ChristyB

THANK YOU!!! I'm not a Geek Squad fan. If I have any serious computer issues I have a computer guy I call who I've used for years, but he's a bit of a drive. I was hoping formatting a drive wasn't rocket science these days. 

I'll place my orders before the Black Friday weekend sales are gone. I don't think the EHD is on sale but the XQD is.

Thanks again!

Hi Brian, lots of family stuff and I've had to be off line.

I have a dumb question about the EHD you suggested above. It says that it's formatted for a Mac. I have a custom-built Windows 10 desktop. It has to be reformated.

I haven't formatted a drive since the Olden Days. Dos C:\ Format D:\      Are you sure? Y/N

Seriously! Lol. 

How is it done these days? With that large of a drive do I need to partition it? It can't be as easy as plug and play. I could run it down to Geek Squad, but that sounds like a waste if $$.

Thanks!

Thanks for the VR reminder. A couple have VR, some don't. I'm looking forward to learning this shooting skill.

Thanks! A tripod would be the smart way to go, wouldn't it? I have one. I went out today for some quick practice shots to see if I could do it. It was windy, I knew that wasn't working for me. I braced myself against the car for some shots and found a fence post to rest my camera on for some others.

I can't get to them for a couple of days. When I do I'll let you know how it goes. Get my practice in and find where I need to improve for when I need it. This will be fun! 🙂

I just set up my D850 for bracketing. Your instructions made it so simple! And, as I was rereading that section, I saw this:

"One more thing, you lose about 2/3rd of a stop of light when using the Nikon CP. I just bump up my ISO a little to compensate. No big deal."

I hadn't remembered that but I was finding myself having to boost the ISO a little. That explains it. Thank you again!

On 11/8/2021 at 5:50 PM, Brian said:

Well, here is my EHD. It's a little cheaper than $700 @ $630.

 

Tip: When you buy new cards, write the Month-Year when they were first used. This makes it easier to rotate things out when it comes time. Otherwise, it's a guessing game when you start acquiring lots of cards.

I have a SB-910 and a SB-5000. Of course, I shoot weddings so I need flashes like those. I can say the Nikon SB-700 is the flash you are looking at. It's way easier to use than a SB-600. That would be the one to get for your situation. Also, I use these AA batteries, Panasonic Eneloop with Charger. Of course, I have a fancy charger that does 8 batteries at a time, but that will get you started. Eneloop Batteries are awesome. They hold their charge for a year if they are unused, and I have complete confidence in them. So much that everything in my house, like remotes and such have Eneloop Batteries.

You have a Nikon D850. Let me introduce you to the wonderful land of Bracketing. I usually hold down my BKT button on the left side, rotate the rear dial once so I see +1.0 and 3 Frames on the top LCD. That is a 1-stop difference and three photos with every shutter click. So I pick my Aperture and it will take a shot that is metered, then one under-exposed, and then one over-exposed by one stop via the Shutter Speed. (1/250 --> 1/500 --> 1/125) The trick is to use AF-C (Continuous Focusing) and have the camera fire at the fastest rate, 7fps. (So CH on the dial). You could bump it up to 5 exposures at 1 stop each. Normally, I take 2 out of the three to make a pseudo-HDR; basically cheating since I don't have my ND filters with me.

Well, that's not true. I do have them with me, but for the last couple of years, my Wife and I have been taking Bus Trips to various National Parks. Just a few weeks ago, we hit all 5 National Parks in Utah within a week. The truth is, I'm always using my Circular Polarizer, but just don't have the time to sit and fiddle with my Tripod and ND Grad Filters and such. The waiting around for an hour or so for that cloud to move, me tweaking the filters and then "CLICK!!" just doesn't happen. My Wife will tell me, we have 18 minutes here and we need to be on the Bus at 18 Minutes. So get shooting. So I'm forced to Bracket since I just don't have the time, nor have the opportunity to return to that location easily.

Again, I'm in Full Manual with my D850 in CH mode (7FPS). ISO sometimes floats with Auto-ISO, but I usually keep that the same. I pick the Aperture and Set the Bracketing to do three or five exposures, at 1-Stop Difference each. (3F - 1.0 on the top display.) Metered-Under-Over in the menus. I can't remember which menu but it should be labeled "Bracketing Order," or something like that. Set it to MTR > Under > Over.  I brace my elbows against my chest and exhale before hitting the shutter release. Again, Continuous Focusing Mode. AF-C in the viewfinder, Single Point AF.

Click...OneTwoThree...OneTwoThree.

I will often take 2-3 brackets to help cut-down on camera shake. The Middle set is often the one that makes the cut. You really need to be steady with this technique and VR really helps. Just by moving an inch or so, especially wide focal lengths, can throw off your images and LR / ACR won't create the HDR. It will come back with an error saying it can't combine the photos. Here is a photo that has a 6-stop difference between the lights and darks. I took 5 bracketed shots and then combined them in ACR. I then tweaked the image. 

 

 

That photo probably won't make it to Social Media, but it shows you how much detail in the shadows I was able to recover and highlights. The only filter I had mounted at the time was my Circular Polarizer Filter. Some of the photos I lost a chunk of detail. Oh! One more thing, you lose about 2/3rd of a stop of light when using the Nikon CP. I just bump up my ISO a little to compensate. No big deal.

OK, now to answer your question,   I own this Circular Polarizer II Filter (Slim) and own and like B+W ND Filters. I have 2-Stop and 3-Stop, and a B+W Graduated ND filter. I also bought a Filter Wrench Set to sometimes get things unstuck. I hate when my 70-200 holds onto filters. I have toyed around with the idea to get a set of Lee Square Filters and all the mounting hardware, but like I said...lately I just don't have the time to lug around all of my toys. I have 15 minutes to get the shot, then three minutes walking to get back on the bus and seated by the 18 minute mark. 

The Z9 is interesting. Chances are I will get the Z9 Mark II or Z9s, or whatever they are going to call it. Honestly? I just don't feel like blowing another $15,000+ in gear. The Z9, another 14-24, 24-70 and 70-200. Sure, I know there is the adapter, but in reality, if you want to take FULL ADVANTAGE of what the Z9 has to offer, you are using the Mirrorless Lenses that are designed for it. I have other shit to buy / save-up for at this point. My D4s & D850 work fine for my needs and have a lot of life in them.

Sorry for the delay. Life happened...

I can see why you do bracketing as opposed to ND filters, and your results are beautiful! I will definitely try that next time I shoot. I also use the same Nikon Circular Polarizer you use.

The ND filters you provided look very similar to what I used in the film days. They seem to have been lost in the move when we moved up here 9+ years ago. They have to be buried somewhere. I can't believe I would get rid of them. Thank you for the links. If I can't find my old ones I'll have your links when I'm ready to spend more $$ on new ones.

Good to know the SB-700 is easier to use than my old SB-600. I've started to use my old flash for now until the SB-700 becomes available. I'm getting there on the learning curve. I'll look for the Enloop batteries and charger. I can't find my old battery charger either, but if I do it'll be interesting to see if it still works. Probably not to be trusted.

Thanks again for your time, for answering my questions AND for giving me so much more info!

11 minutes ago, Brian said:

Oh, one more thing...14-bit RAW, uncompressed. There is a reason I use 120GB XQD cards in my D850 with my Landscapes.

 

Wow! My files are 50MB so not fully uncompressed.

1 minute ago, Brian said:

You might want to check out my Instagram. I have a lot of Pseudo-HDR photos. Here is another. Notice the contrast swing between the two areas and I was even able to capture the moon.

 

 

(I'm looking at this on my phone right now.) Shooting those extremes is crazy. Your photos are stunning!

Thank you so much! This is really exciting! 

Glad ACR does it and I don't have to use LR 😁

33 minutes ago, Brian said:

You have a Nikon D850. Let me introduce you to the wonderful land of Bracketing. I usually hold down my BKT button on the left side, rotate the rear dial once so I see +1.0 and 3 Frames on the top LCD. That is a 1-stop difference and three photos with every shutter click. So I pick my Aperture and it will take a shot that is metered, then one under-exposed, and then one over-exposed by one stop via the Shutter Speed. (1/250 --> 1/500 --> 1/125) The trick is to use AF-C (Continuous Focusing) and have the camera fire at the fastest rate, 7fps. (So CH on the dial). You could bump it up to 5 exposures at 1 stop each. Normally, I take 2 out of the three to make a pseudo-HDR; basically cheating since I don't have my ND filters with me.

Well, that's not true. I do have them with me, but for the last couple of years, my Wife and I have been taking Bus Trips to various National Parks. Just a few weeks ago, we hit all 5 National Parks in Utah within a week. The truth is, I'm always using my Circular Polarizer, but just don't have the time to sit and fiddle with my Tripod and ND Grad Filters and such. The waiting around for an hour or so for that cloud to move, me tweaking the filters and then "CLICK!!" just doesn't happen. My Wife will tell me, we have 18 minutes here and we need to be on the Bus at 18 Minutes. So get shooting. So I'm forced to Bracket since I just don't have the time, nor have the opportunity to return to that location easily.

Again, I'm in Full Manual with my D850 in CH mode (7FPS). ISO sometimes floats with Auto-ISO, but I usually keep that the same. I pick the Aperture and Set the Bracketing to do three or five exposures, at 1-Stop Difference each. (3F - 1.0 on the top display.) Metered-Under-Over in the menus. I can't remember which menu though. I can look if you need me to. I brace my elbows against my chest and exhale before hitting the shutter release. Again, Continuous Focusing Mode. AF-C in the viewfinder, Single Point AF.

Click...OneTwoThree...OneTwoThree.

I will often take 2-3 brackets to help cut-down on camera shake. The Middle set is often the one that makes the cut. You really need to be steady with this technique and VR really helps. Just by moving an inch or so, especially wide focal lengths, can throw off your images and LR / ACR won't create the HDR. It will come back with an error saying it can't combine the photos. Here is a photo that has a 6-stop difference between the lights and darks. I took 5 bracketed shots and then combined them in ACR. I then tweaked the image. 

 

 

That photo probably won't make it to Social Media, but it shows you how much detail in the shadows I was able to recover and highlights. The only filter I had mounted at the time was my Circular Polarizer Filter. Some of the photos I lost a chunk of detail. Oh! One more thing, you lose about 2/3rd of a stop of light when using the Nikon CP. I just bump up my ISO a little to compensate. No big deal.

I want to reply to more than this section, but I need to run off. Thank you for the bracketing suggestion and instructions I used to bracket with film 100 years ago, but never combined the photos. I just picked the best one. I will read this in more detail, but you mentioned that you combine them in ACR? I've never done that but I'm excited to give this a try! I'll reply more later. Thank you!!

I've been off line for a couple of days. Thank you so much for all of the great information! Glad the Sony XQD card is as reliable as it seemed. I'll get another one. The bad news is that the $168 price is back to $199. Bummer. Oh well.  I've been using the Sandisk Extreme Pro cards for the SD slot, but should probably pick up another just because. My Sandisks are older and they will fail. I have a D850 and I sometimes bring my D7200 as a back-up camera.

I really appreciate your guidance on getting a good, reliable EHD. The Thunderbolt 3 = $700??? Ouch! Fortunately, I don't need that one. I think the 4TB will be more than I need at this point. I have no idea if my current EHD is reliable. So far it's holding but I don't want to test it. Thank you for the links!

If you have a minute, may I pick your brain on a couple of other items?

What is your opinion on Nikon speedlights? I do very little indoor photography, but I dragged out my old SB-600 recently. It still works and did ok, but I have to re-learn how to use it. I think the last time I used it was 6 years ago at my nephew's wedding. I was a family member taking some personal photos, not their hired pro photog. My family liked my photos enough to use some. I'm looking on line at the newer models and I think the mid-range SB-700 would work, although they're not readily available right now. They're probably in a shipping crate off LA Harbor, on its docks or in a backlogged warehouse. Good thing I'm not in a hurry for this. This is a future wish list item.

And - I think I need to start looking at graduated ND filters for landscapes. I'm tired of struggling with balancing exposure between bright sky and darker land. I used graduated ND filters when I shot film in the 90s and I don't have recent experience with them. What graduated ND filters to you like?

The Z9 is on your wish list? I haven't been interested in mirrorless until the Z9 popped up. It's intriguing. Maybe someday? Then I'd have to get mirrorless lenses. Cha-ching!!! I'll keep watching. I have so much invested in my DSLR equipment. My mantra = I don't need a mirrorless, I don't need a mirrorless, I don't need a mirrorless... 😉 But when you get yours I'd love to hear all about it!!

Hi Brian,

I'm looking for another XQD card and an external hard drive for backups.

I have an ~2- year-old Sony 120GB XQD card that's been fast and reliable - knock on wood! I'm nervous about having only one. I have a 2nd SD slot in my camera but with the XQD I haven't needed it.
Those things are expensive. Sony seems to be the go-to card and I've been happy with mine. Do you have a recommended XQD card?

I have an older external hard drive. It was a gift - WD My Passport Ultra. I hate having only one back-up location. My photos are also on my 2nd internal hard drive (1TB D:\ drive), but at some point I want to move my older photos off the internal drive. (I have a custom-built desktop that I bought in 2019. A lot less expensive than out-of-the-box computers for the power I wanted. Also a lot less expensive than today's prices!) B&H has several options. Do you have a recommendation for an external hard drive for back-ups?

Amazon and others have a lot of options, but I save on sales tax with B&H or Adorama

Thanks!

Hi Brian!

The DX mode appears to be working. I posted an action horse photo in the Raw class last night and asked Damien if he would have a minute to check focus. I'm not used to working with a 450mm effective focal length. He said the focus was good 🙂

I'm getting there. Thanks again for all of your help!

I recently took Damien's Print Sharpening Class so if I want to print 4'x6' I have it in my arsenal. 🙂 

2 hours ago, Brian said:

NO!

Haha! I knew it was a scam. I'm laughing at myself for not listening to my bullshit meter when it went off Thanks for the links. I really like Steve Perry.
And yes, I have lens hoods!

I'm all for supporting your local camera shop, but they really have to stop giving crappy advice like that. I admit, I always check B&H when I'm shopping around. I bought my NIkon Circular Polarizer from B&H along with a lot of other stuff back to the film days. My local shop didn't have Nikon Polarizers and that's what I wanted. I was in the local shop when they talked me into a couple of UV filters. {{sigh}}

2 hours ago, Brian said:

I have personally dropped a 70-300VR lens, that I owned for a total of 3 days onto concrete...it just fell out of my bag because I didn't zip it all the way. After freaking out, I then mounted the lens, and the front lens element was perfectly fine, but the VR Motor was completely shot and it wouldn't focus properly. $450 later it was "fixed" but not with new components. So my brand-new $600 lens turned into a used $1050 lens. I was not happy.

Ouch!! I hate when that happens. I feel your pain. I flooded my N90s. I was talking to someone while I was sealing my camera in its housing. Never talk with anyone while sealing your camera in a housing so you don't lose concentration. That's an always rule. Salt water and electronics didn't mix. I remember climbing off the dive boat into the ocean and watching it flood. The horror.

2 hours ago, Brian said:

You know what? I still take crappy photos from time to time...only with really expensive gear. The most important part of a camera is the area that occupies the 12" of cubed space behind the viewfinder!!! Now I will say, the pro-grade stuff does make things A LOT easier to obtain the shot and not be forced to dig into the menus, and I will never go back to the consumer-grade stuff; it feels like a Cheap Plastic Toy when I do.

Lol. I won't feel so bad when I take crappy photos now!

2 hours ago, Brian said:

Back in the film days, the rule-of-thumb was your Shutter Speed needed to match your focal length, or somewhere close to it. For example, 50mm was at least 1/60th of a second or faster. 200mm was 1/250th, 300mm was 1/320th, etc. etc. The more MP you go, the higher the SS needs to be, especially on a D850. It's almost 4 over the focal length. Birds in flight? 1/1600th at least, maybe 1/1000th in good light.

Great rule of thumb! I needed 1/1000th today, in good light. In the past I've needed at least 1/2000th | 1/2500 when shooting birds in flight. I know there are photographers who can capture flying birds at lower shutter speeds. I'm not one of them.

Re mirrorless: Typo. I meant Z7. That was the more expensive mirrorless du jour at the time.

2 hours ago, Brian said:

That's easy. Just set the record button on top to toggle between FX / DX. Limit it to just FX & DX and don't bother with the 5:4 mode, or 1.2 mode. When you press and hold the record button and rotate the rear command dial, it goes back and forth between FX & DX Modes. That's how I have my D850 setup. Steve Perry is a great resource and has a whole article for this very subject. Now he assigned is DoF Preview Button to toggle FX / DX Modes, I set my record button, (bottom left of the screen) since I don't do a lot of video. Explore the Controls Menu F1 Section.

Thanks for that! I'll look into setting the record button, Steve Perry's article and the F1 section. I think I remember that Mark Smith also has ways of setting up quick buttons. He wrote an ebook describing how he set up his D850 for bird photos and that may be in there.

3 hours ago, Brian said:

You must be using Lossless Compressed mode and a "Medium" Resolution. My files are uncompressed and are around 99MB or so. In reality...you wanna know how many MP do you truly  need? Anywhere between 10MP - 12MP. THAT'S IT!! In that range, you can print ANY size your heart desires. So if you do some serious cropping, try not to go below 12MP to be on the safe side. Seriously, the rest is just Marketing trying to get you to buy new equipment. Just think, a Nikon D6 camera, the current Flagship Body is only 20.8 MP!!!  Any higher is just bragging rights for people to get into arguments with each other online.

Thanks for the Follow! I won't judge. You are just looking at my Vacation Photos and the ones that go into my Wife's Annual Photo Album for Christmas each year.

Hmmm. I'll check my settings. So many settings to forget

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Anywhere between 10MP - 12MP. THAT'S IT!!

----

We have a lot more that that!
-------------

I understand that you don't want to collect any more expensive camera gear, but I hope Santa finds a way to deliver your 180-400 f/4

I LOVE that photo! Wow, that's a huge dynamic range. I've never stacked or combined photos. Something that's intrigued me, but I know that I need to get the basics figured out first.

I have Nikon Circular Polarizers II Filters on my 24-70mm f/2.8 and 20mm f/1.8. When I retired a couple of years ago my awesome husband bought me the D850 and 24-70 lens as a retirement present. A local camera shop had an annual trade show with the major manufacturers attending (before Covid). I spent the day using the D850 to see if I liked it. I wasn't sold on mirrorless and I've since found out from photogs who switched that their D850s had faster focusing and more hits compared to their new D7s. I was surprised at that with all of Nikon's hype on mirrorless. Or maybe not surprised...

I looked at my lenses and I see that I also have UV filters on those two lenses. Again, the camera shop said that I needed them. Are UV filters necessary? In general, I don't like adding "glass" to my lenses unless it truly helps.

I found you on IG and started following you. I'm on IG, but don't judge me The few photos I posted are from a few years ago, some jpeg and some raw, edited in LR and probably a bit of PS. As I previously said, I was self-taught. I never liked LR. I felt the interface was awkward. I didn't feel comfortable fully switching to PS until I started taking Damien's classes. I was going to delete those photos and replace them with updated edits. I should just delete them and add updates when I have some time. They're embarrassing now!

Today I went out and shot some photos in the D850 crop mode with the 300 lens. I love it! What a difference! Thank you, thank you so much, Brian! You saved me so much time troubleshooting the issues I was experiencing. I had just put the lens on the camera when a stallion started a confrontation. I hadn't tweeked my camera settings yet so my shutter speed was at 1/320th. They aren't as sharp as I'd like, but they're not too far off. It won't take much to shoot better focus. I'm really excited. After the "action," I played around with the settings taking boring photos, and my starting settings for daylight going forward will be ISO 200, 1/1000th which will give me a DOF around f/5-f/8. That works for me with wild horse photos if I have to start shooting quickly. I can easily adjust as needed. Cloudy days and flying birds will be different. It feels so good to have a baseline.

Switching between FX and DX is fast, but I want to figure out how to set up a quick key so I can toggle back and forth.

I know that megabytes and megapixels are different. The file sizes of the D850 DX were around 25mb. That's about the same size as the D7200. I googled file size and it said that the D850 DX's file size of 15 megapixels is smaller than the D7200 at 25 megapixels. I had previously read Damien's article, "How Close Can You Crop?" so I'm not concerned about printing a DX or a general crop of the D850 DX. But I found it interesting that there was that much mp difference between the two DXs.

Thank you again for sharing your knowledge and helping me sort through all of this stuff. What a relief! Now I need to get out more and shoot!

Your description of a DX body with an FX lens and the dirty little secret is freaking awesome! I like your bottom line - basically go with the crop mode and ditch the TC. Why add a stop, another piece of glass between the lens and the photo I want to capture? As you said, there is a difference with f/2.8 glass. I'm so glad that local photog was selling all of his Nikon gear and that I could buy it used. When I rented that lens it made me look good. When I told a professional photographer friend about that, all he did was smile and say, it's the lens. I appreciate your heads-up on the edges of the viewfinder darkening when I try the crop mode. It makes sense. Everything you said makes sense. I really like the D850's fast focusing capabilities. It doesn't miss too often. I will miss it, but that's operator error. Oh, and the Nikon 300-500 lens was a typo.

I hear you about getting to know my equipment. I shot film in the 90s and early 2000s. I scuba dived and shot underwater photography with a Nikon N90s in an Ikelite housing and strobe. I would do 2-3 dives in a day, shoot a roll of 36 per dive, get back to land, wait for the film to be developed, get it back a week later and then try to remember what I did on each dive that got X results. I read books, attended seminars and workshops. I got to the point where I knew what camera, lens and strobe settings I needed for each shot. I joined the LA Underwater Photographic Society and was on the board for a while. I lived and breathed it. Then we got out of scuba diving, digital came in, life and work took up more time, and I put photography aside for years. You're right. Now I just need to put in the hours to get to know my equipment. And the good news, as you said, it's digital! An added bonus is I'm learning to edit and it's making me a better photographer. I have a long way to go and it's all good. I'm enjoying the journey!

Another question, if you have the time. Speaking of film days, we used polarizers, ND filters, etc. With the power of today's Photoshop, is there still a need for these? Camera shops say yes, but I thought I'd ask.

I am so glad that you and Damien are brutally honest. Hey, I'm old I've done a lot of stuff and I've learned a lot of stuff. The absolute best instructors and coaches I've had were brutally honest. They didn't mince words and I made the biggest and fastest gains from those instructors. I'm here to learn. "Big Meanies" like you and Damien don't intimidate me and I don't take it personally.

I am grateful that you and Damien spend time helping us. I've learned a lot from your responses to my questions here. I really, really appreciate it. I've also seen your posts on AD. I lurk and learn. You have so much knowledge and experience and again, thank you for caring and sharing it!

Oh Brian, thank you so much for all of the great information! I'm so glad it's not all me that's causing the soft photos. 600mm prime lenses are way way above my pay grade so I'll figure out how to make what I have work. I knew that I wouldn't be taking photos like Andy Parkinson or some other Nat Geo photog, but once in a while I'm in the right place at the right time with the right lighting and can turn out something fairly decent. I will definitely bump up the ISO when I use the TCs going forward and see what I get. I use Continuous Auto Focus, but will spend more time with D9 and the other options. I have a tripod and a leg unscrews for a monopod, which I have used from time to time. The last two times I found the wild horses I parked my car in a field, rested that heavy camera and lens on the window (the foot of the lens with padding of course) to help stabilize it.

I haven't used the D850 on the DX mode. I will look into it. I still have my old D7200 body and when I rented the 300mm lens a few years ago, I shot with the D7200 for part of the time. It took some damn good photos, and got me closer to the critters. I printed one of the photos that had really good focus 20x30 in Damien's Print Sharpening class. It was the photo I used for the 20x30 tests. I was blown away.

Question - I know it sounds sacrilegious, but maybe I should put the 300mm lens on my old DX camera and use other lenses on the D850? Does that sound insane?

I wouldn't have a 600mm equivalent but if I'm not getting good photos with a 2x converter, what the heck. Having said that I will try bumping up the ISO and see what happens with the TCs. I hadn't thought about turning off the VR when the SS is 1/2,000+. I'll experiment with that, too. I'll learn what to expect.

Regarding cropping in the workflow, I've been taking Damien's classes since mid-May. I started with Bridge and I'm now almost 3 months into Levels. So trust me, the last thing I would EVER do is crop in the workflow!! Before taking his classes I was self-taught and struggled through figuring out Photoshop. When I heard about this crazy Australian who threw people out of his group for mentioning Remini, I knew I had to check this guy out! I have learned sooooo much. I'm not a pro photog and have no intentions of going pro. I enjoy photography and I'm getting the biggest kick out of learning Photoshop and how to edit. It's been a wonderful ride so far.

We have bald eagle season in January and I want to get this figured out so I'm not making new lens newbie mistakes and will know what to expect as I'm trying to hopefully capture some good photos. I have an old slow Nikon 300-500mm lens, but if the light isn't excellent, forget it. I knew that when I bought it and I knew its limitations. My new lens is more forgiving.

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain what's happening and giving me some great ideas to try. I know I'll get this figured out and I really appreciate your being available for questions!

I forgot to include that I'm shooting wildlife - birds and we have wild horses in our area. It's been bright daylight and I was shooting on shutter speed priority. ISO in the 100-200 range and shutter speed around 1/2000. I lower shutter speed if they're not active.

Hi Brian,

I have a D850 and I recently bought a used Nikon 300mm f/2.8 lens. I had rented this lens a few years ago and loved it, but there's no way I could afford to buy it new. When a local photog was selling his Nikon gear (he was switching to Sony) I dug into my savings and splurged on that lens.

I'm learning how to use it and any out-of-focus photos are definitely operator error. I'm getting some decent photos so I'm getting there. I've never used TCs before. When I add a 1.4x or 2.0x TC to the lens I'm having problems getting good focus with them. I'm not figuring out what I'm doing wrong.

Do you have any thoughts or are there any guidelines to help me learn how to use the TCs?

Thanks!

Thanks so much for taking a look at that. I had gone onto LG's website, looked at the specs and the 4K user manual but I don't know enough about Gamma to make an informed decision. Gamma 1 and Off are close, but the Off setting matched the prints a bit better. This was the same for both monitors. I changed it - thank you!

And....I think I liked the Gamma Off setting the best. I don't understand what Gamma does so I left it on Gamma 1. I'm on my phone right now. I'll be back on my computer later this afternoon to take another look.

Oops, missed your earlier response.

LG HD and LG Ultra HD 4k. I bought them in 2018. I'll copy below the description from my tech guy's email

LG 27UD58P-B 27” IPS 4K UHD Free-Sync Gaming Monitor, 3840 x 2160
LG 27BK550Y-B, Black 27" 5ms (GTG) 1920 x 1080, FHD IPS Display

I calibrated my 2nd monitor, LG HD. It was close to the prints when I started and it's close afterwards. During calibration I had to take the brightness down to 0 and that left a discrepancy of 86 to 80. The i1Display Studio screen instructions said if I can't get it to the desired brightness that the program will take that into consideration during it's final calibration.

I think that the prints are slightly warmer than both monitors, or the screens are slightly brighter. As you said in your instructions, that could be the difference between a print and a monitor screen. I don't trust my eye yet. I have a lot to learn! I think that they are so close that I should leave them as calibrated and then take another look after the Raw class. As I take more classes my eye will become more refined.

Question --
I noticed a setting on both of my monitors - Gamma. They are both set to Gamma 1. I think my tech guy set it to Gamma 1 when he set up my system(?) The options are Gamma 0, 1, 2 and Off. I went through the Gamma settings and  Gamma Off and Gamma 1 were very close. Gamma 2 was too saturated and Gamma 0 didn't work with a different tint.

I reread one of your monitor calibrations documents and I saw a note about 2.2 being preferred, but that it's handled in the profile.

Should I change my monitors' Gamma settings and re-calibrate, or leave as is?

Thanks...

It went well. Your instructions were very helpful!. The biggest change was the brightness on my computer. No surprises there. I had already reduced it after looking at the prints, but the calibrator took it lower. The neutral graph (I think that's what it's called?) was diagonally straight. The colors didn't appear to change hardly at all when looking at their before & after photos. It was minimal on a couple.

I think I'd like the monitor a bit warmer comparing to the prints. I manually adjusted the K to the next level of warmth. The next level was close. Maybe it's just the difference between a monitor and a print and I'm overthinking it...again 

I need to play with it in a recalibration when I have more time, and I want to calibrate my 2nd monitor.

One more thing - your article article on overhead lighting saved me! They were too warm; I had to change them. They guy at the local lighting store told me I needed 5500k lights because that's what department stores used to represent correct color & he had no idea the lumens for the size room. I live in a smaller town. Thank you for that comprehensive article!