Had great success with this lens on a z9 capturing motorbikes for a publication and some wildlife as well. Never used a z6 but heard v3 is great. My 180-600 lens is pretty good edge to edge but I don’t really pixel peep at the edges of the frame as all the good stuff is in the middle. Even if it was awful at the edges (which it isn’t) for motorbikes you crop in a bit anyway usually and very few clients need a close to 50mp image. Interesting comment about pros maybe not using this lens but I’ve a sold a fair few images and no client has ever said they weren’t good enough. I do think there can be a certain elitist attitude from some photographers on things. Christopher frost for instance. - super channel and useful but sometimes what he finds doesn’t really translate to real world photography. Not meant to be an attack just being honest !
Yes, for all but the most critical jobs, the 180-600mm performs really well and I think would be a joy to use with the sappier focus of the latest generation of Nikons.
There are a lot of good points in the video. The 180-600 is a great upgrade to the 200-500 Ito internal zoom, the short turn from 180-600, the build quality etc, The extra 100mm for birding in good light as Nikon never had a budget friendly 600 mm lens. In many parts of the world wildlife relates to birds and then 600mm becomes a "must have" focal length. Can has the 100-500 f7.1 that is very popular and Sony the 200-600. I am not a predominatn bird shooter so I would have loved a 200-500 f5.6 build like the 180-600. for me this is the weak spot of the 150-600 and 180-600 lenses. Yes sensors have become very good and I believe the Z6/6ii sensor is a great example where high ISO is handled exceptionally well. I also think the 180-600 sharpness reach its peak with the 24mp sensor. I have the Z6ii and Z9 and although at close distance the Z9 resolve bit more detail, I honestly think the Z6ii or Z6iii is a better match with the 180-600 than the high mp Z8/9. My 500pf f5.6 resolve much more detail from the Z9 than the 180-600. Yes prime lenses are sharper. My point is this. If you going to spend the money to buy a Z8/9 and you want the best resolution from your camera, buy the 600 pf or 600 f4. The Z6iii and even Z6ii (yes the speed and focus is not at the same level as the Z6iii or Z8/9) is the optimum match for the Z180-600.
Key with AF-C is to use burst mode and shoot several pictures. Sort out the good ones later. The better the AF system of the camera, the more in focus images you'll get in each burst.
Thanks for the advice. I'll try being a bit more liberal in my shot rate. As much as I can criticise the AF system of the camera, it's a great training ground for a novice bird photographer like me and very rewarding when it works.
Thanks. Great to meet a local. Subscribed to your own channel. I'm away in China at the moment so wrangling the great firewall of China, which is limiting my RUclips access but looking forward to coming home to a more watery Herdsman.
A very good take on the z6, same experiences shooting sports with AF. How is the lens in low light and with focus acquisition on your z6? Considering it for sport but the f stop is high for the dark stadiums here in Durban, South Africa.
interesting perspective on photography. how many keepers do we need and where do we store them? if we can afford prints, where are we going to display them? if the images are in storage, how can they be easily accessed? the mind boggles!
Thanks for the comment. For me, part of the process is getting to share them on RUclips, rather than having them lurk in the deep dark folders of my hard drive.
I recommend starting all over again with a film camera. We got stunning wildlife shots with manual fixed primes. Life doesn't hand you goodies on a platter. Same with technology. It helps but doesn't replace skill. And skill comes with practise and understanding. A factory approach isn't going to work here. And if you want focusing done for you, just get a Sony.
These are all good points. Nikon has shown that they are now capable of great autofocus and while the technology has certainly trickled down to the ZF, that's a desirable street camera rather than a functional workhorse. The Z 6 is a wonderful camera in so many respects, but the longer we wait for a 3rd gen replacement, the more Nikon will miss out on the middle ground of photographers.
"yes he did".. lol too funny edits... Before AI in recent cameras came, BIF was so hard. And C-AF with tracking sucks on all cameras. You made up for it with the stills.. the corellas on the sticks.
I loved your mindset here....RUclips society needs more like you
Not sure if that makes me the antidote or the antithesis of RUclips but I love what I'm doing and really appreciate the feedback. Thanks!
Had great success with this lens on a z9 capturing motorbikes for a publication and some wildlife as well. Never used a z6 but heard v3 is great. My 180-600 lens is pretty good edge to edge but I don’t really pixel peep at the edges of the frame as all the good stuff is in the middle. Even if it was awful at the edges (which it isn’t) for motorbikes you crop in a bit anyway usually and very few clients need a close to 50mp image.
Interesting comment about pros maybe not using this lens but I’ve a sold a fair few images and no client has ever said they weren’t good enough. I do think there can be a certain elitist attitude from some photographers on things. Christopher frost for instance. - super channel and useful but sometimes what he finds doesn’t really translate to real world photography. Not meant to be an attack just being honest !
Yes, for all but the most critical jobs, the 180-600mm performs really well and I think would be a joy to use with the sappier focus of the latest generation of Nikons.
There are a lot of good points in the video. The 180-600 is a great upgrade to the 200-500 Ito internal zoom, the short turn from 180-600, the build quality etc, The extra 100mm for birding in good light as Nikon never had a budget friendly 600 mm lens. In many parts of the world wildlife relates to birds and then 600mm becomes a "must have" focal length. Can has the 100-500 f7.1 that is very popular and Sony the 200-600. I am not a predominatn bird shooter so I would have loved a 200-500 f5.6 build like the 180-600. for me this is the weak spot of the 150-600 and 180-600 lenses. Yes sensors have become very good and I believe the Z6/6ii sensor is a great example where high ISO is handled exceptionally well. I also think the 180-600 sharpness reach its peak with the 24mp sensor. I have the Z6ii and Z9 and although at close distance the Z9 resolve bit more detail, I honestly think the Z6ii or Z6iii is a better match with the 180-600 than the high mp Z8/9. My 500pf f5.6 resolve much more detail from the Z9 than the 180-600. Yes prime lenses are sharper. My point is this. If you going to spend the money to buy a Z8/9 and you want the best resolution from your camera, buy the 600 pf or 600 f4. The Z6iii and even Z6ii (yes the speed and focus is not at the same level as the Z6iii or Z8/9) is the optimum match for the Z180-600.
Thanks for watching. Really good point about the lens resolution on those higher mpx sensors.
Key with AF-C is to use burst mode and shoot several pictures. Sort out the good ones later. The better the AF system of the camera, the more in focus images you'll get in each burst.
Thanks for the advice. I'll try being a bit more liberal in my shot rate. As much as I can criticise the AF system of the camera, it's a great training ground for a novice bird photographer like me and very rewarding when it works.
There is water in the lake again - Hallelujah 🙌Great video Mark, hopefully I'll run into you down at the lake one of these days.
Thanks. Great to meet a local. Subscribed to your own channel. I'm away in China at the moment so wrangling the great firewall of China, which is limiting my RUclips access but looking forward to coming home to a more watery Herdsman.
A very good take on the z6, same experiences shooting sports with AF. How is the lens in low light and with focus acquisition on your z6? Considering it for sport but the f stop is high for the dark stadiums here in Durban, South Africa.
Low light acquisition hasn't been the main issue for me but I haven't shot sports. The tracking is what lets it down. Thanks for watching.
interesting perspective on photography. how many keepers do we need and where do we store them? if we can afford prints, where are we going to display them? if the images are in storage, how can they be easily accessed? the mind boggles!
Thanks for the comment. For me, part of the process is getting to share them on RUclips, rather than having them lurk in the deep dark folders of my hard drive.
The writing wit alone is enough to give this video a Like. 🤣
Thanks, Mark!
I recommend starting all over again with a film camera. We got stunning wildlife shots with manual fixed primes. Life doesn't hand you goodies on a platter. Same with technology. It helps but doesn't replace skill. And skill comes with practise and understanding. A factory approach isn't going to work here. And if you want focusing done for you, just get a Sony.
I recommend you check out some of my other videos. I shoot more film than digital. And I agree with all of your points.
"Spangled Drongo" sounds like a local pejorative for Americans.
I'll better not make any pejorative statements for fear of being classified a monotonous lark.
The Lens is a 180-600 f5.6 - 6.3 NOT what you printed
Can't believe I made that mistake. Thanks!
Nikon still really hasn’t gotten its act together yet…..if they can’t make a great tracking camera for around $2000 they have a problem.
The $2000 body you are thinking of is the Zf if you want to talk about current Nikon. The Z6 is *6 years* old.
@@pseudoryx9284 Hopefully the z6 lll and z5 ll will solve this. Canon has several models under $2000 that track birds very well.
@williamchan8866 yea, the Zf tracking is great but its body form factor is a nightmare when paired with supertelephoto lenses.
Nikon needs something like canon r8 or a high res aps-c like r7. Currently there is nothing for wildlife below Z8.
These are all good points. Nikon has shown that they are now capable of great autofocus and while the technology has certainly trickled down to the ZF, that's a desirable street camera rather than a functional workhorse. The Z 6 is a wonderful camera in so many respects, but the longer we wait for a 3rd gen replacement, the more Nikon will miss out on the middle ground of photographers.
"yes he did".. lol too funny edits... Before AI in recent cameras came, BIF was so hard. And C-AF with tracking sucks on all cameras. You made up for it with the stills.. the corellas on the sticks.
Fortunately they were more accommodating models than some of the other birds!