Tiny Hunter

I spent the morning putting the new Z8 through its paces with my 105mm macro lens.  Very happy with the results - even though I am using an adapter on the lens, it's every bit as sharp on the Z8 as it is on the D850, maybe even a hair sharper.  I am finding the AF settings that work best for me - in this case small Wide with Animal/eye detection.  The only challenge was that the camera wanted to focus on the spots on the ladybug rather than the eyes - this isn't any surprise and it makes sense to disable the eye detection in this instance.  The lady beetle is an introduced species and it was actively hunting aphids on the milkweed (which is good). 

This afternoon, I switched to the 300 PF lens and focused on birds.  I set the FPS for 10 and then 15 just so I can get a feel for it.  I had some cooperative hummingbirds and - wow - very happy with the results.  The camera grabbed the eye and stayed with it, which gives me a much higher "keeper" rate.  And I also got a nice sequence of a female downy woodpecker feeding a fledgling - in that case, the focus grabbed the youngster's eye (with some help from me) but since both birds were on the same focal plane, it worked.  I will put one shot of each in Extra.  

And that concludes the tech part of my day!  I was up early so I took Jax for a walk on the Lane while it was still cool.  Then he guarded me while I pottered around the garden with my camera.  Of course, the only thing he had to guard against were chipmunks and squirrels, both of which he barked at ferociously.  

My dark chocolate choice today is dark with ginger.  

Big thanks to Jenny for hosting TinyTuesday!

xo
Debbi