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

trolley

trolley said:

TC-14 EII

Look here: http://img.gg/KN9uCve
The DSC RAWS were all shot at 700mm

jimo

I had the same issue when using the TC 1.4 but over came it by using the Auto Fine Tune.

trolley

I think if the distance isn't too great, light & contrast are good & the subject isn't moving much, it's OK. But distance seems to have a big effect - which is what you want a TC for anyway

Pistnbroke

I have tried a Kenko 300 1.4 5 element DGX …..focus poor .Degraded image.
Bought 5 cheap sold the lot.

trolley

I rented a TC-14EII & TC-17EII(?) and tried them both on my 300mm f4 - before I bought my 200-500. I thought most of the TC-17 photos looked soft, focus was slow. So I bought a TC-14EII from Grays when they had 10% off used stuff - and had one in stock

spraynpray

That is very impressive @jimo.

FreezeAction

With a warmer day and some sunshine to go with clouds I will take the new 200-500 out for a maiden voyage. With and without the 1.4 TC III attached. Hand held and mounted in a full gimbal. The few test shots from the front door look very good coming out of my D7200. All the restlessness over some things I've read about the lens cap being loose didn't come with this lens. One photo taken of a transformer across the street was spot on with the focus hand held with the 1.4 on it. The threads on the bolts on the transformer. No sign of front or back focusing. The VR was amazing to someone who has had little use for it in the past using tripod or monopod almost always. Birds tomorrow I know will be more challenging.

trolley

I’d turn the VR off shooting above 1/500s or maybe a bit less. The focus jumps about & you miss shots

FreezeAction

trolley said:

I’d turn the VR off shooting above 1/500s or maybe a bit less. The focus jumps about & you miss shots

I will try it next time out. I did miss some shots but that may or may not have been the reason. Hindsight being 20/20 I wish I had taken the tripod with the gimbal mount. I've found a place to shoot birds from a stool without walking 6'. The bird I posted in the daily photo thread was hand held with the 1.4TC III and VR was on. No editing in Photoshop but sizing. I'm happy with the lens and TC.

spraynpray

To be honest, I would expect to miss a few with the D7200 (great camera, my favourite DX). The AF is very good, but it isn't a D500 or D850. If you are getting sharp shots from every string, you are doing very well.

tc88

And AF on 200-500 is pretty slow for difficult BIF situations too. While optically it's good, Nikon has to do something to differentiate the products. Slowing down the AF is one way to do it.

PB_PM

Also keep in mind it's an F5.6 lens, so AF isn't going to be great to start with, just not as much light to work with as the bigger pro telephoto glass.

FreezeAction

A question for anyone who has used your D850 with the 200-500 Nikon lens. Have you taken any bird photos that are not bif with it in dx mode? I'm considering a D850 purchase rather than a D500. It's not an even trade I know but there is the thought of having those larger more noise forgiving pixels in early and late low light times of the day and still getting the extended reach with long lenses yet to come. It also gives me back full frame landscapes. I no longer have the D810 so I can sort of have my cake and eat it to I think with the D850.

tc88

Per pixel noise is same for D850 and D500. When people talk about FF has less noise, it's from down sampling to the DX resolution.

However, FF has other benefits. It has a larger frame, so your target is more likely to stay in frame instead of being chopped off. Also if you do manage to get close, you may even be able to fill the full frame which will give you more pixels.

Pistnbroke

I have had two D810 so I know the beast...never used it for bird photography but have now changed to the D850,,,There is quite a bit to master as the menus are somewhat different but the main thing is the focus is soo much more accurate and consistent. The view is wider so its easier to find the target. 3D tracking is the go. The combo is on the verge of being HEAVY .You can of course push it up to 9 fps for grip £30 Battery £26, EP5 £7 .charger £20.
More $100, not the $1000 Nikon wants. (There is a post on this if you search or PM me)

spraynpray

If you want the best low noise performance, go for the D750. If you want the best AF, go for the D850. I wish my D850 had the noise performance of my D750.

mhedges

Well I would say if you want the best low noise performance go Z6. I believe it is better than D750

Pistnbroke

But if you want birds then the D750 does not have the POI and the Z6 focus would be useless for BIF

tc88

Even for noise, we have reached a point since the D800 time frame where there is very little real noise improvement since. Maybe the jpg engine on Z6 is better, but I doubt the real raw noise on Z6 is anything substantially better. And as Pistnbroke said, Z6 is useless for BIF.

PB_PM

The FF 24MP sensors are at least one stop better than the 36+MP models. You likely wouldn't notice below ISO6400, but beyond that it is no contest. On top of that the noise is of a different consistency. Let's put it this way, if I know I'll be working in an environment where I cannot use a flash I'd take the D750 over my D810 any day of the week.

ADKDaveyJ

I have a 200-500 which has been spectacular. Recently though before I left my mountain home for three months I took some dramatic full moon photo on manual, ISO 400 at 500mm, they were not in proper focus on manual focus. It was twenty below zero when I took the photos. At four hundred feet or maybe Jess, the lens on Auto aperture priority is pretty sharp. My moon photos taken the same way months ago are pretty sharp. I have even thought of sending back the lens to Nikon USA. What fine tune steps should I take? I use the D7500 for that camera. I am off to a Blue Angels airshow in Key West in March and need to fine tune the camera before then? I have never had to do this but the camera or lens seems to have drifted off in really long range infinity clarity.

Pistnbroke

Well davey don't despair I have long said that lenses run in and the focus moves. Mine is at +12. I think your camera has the auto fine tune so print out a good target from the site quoted below and follow the instructions though I did not do the averaging. I don't have a single lens at 0 . Being only a couple out can make a huge difference,
Be aware of course that atmospheric conditions between you and the moon can affect sharpness. If you shoot JPEG remember all cameras come from Nikon set soft so you need to up the picture control sharpness to 9. leave the clarity at 0.
What do you mean by Auto Aperture priority ? There is auto and there is aperture priority.

FreezeAction

After digesting as best I can the posts here and elsewhere I think I best pass on the D850. For what I need I really believe the D500 will best suit me unless the new model that uses the new CF Express memory cards turns out to be an improved D750 that will shoot say 8 frames a second with an 80 shot buffer. I can't expect it to rival a D5 but there is some middle ground to protect the flagship models and yet provide a better 24mp full frame model that has the ability to see in the dark. Time is on my side for once so I will be patient. One more surgery to get past and I'm on the road playing again. I am going to enjoy the 200-500mm on a new camera of some sorts this summer.

ADKDaveyJ

I meant aperture priority. That’s what I use for stills, except moon shots.So for the first time I am going to have to fine tune focus. Thanks to PistnBroke for attaching the fine tune video! I do use JPEG almost exclusively. Strange in that my son and his son who I often do complex photo shoots with use very advanced RAW tactics, so I will try that tutorial and hope it helps. Nikon Rumors.....one of the best single sites on the entire internet!

Pistnbroke

I did my first 200/500/D850 wildlife shoot Thursday having previously used the lens with my D7200. I was sceptical re the 24/20.9 DX crop size but the D850 just blew the D7200 out the water. I don't know why but the images could be cropped more and were much sharper. I put it down to the fantastic focus system and the JPEG processing engine.
The Tamron 100-400 was indistinguishable from the Nikon on the D850 but on the D7200 looked inferior, both used at F8.
I shall be fitting the gun site to the D850 as often I still cannot find the birds I can see!!