Heading back to my car in the almost dark after photographing the above pair of Black Swans, I encountered a covey of California Quail gathering on the edge of the bush before flying up into their roost for the night. Being chubby and cute it is hard to resist photographing them even if there is no light and little hope for a good image. This first shot was taken on the settings I had used for the swans (f10 to increase depth of field to cover both swans, ISO 3200) with the shutter speed dropped from 1/250 to 1/80 to account for the reduction in light level while walking to where I saw the quails.
While not an interesting photo, it is an example of the incredible job that Vibration Reduction (VR) does. Handholding an 800mm lens at 1/80s when previously rule of thumb would suggest 1/800s as a bare minimum is a very useful tool to have available. While no use for moving subjects it does open up opportunities not previously available.
This next image is a crop from the file which was processed in my usual High ISO workflow with DxO PureRAW DeepPrime and Topaz DeNoise AI. In this case I applied Topaz DeNoise at default and then followed it with Topaz Sharpen at default – both of which can be adjusted depending on intended output.
This next image, I chose to push ISO to maximum 25600 and wide open aperture to achieve a higher shutter speed in the evaporating light.
While the in camera preview jpg file and initial Lightroom render looked pretty horrible, the processed file is very usable.
These images are a useful illustration of the increased opportunities available with the technological advances in lens (VR) and camera (IBIS, high ISO) technology when coupled with advances in software (RAW demosaicing and noise reduction).
Another point to note was that the Z9 managed to easily locate and focus on the eye in the low light – I suspect if using a DSLR I would have grabbed the nearest contrasty feathers on the breast or flank and left the eye out of critical focus.
Photos with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 800mm f6.3 VR S.
