Nikon D700, 70-200 VR with 1.7 Teleconverter at 340mm, 1600th @ f/4.8, ISO 450

Nikon D700, 70-200 VR with 1.7 Teleconverter at 340mm, 1600th @ f/4.8, ISO 800

Summer’s arriving – which in the sleepy village of Sway in the New Forest means that the sound of willow on leather can again be heard on the village green. Well, the sound of willow wafting at leather anyway.

The second XI were at home to Beaulieu on Sunday, so off I went complete with D700, 70-200mm f/2.8 and teleconvertor, and a monopod to keep me stable. For the second time in as many weeks I was left feeling a little inadequate – filling the frame from the edge of the boundary was proving difficult. This time I was shooting in shutter priority mode, and varied between 1/500th and 1/1600th of a second.  I wanted to make sure the ball was a little blurred to give the impression of motion while the batsmen were frozen in their pose.

Sadly I had to go before Sway’s bowlers began their onslaught, but I’m pleased to say the end result was a well earned 154 run victory. The shots above show top scorers Rick How and Nilantha Atapattu on their way to 74 not out and 52 respectively.

Nikon D700, 70-200 VR with 1.7 Teleconverter at 290mm, 3200th @ f/5.6, ISO 500

Thanks to everyone for their kind comments about the Red Kite shots from a couple of weeks ago, as promised I thought I’d better post a bit more on the technique and equipment behind the scenes.

You might think that we used shutter priority to select a fast shutter speed, but I was worried that with contrasting low light in the background the camera would select too large an aperture, and the bulk of the bird may be thrown out of focus. So I used aperture priority, adjusting the aperture between f/5.6 and f/8, and using the ISO speed to get a quick enough shutter speed to make the Red Kites sharp. For much of the day I was able to use ISO 320 to get a shutter speed over 100oth of a second, but at times I went as high as ISO 800. Fortunately the D700 makes such choices academic.

I was delighted at the performance of the D700′s autofocus system which worked brilliantly in conjunction with the AF-S 70-200 f/2.8 lens and TC-17e teleconvertor. The effective maximum focal length was 340mm, which although not really long enough to fill the frame as much as I’d like was still fine for getting some shots I was pleased with. Andy Keen, a local wildlife photographer, was shooting with a Canon 5Dmk2 and 100-400mm lens and got some great shots, some of which are now on his blog. If I did more wildlife work then a longer lens would be nice (could a 200-400mm AF-S lens fit in my stocking, Santa?) but I think that’s a dream for another day!

Another thing I’ll take away from the Red Kites is a sore pair of arms. We had our tripods set up inside the hide, and while it was useful to track the birds as they came in from a distance it became a little restricting when they flew closer overhead. I found myself hand holding the lens (thanks to the quick release on the 70-200 lens collar) and taking more shots like this towards the end of the day.

Gigrin Farm is a great location, especially with the Elan Valley and it’s spectacular dams and reservoirs close by. In my youth I loved the Dambusters story, and my enthusiasm was nothing short of childish when I found out this was the testing area for the famous raid by 617 Squadron. Next time I visit I’ll be focussing on the dams in the morning when the light is at it’s best (hopefully!).

Last weekend the family trooped off to the coast – the cove to be more accurate, at Lulworth in Dorset. It’s an absolutely beautiful location and the weather was fantastic. We met up with a bunch of my wife Sam’s colleagues, many of which are keen photographers.

Gathering in the car park I looked at all the cameras around me and decided to rebel. There wasn’t a longer focal length than 24mm on display, so I swapped the 24-70 f/2.8 on my D700 for another good landscape lens – the AF-S 70-200 f/2.8.

What do you mean, I hear you ask? My logic was firstly that I didn’t want to come away with the same shots as everyone else. This meant a resolution that I wouldn’t take a shot of Durdle Door as well. Does that make me a bad man? Secondly I knew that there would lots of interesting areas of detail around the cove and buildings which would be fun to look for. The zoom lens should suit this down to a tee, as well as a few of my favourite people shots!

D700, 70-200mm at 200mm, 1/400 at f/8, ISO 200

The stacks of fish containers by the boats caught my eye with the contrasting colours and lines. I tried some shots close by with buoys and the angles of the boats themselves but they didn’t really come out how I thought they would.

D700, 70-200mm at 200mm, 1/200 at f/8, ISO 200

There’s a walled pond just up from Lulworth Cove and I spent far too long tracking these little fellows! The predictive autofocus worked really well while panning on a monopod. The wall that protects the pond makes it difficult to get a good low angle, so the longer focal length is needed to shoot from a narrower angle. I liked this shot with the symmetry of the duckling’s bow wave!

D700, 70-200mm at 86mm, 1/320 at f/8, ISO 200

I love my people shots. It helps when you’ve got great subjects like the lovely Caitlin and her Dad as subjects. I don’t even mind the split contrast in the sunlight, I love the carefree joy of the two year old and adoring look from Dad. Wait till she brings boys home Julian!

D700, 70-200mm at 78mm, 1/160 at f/20, ISO 200

And just to show that you can take a landscape shot with a longer lens – as you’re more selective it forces you (hopefully!) to tighten the composition a little. As I didn’t have a polariser with me I applied a half stop grad on the sky to reign it in.

So there you have it. Lulworth Cove without a shot of Durdle Door. I might have to go back with a wide angle lens, but don’t tell anyone…

D700, AF-S 70-200 at 175mm, 1/80th at f/4.5, ISO 200

As I haven’t been to the gym for a while it was high time I got out with the Nikon AF-S VR 70-200 f/2.8 zoom that I acquired recently. It’s brilliantly balanced on the D700 and feels great, but it isn’t half heavy. On the plus side, a couple of hours of wandering around with this lens makes the 24-70 f/2.8 seem as light as a feather! Mental note: leave the 50mm f/1.4 off for a bit…

First impressions – the AF is insanely fast. It tracks well in low light and is pretty quiet too, but you can hear the VR servos fire in from time to time. On that note, take a look at the shot of Harry above. That was taken at 175mm using a shutter speed of 1/80th of a second, handheld. All the rules say that image should be completely out of focus but it works for me thanks to the VR.

D700, AF-S 70-200 at 95mm, 1/80th at f/4.5, ISO 200

I found myself using the motor drive more than usual, switching the camera into high speed mode for the first time in a while. Perhaps this lens made me feel like a journo – during our half hour walk around the park I certainly got a few strange looks. Most of them must have been about the camera and lens, surely!  It was interesting playing with the compressed perspective you achieve with a longer lens, and the longer reach was great. Looking back at the shots I can’t see any of the vignetting or softness that some people report with the 70-200 on full frame.

D700, AF-S 70-200 at 80mm, 1/80th at f/8, ISO 3200

Thanks to the D700 I’m shooting so much more natural light stuff these days – this shot shows why. Even at ISO 3200 in really low light I was able to get a usable portrait, and although there is visable noise it’s no worse than my D200 was at ISO 800. I’m itching to play with off camera flash soon though, the new Pocketwizards for Nikon can’t come soon enough for me.