Rose Robin

[Bear Dale]

Rose Robin

Scientific Name: Petroica rosea

[Roland Vink]

Wow, your bird shots are superb! Lovely colours and soft muted background. You obviously have a long lens and know how to use it well.

[Bear Dale]

Wow, your bird shots are superb! Lovely colours and soft muted background. You obviously have a long lens and know how to use it well.

Thanks Roland, I have the 200-500mm which is sold by Nikon as a budget tele zoom. Its nowhere near the price of a 500mm or 600mm F4, which I lust after!

[armando_m]

Awesome image

You do really, really, well with the 200-500

[Bear Dale]

Awesome image

You do really, really, well with the 200-500

Thank you Armando

[Roland Vink]

Thanks Roland, I have the 200-500mm which is sold by Nikon as a budget tele zoom. Its nowhere near the price of a 500mm or 600mm F4, which I lust after!

Do you find it useful to have a zoom, or do you almost always shoot at 500mm? If so, the 500PF would be worth looking at - it is much more expensive than the 200-500, but considerably cheaper than the 500 and 600 f/4 lenses, and much more portable. It is optically a step up from the 200-500, although your pictures shows the zoom is very good.
I still have my ancient AI 400/5.6 ED (not IF), it is very sharp - when focused properly, difficult for subjects like birds.

[Bear Dale]

Do you find it useful to have a zoom, or do you almost always shoot at 500mm? If so, the 500PF would be worth looking at - it is much more expensive than the 200-500, but considerably cheaper than the 500 and 600 f/4 lenses, and much more portable. It is optically a step up from the 200-500, although your pictures shows the zoom is very good.
I still have my ancient AI 400/5.6 ED (not IF), it is very sharp - when focused properly, difficult for subjects like birds.

G'day Roland, I don't think there's an article on the 500PF that I haven't read, twice

I am so close to ordering one, I do use less than 500mm, but looking through LR, not very often.

[Roland Vink]

Not sure what camera you use, but if you shoot a high-res FX camera, you can "zoom" a little by cropping.
(I'm guessing with small birds you usually want to zoom in rather than out )

A couple more of points on the 200-500 vs 500PF:

The 200-500 focuses to 2.2m, giving 1:4.5 magnification, the 500PF focuses to 3m giving 1:5.5 magnification. Both focus pretty close for this focal length but the zoom obviously does better here. I guess you are usually shooting at much greater distances so this may not be very relevant.

The 500PF is slightly shorter than the zoom @200mm, and significantly shorter than the zoom @500mm, so should be easier to transport and more agile in the field. It's also only 2/3 the weight although if you shoot from a tripod that may not be much of an issue.

All the best with your decision!

[Bear Dale]

Not sure what camera you use, but if you shoot a high-res FX camera, you can "zoom" a little by cropping.
(I'm guessing with small birds you usually want to zoom in rather than out )

A couple more of points on the 200-500 vs 500PF:

The 200-500 focuses to 2.2m, giving 1:4.5 magnification, the 500PF focuses to 3m giving 1:5.5 magnification. Both focus pretty close for this focal length but the zoom obviously does better here. I guess you are usually shooting at much greater distances so this may not be very relevant.

The 500PF is slightly shorter than the zoom @200mm, and significantly shorter than the zoom @500mm, so should be easier to transport and more agile in the field. It's also only 2/3 the weight although if you shoot from a tripod that may not be much of an issue.

All the best with your decision!

Thanks for the information Roland, appreciated.