I have a old iconic Nikkor 500mm reflex mirror lens borrowed from a good friend sitting in my lens lens cupboard. Every time I picked lenses, I will fondly hold the lens move that sexy focus ring , feel the focus and keep it back while thinking , I need to do a full trip with this lens. But, autofocus is a seductive bitch and I end up pushing this off for another time, till this time.
Doc Bedekar called and wanted to go get them again this year. Since the last time I had already used my 500mmPF, this time I decided to switch it up and try the Nikkor 500mm Reflex, manual lens. This is a F8 fixed aperture “cadiatropic” lens. Compact and has a mighty sexy focus ring. As focus rings go, I think the Zeiss lenses too have a silky smooth very responsive feel.
When I pulled out my lens , I saw that it had got fungus.Somehow the plastic airtight wrapping I had stored it in had a tear that had gone unnoticed. Well, even so, I decided, it would work for the “arty” shots that I had in mind. I didnt want to repeat the same old 500PF type shots. Atleast that was my aim.
The amurs were in the same location as the last time. But this time I was told that the area was walled off and that we couldn’t take cars in . That was a good ting and then that restricted the movement and allowed for only the serious folks to walk around trying to spot birds. But that said, I did see a few two wheelers come inside and drive around ! This time around apart from the Amur and the kestrels there were the Isabelline and desert wheatears too.
Oke waat..the f##$ !
I had heard that the previous few days some “birding tour operator”, in collusion with some “public officials” harass the folks coming in to bird and photograph the falcons, while his clients ( who were brought in no two wheelers) were left free to what they pleased. The harassed folks were forced to cough up sizable money which was then “split” between the tour guy and the officials. The forums were abuzz with this and I told myself this was avoidable and murmured myself to stay cool and stay clear of trouble. The short fuse that I have, I told myself, deep breathe and just bird, no “pow wow” 🙂
As usual we departed Mumbai at 0500H to reach the location by 0730H. It wasn’t too cold and alight jacket was manageable. The birds were in the area closer to the road towards where the wall had come up. There were around five female Amurs , no sign of the males at this location. Enroute we did see larks and the wheatears. The grass had grown on the vehicles tracks and the grassland looked wonderful in the morning light. Since it was still early the activity was a bit slow. It would pick up as the temperature rose.
Overall way less people than the last time and since it was a weekday, I am sure that helped too. It was great to run into Vishal Jadhav who I had met quite many years ago on probably Akshi beach while chasing oystercatchers. While I was speaking with Vishal, I saw a movement and , here is a quick manual focus shot of a Peregrine as it flew overhead. I outdid my self on the manual focusing here!
It took me a while to get the hang of manual focus. But once the “feel” set in, it wasn’t too tough. The birds are approachable and for a large part predictable. Hence getting a few action shots was not too tough with this manual 500mm reflex lens. All you need to ensure is you use a high enough shutter speed. The lens contrast is a bit “vintage” in feel and though I can definitely work this in post processing, I chose to retain that vintage feel.
I had also brought along my Nikon Z50 with the 50-250 kit lens. I gave a few runs at action with that combo too. Not bad and workable is what I experienced. But boy, does it chew up battery ! While I wanted to use the 500mm reflex on the Z50, I chose to leave it on my D5 so that I can last a full day without a battery shutdown..
Nikon Z50 with 50-250 kit lens shots
By 11 AM the birds were quite active. The light had got harsh and I was getting just the same shots. So I decided to head back to Mumbai with Sundar. Doc Bedekar, who had not got the male Amur and the kestrel the last time, decided to stay back till the evening. Good thing he did since he got all his target species too !
The nikkor 500mm reflex is a compact , light lens and one can use it especially for predictable action and ofcourse static subjects. The lens has a unique “doughnut” bokeh which renders quite differently and can be used creatively in some situations.
And another fun trip with Sundar & Doc Bedekar
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