Author Topic: The poor man's 400mm  (Read 7739 times)

jhinkey

  • Just Trying To Do My MF Nikkors Justice
  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 262
  • You ARE NikonGear
Re: The poor man's 400mm
« Reply #15 on: August 10, 2015, 18:07:56 »
I recently bought (on e-Bay) a 400mm/5.6 ED (non-IF, K type) in LN condition. Initially destined for the Df it performs great on the D800 too.
Finally it features a wide and solid tripod mount  ::)
I couldn't be happier.

Excellent find.  If you don't mind me asking, what did you end up paying for one of these?

My second copy that I just got last week was for a ridiculously low price as I don't think that the shop I bought it from had any idea as to what they had on their hands other than "an old manual focus Nikkor"

I paid ~$850 US for my LN copy a few years ago from KEH, which appears to be what KEH wants for the ED-IF version now (which is waaay too much IMHO).

John
PNW Landscapes, My Kids, & Some Climbing

Wally

  • X-Man breaking bad
  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 173
  • You ARE NikonGear
Re: The poor man's 400mm
« Reply #16 on: August 10, 2015, 18:46:09 »
John,
I bought it on eBay from someone who probably didn't know about its value.
Got it for 600.-
Another Austrian Terminator in California

jhinkey

  • Just Trying To Do My MF Nikkors Justice
  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 262
  • You ARE NikonGear
Re: The poor man's 400mm
« Reply #17 on: August 10, 2015, 20:18:00 »
John,
I bought it on eBay from someone who probably didn't know about its value.
Got it for 600.-

That is a quite excellent price!
PNW Landscapes, My Kids, & Some Climbing

David Paterson

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1500
  • Retired, but not tired, photographer
Re: The poor man's 400mm
« Reply #18 on: August 10, 2015, 22:08:31 »
Put a CPU in it and you are on your way to an even happier state :D
Congratulations with your acquisition, by the way. It is a fine performer and I have many happy experiences with this lens for landscape shooting. Not my choice for action photography though, as its focusing throw is very long and slow to work. On the other hand, this also allows for very exact focusing.

I've never chipped a lens - perhaps I'll ask the Great Dane to do it for me if he is in Scotland next year.  ;)

It certainly is slow to focus, and while I have managed a few successful wildlife shots, I've had far more failures. As you say, the 400/5.6 is fine with static subjects.

Bjørn Rørslett

  • Fierce Bear of the North
  • Administrator
  • ***
  • Posts: 8252
  • Oslo, Norway
Re: The poor man's 400mm
« Reply #19 on: August 10, 2015, 22:13:26 »
Erik has expressed a keen interest for visiting Scotland so it's likely he'll be there. The modification should be a breeze for him and done quickly.

Ian R

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 92
  • You ARE NikonGear
Re: The poor man's 400mm
« Reply #20 on: October 06, 2015, 16:59:34 »
I have just purchased the IFED version at a fair price but not a super bargain. I really am needing a 400mm as my current 300mm is not ling enough and the 500mm Mirror lens is not such a good performer as I would like. It sounds like the 400mm is an easy lens to like and I hope that with the live view I will be able to get good focus. Quite excited about this. Can't help but wonder how it would do on one of the Sony A7 bodies with IBIS - probably not that great as the camera has no idea what the lens is but just a thought.