Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | Female Cardinal Against the snow Female Cardinals stand out. Birds like this Female Cardinal can be challenging to capture even with a long, fast lens. Their feathers make subtle changes in color. The Nikon 1 V3 with the 70-300mm lens allows for a 810mm effective focal length. It’s a long, not so fast lens at f5.6, but a very sharp lens. For the whole story with all images, see Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | a 7 Image Story.
Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | Red-bellied Woodpecker Why not call the red-bellied woodpecker, a red-headed woodpecker instead? The red-headed woodpecker is actually a different bird. You might not have noticed the rose coloring on a red-bellied woodpecker’s breast. Whoever first named this bird must have had a strange sense of humor. Red-bellied Woodpeckers bring bright colors and exciting action to bird feeders. They are attracted to bird feeders, near wooded areas, containing a bird mix including suet or sunflower seeds. Birds like this Red-bellied Woodpecker can be challenging to capture even with a long, fast lens. They are very flighty and when disturbed, they tend to fly high into a tree before landing. The Nikon 1 V3 with the 70-300mm lens allows for a 810mm effective focal length. It’s a long, not so fast lens at f5.6, but a very sharp lens. For the whole story with all images, see Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | a 7 Image Story.
Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | Blue Jay Native to North America, the Blue Jay stays around all winter. They are very aggressive and sometimes mean to other birds. Still, they are beautiful against the snow. They mainly feed on nuts and seeds so they show up every day to the bird feeder; particularly, when snow covers the ground. Birds like this Blue Jay can be challenging to capture even with a long, fast lens. The Nikon 1 V3 with the 70-300mm lens allows for a 810mm effective focal length. It’s a long, not so fast lens at f5.6, but a very sharp lens. For the whole story with all images, see Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | a 7 Image Story.
Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | Morning Dove Morning Doves tend to stick around all winter. They are beautiful calm birds that are easy to photograph. An old photography guideline says to always have the eye in focus. A closely related guideline indicates to almost always show the eye of the critter in the frame. Birds like this Morning Dove can be challenging to capture even with a long, fast lens. The Nikon 1 V3 with the 70-300mm lens allows for a 810mm effective focal length. It’s a long, not so fast lens at f5.6, but a very sharp lens. For the whole story with all images, see Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | a 7 Image Story.
Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | Junco Dark Eyed Juncos are both abundant and widespread in North America. In winter over much of the continent, flocks of Juncos can be found around woodland edges and suburban yards, feeding on the ground, making ticking calls as they fly up into the bushes. East of the plains the Juncos are all gray and white, but in the West they come in various color patterns. Small birds like this Dark-eyed Junco can be challenging to capture even with a long, fast lens. The Nikon 1 V3 with the 70-300mm lens allows for a 810mm effective focal length. It’s a long, not so fast lens at f5.6, but a very sharp lens. For the whole story with all images, see Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | a 7 Image Story.
Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | House Finch Small birds like this House Finch can be challenging to capture even with a long, fast lens. The Nikon 1 V3 with the 70-300mm lens allows for a 810mm effective focal length. It’s a long, not so fast lens at f5.6, but a very sharp lens. Still, it takes some practice to get a tack sharp image shooting handheld. To bring these cute colorful birds to your backyard, fill your backyard feeders with small, black oil sunflower seed. If House Finches discover your feeders, they might bring flocks of 50 or more birds. Actually, my backyard feeder is a general outdoor bird feed which contains some sunflower seed. They show up by the dozen in the winter. For the whole story with all images, see Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | a 7 Image Story.
Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | Male Northern Cardinal Small birds like this Cardinal can be challenging to capture even with a long, fast lens. The Nikon 1 V3 with the 70-300mm lens allows for a 810mm effective focal length. It’s a long, not so fast lens at f5.6, but a very sharp lens. Still, it takes some practice to get a tack sharp image shooting handheld. Male Cardinals cheer us up during the winter months with their brilliant red body. Cardinals don’t migrate and they don’t molt into a dull plumage, so they stay breathtakingly beautiful against winter’s snow. Northern Cardinals tend to sit low in shrubs and trees or forage on or near the ground, often in pairs. For the whole story with all images, see Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | a 7 Image Story.
Nikon 1 V3 for Birds | a 7 Image Story The Nikon 1 V3 makes bird photography possible for amateurs who do not specialize on birds. As an amateur, who captures mostly wildlife, landscapes, and aviation, investing in very expensive 400mm – 600mm telephoto lens just to capture bird images, is hard to justify. A Nikon AFS 70-300mm lens on a Nikon 1 V3 with its 2.7 crop factor, becomes a 189-810mm lens. Of course, the image quality will not be nearly as good as with the expensive lens, but it’s still possible to capture very nice bird images. My V3 has captured a variety of bird images large and small.
What the V3 does well, it does very well. The V3 is my preferred carry camera for capturing daily walkabout images. It shoots much like a DSLR in continuous mode. Although a bit noisy at higher ISOs, the image quality is quite good, particularly for posting. The 2.7 crop factor helps improve images where getting closer is not an option and/or where the subject is very small. In a nutshell, what makes the Nikon 1 V3 suitable for bird photography:
The V3 presents a few more challenges over my DSLRs! The Nikon 1 V3 requires a bit more camera discipline than a my DSLRs. The controls sometimes move during normal handling so the photographer must often check to ensure the settings are correct. Panning in low light can be demanding and a high ISO generates a good bit of noise. The small camera frame, attached to a long, heavy telephoto lens, does not seem balanced; making handling a bit tricky. The Nikon AFS 70-300mm works nicely, whereas, the AFS 70-200mm; not so much. Also, care must be taken not to break the camera mount with a heavy telephoto lens. Always carry it by the lens or the FT-1, not the camera. Higher ISO images sometimes require a pass through noise reduction in post processing. Changing the battery and/or the MicroSD card in the field takes some time and care. Build quality is more consumer than professional. If dropped, it can break.
What’s next? Nikon appears to have discontinued the Nikon 1 V series; too bad. A V4 camera could have addressed several V3 issues to become a really great camera. It’s not yet clear what my next carry and/or bird camera will be; maybe another V3.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Nikon 1 V3 for Birds.
Click any image below for a slide show!
My Nikon 1 V3 walkabout kit fits into a very small Lowepro camera backpack. The camera equipment includes a Nikon 1 V3 Body, Nikon FT-1 Adapter, 1 VR 10-30mm f3.5-5.6 PD-Zoom, 1 VR 30-110mm f3.8-5.6, AFS 50mm f1.4G, and a AFS 70-300mm f4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR. The supporting equipment includes a Nikon Speedlight SB-N5 Flash, LitePanels MicroPro Hybrid, Sennheiser MKE 400 Directional Mic, Sun Sniper Shoulder Strap, Extra Nikon EN-EL15 Battery, Nikon MH-25 Charger, Extra SD Cards, Lens Cleaning Supplies, and a Headlamp with red & white light. A small MeFOTO tripod has its own bag. Find more Nikon 1 V1 and V3 experiences posted under IMHO.
