Another couple from the Myakka trip...

I'm pretty pleased with this first one. I think it's my favourite shot from the whole day



And this one's not great, but I like it. He kinda caught me off guard, I didn't expect him to dive when he did (it's an osprey btw, I know it's kinda hard to tell, heh).

I think they are both amazing! You really know how to take some good pictures Axe!

You mention the kind of equipment you use to take these pictures, out of curiosity, what kind of prices are we talking about. I might be interested in buying stuff like that in the future.

The D100 you can pick up now for about $1100 or so now after the Nikon mail-in rebate. I prefer it over the D70 because it has the vertical grip option (the MB-D100, which you can get for a coupla hundred bucks). The MB-D100 allows you to use a pair of EN-EL3 Lithium Ion batteries instead of just a single battery in the grip (a pair of batteries will last for about 4,000-6,000 photos), it has the 10-pin Nikon port for hooking up the MC-20 & MC-30 remotes, as well as a few other gadgets & doohickies, it has voice memo capabilities, extra set of command dials and shuttere release. The lenses range anywhere from $50-10,000, depending on which you need. The lens I used to shoot those was the 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 and you can pick those up for about $100 if you shop around. They don't make them any more, so you can't get them new, but they surface in the used market pretty regularly.

Now, those are the US prices I quoted. I know in the UK they're a tad more expensive, but not sure how much more expensive off-hand. You might want to try calling Jessops, and use them for a top-dollar (erm.. top-pound? heh ) figure, then knock 20% off whatever they quote you, and that's what you should probably be paying

Thanks. I will have a look.

I dont think it would make a difference where i buy it, i wouldnt have thought. I could buy it online from an American company and maybe get it sent here? or send it to relatives in the US and then they could do the posting. Not important.

I will have a look into that. Thanks!

You could buy one in the US then have it sent there, of course you'll get no warranty. Nikon doesn't warranty imports. If something goes wrong with it, it'll be an expensive repair.

If you buy in the UK, you'll get a full warranty with it - and if you're spending a couple of grand or more on equipment, GET the warranty!

I have never really bought online, and to be honest never thought of it that way.

Thanks! Its just as well you mentioned that.

Yeah, repairs get real expensive real quick without a warranty.

The shutter for example, say you're out in the field and it locks up. It turns out you need the shutter assembly replacing. That repair alone can cost more than the purchase price of a new camera.

Buying used, obviously you don't get a warranty with that, but the camera's been used, and known to be free of defects. New cameras are usually free of defects, but you don't know until you've used the camera. With a used camera, you can be a little more relaxed about not having a warranty because the camera has been used some, and known to be working good.

Being in the UK, you can drive/train pretty much anywhere to go and pick up a used camera if you want to, so if you are buying used, I'd definitely travel to check it out for the kind of money you're looking at. It's worth it to avoid any potential future hassles - he might say it's working, but it might arrive at your place not working. You don't know if the seller misled you, or if it got damaged in shipping. If you meet face-to-face to purchase, you'll know right away whether it's got problems or not, and there's no potential shipping problems either because you're taking it back with you

Great shots, Axe! Would love to see a close-up of the original pic for that first one. Any chance you can crop in to the original at 600x400 pixels and post it to show the detail your Nikon actually captures?

Hopefully it will motivate me to 'get out there' with my digicam (Canon G5) and doing likewise... not that I have a hope of getting shots like these.

Cheers,
Dave

Actually, at full-size, it's kinda noisy on-screen. High MP cameras aren't really designed to be viewed 1:1 on-screen. That one was shot at ISO800, so scaled down it doesn't look to bad, as you can see above, in print it looks outstanding.

And really, that lens doesn't do the D100 justice. I'll take a shot with my 50mm f/1.8D sometime this week, and post a 100% crop of that up. The 50mm f/1.8D is a super sharp lens. The 75-300mm gets kinda soft at the 300mm end viewed 100% on-screen.

That first shot is great. Shooting moving birds is really difficult.