Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR

[Vilhelm]

Roland Vink's site says about 370 have been manufactured but the number should be more (at least 1,600 copies by now), mine is 2016xx (2014) so that one guy in Sendai busy with assembling them seems to complete them at about a pace of 1 per day 

Given the price and (more importantly) focal length, this isn't a lens that will appeal to large numbers. Those who do invest in it will however notice that it delivers quality in all areas, most importantly detail and reach. This is a perfect lens for shy animals or any other situation where physical reach is mandatory to get interesting frames. The field-flattening effect of 800mm is wild, and even 400mm veterans need some time to learn to use it for compositions. Naturally, it blurs just about everything behind the point of focus. I have not used it for sports, as I have had no interest to enter that market - the focusing speed should however easily match the requirements of motorsports or fast-paced players. This isn't a very practical lens, but for birdlife it is very interesting. I spent some time during my short summer vacation photographing birds with it and it certainly allows a less experienced "bird sneaker" like me to approach subjects to interesting distances.

The square crop bear faces are from May 2013, when I was trying out the lens for the first time. I am not an experienced wildlife photographer, as a matter of fact those photos are from my first encounter with bears in the wild. The last photo (mosquito in front of bear face) is a 100% crop of the 2nd last photo.

EXIF:

46697 - D4 800mm f/5.6 1/640s ISO 12,800
47902 - D4 800mm  f/5.6 1/640s ISO 3,200
47908 - D4 800mm  f/5.6 1/1600s ISO 3,200
48227 - D4 800mm  f/5.6 1/400s ISO 450
48486 - D4 800mm  f/5.6 1/160s ISO 12,800
46919 - D4 800mm  f/5.6 1/200s ISO 3,600
48216 - D4 800mm  f/5.6 1/400s ISO 5,000
48551 - D4 800mm  f/6.3 1/400s ISO 10,000
48641 - D4 800mm  f/6.3 1/320s ISO 12,800
48641B - 100% crop of the previous (48641)

Some 800 + TC photos to come...

[Øivind Tøien]

Those are really nice, and in particular the last three. Love the inclusion of the mosquito and the expression of that cub playing!

[Bjørn Rørslett]

The last bear portrait, the one with the mosquito, is superb. No wonder that beast soon would be joining the ranks of Fierce Bears of the North. Those mosquitos can drive even placid bears into a frenzied rage.

You obviously have been up at Lassi Rautianen's place in Finland?

[Vilhelm]

Oops I am sorry, I forgot to mention the location: these are from May 2013 and Martinselkonen, in Kuhmo, Finland
http://www.martinselkonen.fi/index.php?id=1&la=en

Thank you all, very kind of you! I really plan on returning to Martinselkonen and May 2016 is in my plans, sporting a D4S and D5 paired with the 400/2.8G VR and the 800/5.6E. Most of the interesting photos I got were with the 400/2.8 or 800mm though I carried (sigh) the 200/2 and 300/2.8 as well through the terrain to the hide.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Are there wolves and wolverines at that place too?

Returning to the 800 lens, I was amazed at its superb optical performance and deeply annoyed by the inadequate tripod mounting arrangement. When a lens sells for the equivalent of a small car, the maker surely could improve the handling by providing decent tripod mounting.

[Vilhelm]

I don't know, I am a total noob when it comes to photographing wolves... I think you should mail them and ask. The owner of the place is a retired frontier guard, they have a really really big nature reserve there which has been calmed down for 20+ years, the geotope is appealing to bears with cubs (lots of protective surroundings) and I counted 7 different bears + the cubs during my 48 hours there in May 2013

[Vilhelm]

The following ones are taken with the 800m and the dedicated TC-800-1.25E teleconverter. None are cropped, all framed as shot and downsized to max 1200x800px

EXIF
47055 - D4 1000mm f/7.1 1/250s ISO 7,200
47110 - D4 1000mm f/7.1 1/250s ISO 4,000
47260 - D4 1000mm f/7.1 1/500s ISO 2,200
47303 - D4 1000mm f/7.1 1/500s ISO 12,800
47490 - D4 1000mm f/7.1 1/500s ISO 1,600
47657 - D4 1000mm f/7.1 1/1000s ISO 2,800
48106 - D4 1000mm f/7.1 1/640s ISO 12,800
48293 - D4 1000mm f/7.1 1/500s ISO 10,000

[Tristin]

#8 in the first set is a fun image.  The last of the first set and the first of the last set are both excellent, the the former is top notch.

Bjorn, with tripod collars being a consistent complaint of yours with long Nikkors, how has Nikon explained this consistent sub-performance to you? I'm assuming you've brought it to their attention.  Designing and manufacturing the collar for such expensive lenses seems to me the easiest and least expensive part of the process, no?  Over-engineer it a fair bit and call it a day.  Strikes me as a bizarre detail to consistently fall short on.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

I think the reason simply is these lenses are designed with sports' photographers in mind. They need a carrying handle hauling those long stove pipes around the field. Plus they frequently shoot wide open at the fastest possible shutter speed with the lens attached to a monopod.

As a nature photographer, I shy away from floodlit arenas and seek the low transitional light and landscapes. Then, living in a Nordic country, long exposures are the rule not the exception. I find myself shooting 800-1200 mm lenses at 1/15 sec or slower all the time. Not anything pleasant if the lens has a poor tripod mount. No matter how hard you try to lock the lens down, the image "swims" all around if the tripod foot is inadequate.

Be certain I have mentioned this to Nikon over and over again. But apparently to little or no avail.

[Tristin]

Yeesh.  I can imagine, but would prefer not too!

[Bjørn Rørslett]

One has to make do with whatever conditions prevail. Using a heavy-duty Fluid head and a Sachtler ENG2 HD series tripod helps make even the 800/5.6 E VR behave - to the extent allowed by the weak tripod foot.

Read also this thread http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,6.0.html for additional information and examples.

[Frank Fremerey]

48551 ... s playful!!!

the little ones are supercute. Hope bears will be reintroduced into many more places worldwide
they play a very important role in managing forest ecosystems esp. In conjunction with beavers
and migratory fish species .... salmons combined with bears are natures way to deliver important
minerals from the sea to the forest!

[Erik Lund]

Very nice set of images indeed!!!

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Excellent images, rarely can one see such personal images of bears, you can "feel" the bear as it were a person, with slight melancholy perhaps in expression (fit for Finnish Bears ;-))

The fur detail is great.

I think Nikon designs the collars of their supertelephoto lenses for use with fast to moderately fast shutter speeds. I noticed when comparing the Nikon and Kirk collars for the 200-500 that the original was better at moderately fast speeds and the Kirk was better at slow speeds. The effect was reproducible. I preferred the Kirk collar because I want to make landscape images in the dim but beautiful light of the North but I can see why Nikon would optimize only for speeds starting from about 1/100s to higher speeds since any moving subject would be blurred at 1/15s or 1/25s and most people buy supertelephoto lenses to photograph action. Nonetheless I was not completely happy with the reproducibility of real world  results from the 200-500mm even with the Kirk collar, vertical images with the lens mounted on tripod would vary in sharpness at slow shutter speeds, even with EFCS in use. This may be partly due to my tripod head but at the moment I'm not willing to invest in a heavier head for the reason that I need to be able to move about and try to avoid damaging myself by carrying overly heavy equipment.

The supertelephoto landscape photographer is a bit like a refugee, searching for a safe heaven. 

[Bjørn Rørslett]

I posted comparison images taken at 1/3 sec with or without VR active for the 800 here: http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,6.msg4834.html#msg4834

The tripod collar is so pliant that VR had to be ON for  the image to be reasonably sharp. Yet it is hard to extract the full potential of the 800 in such a scenario - even with tripod support many times more capable than usually brought to service for this lens.

I have shot much longer lenses with the same setup and shutter speed and gotten far better results.