Absolutely stunning shots!

Hi JimBart -- instead of worrying about what type of glasses to get or wear, I think the better solution is instead of adjusting according to what you see, you should be adjusting your camera to the histogram. Take a test shot and then set accordingly. I've had several experiences where I either over or under exposed my images based on what I saw on my display. Displays can be deceiving depending on how you have them adjusted as well as the ambient light surrounding you. Better to just stick with hard data (histogram) rather than what you see with regular or darkened lenses.

The easiest way to get the metadata on this image: Download it from Dropbox. It will go into your Downloads folder. Open your Downloads folder and find the image. If you have your computer set up to use right click on your mouse, right click and choose "Get Info." Otherwise, click once on the image to highlight it, go to File, Get Info and that will give you all the information for that image. You don't need to import it into Photos to get the info. Hope this helps.

Thanks -- as someone about to marry a sheep rancher and learning more than I ever imagined possible about sheep -- this made my day!

Those were phenomenal! I loved every one. Question... how did you do the second one?

Hi Phil -- I wondered the same thing considering the cost of the XQD cards. Then one time I didn't have a spare card and put a different SD card in... if you're shooting in RAW, you absolutely have to have the higher speed card or your camera will bog down almost as quickly as you start shooting. I ended up losing a lot of bison photos because the camera was still writing to the card long after I finished the shoot (and I didn't think about that and turned off the camera). It's worth the extra expense to be able to shoot and save your photos quickly. You've already spent the money for the 850 -- make sure you get the cards that go with it.

That is amazing -- thank you so much for sharing!

My experience with wildlife and zoom lenses is this... I knew I was going to have to be shooting handheld in Costa Rica since monkeys usually don't hold still enough for camera support from a tripod. I tried shooting handheld with my D850 and 200-500mm lens (my wildlife lens) and had trouble keeping it steady enough for crisp photos. I looked at other options, and found that with my 70-200 2.8, and a Nikon 2x doubler, I got double the focal length and didn't lose as much on the max F-stop. Plus, with that setup, I was able to get shots in focus and in most cases, crisp (my only challenges were when I was shooting in very dark environments and needed to bump up my ISO to get the shutter speed up). I highly recommend this lens -- it is pretty much my go-to lens and with the doubler, a great handheld rig.

My first full-frame camera was the 750 which I paired with both the 24-70 2.8 and the 70-200 2.8 lenses. In almost all cases it was excellent -- except for extreme low light and fast action (I shoot indoor rodeos). I rented a D5 to get the higher ISO capabilities but was frustrated with the lower megapixels (which meant less ability to crop). When the 850 came out, I hesitated until I kept reading over and over again how the megapixels would allow for much more cropping ability -- and since I also photograph wildlife, I needed that capacity as well. I've been shooting with the 850 exclusively since March and have been thrilled with the image quality, ISO capability and the greater ability to crop. Since you're planning on the high grade lenses, definitely go for the 850. You won't regret the purchase.

As for the XQD cards, I love how fast they can process images, and for the second card slot, I've been purchasing the Sony SDXC II cards (read speed 300mb/sec, write speed 299mb/sec), which has allowed me to continue to shoot the higher sized images without a loss in processing speed. FYI -- the 750 can't handle the SDXC II cards so the max speed on SD cards in that camera is 95mb/sec.

I'm pretty good at photoshop -- so I went ahead and fixed your amazing shot and removed the annoying pipe...

I have "photos" I call memory shots -- where I know the light isn't going to work or some other reason I won't get the shot. Then I just sit back and enjoy the scene unfolding in front of me.

One year as I was setting up to shoot fall colors at Oxbow Bend in Teton National Park, it was before dawn and the light was just enough to see by but not nearly enough to photograph action. A beautiful bald eagle flew out from the trees, landed in a tree just across the river in front of me, sat there for a couple of seconds and then flew right in front of me, skiffed the top of the water, caught a fish in its talons and flew away back where it came from. It was a glorious sight to see -- and if I had been fumbling for my camera and trying to get the unattainable shot, I would have missed the beauty of what I had just witnessed.

Just a thought... I've rented both the Sigma and the Tamron lenses and the biggest thing I noticed was that they zoom in opposite directions. So, if you are a Nikon person, the Tamron will zoom in the same direction as a Nikon lens and the Sigma lens will zoom in the same direction as Canon. So if you are one who zooms by feel, the better move is to either go with the branded lens, or the one that zooms the same way.

Hi Trader John — yes I do have experience with other cameras, but none with the megapixels that this one has and since I’ve only had it about a month, I wanted to make sure I got off on the right foot with this amazing piece of equipment. Plus, when I usually travel to my favorite locations, I’m driving and I have access to my full arsenal of available lenses so I’m more sure of what to use in a given situation. But since I’m limited on available space on this trip, I wanted to bring what would be best for the majority of what I’ll be shooting. And finally, I know that many in the the UHH community have a lot more experience with this camera than I do — thats why I reached out.

Hi Joexx... thank you for the info. Most of the photos I take I always try to get the best possible image as I love to share (and sell) what I can. I've got a few people already interested in whatever photos I can bring back from Costa Rica, so the higher the quality, the better. I did love the 750, but from what I've seen so far with some wildlife shots I've gotten with the 850, it far surpasses the other camera. I'll definitely check out Thom Hogan's blog.

Thank you all for the suggestions -- as these are probably two of the "once in a lifetime" type trips, I wanted to make sure I had the best option in my bag.