Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Digital Cameras & Shooting Techniques => Topic started by: Chris Calohan on July 13, 2018, 10:33:37 am

Title: Curious as to the new Nikon 500mm f/4 VR Lens
Post by: Chris Calohan on July 13, 2018, 10:33:37 am
I have compared my output images with the Nikkor 200-500 f/5.6 to the 500mm f/4 and for the life of me I cannot see a $9,000 difference especially when you have to add the 1.4 extender to get to 700mm and thus lose that stop. Other than better weatherproofing, I frankly can't see the sense in this purchase because unlike going from a Nikkor to a Zeiss, there just isn't that much of a quality jump.

Anyone else's thoughts on this?
Title: Re: Curious as to the new Nikon 500mm f/4 VR Lens
Post by: Jim Kasson on July 13, 2018, 12:21:12 pm
I have compared my output images with the Nikkor 200-500 f/5.6 to the 500mm f/4 and for the life of me I cannot see a $9,000 difference especially when you have to add the 1.4 extender to get to 700mm and thus lose that stop. Other than better weatherproofing, I frankly can't see the sense in this purchase because unlike going from a Nikkor to a Zeiss, there just isn't that much of a quality jump.

Anyone else's thoughts on this?

Are you talking about the 500 mm f/4E FL ED-IF AF-S VR? If so, that's not a particularly new lens. I believe it was announced a little over three years ago. It may be older than the 200-500 f/5.6. I have one, and it is excellent. If the IQ improvement of the faster prime over the zoom at 500 mm is not important to you, then you should obviously save your money and go with the zoom. The big-iron Nikon lenses tend to focus faster than their less-expensive stablemates, but, unless you are shooting sports or BIF, that is probably unimportant to you.

If there's really a new 500/4, I don't know anything about it.

Jim
Title: Re: Curious as to the new Nikon 500mm f/4 VR Lens
Post by: SrMi on July 13, 2018, 01:30:01 pm
I have compared my output images with the Nikkor 200-500 f/5.6 to the 500mm f/4 and for the life of me I cannot see a $9,000 difference especially when you have to add the 1.4 extender to get to 700mm and thus lose that stop. Other than better weatherproofing, I frankly can't see the sense in this purchase because unlike going from a Nikkor to a Zeiss, there just isn't that much of a quality jump.

Anyone else's thoughts on this?

I had the older, heavier 500/f4 and have the newer, lighter 500/f4 as well as the 200-500. My impression is that in the field 500/f4 yields better results than 200-500, but 200-500 is more flexible. I do not like the results with 1.4 extender on the 200-500.xn
Rumor is that Nikon is working on a 500mm/f5.6 PF lens. If its weight and quality are similar to 300/f4 PF (weight and size scaled accordingly), it will be an interesting alternative to the two mentioned lenses.
Title: Re: Curious as to the new Nikon 500mm f/4 VR Lens
Post by: BernardLanguillier on August 12, 2018, 11:26:51 pm
I had the older, heavier 500/f4 and have the newer, lighter 500/f4 as well as the 200-500. My impression is that in the field 500/f4 yields better results than 200-500, but 200-500 is more flexible. I do not like the results with 1.4 extender on the 200-500.xn
Rumor is that Nikon is working on a 500mm/f5.6 PF lens. If its weight and quality are similar to 300/f4 PF (weight and size scaled accordingly), it will be an interesting alternative to the two mentioned lenses.

Nikon has officially announced the development of the 500mm f5.6 PF.

Cheers,
Bernard
Title: Re: Curious as to the new Nikon 500mm f/4 VR Lens
Post by: Chris Calohan on August 13, 2018, 08:53:14 am
It's already on the market. I have a friend who shoots one and like I said, I cannot see the difference at +$9K that would make it that much better. Could be how he shoots, I guess, but sharpness is sharpness.

500mm lens (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1166858-REG/nikon_af_s_nikkor_500mm_f_4e.html)