Thisone?

[maddogmurph]

I asked her what the title should be, and she said, "This one?"

My first day in Alaska ... Shot at f9, 1/400, 220mm ISO64 on the d850

I purchased the 80-400 for this trip to try it out, and while I'm somewhat impressed, it doesn't feel as sharp as my 70-200 F4. It's also heavier. So while I like the extra length, I'm just not sure I see the need to carry more weight in my pack unless I'm really doing wildlife. Even then, my shots of the grizzly bear I took didn't come out as sharp as I wanted. The f5.6 is so high, that I'd really have to jack the ISO to get to the 1/1000 I need for moving bears in cloudy light... I guess I just made a mistake really. Better to have noise and sharp, than motion blur I think now.

So B&W or color?

Md

[thierrylegros396]

B/W is fine but colors add something in the foreground and in the sky.

Thierry

[Paulo Bizarro]

Lovely landscape.

[Peter McLennan]

Your experiences with the 70-200 f4 and the 80-400 precisely mirror mine.  I sold the long zoom after a few weeks.

[Bob_B]

B/W is fine but colors add something in the foreground and in the sky.

Thierry

That's my assessment too. Lovely scene in either case.

[Jeremy Roussak]

The colour adds to the image, but the colour version would probably benefit some of the increased contrast and de-hazing in the central band and sky that you've applied to the B&W.

Jeremy

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I much prefer the B&W, but Jeremy's suggestions for the color one might win me over.

[stamper]

The colour one for me but the B&W is also worthy.

[rgs]

Beautiful scene and a magnificent sky. Alaska rarely disappoints. Having learned B&W years ago with film and Ansel Adams' zone system, I usually do not like digital B&W. Digital B&W far too often just looks like a photograph with the color removed. In this case, I think the B&W processing is better than the color. But I also think that there is much in that color image waiting to be released.

As to the lens, I'm a Canon guy so what I say probably will not relate to Nikon well, but I have been extraordinarily pleased with my Canon EF 70-300L. It is not as heavy or big as the 100-400, but it is sharp, focuses quickly and accurately, and the size fits in my bag without needing any advance planning so it's always with me. It is an f5.6 lens but with a 3-4 stop stabilization, that's not a huge problem. I think this focal length in a top quality lens is sadly lacking in the catalogs of most manufacturers because it may be exactly the compromise you are looking for.