Nikon D700/28-300 images from Charro Days, South Texas

[paullgj]

Hi everyone,

I had commented on another post about the 28-300 lens.  Well, it arrived yesterday (2/24/17) and today (2/25/17) was Charro Days here in South Texas.  This is a big cultural event for the city of Brownsville, lots of local politicians from both sides of the Rio Grande were in attendance.  This was my first try with this lens - I don't claim that any of these images are masterpieces.  Just trying to ascertain the characteristics of the lens.  Your comments and suggestions more than welcome.  Shooting conditions were difficult - a blazing tropical sun and lots of crowds - it was hard to get a clean shot.  Omar Lucio is the sheriff on Cameron County, Texas;  Fernando Landeros is "Mr. Amigo" for Charro Days, Jesus de la Garza is the mayor of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Luis Saenz is the Cameron County, Texas district attorney.

Thanks.

Gene Paull, Brownsville, Texas

[tommiejeep]

Hi G.P., I like the images.  Love candids of folk  .   Never used the lens but loved my D700 for people images.  I have many great memories of  Matamoros (particularly after some not so pleasant days in Ciudad Victoria.  Almost did not make it into Mexico that trip.  I did not carry my passport, only my California Drivers Licence .  I never carried a passport for Mexico in my dozens of trips across the border.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Good examples of the versatility of a zoom lens

The mage quality of the 28-300 is really good until one gets close to the longest end. Its VR works well, too.

[Thomas G]

Good examples of the versatility of a zoom lens

The mage quality of the 28-300 is really good until one gets close to the longest end. Its VR works well, too.

These captures here were all taken at less than 200mm. What would be considered the close to 300mm threshold for quality then?

[Bjørn Rørslett]

As per my field notes, image quality dropped quite a bit from  the 200 to 300 mm setting. I did shoot it at 300 mm with the D800 once and twice and the reduced quality is quite apparent.  However, for IR work it did well on my D200, D40X, and even the D5300 on occasion, also when stretched towards the longer focal range.

The 28-300 is mainly a lens for hand-held work as it lacks a tripod mount on its own and does become quite "elongated" towards 300 mm, As the VR functions quite well, for a change, I had little problems shooting down towards 1/15 sec in IR.

[Thomas G]

As per my field notes, image quality dropped quite a bit from  the 200 to 300 mm setting. I did shoot it at 300 mm with the D800 once and twice and the reduced quality is quite apparent.  However, for IR work it did well on my D200, D40X, and even the D5300 on occasion, also when stretched towards the longer focal range.

The 28-300 is mainly a lens for hand-held work as it lacks a tripod mount on its own and does become quite "elongated" towards 300 mm, As the VR functions quite well, for a change, I had little problems shooting down towards 1/15 sec in IR.

Thanks, Bjørn.

[paullgj]

Hi G.P., I like the images.  Love candids of folk  .   Never used the lens but loved my D700 for people images.  I have many great memories of  Matamoros (particularly after some not so pleasant days in Ciudad Victoria.  Almost did not make it into Mexico that trip.  I did not carry my passport, only my California Drivers Licence .  I never carried a passport for Mexico in my dozens of trips across the border.

Hi Tommiejeep,

Thanks for the kind comments.  Things are quite different these days in Tamaulipas.  I used to travel once a week down to the mountains in the southern part of the state.  Not any longer.  Road travel is very iffy between Matamoros and Cd. Victoria.  Things have not settled down since the drug wars of 2010-2011.  I may consider some bus travel there later this year when the rainy season starts.  D700 is still my main and was evaluating the 28-300 as a single lens for backcountry travel.

Gene

[paullgj]

Good examples of the versatility of a zoom lens

The mage quality of the 28-300 is really good until one gets close to the longest end. Its VR works well, too.

Thanks Bjorn.  Definitely considering purchase of this lens (current copy was rented) for a one lens solution for backcountry travel in Latin America.  May have to supplement it with a wide angle (16-35 or 18-35) but for the most part, it looks like it will replace my "bag of primes" for travel.

[MFloyd]

As per my field notes, image quality dropped quite a bit from  the 200 to 300 mm setting. I did shoot it at 300 mm with the D800 once and twice and the reduced quality is quite apparent.  However, for IR work it did well on my D200, D40X, and even the D5300 on occasion, also when stretched towards the longer focal range.

The 28-300 is mainly a lens for hand-held work as it lacks a tripod mount on its own and does become quite "elongated" towards 300 mm, As the VR functions quite well, for a change, I had little problems shooting down towards 1/15 sec in IR.

I looked also into my notes / database; and I didn't notice a drop in sharpness towards 300mm; but I heard there are 3 or 4 (internal) versions of the 28-300mm; may be I inherited a better version. To illustrate my point, I have added a picture taken at 300mm http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,3741.30.html

[Ilkka Nissilä]

I looked also into my notes / database; and I didn't notice a drop in sharpness towards 300mm; but I heard there are 3 or 4 (internal) versions of the 28-300mm; may be I inherited a better version.

I guess one part of the zoom range can be better in one copy than another copy, and vice versa, even within a given version of a lens. Or it can be that one lens is a bit sharper on one side etc. Lensrental blogs discusses this:

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2017/02/things-you-didnt-want-to-know-about-zoom-lenses/

The jet colormap really does make the differences seem like they were big but it's not a good colormap to use for this as it imposes its own artificial boundaries between colors, and makes some differences seem larger than others just depending on which part on the scale the values lie.

If 70-200/2.8's are like this, then it would not be surprising that there are some differences between less expensive lenses also. The 28-105 AF D which I used to have has a major softness issue at 85-105mm; it was noticeable on 35mm film but on modern digital it is rather startling. However, in its day it was regarded quite good, apart from the long end of the range which was seen as a bit soft wide open. I have read a few others find the lens fine at 105mm though.  The 24-120/4 AF-S is quite a lot sharper at its long end than the 28-105 which I had but has a lot more distortion at the wide angle end of the range.

[Ron Scubadiver]

Texas, yay!

[MFloyd]

Illka, thank you for the article of Roger Cicala.

[Pistnbroke]

My standard wedding lens at F8