AF-S 300mm f/4.0 PF field experience

[Frank Fremerey]

I need a new doctor to get rid of the cortisone.

Then I can do more sports without risking my bones.

[Andy]

As Frank and other said, it is so small and convenient, mixed with good performance, that there is no need to think about: Shall I take it with me, or not?

Some images from the last weekend in May. Original D5 images, no processing, just resized. All handheld

rgds,
Andy

[aerobat]

Fantastic images Andy. Many thanks for all the good advice guys.

I broke down and bought it today. 

Had to try it tonight but it was already getting dark. So had to use flash.

First try at a bird from my window with D750; F 4.0; 1/200s; ISO1250:

[Harald]

Good choice. And nice shot.

Harald

[tommiejeep]

Daniel, nice. I am wishing you some good light 
Andy , really interesting images.  I bet you can really have some fun doing the PP.   The kind of events I would like to cover.  Closest I get is the Annual Great Escape where 4W drives go cross country in the foothills in the Monsoon.  Dirty, wet and hard to shoot.  Next time I think I will try and ride with the big, all wheel drive tow truck 

Smartphones rule, did you see any other cameras 

[Andy]

Andy , really interesting images.  I bet you can really have some fun doing the PP.   The kind of events I would like to cover.  Closest I get is the Annual Great Escape where 4W drives go cross country in the foothills in the Monsoon.  Dirty, wet and hard to shoot.  Next time I think I will try and ride with the big, all wheel drive tow truck 
Smartphones rule, did you see any other cameras 

Thank you.
PP is super easy with the D5. I ran a batch program in NX-D and resized all images down to 1500x1000. PP done

I could get close to the action, but the thread was about the 300mm PF lens, so I chose those picturse from a distance
BTW, the D5 is a great camera for those kind of events. out 1500 photos, about 10 images are misses, the rest are (technically) keepers. Is a good ratio (for me).

rgds, Andy

Closer to the action - a few examples below (as always, no PP, no crop, just resized)

[Frank Fremerey]

I can only say the lens is superb. I use it on the D500 and all misses are due to my lack of knowledge.

Action and birds are a completely new field for me. Steep learning curve.

[ColinM]

Damn it, for each post here the resale value of my four year old 300mm AFS goes down..... 

Meanwhile thanks for the great selection of varied subjects Andy.
I'm intrigued about the shot with lots of big earthmoving trucks - was that another off-roading sports event (real monster trucks!) or just taken at an industrial site?!

[aerobat]

Andy if I may: helis and prop driven aircraft look better if the blades move a part circle. So shutter speed of 1/250s for prop A/C and even slower for helis is appropriate.

[aerobat]

Again not much time was left to try the lens tonight.
This one is the view on Mount Brisen from my balcony.
A good test for far field performance D750; F 4.0; 1/250; ISO 640:

[BW]

The 300 seem to be quite a performer. I envy the view from your balcony

[Roland Vink]

Ignoring the differences in size, handling and VR, has anyone compared the optical performance of 300/4 PF with the older AFS 300/4?

[Andy]

Roland,
 a few observations from Memory (haven't done a direct side-by-side comparison):
1) Resolution - handheld: PF better
2) Resolution - tripod: match, PF suffers sometimes from VR (oh, I will get heat for the AFS stock tripod collar )
3) Bokeh: PF better
4) Cross light: AFS some times better
5) Flare/Ghosting: PF
6) AF Speed: PF
7) D750 compatibility: PF

rgds,
Andy

[Andy]

Daniel, thanks for the reminder.
I forgot this aspect, as I was there mainly for Motocross. 

rgds, Andy

[ColinM]

a few observations from Memory (haven't done a direct side-by-side comparison):

That's quite impressive as the previous 300mm F4 AFS was already quite reasonable (especially for the price difference between it and the f2.8 version).

Meanwhile, can you tells us a little more about those big earthmoving trucks in your earlier pictures? Was that at an industrial site or some exotic sporting event?