200-500f5.6 Priced Under $1,400: Are You Excited?

DaveyJ

Having used the 200-500 I would rate it as far superior to the 300 fixed lens ANYTHING. In my experience photographing wildlife (not pets or zoo animals....You have one opportunity usually.....you pick a focal length, then shoot, then they are gone! To me the 200-500 on DX beats anything else in the price range very easily! Excellent Nikon made this lens... Checking right now to see if that lens is also on sale.....maybe we could use two? One to one of us...one for pretty much my use.....

dissent

The Photography Life review -

https://photographylife.com/reviews/nikon-200-500mm-f5-6e-vr

Photobug

Thank you @dissent for the link. I read every word, excellent review. Totally agree with his statement, "This means that the lens could be compared to both Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary and Tamron 150-600mm at 600mm as well. And as I have demonstrated, the 200-500mm VR with the 1.4x teleconverter is capable of actually challenging the two lenses in sharpness, something I honestly did not expect to see. In addition, with the 1.4x teleconverter, the Nikon 200-500mm VR can actually reach 700mm on the long end, providing pretty decent results, something the other two lenses cannot match. For this versatility, more reliable autofocus operation and other reasons pointed out in the review, I would personally choose the Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E VR over the 150-600mm counterparts."

I have been waiting for The Photography Life review and/or Popular Photography review. I have the money and plan to move forward and buy the lens. Ordered the B+W filter 6 weeks ago and it's still on back order.

I did my test with this lens in November and December against the Sigma C and Tamron lens and it's nice to see the same findings as mine.

I also enjoyed the images....nice work by several people.

PB_PM

What troubles me about Photography life's review is they noted a lot of sample variation. Then again, what lens doesn't have that issue?

spraynpray

Expensive lenses I suppose - and that one isn't an expensive lens.

Msmoto

Maybe what one is paying for in the faster primes is the ability to follow focus, using predictive focal tracking in continuous servo. If I read it correctly the limit for the new 200-500 is in this area, so, for vehicles moving rapidly in my direction, it may not be the panacea it appears to be.

However, using this on the new D500 may be a phenomenal combo, and in good light it may do just fine.

For the dollar...just a WOW lens....

Fozzyffp

I got mine today, It's pretty awesome IMO, played around with it a little so far. Anyone have any questions i could answer?

heartyfisher

You wouldn't have a TC17 you could try with it, would you? I am hopeful that the D500 great AF will allow the TC17 to work with this lense. Anyone know if the TC17 is physically compatible?

Ironheart

@heartyfisher The f/5.6 becomes a f/9.5 with a TC17, so November Gorgon on AF. It is physically compatible.

haroldp

I have tried it with the tc-14eIII and the combo works very well.

spraynpray

I too am interested in the predictive tracking abilities of this lens.

Fozzyffp

I'll be at an air show at night Friday, and during the day Saturday, hopefully ill have a bunch of great pictures to share. and some feedback on the tracking ability.

spraynpray

Cool Fozzy, look forward to the pics and report.

Big_Millsy

Value for money great, results excellent, I have a 300 2.8 which does probably outperform this on a side by side comparison. Which one is more useful (and portable) no contest. Speed of focus is a slight issue but since I could never justify a 500 f4 I can live with the slight inconvenience. I used it to shoot a theatre production last week from a fixed position in a balcony and couldn't fault it (D4s) focus was consistently good and given it was used wide open results were beyond my expectations. I am about to try it with my D5 and looking forward to seeing how it performs with the new focus system.

Big_Millsy

Heartyfisher for info works with the 1.4 doesn't work with the 2x

heartyfisher

Big_Millsy said:

Heartyfisher for info works with the 1.4 doesn't work with the 2x

Thanks :-) and welcome to the forum ! :-) However, its the TC17 that I have so thats what/why I am interested, if it works with it.. even if its not "supposed" to at F9.5. (ie greater than F8 ) 9.5 is close enough to F8, for me to be hopeful, especially with the D500 which has the best Nikon AF.

PS : I thought I read somewhere that some Nikon cameras can AF with F11 now? am I dreaming this info. Or was I mixing this up with some other brand ?

( BTW @Big_Millsy congrats re your D5 ! :-) )

Big_Millsy

heartyfisher Thanks for the welcome. Unfortunately I only have the 1.4 and 2, however it's worth a try with the 1.7, I haven't tried the 200-500 with the D5 yet but I gather it does work at pretty amazing equivalent apertures. One point in passing I have the Tamron 150-600 which is very good. The Nikon lens does however perform better overall. Having said all that, how on earth are you going to handle the 200-500 on a D500 with a TC, you either have a very steady hand or a monster tripod?

heartyfisher

I am hoping the VR works LOL !!

Actually I already have an old 200-400 F5.6 from Tamron I use it with a small tripod.. mainly used as a monopod. Its not bad but not good with any TC. its time to upgrade it I think... but to what? 150-600 ? Tam,sigma C or S or this Nik200-500 ?

PS: Hold on.. you saying that you have the 200-500 and the D5 and the TC14 and TC20 ? If that the case a test with the D5 + 200-500 + TC2 would be interesting.. Just point the set out a window at midday and see if it focuses !! :-) ( Set the af point to the middle one ... )

PS: The Photographic life review of the 200-500 says that TC17 works ok ! not good for the TC20.

framer

Fozzyffp said:

I'll be at an air show at night Friday, and during the day Saturday, hopefully ill have a bunch of great pictures to share. and some feedback on the tracking ability.

Sun-n-Fun I'd bet? You should check out the nighttime airshow that has been on Thursday night.

framer

Fozzyffp

The Melbourne airshow actually, night show is "tonight" friday. Ill be there haha.

Fozzyffp

Im absolutely impressed with this lens, shooting with a d5100 handheld into the twilight. focus tracking was great, lost track of the jets only 5 or so times, that was mostly my fault. tried not to shoot above iso 800 for the most part. near the end of the show i switched to the 18-300, i was just too close to get the pyrotechnics. round two tomorrow during the day!

Photobug

Nice photos, thanks for sharing.

Photobug

For those that want to sample before buying, this is an excellent rental cost:

LensRentals.com offers rentals ranging in length from 1 to 90 days. The shopping cart will automatically update the quoted price as you adjust the length of your rental. Our most common rental periods are shown below:
No Insurance
Include Lenscap in Price
Include Lenscap+ in Price
Rental Period Rental Price Approximate Day Rate
3 days $55.00 $18.33
4 days $59.00 $14.75
7 days $78.00 $11.14
10 days $105.00 $10.50
14 days $137.00 $9.79
21 days $183.00 $8.71
30 days $230.00 $7.67
45 days $300.00 $6.67
60 days $351.00 $5.85
90 days $452.00 $5.02

I saw this on Goggle and decided to check it out. I think this is really very reasonable and a good way to check out this lens.

trolley

I will be excited tomorrow - that's when it arrives
Not sure the wife will be quite so excited though

dissent

Have fun with it trolley!

Nice stuff Fozzeyffp.

Agree with Photobug; rental a good way to try out the lens, especially to see how it is to handle when shooting various subjects. Helped convince me to go ahead and go for the purchase.