Nikon cameras come from the factory set in the AF-A focus mode (Auto). To me, this is the most unreliable focus setting. The camera guesses where to focus and usually chooses areas with the most contrast. Set it to single point or dynamic 9 point for better results.

If you are photographing people, you can expose for the sky and use flash to expose your subject.

I currently have both and have found that I don't use the D500 much since I can put the D850 in crop mode and achieve what the D500 can. I do have the battery grip and battery to give me the 9 frames per second so the frames per second are very similar. The main difference would be how the image looks through the viewfinder. In the D850 in crop mode, the image looks smaller with a box around it and in the D500 it fills the frame. The BSI sensor on the D850 does capture light more efficiently than the D500 but the noise levels are still very close in my opinion.

The D7200 should be capable of capturing images in a school gym. Would the D850 be better? Probably. The biggest difference is just how it would handle the iso noise. The majority of school gyms have horrible light. The key is to make sure you are using a lens that is at least f/2.8 and shooting it wide open at 2.8, having a shutter speed of 1\800 to 1\1000, then adjusting your iso for exposure. I am usually in the 6400-10000 range. Try to avoid using the A or S modes or even the auto iso since the light/ dark jerseys and the varied lights from the scoreboard or scorer's table can throw off your settings. Hope this helps. Good luck.

I think you will lose too much image quality with the 2x tele. I would try to concentrate the majority of your shooting in the early part of the season because you will have enough light early in the game to get shots with the 1.4x tele. After the 3rd week of football, you will be dealing with stadium lights that really don't help the situation. I am usually shooting at 1/800, f/2.8, and at ISO's ranging from 10,000 to 25,600. At the high iso's, you really want to avoid cropping because it just magnifies the grain. When you get to that point of the season, put the camera down and just enjoy watching the game instead of being frustrated with the results of the photos.

I like the use of the fence/ wall as a foreground element. I do find the trees on the right side a bit distracting though. The main problem I have with this image is the lighting. Having a colorful sky from a sunrise/ sunset would be nice or even storm clouds would give it a different mood.

Lightroom's culling/ viewing system is extremely slow. I use a program called Photomechanic to do my culling and tagging/ color-coding. Once my images are loaded on my computer, I can go through and select, load to Lightroom, edit, and export images in less than 30 minutes.

I had this issue with the Tamron 150-600 version 1. Steve’s explanation is spot on. A couple of things that help are to use single, 9 point, or group focus points. I also will play around with how long the focus lock is set for. If it hangs, try manually focusing the lens for a moment then retry af.

In some cameras, small raw is not far removed from a jpeg since it Compress some settings such as white balance. I might be more inclined to shoot large jpeg instead if I am looking to save space.

In some cameras, small raw is not far removed from a jpeg since it Compress some settings such as white balance. I might be more inclined to shoot large jpeg instead if I am looking to save space.

Was the lens hunting and not locking focus or is it that the image of the eagle just isn’t sharp? If it is the later, it can probably be attributed to atmosphere distortion. Heat waves, humidity, smog, etc... will all affect the sharpness of an image especially when using a long lens from a long distance.

You get what you pay for. The wedding couple will pay a ton for the venue, flowers, cake, and food but the photographer is an afterthought. Since all that is needed is someone to push a button :(

When you are in aperture priority, shutter priority, or auto iso, the camera is going to try to give you the correct exposure for 18% gray. If you are shooting a snow-filled frame, the snow will be underexposed and look gray in the photo unless you tell the camera that it should increase the exposure by using exposure compensation. Conversely, if you are shooting a black bear on a dark background, the bear will now become a grayish black and not purely black because the camera is now overexposing to make the black 18% gray.

Here is the location to set BBF. Just take it off of "AF-On"

To do this, go to your camera menu and look in the custom setting menu (the pencil). In the custom setting menu, go to Controls, and then choose F5 “Assign AE-L/AF-L button.” Within this menu, choose “AF-On.” 2) Now you need to set up the camera so it will take a picture even when focus has not been achieved.

Basic triggers such as the proprietary brand triggers or even Pocketwizards will not adjust focus but using triggers such as the Cam Ranger will. You can still have your camera set up for back button focus and use the Cam Ranger to adjust settings including focus.