Borneo through Nikon’s Z 800mm lens
A Rough-scaled Brown Skink soaking up the sun. Shot at 800mm @ f/6.3, 1/800s, ISO 800
Last month I returned from a three-week family trip to Borneo. This was not a focused photography expedition, rather a holiday with wildlife photography as a sideline, to be balanced with other activities. Even so, I managed to find a few opportunities to photograph this island’s magnificent wildlife with some success: See more images from this beautiful part of the world in my new gallery as well. A separate blog post covering birds of Borneo in more detail is coming soon.
A big male Proboscis Monkey with a rather impressive nose! Shot at 800mm @ f/6.3, 1/1000s, ISO 4500
We travelled across Malaysian Borneo, from Sarawak in the south to Sabah in the north. Boneo is the world’s third largest island, rich in natural resources, wonderful rainforests and tropical beaches. The people are fabulously friendly, the food is great, and the scenery is stunning. It was a truly memorable experience. It is more than tempting to return … for more focused photography 😉
A Spectacled Spiderhunter … more birds will appear in a separate Birds of Borneo blog post. Shot at 800mm @ f/6.3, 1/1000s, ISO 1100
So, what camera gear did I pack? For a family trip, I chose to go relatively light. I went for the Nikon Z8 camera body over the Z9, as it is smaller, and I decided to only bring one lens: The snappily named Nikon Z 800mm f/6.3 PF VR S. Risky? Maybe, as it is at the extreme end of long focal lengths. But, as a trip where the photography is not the sole purpose, I reckoned it would be a good choice. I would not be using hides, nor would I have a chance to go on repeat visits to locations to allow me to observe wildlife in detail and get intimate with a subject. Distances would be greater than usual. There would be fewer chances to get up close and personal to wildlife. The focus would be birds and primates where the 800mm’s long reach would be advantageous. Add to this, the fact I am totally in love with my 800mm lens. I have used it for over 80% of all the images I have taken so far this year. See my review of it here.
An ailen?! No, a Red Leaf Monkey (aka Maroon Langur). Shot at 800mm @ f/6.3, 1/500s, ISO 2800
The Nikon Z 800mm is fantastic for distant or smaller wildlife, and perfect for birds. It is also lightweight. I can carry it for hours on treks through nature with little bother using a Blackrapid harness. It is sharp wide open and with the Nikon vibration reduction (VR) system, it can produce sharp images at very low shutter speeds when handheld with good technique. This is particularly useful in dense dark tropical jungles where light is a premium even in the middle of the day.
Great Mormon butterfly. Shot at 800mm @ f/6.3, i/5000s, ISO 16000
So, I packed only the 800mm. For everything else I would rely on my iPhone. There is something quite liberating about only having one lens to use. You have no options, no hesitation about which lens to choose, no delays or hassle swapping lenses, and no extra weight to carry around in rainforests. You are forced to make the composition work within your sole chosen angle of view.
When the 800mm lens was not suitable, I relied on my iPhone 15. Shot at 6mm @ f/1.6, 1/5076s, ISO 32
Even with its highly narrow angle of view, the 800mm proved a good choice. I photographed an abundance of birds (more to come about the birds in my next blog post). Even with the 800mm lens, I ended up cropping quite a few of the images during post processing. I would not have managed to photograph so many beautiful birds with a shorter focal length. For primates, it also worked well, although once or twice the 800mm proved a bit too long. At the Kinabatangan river, I came across an Orangutan close to the camp and I struggled a bit to get all of her in the frame. Clearly, on that occasion a shorter 400-600mm focal length would have been ideal. Also, a faster lens could have been beneficial, but this proved less of an issue as the Nikon Z 800mm is easy to handhold at low shutter speeds.
Southern Pig-tailed Macaque. Shot at 800mm @ f/6.3, 1/500s, ISO 5600
Over the 3 weeks I managed to find time to enjoy the 800mm lens on every day bar two, with some great results. However, when time is limited on a location, with no opportunities to go back, there are always a few regrets. The possibilities for better photos and more intimate observation of subjects were limited by the restricted time at each location. It is very tempting to go back to Borneo and explore photography in more depth. It is a beautiful part of the world with an abundance of wildlife and fantastic scenery. I would love to spend more time with the magnificent hornbills and primate and seek out some of the more skittish endemic birds to photograph.
And to the wonderful people of Sarawak and Sabah … Terima kasih!
A female Orangutan … shot in the wilderness, not is a sanctuary ;-). Shot at 800mm @ f/6.3, 1/400s, ISO 2800
Bornean Eared Frog (aka Filed Eared Tree Frog). Shot at 800mm @ f/7.1, 1/200s, ISO 1000
A Silver Leaf Monkey (aka Silvery Lutung). The babies are orange for the first 3 months. Shot at 800mm @ f/6.3, 1/1000s, ISO 2500