MedicineMan404 wrote:
WEbmstrk9 I didn't try without TC so no reference.
And it is crap crap crap light outside.
Yes Dennis a crop, 30 percent at most. Really just eliminated the perch, it was cluttered.
I will say I'm envious of those who'd not put a TC on a slow lens like this, or wouldn't shoot below
ISO 1000 with a cropper. If I lived those limitations here in cloudland I might as well stay on the couch
________
Well, with a TC on the 300 PF you'll also get down to f5.6, but both the 300 and 500 sizes are sweet. You can't go wrong with either.
The universe is toying with me. My card was charged on Friday and I was told my lens would arrive today. However this morning my order still says “processing”. I just watched the Big Brown Truck stop in front of my house, stay there 2 minutes, and then drive off again without the driver even getting out. Argh!
ELinder wrote:
I just watched the Big Brown Truck stop in front of my house, stay there 2 minutes, and then drive off again without the driver even getting out. Argh!
You're not gonna like this, but I had the driver re-routed to my house.
Experimented today with 1.7TCii, the 500PF, a D500.
Twice the D500 locked up where on/off wouldn't work.
Had to do a battery pull.
Sounded like the mirror jammed.
Put on the 1.4TCiii and fired off 50 shots without problem.
Not to rub salt into wounds, but my lens arrived yesterday. I will not get to shoot it in a serious manner until the weekend, but I did slap it on a body and grabbed a few shots of cattails (the plant) and my parrot. It is rainy here so I was shooting at iso 1600-3200 for my test shots.
My initial observations are as follows...
1: The lens feels like a larger version of the 300mm pf.
2: It is noticeable smaller and lighter in the hand than the 200-500VR... and looks more like 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII than a 500mm lens when compared to my large and relatively heavy 200-400mm f/4.
3: Mounted to my D500, the AF is snappy and locks on to subjects even in very low light.
4: The few pictures I have taken are sharp sharp and more contrasty than the 200-500 @ 500mm f/5.6.
5: It does not appear that you will need to stop down to increase sharpness... stop down for depth of field decisions rather than fear of unsharp pictures.
6: The lens feels downright petite in the hands... I am amazed by the "miniaturization" that Nikon has done here.
7: The lens is built well... a step up from the 300mmPF (which is built nicely) but a step down from the 70-200mm f/2.8E and Nikkor super-teles... the fit and finish of the "premium optics" is a step above (based on my comparison with the 200-400 and past experiences (ownership) of 300mm f2.8's
I ordered a blemished replacement foot from Kirk to maintain the compact profile and hope to give the lens a workout Saturday morning.
OwlsEyes wrote:
Not to rub salt into wounds, but my lens arrived yesterday. I will not get to shoot it in a serious manner until the weekend, but I did slap it on a body and grabbed a few shots of cattails (the plant) and my parrot. It is rainy here so I was shooting at iso 1600-3200 for my test shots.
My initial observations are as follows...
1: The lens feels like a larger version of the 300mm pf.
2: It is noticeable smaller and lighter in the hand than the 200-500VR... and looks more like 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII than a 500mm lens when compared to my large and relatively heavy 200-400mm f/4.
3: Mounted to my D500, the AF is snappy and locks on to subjects even in very low light.
4: The few pictures I have taken are sharp sharp and more contrasty than the 200-500 @ 500mm f/5.6.
5: It does not appear that you will need to stop down to increase sharpness... stop down for depth of field decisions rather than fear of unsharp pictures.
6: The lens feels downright petite in the hands... I am amazed by the "miniaturization" that Nikon has done here.
7: The lens is built well... a step up from the 300mmPF (which is built nicely) but a step down from the 70-200mm f/2.8E and Nikkor super-teles... the fit and finish of the "premium optics" is a step above (based on my comparison with the 200-400 and past experiences (ownership) of 300mm f2.8's
I ordered a blemished replacement foot from Kirk to maintain the compact profile and hope to give the lens a workout Saturday morning.
Now, if you really want to give it a workout you can bring it over to Woodbury, and I'll take it up to Brainerd Friday to shoot snowmobiles racing on water and motorcycles on the short Brainerd road course. I promise to bring it back if it doesn't work well.
henry albert wrote:
Now, if you really want to give it a workout you can bring it over to Woodbury, and I'll take it up to Brainerd Friday to shoot snowmobiles racing on water and motorcycles on the short Brainerd road course. I promise to bring it back if it doesn't work well.
OwlsEyes wrote:
Not to rub salt into wounds, but my lens arrived yesterday. I will not get to shoot it in a serious manner until the weekend, but I did slap it on a body and grabbed a few shots of cattails (the plant) and my parrot. It is rainy here so I was shooting at iso 1600-3200 for my test shots.
My initial observations are as follows...
1: The lens feels like a larger version of the 300mm pf.
2: It is noticeable smaller and lighter in the hand than the 200-500VR... and looks more like 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII than a 500mm lens when compared to my large and relatively heavy 200-400mm f/4.
3: Mounted to my D500, the AF is snappy and locks on to subjects even in very low light.
4: The few pictures I have taken are sharp sharp and more contrasty than the 200-500 @ 500mm f/5.6.
5: It does not appear that you will need to stop down to increase sharpness... stop down for depth of field decisions rather than fear of unsharp pictures.
6: The lens feels downright petite in the hands... I am amazed by the "miniaturization" that Nikon has done here.
7: The lens is built well... a step up from the 300mmPF (which is built nicely) but a step down from the 70-200mm f/2.8E and Nikkor super-teles... the fit and finish of the "premium optics" is a step above (based on my comparison with the 200-400 and past experiences (ownership) of 300mm f2.8's
I ordered a blemished replacement foot from Kirk to maintain the compact profile and hope to give the lens a workout Saturday morning.
apertur3 wrote:
How is the VR? Specifically at the shutter speeds where the 300PF had the "VR problem", around 1/80 - 1/160?
I have not used it long enough to pass judgement. I don't want to be misleading, but will definitely chime in when I have taken some "real" pics that reflect what the lens can and cannot do.
OwlsEyes wrote:
I have not used it long enough to pass judgement. I don't want to be misleading, but will definitely chime in when I have taken some "real" pics that reflect what the lens can and cannot do.
Thanks. I will have mine tomorrow, so I'll know by then. It was clear right off the bat that the 300PF had a VR problem on my D7200. I saw a few samples from Lance B. at around 1/00, and didn't see any problems. The 300PF had obvious blurring due to VR.
apertur3 wrote:
Thanks. I will have mine tomorrow, so I'll know by then. It was clear right off the bat that the 300PF had a VR problem on my D7200. I saw a few samples from Lance B. at around 1/00, and didn't see any problems. The 300PF had obvious blurring due to VR.
Never had any slow -/+100s, S/S H/H VR 0n issues with my 300PF, (on D5, D850, D810, D500 either gripped/ungripped) but don't have the 7200.
I can say also my 500PF is perfectly capable of producing sharp handheld images on all of my 4 bodies at +/-1/100s for the D5, D850 (gripped & ungripped), D500 (gripped & ungripped) and D810 (gripped & ungripped)
arbitrage wrote:
The Canadian supply news continues to get worse and worse...multiple stores have now confirmed to me today that they got next to no lenses in....Nikon seriously screwed up demand forecasts according to all the stores I talked with. I'm working with some of my long-term stores to try and secure a lens sooner than later but I'm not optimistic.....hopefully Nikon will shift some supply into Canada to meet demand in the next batch (whenever that is...no one knew)....
Keep posting nice photos.....eerrrrr....wait....uhhh....maybe not...just tell me the lens sucks....
This is making me sad! I'm in BC as well and I've also been in email contact with BJ Photo in Markham (they got me my D850 when no one else had one). Thus far in my dealings with BJ Photo it is sometimes difficult getting specific questions answered via email so I recommend calling them if you need an answer to a questions.
I sent in my initial inquiry Aug 28th and they responded the same day and said they expect a shipment very soon but did not answer my question on pricing.
I sent them follow up emails on September 2nd and 12th asking for their confirmed price on the lens and finally received a response on the 13th saying they'd get back to me with a price which they did on the 14th.
They have stated from the start that they have a fair number on order but have no idea how many Nikon will allot to them but they think it will be a good percentage of their order. On Aug 28th they also stated that they expected their shipment to arrive from Nikon "very soon" but as of the 14th they still weren't sure and on the 15th told me they'd update me once they knew more.
Don't take this to mean that I think BJ Photo is doing anything wrong. This is just my experience and probably similar to everyone in Canada by the sounds of it. It must be pretty frustrating as a retailer to deal with this type of stuff from Nikon over and over again for every major product that is released.
apertur3 wrote:
Thanks. I will have mine tomorrow, so I'll know by then. It was clear right off the bat that the 300PF had a VR problem on my D7200. I saw a few samples from Lance B. at around 1/00, and didn't see any problems. The 300PF had obvious blurring due to VR.
Glad to hear others are getting there lenses this week... I feel bad for our Canadian brothers and sisters who seem to be left in the dark with the September shipments... weird how they could always get D850's be we can't, while the US seems to be receiving their pre-orders of the 500's... anyway, back to the point.
As I look at YouTube and various blogs, so many people are pushing to be the first to publish their opinions about the lens to drive traffic to their respective sites. This crazed behavior to show their new lens/camera with their sub-par images only serves to fuel the perception that company X or Y has failed to deliver when it comes to quality or qc, when the reality is likely more nuanced or different. The madness of being first means that the lens or camera is not being thoroughly evaluated in a variety of shooting conditions and in "appropriate" subjects for the focal length, etc... It is for this reason that I don't want to weigh in on a verdict with respect to VR or image quality...
For the record, the VR on my 300mmPF was inconsistent and varied from body to body. I think some of this might be alleviated by technique but I just keep VR off when I use the lens with my D810s, but use it when I shoot with my D500s.
xGumbyx wrote:
This is making me sad! I'm in BC as well and I've also been in email contact with BJ Photo in Markham (they got me my D850 when no one else had one). Thus far in my dealings with BJ Photo it is sometimes difficult getting specific questions answered via email so I recommend calling them if you need an answer to a questions.
I sent in my initial inquiry Aug 28th and they responded the same day and said they expect a shipment very soon but did not answer my question on pricing.
I sent them follow up emails on September 2nd and 12th asking for their confirmed price on the lens and finally received a response on the 13th saying they'd get back to me with a price which they did on the 14th.
They have stated from the start that they have a fair number on order but have no idea how many Nikon will allot to them but they think it will be a good percentage of their order. On Aug 28th they also stated that they expected their shipment to arrive from Nikon "very soon" but as of the 14th they still weren't sure and on the 15th told me they'd update me once they knew more.
Don't take this to mean that I think BJ Photo is doing anything wrong. This is just my experience and probably similar to everyone in Canada by the sounds of it. It must be pretty frustrating as a retailer to deal with this type of stuff from Nikon over and over again for every major product that is released....Show more →
I just want to make a little correction here, BJ photo is actually located in Waterloo, Ontario.
It's a small family operated store, more like old fashion stores, so rather give them a phone call.
E-mail works, but it's not answered promptly, as you would think. Their website doesn't reflect stock status either.
They do have good ties with Nikon and Fuji, and they usually get new products quicker than the others, even bigger retailers.
I know this for the fact, I live 10min drive from that store, and I know people in there.
Unfortunately, this lens is out of my reach at the moment, but I'm dreaming about it, hopefully one day...
