olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Good one! Hopefully some of the "more expensive" can be offset by becoming more efficient!!!

Cat Islander

Even though my equipment is less than desirable, a lot of the problems seem to be poor technique.
1. I did not use single point auto-focus. ( I got some great but dark pictures of the surrounding branches.)
2. I did not push the ISO.
3. I did not use a flash.
4. Once I spotted the bird, I had problems tracking it at 300.
5. I do not have access to my old Nikon capture software, so I was not capturing in raw.

Good news is I will be attending the Florida birding and nature festival next week and hopefully get to see some modern equipment. I am most interested in checking out Canon as y’all seem to like it as well as Nikon.

Thanks for your feedback
Cat Islander
Take only pictures,
Leave only footprints

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Life is too short to not shoot with Canon.

But in more seriousness, you should be able to visit the support section at NikonUSA.com and download free Capture NX-D software that will handle your RAW files as the most basic & free approach.

Cat Islander

Thanks, it would be nice to get something free from Nikon for a change.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Any of the modern "platforms" (Nikon, Canon, Sony, Panasonic, Pentax, Olympus, and others) can do a great job, when combining the right pieces with great technique. I'd work on technique as highest priority, and equipment secondary. Resist the urge to jump in early till you better understand your options. Getting your technique in order will help you to zero in on the pieces you need to capture what you desire.

If you have a decent collection of Nikon DX, you may want to look at the newer offerings so can just add to what you have, with Christmas coming, and the Black Friday deals, etc. a newer body (D7200 or the D7500 both get good reviews, and good discounts) might be a good idea. The other Mfg's will be offering same. OR, you may want to venture into full frame, but that is all fodder for another thread. If you see rigs that interest you, talk with the owners/users, they may let you try their gear. OR you could try the rental approach, a good way to get a feel for somthing that interests you.

Good luck in your quest, and enjoy the birding festival....once the rain dies back down the weather is becoming really nice in Florida this time of year. I just saw Paul's suggestion on the Nikon website, yes, go there!!

Cat Islander

The capture nx d software even made my jpgs look better. Thanks for telling me to go Nikonusa.com

Our last camera shop in the big city is Bestbuy, so I went there to see the d850, d5, z6 & z7. Of course they did not carry the d5 in store and were out of stock on the others. I did get to see and handle the D750, it felt good in the hands. The canon selection that they carry were all in stock and did feel good in my hands.

They also had a good selection of Sony, it felt like a toy it was so small and light. Kinda like when I went from a Pentax K1000 to a Pentax ME. They seem to have some great specs, but are the durable?

Cat Islander