I’m a married father of two grown children and a certified public accountant. I was born and raised in Central Michigan and now reside in Southern Michigan.
I grew up appreciating the beauty of wildlife and landscapes. Photography became a natural passion for me at an early age and I continue to enjoy making images and trying to tell a story with each photograph. I highly appreciate your support and interest in all these beautiful creatures we enjoy and cherish. Thank yo so much and please ‘Subscribe’ to help me share more with everyone. All the best.
@@kipcotter5374 We went to Port Clinton Ohio, and the clouds mostly moved away for us, it was great! Agreed, I don't think I could resist bringing the camera along though!😅
Good review, guys! Thanks for sharing your honest opinions (pros AND cons). I'm a spreadsheet guy myself and like how you showed different JX3 weights with different gear. I also enjoyed seeing a father and son review. 👍🏼
Subscribed! That was a great video and I like the way you played around with the speeds. I also really like how you caught the twirly head feathers when you were about eye level! Nice work and I look forward to seeing more in the future. Oh, and great tracking of the subject, also!!!
Is that an 800mm 6.3 vrs lens? When shooting a video, even when shooting at 120 frames, the AF focus does not follow the subject well, blurring, or blurring. I wonder how to deal with it.
Ruddie's ready to rumble. The blue hour looks awesome! Fun video for sure. I'm still waiting for my 800mm . I mashed the like button and subscribed. Greg
Thank you for the comments. Indeed, at least on the initial time out in an area, the birds are mostly curious and actually approach cautiously to check the blind out as long as you don't move too quickly. Take good care, Thomas!
Awesome video and pics Kip. I just purchased the 800 for my Z9 as well and delivery is tomorrow. I couldn't find one new and purchased one used but perfect. May I ask what were your video settings? AF-F Wide Large 4K 60 or 120 Standard Color Profile? What is your impression of the Nikon Lut?
Congrats, Hank, on the 800mm and the Z9! For videos, I’ve generally been shooting at 4K, 120fps, using now the 265 10bit profile, set to Standard. I think the Nikon Lut is fine (there are 2 iirc - one better than the other) and work with the N-Log setting from the camera obviously. Having said that, for me, the color correction is time consuming and really slows down my timeline processing - at least with my computer which is pretty decent - though I don’t believe I’m set up properly to have my graphics card help with the processing. I use Adobe Premier Pro to process my videos. This video was primarily at 30fps from the camera since it was so dark out early on. The 1/60th SS really helps as compared to the 1/250 for 120fps. I still prefer 120fps because I like to slow down a bunch of the video to 25% (30 fps). I also need to dabble with slowing it down to 50% to help smooth out the video and hide some shake. A lot for me to work on. Doing video is pretty hard IMO compared to taking stills - smooth panning is a bear and camera shake is very noticeable. Also need to keep the sensor clean - tough to fix blotches in video. Good luck, Hank!
Forgot to mention, for video, I indeed have it on AF-F. I generally have it on full screen 3D for video. This becomes a problem when the duck gets around other ducks as you can imagine. There are times I turn the manual focus ring to lock focus on my subject (with focus peeking on). The autofocus does pretty good IMO, but my frame of reference is limited given that I was trying to do video last year with my D850! If you aren’t good at pulling manual focus, forget about video with the D850! This Z9/mirrorless is such a treat - totally spoiled.
One other tip - program the ability to change between FX and DX on a button of your preference. Move to DX if the animal Is far away and you’d likely crop in post anyways. It helps the auto-focus greatly in video and even in stills. Wether the camera can ‘see’ better or if it’s just the photographer than can hold on point better, or a combination of both, it really seems to help with animal detection when the animal is larger in the frame.
@@kipcotter5374 Kip thanks for all the advice its greatly appreciated. I watch a lot of RU-vid videos and your are the best I've seen yet. You should be at a 1000 viewers very soon good luck and I'll be watching!!
@@hankdinardo4308 I appreciate the comments. If you haven’t already, please check out youtube.com/@PCHU. Peanut’s videos and capabilities are exceptional!
I own 800PF for 2 months on beginning my experience with this glass was 50/50 Now I know this lens needs perfect weather conditions and amplify every my mistake... Beautiful glass same like 500PF.
Hey Kip, great footage. Are you loving your 800pf? The first time I used it, I was like its 'OK'. But after a couple of weeks of usage, I got some of my best stuff and I am loving it. It really has surpassed my expectations. Theres only 2 things, that I like better on the big glass. I like the screw hoods better. And the rotation collar doesnt stay put when loose. But the glass itself is just awesome, I think.
I've only been out twice now meaningfully with it. I was a little concerned at first, but conditions weren't optimal and I'm out of practice. I was in a tight area. Trying to capture fast moving critters in close is a real challenge. Most helpful to pick them up first at a distance and if somewhat open that helps too. Had a question for you - have you tried and liked any fluid/video heads? I'm finding it hard to have smooth pans of ducks on the water with my gimbal head. I recall your video where you explained how you were using your gimbal to track BIF, but was just wondering if you've tried a good fluid head? Thanks as always sir!
@@kipcotter5374 , I prefer the gimbal. I have a manfrotto fluid. Now, I think its a matter of preference. First, I am used to the gimbal. I put my left hand on the circle base of the gimbal, so I can control in smoother fashion. My left hand controls the pan, so I can start the movement slowly once I have the subject in focus. I prefer that the gimbal is balanced on gravity. The fluid is based on the the ground level. So if you are balanced and move to a new location, you may need to balance again because how the ground is leveled. For me the key to being stable is if you are balanced. Sometimes, when the subject is coming close, I have my hand hardly gripping the camera and gimbal, so I cant have any creeping. Talk soon.
Badass, this is my dream right here! Michigan brother here as well! Amazing footage. But I have to ask how was the camera panning left and right? And the big bucks in the background coming in for a peek also!! Omg gets me pumped!
I'm a ground hunter and/or blind and climbing tree stand users. I think it would really take some getting used to having those ropes in front of you all the time
Would be nice to share ISO and aperture info. I assume shutter speed is attached by the 120 fps rate. Hard to take away what you like and don’t like about this setup. No AF setup info shared.
Beautiful Green Herons fishing in the marsh and the Nikon Z9 - 4K - 120FPS Video with the 500mm PF and FTZ II footage is great but it's just that sometimes it's out of focus. Big LIKE. I'm a new friend here from Singapore. 👍🔔
That first scene 2:00 minutes is every nature videographer's dream come true. But right in the middle of the focus starts wandering!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i hate that with my Sony RX10iv. I have ruined dozens of priceless scenes with that problem. I see the Nikon Z9 does the same thing.