Black Skimmer :: Rynchop

I like the position of the bird and the nice BG Doug. In the larger version the bird looks just a bit short of tack sharp or maybe this is a largish crop. Interesting that you found the AF is quicker with the VR off. A good friend of mine found the same thing to be true for her D300s and 500 VR combination. I shoot Canon and the AF performance of the 500 with the IS on or off is the same. Interesting.

Nice shot Doug, great eye contact and nice sharpness there. Stopping down a bit may have helped you to get more of the wings in focus.

You will find a wide variety of opinions regarding IS/VR affecting AF performance. Although I shoot pretty much the same gear as Ron B, I find that having the IS does slow down my AF noticeably and I've written about this in newsletters on my website. Some excellent Canon photographers agree with my take and some disagree. My lens although it's the same model as Ron's is probably a couple of years older and that could be one possible explanation. If you speak with the support people at both Nikon and Canon you will get different answers from different people as well. The most common answer is that it will slow down your AF a little bit.

I'll second Ron's comments about composition and slight softness.

I bought my first VR lens (the lightweight 70-300 full frame lens) a few months ago and have kept the VR turned to use the lens as a hand-held walkabout optic. But I do notice an initial shutter reluctance that drives me nuts so I think I'll turn off the VR unless there's a real need for it.

Aren't there several options for the VR function? (active/normal?)

I like this shot with the fish in the bill and the catchlight on the eye.

I do find the Nikon 500mm AF a bit slower in grabbing a BIF with the VR on, particularly in lower-light conditions. - still, I almost always forget to turn it off. Thanks for the reminder!
Skimmers are very tough to catch in flight, as they are quick and erratic - good for their fishing, bad for photographers!
Nice image - good position, eye contact, and the bit of fish visible in it's jaws adds.
A little soft in the larger version..
Sandy

I can't speak to the VR issue, but I like the image. A black & white bird that makes quick turns is indeed a challenge. This is a great image IMO. If anything, I might prefer a tad more room on the left.

Good heads up on the VR. I think mine has been on since it was purchased. Guess these isn't that much vibration on a locked down tripod!

Neat flight shot of the skimmer, with minnow (?) in beak. The catch light is nice. I often don't get a catch light in shots of the skimmers. I always have the VR on for my Nikon 500mm lens when hand holding it because I need all the help I can get in hand holding mode. But now I always turn it off when I have it on the tripod. Even if I put it in tripod mode with the setting switch, I get a noticeable blur in the catch light that is not present if I turn it off. Don't know about speed of auto focus, but I'm convinced the VR affects sharpness when mounted on the tripod.

Good BG and detail, the orange beak really stands out on this mostly dark brown frame.
I shut mine off when using the tripod at higher s-speeds..Mostly just saves a bit of battery time, haven't noticed much difference either way to be honest.
Have a great weekend Doug