Thanks Rob. I'll try to keep the chin up but nothing really to shoot here. First real use will be Bosque end of November. Will be fun trying the TCs and the a9 in the mean time.
RobAmy wrote:
Stay positive, you will using yours well before the Canon 600mm ships. Not until Dec 20th over in the Canon world.
Thanks, the VR version was no slouch but the e with its weight loss and balancing act is amazing. I can hold it if I have to and I’m 66 Lance B wrote:
Congrats and a great capture.
The 400E is simply a stunning lens, possibly Nikon's best, IMO.
AvianScott wrote:
The lenstip samples look terrible. However, their actual testing bodes much better for the 500 PF. Compared to the 300 PF it's sharper wide open, but when the 300 is stopped down to f/5.6 it's a dead heat, at least in the center.
Looks good to me...and nice to know it is at its best wide open....that bodes well for Nikon's claim that it does excellent with the 1.4TCIII.
kriskunisch wrote:
Interesting review. Looking at the sample shots:
- most of the birds were photographed at ISO 200 with Shutter Speeds ranging from 1/200 to 1/640
- the clock, of all things, was photographed at ISO 200 1/2500s
My theory:
- birds were dead, clock was running REALLY fast
arbitrage wrote:
Looks good to me...and nice to know it is at its best wide open....that bodes well for Nikon's claim that it does excellent with the 1.4TCIII.
Agree, if you have been reading lenstip for some years you know they are a reliable website and one should probably trust their written review more than the first impression from the image samples (hardly any photo website publishes unsharpened images these days). Seems like the VR problem of the 300PF has been cured in the 500PF.
Too bad PF still has a problem dealing with flare/backlighting (more than Canon DO ?) But that's about the only flaw. Also a bit sad that the MFD is limited to 3 meters, probably to keep the weight down; I had hoped for 2-2.5m. Everything else looks great
kriskunisch wrote:
Interesting review. Looking at the sample shots:
- most of the birds were photographed at ISO 200 with Shutter Speeds ranging from 1/200 to 1/640
- the clock, of all things, was photographed at ISO 200 1/2500s
My theory:
- birds were dead, clock was running REALLY fast
It's not that hard to photograph birds at slow shutter speeds, they can and do keep very still.
Nice review, besides the part that matters, lol. If "fuzzy across the frame" is the best this lens can do, even at impossible to fuck up shutter speeds of 1/500, you may want to hold on to your proven professional gear. Right, the weight ...
If we ignore the photo examples (not sure whats going on with those) and just look at the specs it looks to me like the 500PF is performing more or less a the level of a "scaled-up" 300PF with the loss of a stop. That should make a lot of folks happy I guess.
Just received confirmation of my order and should receive delivery to Zug/SWITZERLAND tomorrow. Look forward to using it on my upcoming Botswana assignment on the 26th.
Price inc tax was US$3680 (with conversion from CHF)
technic wrote:
Agree, if you have been reading lenstip for some years you know they are a reliable website and one should probably trust their written review more than the first impression from the image samples (hardly any photo website publishes unsharpened images these days). Seems like the VR problem of the 300PF has been cured in the 500PF.
Too bad PF still has a problem dealing with flare/backlighting (more than Canon DO ?) But that's about the only flaw. Also a bit sad that the MFD is limited to 3 meters, probably to keep the weight down; I had hoped for 2-2.5m. Everything else looks great ...Show more →
You may still be better off with the 300PF/1.4TC if you want to shoot dragonflies....that will give you much more MM (0.336x vs 0.18x) as long as the MFD of 1.4m isn't too close....and it will be lighter/smaller....however AF may not be as good as the 500PF....
Heck even the bare 300PF gives 0.24x MM compared to 0.18x on the 500PF...which is just matched when you put 1.4TC on the 500PF (0.25x MM).
Christian H wrote:
Nice review, besides the part that matters, lol. If "fuzzy across the frame" is the best this lens can do, even at impossible to fuck up shutter speeds of 1/500, you may want to hold on to your proven professional gear. Right, the weight ...
Obviously not impossible - as they managed to do it
No question the lens will be fantastically sharp - in the right hands.
Christian H wrote:
What an odd debate. Nikon's never made a telephoto lens that wasn't "sharp." Why would they start making one now?
marc2307 wrote:
Just received confirmation of my order and should receive delivery to Zug/SWITZERLAND tomorrow. Look forward to using it on my upcoming Botswana assignment on the 26th.
Price inc tax was US$3680 (with conversion from CHF)
Cheers
Marc
My dealer in India called earlier today, I should get the lens either tomorrow or the day after. Looking forward to playing with it over the weekend if it does come by then.
Fingers crossed that the Z hype (ie single card outrage )distracted 500PF orders from TheCameraStore...mine went in about 24-36 hrs later than it could have......not hoping for much but who knows....may get lucky.....
'It is also worth noticing that all sample photos are taken with the noise reduction switched off and sharpening set on minimum or low, depending on a given camera, in order to make the comparison between them easier. As most of users don’t set the sharpening so low in their cameras our sample shots might seem weak to them.'
