NOTE: Please start the slideshow by clicking on the first thumbnail, not the first image. For some reason I cannot determine, there is a glitch that exists when you try to move between the first image and the second. So please start with the first thumbnail which is the second image and move forward. Thanks.

On Saturday, I went with my family to the Bronx Zoo. The main attraction was a ride on a carriage pulled by Clydesdale horses for my girls, but we visited the animal attractions as well.  My kit was my Nikon D700, and the Tamron 28-300mm zoom lens with image stabilization.  It is a relatively inexpensive, not very fast (f/3.5 to F/6.3), off-brand lens, but it has never disappointed me.  I also did next to no processing on the images except for some basic adjustments. This was a family outing and I keep myrpersonal family images in iPhoto, so I did all of the adjustments there: nothing more than some tweaking to white balance, sharpness, saturation, and exposure.  The glass did a very nice job, including some close shots (see the giraffe at the end of the slideshow) and the lions far away.  The snow leopard was shot through a wire fence, and keeping the lens wide open, that fence just disappeared (see here for more information on how that works).  The D700 was able to handle some low light situations with its strong performance at high ISO settings.