The GetDPI Photography Forum
Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!
It's heeeree!
- Thread starter Jack
- Start date
Congrats, Jack!
I am very pumped about this lens. The price: Performance ratio is phenomenal and the sample images look quite stunning. Nikon has really done a good job with this lens and at this price, it is definitely worth considering over similar options from Sigma and Tamron.
Can't wait to see your review.
I am very pumped about this lens. The price: Performance ratio is phenomenal and the sample images look quite stunning. Nikon has really done a good job with this lens and at this price, it is definitely worth considering over similar options from Sigma and Tamron.
Can't wait to see your review.
Initial feedback after only mounting and focus adjusting, and shooting it wide open hand-held: Wow!
Required zero focus adjust on my D810 at either end of zoom range close or far, ALL were zero! It is surprisinly good -- actually excellent -- at both ends optically using 100% review on cam, will need to open them up in raw to confirm, but I am 99% certain it's way better than I expected! Oh, attatched my TC14-III, giving me a 280-700 f8 zoom, as good as lens alone at 280, and still remarkable at 700 wide open hand-held!!!
Will try and post some initial crops this evening. Stay tuned for more!
Required zero focus adjust on my D810 at either end of zoom range close or far, ALL were zero! It is surprisinly good -- actually excellent -- at both ends optically using 100% review on cam, will need to open them up in raw to confirm, but I am 99% certain it's way better than I expected! Oh, attatched my TC14-III, giving me a 280-700 f8 zoom, as good as lens alone at 280, and still remarkable at 700 wide open hand-held!!!
Will try and post some initial crops this evening. Stay tuned for more!
k-hawinkler
Well-known member
Congrats Jack. Images please. TIA.
Guy Mancuso
Administrator, Instructor
Why does a beach on a hot summer day become my first thought. Have fun bud.
Actually, it's quite compact and lightweight for the range it covers! It is just a skosh bigger and heavier than the 80-400/4.5-5.6 lens, and fits easily in my regular backpack bag. I don't do sports per se and got it primarily for occasional wildlife or long portraiture/fashion -- it's an all-in-one I think will serve admirably in those rolls. It's not a fast Nikkor 400, 500 or 600 prime, but it's darn good, and doubly (or triple!) so at this price point!That's quite the bazooka, Jack! Are you going into the sports photography arena?
Looked it up ... only $1400 too. If it performs well, that's quite a piece for that money.
G
Okay, these are not meant for anything except showing you initial performance! Both are hand-held, wide-open with VR Normal ON, electric feed pole is about 200 feet distant, processed in C1 at my normal D810 settings, nothing special done.
First full frame at 500mm f5.6, 1/2000 w/autoISO @ 1600, then a crop of where I focused:
DOF is so shallow, I focused on the base and the insulator in front is going oof --
~~~
Now with TC14E-III at 700mm f8, 1/2000 w/autoISO @ 3200, followed by a crop:
This one focused a hair closer than the other, but prolly as close as it gets without going to LV and manual focus. Obviously the TC costs a little resolution, but still pretty darn good IMHO for a hand-held 700mm capture!
First full frame at 500mm f5.6, 1/2000 w/autoISO @ 1600, then a crop of where I focused:
DOF is so shallow, I focused on the base and the insulator in front is going oof --
~~~
Now with TC14E-III at 700mm f8, 1/2000 w/autoISO @ 3200, followed by a crop:
This one focused a hair closer than the other, but prolly as close as it gets without going to LV and manual focus. Obviously the TC costs a little resolution, but still pretty darn good IMHO for a hand-held 700mm capture!
Some general comments:
Focus: Fast in good light. In low-contrast it does an interesting thing -- it doesn't hunt per se, but rather slows down like it's gone into a fine or accurate AF mode(!) I have not read the manual, but I suspect there is something in the onboard electronics that activates a signal to the D810 when there is low contrast. Need to explore this more, but it work amazingly well! Oh, and it focuses pretty close too!
Size: It's larger and heavier than a 70-200/2.8 or 80-400/5.6-6.3, but not by much and still fits in my ThinkTank Airport UL backpack -- in fact, the size and weight are probably not enough to worry about over either of the other zooms if you want or need 500mm.
Build: Quality is excellent, comes with nice reversable hood and cloth lens bag that can actually stay on the lens when you stick it in a backpack.
Price: I simply can't believe one can get this high of build quality and optical performance at this price...
Okay, need to shoot more, stay tuned.
PS: Mark, hopefully you will chime in with your initial impressions after you gets yours tomorrow!
Focus: Fast in good light. In low-contrast it does an interesting thing -- it doesn't hunt per se, but rather slows down like it's gone into a fine or accurate AF mode(!) I have not read the manual, but I suspect there is something in the onboard electronics that activates a signal to the D810 when there is low contrast. Need to explore this more, but it work amazingly well! Oh, and it focuses pretty close too!
Size: It's larger and heavier than a 70-200/2.8 or 80-400/5.6-6.3, but not by much and still fits in my ThinkTank Airport UL backpack -- in fact, the size and weight are probably not enough to worry about over either of the other zooms if you want or need 500mm.
Build: Quality is excellent, comes with nice reversable hood and cloth lens bag that can actually stay on the lens when you stick it in a backpack.
Price: I simply can't believe one can get this high of build quality and optical performance at this price...
Okay, need to shoot more, stay tuned.
PS: Mark, hopefully you will chime in with your initial impressions after you gets yours tomorrow!
Okay, these are not meant for anything except showing you initial performance! Both are hand-held, wide-open with VR Normal ON, electric feed pole is about 200 feet distant, processed in C1 at my normal D810 settings, nothing special done.
First full frame at 500mm f5.6, 1/2000 w/autoISO @ 1600, then a crop of where I focused:
DOF is so shallow, I focused on the base and the insulator in front is going oof --
~~~
Now with TC14E-III at 700mm f8, 1/2000 w/autoISO @ 3200, followed by a crop:
This one focused a hair closer than the other, but prolly as close as it gets without going to LV and manual focus. Obviously the TC costs a little resolution, but still pretty darn good IMHO for a hand-held 700mm capture!
Oh thanks Jack...
Another lens I need to get...:ROTFL:
Bob
The Smoking Camera
New member
I like it. Just placed an order.
No real idea other than a guess it's probably a lot easier to design and build a 200-500 or 2.5:1 zoom-range fixed 5.6 lens than it is to build an 80-400 or 5:1 zoom-range lens even with variable aperture -- ? Not going to complain though -- this lens is an absolute bargain for anybody wanting a do-it-all long zoom!
Agree - no complaints. Enjoy!
Jack and all
I got mine today but the rubber gasket at the rear lens was broken. I am getting a replacement on Monday. I took a few shots and impressed. it is a bit heavy to handhold over time. I can try to post some images this weekend. However, I also got the new 300mm/4 and that is a killer lens. So small and light and very sharp.
I got mine today but the rubber gasket at the rear lens was broken. I am getting a replacement on Monday. I took a few shots and impressed. it is a bit heavy to handhold over time. I can try to post some images this weekend. However, I also got the new 300mm/4 and that is a killer lens. So small and light and very sharp.
V
Vivek
Guest
For the price, it is OK, I suppose.
Jack, Looking forward to more samples.
Jack, Looking forward to more samples.