Ok, Jim, here it is.
My wife is taking a safari to Africa in December. It is her second, and
probably last for quite a while. On her last visit, whe took the IS3 with
the 300 extender thingie. The results were generally good, except for the
trouble of attaching/removing the extender, and some length issues. Quite a
few of her shots went to 11x14 and 16x20 with exceptional results, on a par
with my OM's handheld. Unhappy with her pictures (too far off, handholding
problems), she now has a Nikon N80 with the 80-400VR zoom. It's generally a
nice setup, as those things go. She has been using it to become familiar,
and results have been generally good. (standing alone, the VR is really
quite good)
She took the outfit along, as she wanted to take a bit of time to both get
some eagle photos, as a gathering of this amount is apparently very unusual,
and to shoot under similar circumstances to her safari, substituting eagles
for vultures, and chickens for whatever carcass, no lions at all.
As it turns out, this was a sample of what must be the worst possible
circumstances for AF. I don't think any AF system can work under these
conditions. It was first, an overcast day. Brown birds against grey sky or
brown foliage, all soft light. Further, when perched in trees, there are
lots of bare branches in front of and behind the birds, tons of crisp things
to confuse the AF. When it would focus, it was because the extraneous twigs
provided the high contrast the AF needs. The only solution I can see is to
manually focus under these circumstances. Fortunately, when she shot the
OM1, she prefered the 1-4 screen, so the nikon will provide the combination
of unassisted focusing and average brightness she prefers. Unfortunately,
she didn't know how to use MF on the Nikon, as she has been trying to use
the AF exclusively for training.
And the camera? While it simply isn't for me (remember, I'm the guy that
sold his Contax G2 outfit because he didn't like AF), it is above average as
wonderbricks go. The lens is, for a zoom, quite good, and the VR works as
advertised. I can see some circumstances where the setup would be an
advantage, but don't drive by the house looking for the OM yard sale!
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