Nikon D810 Focus

[stngoldberg]

The winds from Joaquin were off Newport today; so I took my newly acquired Nikon D 810 attached to my 500mm lens with 1.4 extender out to capture the surfers.
I took over 2,000 images today over a 6 hour period as there were literally over 100 surfers enjoying the 20 plus foot waves.
ALMOST all over the images were in perfect focus...I was never able to get this degree of accuracy with my Nikon D3 or my Nikon D 800e.
This camera is amazing!!!
Stanley

 

[Jack]

It is amazing for sure

 

[ptomsu]

The winds from Joaquin were off Newport today; so I took my newly acquired Nikon D 810 attached to my 500mm lens with 1.4 extender out to capture the surfers.
I took over 2,000 images today over a 6 hour period as there were literally over 100 surfers enjoying the 20 plus foot waves.
ALMOST all over the images were in perfect focus...I was never able to get this degree of accuracy with my Nikon D3 or my Nikon D 800e.
This camera is amazing!!!
Stanley

Glad to hear that the D810 performs so well!

I do agree with the issues of the D800e AF performance, as I had quite some of them and this was finally one of the reasons I sold it.

But the D810 looks tempting!

Peter

 

[stngoldberg]

These surfers move left and right, forward and even turn backwards at impressive speeds; so focus is challenging.
Using the "group" setting I was able to hold focus like never before
Stanley

 

[JohnBrew]

I find the AF to be better on the 810 than the 800. So Nikon must have done something.

Unfortunately the promised big waves did not show here. And I got soaked every morning looking for them :banghead:.

 

[glenerrolrd]

Try surfline.com for surf reports . Got tired of waiting for the waves ...now I use a forecast tool and they have a real time video camera . The forecasts are just OK but at least you know the days where its possible to get those 10 ft waves .

 

[JohnBrew]

Roger, it's only a two minute drive to the beach from my house. We have two surfcams on the beach but neither cover my favorite area to shoot and the waves can vary from spot to spot. But, unfortunately we got a lot of mush and only Friday morning was decent.

 

[glenerrolrd]

John

I know the challenge of finding the waves ... sometimes you just have to go down to the beach and see for yourself . I have however found that the best days are generally forecast ....if they say its a good day ...you have a chance . Biggest wild card in Florida is the wind ..if it shifts ...it chops up the waves and no surfing .

We have a pier at Juno Beach that you can get parallel to the waves which can make a 400mm enough reach . That makes it easier . I use a D4S which is about as good as it gets for follow focusing .

Maybe I will get ambitious and find my surfing stuff for a separate post .

Roger

 

[Paratom]

This looks very good.
I think specially with these high resolution cameras a reliable AF is a very important thing.