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Nikon 200-500

For mainly AF speed , one downside to the 200-500 is its pretty slow focus speed . For most slow paced shots its fine but for fast action shots like birds in flight the main action is missed by the time its grabbed onto the subject . For those Peregrine shots I posted I've trained my thumb to help on the focus adjuster to help it although sometimes I still can miss.Also another downside with the 200-500 is you lose sharpness at the edges , not bad on a DX camera but is there with FX especially the D850. Also IQ degrades more than a prime at longer distances , don't get me wrong its a brilliant lens for the price
 
Did you end up getting the 500mm PF? I’m looking at getting a prime 500mm Nikon and my choices were the ED-VR, a AF-S D or the PF. The AF-S D being non-VR is lighter than the VR version, still pin sharp though and much cheaper. The PF is virtually impossible get hold of but is still a little slow at f5.6 BUT is much smaller and lighter than both the other 500’s. I had dismissed the 200-500 because of it’s slower focussing speed but you simply cannot be failed to be impressed when you get images like you have.
 
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Did you end up getting the 500mm PF? I’m looking at getting a prime 500mm Nikon and my choices were the ED-VR, a AF-S D or the PF. The AF-S D being non-VR is lighter than the VR version, still pin sharp though and much cheaper. The PF is virtually impossible get hold of but is still a little slow at f5.6 BUT is much smaller and lighter than both the other 500’s. I had dismissed the 200-500 because of it’s slower focussing speed but you simply cannot be failed to be impressed when you get images like you have.


Unfortunately not yet , I was very close but now thinking of either a 500mm PF or might sound crazy a Sony A9 or A7R4 with 200-600 , if only this 200-500 was quicker I'd be happy . I missed another shot last week of a Sparrow Hawk flying towards me , I managed to keep it in the VF but the 200-500 motors are so slow it was too late. I've learned to use my thumb on the 200-500 focus adjuster to help speed things up but this time it wasn't quick enough. Its causing me a little frustration with some BIF , I know the 500mm f4 would have nailed it but that is just too large and apparently these Sony's are supposed to have fantastic AF with even the slower zooms. If the 500mm PF is quicker to grab and good for tracking it'll be great :/
 
Unfortunately not yet , I was very close but now thinking of either a 500mm PF or might sound crazy a Sony A9 or A7R4 with 200-600 , if only this 200-500 was quicker I'd be happy . I missed another shot last week of a Sparrow Hawk flying towards me , I managed to keep it in the VF but the 200-500 motors are so slow it was too late. I've learned to use my thumb on the 200-500 focus adjuster to help speed things up but this time it wasn't quick enough. Its causing me a little frustration with some BIF , I know the 500mm f4 would have nailed it but that is just too large and apparently these Sony's are supposed to have fantastic AF with even the slower zooms. If the 500mm PF is quicker to grab and good for tracking it'll be great :/

There's a lot of pro folks moving from Nikon and Canon to the Sony A9 mk2. Canon are still plodding on with the 1Dx mk3 but that'll be the last pro spec DSLR from them. Both Nikon and Canon have been slow to respond to the Sony A series cameras and it's starting to cost them users. I fear for Nikon in the pro area but Canon still have great glass that you see on the end of Sonys so I think they can ride things out till they launch the pro version of the R but that won't arrive until Canon have sold enough 1Dx Mk3s to recoup the R&D on it. How much R&D there actually is on such an old platform I don't know.

You won't go far wrong if you go for the Sony - get to a decent Wex store and try one out and this is coming from a Canon user of 30 years!

Great pics you're getting with the 200-500 especially on the D850 -what a camera that is - amazing image quality for the money!

Kind Regards, Rack.
 
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There's a lot of pro folks moving from Nikon and Canon to the Sony A9 mk2. Canon are still plodding on with the 1Dx mk3 but that'll be the last pro spec DSLR from them. Both Nikon and Canon have been slow to respond to the Sony A series cameras and it's starting to cost them users. I fear for Nikon in the pro area but Canon still have great glass that you see on the end of Sonys so I think they can ride things out till they launch the pro version of the R but that won't arrive until Canon have sold enough 1Dx Mk3s to recoup the R&D on it. How much R&D there actually is on such an old platform I don't know.

You won't go far wrong if you go for the Sony - get to a decent Wex store and try one out and this is coming from a Canon user of 30 years!

Great pics you're getting with the 200-500 especially on the D850 -what a camera that is - amazing image quality for the money!

Kind Regards, Rack.

8 guys I sometimes see when out was all Canon users for many years but 6 of them have now moved over to Sony , a couple A9 the others A7R4 (one owns both) I think I'll have to try and rent one at some stage just to see how I got on with it . TBH think I'm pushing the 200-500 as far as it'll go , must admit though I love the canon glass . I tried a friends 1DX mk2 with latest 600mm f4 , I was amazed how light that lens is , I was expecting it to weight a ton
 
Your images are superb @ron - makes me wish I was a wildlife photographer!

I hope you are printing these!
Thank you, I've still never printed any of my shots , just on my HD and uploaded to Flickr . You should give wildlife photography a go, I find it quite enjoyable especially being out away from too many people
 
8 guys I sometimes see when out was all Canon users for many years but 6 of them have now moved over to Sony , a couple A9 the others A7R4 (one owns both) I think I'll have to try and rent one at some stage just to see how I got on with it . TBH think I'm pushing the 200-500 as far as it'll go , must admit though I love the canon glass . I tried a friends 1DX mk2 with latest 600mm f4 , I was amazed how light that lens is , I was expecting it to weight a ton

The new 400 2.8 is the same - crazy light! I’ve got the previous version which is a fair bit lighter than the one before that. I don’t miss that old iron block one bit but it served me well for 13 years. 1dx m2 is nice bit of kit - I was very slow to return the loaner back to Canon while one of my 1dx mk1s was in for repair. ;)
 
Would be interested to hear from people who've gone to Sony how they find the user interface, as that seems to be where complaints are centred on Sony.

Years ago I had a Nex 7 CSC, the menus were awful...and almost every time I picked it up I found I had inadvertently started video capture.
 
Would be interested to hear from people who've gone to Sony how they find the user interface, as that seems to be where complaints are centred on Sony.

Years ago I had a Nex 7 CSC, the menus were awful...and almost every time I picked it up I found I had inadvertently started video capture.

I went from Nikon (D800E) to Sony (A7rII) and then back to Nikon (Z7). Whilst the UI on the A7rII was less than ideal (particularly AF point placement) I found I did get used to it.

The newer bodies are much improved in the UI stakes and I'd have no hesitation in going Sony if that's your only concern.

The reason I changed back was more due to the price of Sony glass. It's very expensive for the stuff I wanted and when I changed, there was limited third party (Tamron, Sigma) options available. This has since changed but to be honest, for my purposes, they're pretty much as good as each other.

Lefty
 
Ron,

Your 200-500 mm shots are fantastic. I’m really tempted by this zoom. Well, either that or a used 500 mm f/4 AI-P one of the few affordable fast super zooms.

Both are about the same price here, roughly $1,800 Cdn. Anyone shot with the old 500 mm f/4 AI-P?* It’s a chipped lens, but it’s otherwise an old-school fully manual telephoto prime.

500mmf4pifedside.jpg


Joe

* Academic at this point as I’d need to save the cabbage, but I’m curious which lens is better optically. The 200–500mm zoom has a useful range, but I suspect I'd use it most at the 400–500 mm end most.
 
The 500mm f4's are fabulous quality Joe , a few of my mates have various F4's and uses one of the older ones with his D500. I'm not sure exactly which one it is , it is AF but doesn't have VR . Its very sharp and fast focus , he usually uses faster shutter speeds so doesn't miss VR although I think he uses a monopod with it too. One thing I'd say is if you do go for the older one with AF be sure to check the AF tuning because if its slightly out it makes hell of a difference .
I'd personally not go for a manual 500mm f4 but that's because I like birds in flight . My 200-500 is a very sharp copy , its close to my friends old 500mm f4 in the centre , the edges on the primes are sharper . The focus speed of the f4 is definitely quicker , the 200-500 has the best VR I've used on a lens though .
 


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