an amateur generalist, not in an sense a specialist in anything.

Perhaps my approach to safaris is more akin to those who long ago were described as being amateur naturalists. Essentially hobbyists with a purpose — to better grasp the intricacies of the natural world.

My motivation in writing a trip report hasn't been to showcase high quality images, nor to demonstrate scintillating writing skills, but rather to weave together the threads of dozens of sightings during a multi-day safari such that the resulting trip report might be a tough yet flexible fabric of value to those who haven't yet had the privilege of stepping onto African soil for a safari.

In other words, I'm interested in education, as much as anything to enable others to weigh what's been written and shown, to determine for themselves whether or not it might be worth the effort and expense to launch their own journey.

Many, many thanks for your most kind encouragement!

Tom K.

[FlyTraveler]

@@FlyTraveler

 

OK, back to the VR (for us Nikonians). Leave the VR ON when using wide or medium zooms (like 24-70 or 70-200) as those are mostly used handheld.

 

If shooting long lenses, and wildlife, a support of some type is usually needed, if not for else than for the long focal length in use. When photographing birds a high shutter speed is usually needed. Both times VR should be OFF.

 

Well, my 24-70 lens doesn't have any stabilization, so no worries about it, the question is about the 70-300 mm lens. Both game reserves that I will visit use open vehicles, so the camera will be handheld at all times with any of the lenses. My idea for now is to keep the VR on and the shutter speed below 1/500 of a second and if I want higher shutter speed, to switch the VR off. I should also make some tests before I leave...

Edited September 5, 2015 by FlyTraveler

[xelas]

@@FlyTraveler

 

If the engine will be running while you will be taking photos, move the VR slider to ACTIVE position (assuming you are using AF-S 70-300 VR 3.5-5.6 lens).

Do keep you shutter speed as high as possible. VR is not to compensate the blur of the moving objects in front of the lens. That is where shutter speed works.

VR is useful when the light is so low a long shutter speeds like 1/30 sec or longer has to be used, and that means a static object in front of your lens.

[Peter Connan]

My idea for now is to keep the VR on and the shutter speed below 1/500 of a second and if I want higher shutter speed, to switch the VR off. I should also make some tests before I leave...

I would swop that strategy around. During daylight hours, and assuming you generally want to keep the aperture fairly wide open, it should not be difficult to keep the shutter speed above 1/600, and leave VR off.

 

When the light is so poor that that becomes difficult, start using VR.

 

Also keep in mind that for birds in flight you need far higher shutter speeds than these. I have a photo of a malachite kingfisher launching off a perch where I can see motion in the head and body, but the feet are pin-sharp, taken at 1/2000th...

[FlyTraveler]

@@FlyTraveler

 

If the engine will be running while you will be taking photos, move the VR slider to ACTIVE position (assuming you are using AF-S 70-300 VR 3.5-5.6 lens).

 

This is a good advise, I am usually busy looking at a nice animal sighting or framing and do not have time to switch from active to normal VR, should practice to learn to do the change of the switch without taking my eye off the viewfinder...

[FlyTraveler]

Do keep you shutter speed as high as possible. VR is not to compensate the blur of the moving objects in front of the lens. That is where shutter speed works.

VR is useful when the light is so low a long shutter speeds like 1/30 sec or longer has to be used, and that means a static object in front of your lens.

 

Well, it is quite clear that VR can not compensate for movements of the object. Keeping the shutter speed high (above 1/500) with VR on does not look like a good idea, Thom Hogan is explaining the mechanics of the shutter and the VR here:

 

"... one of the physics issues is the sampling frequency. The sampling frequency of the motion detection mechanism determines what kind and how much movement can be removed. Care to guess what the sampling frequency might be? 1000Hz according to Nikon. That sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Nope. 1000Hz is 1/1000 of a second. Nyquist tells us that we can only really resolve data accurately below half the sampling frequency, thus it can accurately only take out movements as small as 500Hz (1/500 second). While this sampling frequency is of the camera motion, it is not completely uncorrelated with shutter speed. For example, the shutter curtains only travel across the sensor at speeds above 1/250, exposing only a portion of the image at a time."

 

"Those pros have all encountered the same thing you will some day: if you have a shutter speed faster than the sampling frequency, sometimes the system is running a correction that's not in sync with the shutter speed. The results look a bit like the lens being run with the wrong AF Fine Tune: slightly off."

 

"The motion that you impart by your handholding may not get corrected right by the VR system because your shutter speed is faster than the frequency with which corrections are done."

 

"... degradation due to the shutter closing faster than the VR is working."

 

I believe that I have not asked the question in a proper manner, I should have wrote about the correlation between the sampling frequency of the motion detection mechanism of the VR system and the shutter speed. According to Thom Hogan, with VR on the shutter speed should not be more than half of the sampling frequency, which is 1000 Hz or 1/1000 in Nikon systems or with other words with VR on, shutter speed shouldn't be set higher than 1/500 of a second.

 

Nikon's VR system explained by Thom Hogan

 

...and well, this is just the theoretical part... :)

Edited September 6, 2015 by FlyTraveler

[FlyTraveler]

 

I would swop that strategy around. During daylight hours, and assuming you generally want to keep the aperture fairly wide open, it should not be difficult to keep the shutter speed above 1/600, and leave VR off.

 

When the light is so poor that that becomes difficult, start using VR.

 

Yes, this seems to be the key to the tent - swapping the strategy around and when using the VR in poor lighting conditions keeping the shutter speed lower than 1/500 (for good exposure, I wouldn't have another option anyway).

Edited September 6, 2015 by FlyTraveler

[TonyQ]

@@Tom Kellie

When I say I switch settings before a night drive...

Mostly during the day I have my camera set to "Evaluative" exposure mode and the lowest ISO that I can get away with. (I might change for particular purposes but that is my basic setting that I don't need to think about)

When getting ready for a night drive I switch to "Spot" exposure mode and put the ISO up to 3200 or 6400. (I switch back afterwards so that I don't forget about it next morning!)

 

I do shoot in RAW, but I think this is only appropriate if you are prepared to spend time post processing your photos. If not then I think people are better sticking to jpeg.

[xelas]

@@TonyQ

 

Well, we all are reading same experts on the web .

 

One comment on this sentence: I do shoot in RAW, but I think this is only appropriate if you are prepared to spend time post processing your photos. If not then I think people are better sticking to jpeg.

 

Not entirely true. As the JPEG is already "embedded" in every RAW data, extracting it is easy job for any proprietary software that is supplied with your camera. I am using ViewNX2 and the JPEG photo produced in-camera and the JPEG photo extracted from the RAW data are exactly the same, to the last byte of its size. Therefore I strongly advocate using RAW format even when a person does not want to have anything with post processing. Back home the batch processing of 8000 + photos over the night will produce exactly the same JPEG photos as downloading them from SD card ... plus you will still have the RAW data, for anyone willing to work on it!

 

Myself I have been shooting in JPEG for 5 years, and I am kicking my butt for being so uneducated not to understand the basics of digital photography and RAW vs. JPEG.

Edited September 6, 2015 by xelas

[Tom Kellie]

@@Tom Kellie

When I say I switch settings before a night drive...

Mostly during the day I have my camera set to "Evaluative" exposure mode and the lowest ISO that I can get away with. (I might change for particular purposes but that is my basic setting that I don't need to think about)

When getting ready for a night drive I switch to "Spot" exposure mode and put the ISO up to 3200 or 6400. (I switch back afterwards so that I don't forget about it next morning!)

 

I do shoot in RAW, but I think this is only appropriate if you are prepared to spend time post processing your photos. If not then I think people are better sticking to jpeg.

 

~ @@TonyQ

 

Thank you for your most helpful clarification.

I'd never have even considered looking at the camera's ‘exposure mode’ had you not mentioned it.

At the end of the month, when preparing to depart for South Africa, I'll review your suggestions for use in Sabi Sands, should the Leopard Hills rangers include a night game drive in their program.

All that you've mentioned is as linear algebra to an infant, as I'm entirely unfamiliar with any of it.

As ever, I appreciate your thoughtfulness in sharing your experience and insight.

Tom K.