After Two Weeks With The New Nikon 500 f/4E, FL, ED, VR Lens

[Nancy Elwood]

Hello to all.  I was fortunate to sell my Nikon 500 f/4 AF-SII, non VR lens shortly after putting it on the market, although it was a great tool for many years, for when Nikon came out with the new FL, lighter 500, I really wanted to update!  I have had the new 500 only for the past few weeks, and it is an incredible piece of kit.  One of the first times out with it, I tried it with and without the Nikon 1.4E III TC, and mostly handholding it.  The weight is of course the biggest difference, plus the balance, excellent for those times you would like to handhold.  This image, which is a 100% crop of a green heron, is with the TC attached to my D810, iso 1600, 1/640, f/8, handheld.  I use a 3 sharpening setting in camera, but no further sharpening was done to this image. Post processed in NX-D. I have also found due to the decrease weight to be able to get a lighter tripod and use a ballhead, instead of my Wimberly head, mostly when travelling by airline and such.  I am in love for sure  !!!

[elsa hoffmann]

Seriously impressive for a 100% crop.

I agree on the travelling thing - the lighter one can travel - the better. I doesn make a huge difference if one doesnt have to schlep the whole lot with.

[John Geerts]

Very impressive detail, indeed.

[Mike G]

Nancy superb, but spoiled by your intrusive copyright legend!

[Peter Forsell]

Nancy superb, but spoiled by your intrusive copyright legend!

The legend could be twice as big and it still wouldn't prevent us from seeing the feather detail, which is impressive, for a 100 % crop of a 700 mm shot.

[bobfriedman]

nice green heron.. i have never had my D810/500VR combo on a tripod..  (except for focus tuning)

i am seriously jealous on your acquiring the new 500FL

[HCS]

Impressive shot for sure. It also seems from this crop the new 500 works well with the 1.4TC.

I'm also not so fond of the copy right mark, but i understand why someone would do that. On the other hand, i've seen evidence on some other forum (forget which one) that such a mark is easily removed without as much as a visual trace.

Welcome to our little corner on the web!

[Nancy Elwood]

Unfortunately I have had my images stolen and put on other websites, cropping off the copyright mark, when I put it in the corners.  I am afraid, it is just habit to put it that way, just to make it more difficult I suppose. 

Thanks for the welcome!  And yes, the TC definitely works better with this setup both in AF speed and clarity.  Not sure it is because of the TC itself, or just the overall newer technology, using electrical connections instead of mechanical, plus fluorite glass, etc.

[elsa hoffmann]

Nancy - the watermark doesnt worry me - I just look right through it. I think my mind works that way - i accept what needs to be done and just "see" past it.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Interesting to see what the new lens offers. Image quality obviously is excellent. Unfortunately my own review has been delayed due to circumstances partly out of my control. But awaiting my review sample.

By the way, electric instead of mechanic contacts will do very little if anything to the optical quality of a lens ... perhaps the actual aperture stopping down is more accurate at high speed sequences, but nothing more than would be achieved were the lens to have an aperture ring and that used to set the shooting aperture. Sometimes one goes a long way in order to return to the original position.

[Mike G]

Nancy, I'm sorry to hear that your photos were stolen by some despicable ne'er do well, I hope you got some redress. However for me the logo is too prominent perhaps a more opaque version might be better!

[Bill De Jager]

Seriously impressive for a 100% crop.

I agree.  And I'm not bothered by the watermark, which is there for a good reason as Nancy explained.