Brown Pelicans in Flight with Nikon 1

Earlier this year my wife and I went to the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina for a brief holiday. I had the opportunity to capture a few images of brown pelicans in flight with my Nikon 1 V2 and Nikon 1 CX 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 VR zoom lens.

While the dynamic range and colour depth of my Nikon 1 V2 pales next to my D800 I was able to get some acceptable images and I thought readers may like to view a small selection of them.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO-200, 300mm, efov 810mm
f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO-200, 300mm, efov 810mm

All images were taken hand-held. Most were captured from the pier at Murrell’s Inlet.

f/5.6, 1/1250, ISO-200, 300mm, efov 810mm
f/5.6, 1/1250, ISO-200, 300mm, efov 810mm
f/5.6, 1/2000, ISO-200, 300mm, efov 810mm
f/5.6, 1/2000, ISO-200, 300mm, efov 810mm

I found that the auto-focus with my Nikon 1 set-up worked quite well. I shot single frames rather than at 15 fps burst.

f/5.6, 1/2000, ISO-200, 300mm, efov 810mm
f/5.6, 1/2000, ISO-200, 300mm, efov 810mm
f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO-400, 287mm, efov 775mm
f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO-400, 287mm, efov 775mm

All images in this article were produced from RAW files processed through DxO OpticsPro 10, including the PRIME noise reduction function. A DNG file was then exported into CS6 and Nik Suite for additional adjustments as required.

f/5.6, 1/2500, ISO-200, 300mm, efov 810mm
f/5.6, 1/2500, ISO-200, 300mm, efov 810mm
f/5.6, 1/2000, ISO-160, 300mm, efov 810mm
f/5.6, 1/2000, ISO-160, 300mm, efov 810mm

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Article and images Copyright Thomas Stirr. All rights reserved. No use, duplication of any kind, or adaptation is allowed without written consent.

2 thoughts on “Brown Pelicans in Flight with Nikon 1”

  1. Hi Tom, another wonderful BIF series. Your hand hold technique is beautiful.

    But I prefer the deep color touch of the D800 🙂

    For BIF like these shots, what priority mode do you use, shutter release or f-stop? Thanks.

    Have a nice week-end, Tom.

    1. Hello hoan,
      Thanks for the positive comment – I’m glad you enjoyed the article! I agree that the colours etc. are much better with the D800. That’s one of the trade-offs for the portability and lightweight of the V2. And, we need to remember that the D800 costs more than three times what a V2 does. As far as camera settings I used to use aperture priority and set my ISO manually to ensure a high enough shutter speed. I have recently switched and now shoot birds-in-flight using manual settings for both aperture and shutter speed, and use auto-ISO to achieve proper exposure. The images in this article were shot in aperture priority.
      Tom

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