Trying out my new Nikon D810 while in Nairobi. Had the same bad luck with weather as on my last trip. These are first animal photographs I've taken with this camera and the good points are: very fast focusing (lenses make a difference here of course), excellent exposure metering (much better than my D700) and the quietest shutter with the least shake I've ever used. I'll wager these animals are the most photographed animals in the world and don't too care much about how quiet my shutter might be.

I brought two lenses with me, the 28-300mm zoom and the fixed focal length 300mm f/4. The zoom has vibration reduction and is less cumbersome, so much easier to use, but the fixed 300mm is faster and has better resolution. It's hard to decide which to use. The usual solution to this kind of dilema is to buy another lens.

The secretary bird series:



















One thing I have found out is that it is almost impossible to "work" on the files produced by a D810 while travelling. The files are just too big, the software you need to do anything won't work on my travelling laptop. As good as the D810 is, I wasn't be able to really see what I can get out of it until I got home. The pictures here were re-posted after deleting the originally posted pics. For animal photography the huge files are an incredible advantage, allowing cropping like that done in the photos above, giving you that "right next to the animal" perspective.

For instance, this handsome dude (or is that a gal?) really merited some post-processing to bring out some detail in the black feathers and to sharpen it up enough to appreciate that wispy hair-do.

The warthog and a croc:













I stayed-put in front of this scaley reptile for what seemed forever and my driver was getting extremely nervous. But I had to wait until he opened his eyes.

I've been coming to this park since 1985 and the amount of construction around the park is slowly but surely ensuring that it becomes just a small island surrounded by "development". It's a shame so I wanted to include some photos which show it:

The last two:





I was in the park from about 6:30 AM to 1:30 PM and took about 350 photographs. There's a quip from some famous photographer (whose name escapes me): "the first ten thousand pictures you take will usually be the worst."

Looks like you're having fun with the new camera Wink

Roland,

It's an amazing camera. If someone already has Nikon lenses and wants to go all-out, it is the camera body of reference today. The two lenses I used for the pics above don't wring the most out of it, but even those two give great results.

Your thread prompted me to check it out Wink...and the reviews make me want to sell the farm and jump in brother.

If I had the funds I'd jump ship and invest in Nikon...I'm only shooting an old Rebel nowadays, wish I had the funds for even 6D or even an old 5D

Very happy for you Wink