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Archive 2016 · the future of Nikon 500 f4

  
 
nugeny
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


I wonder how the Nikon 500 f4 market has been doing since the introduction of 200-500.
I had the 500 f4 years ago, I had no choice. I am not living on photography, I don't have to have the best, The 200-500 has replaced my 80-400 and the 400 f2.8 vr and I am really happy.
I wouldn't be surprised if the market for 500 f4 has dried up.



Jul 10, 2016 at 10:31 PM
suteetat
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


nugeny wrote:
I wonder how the Nikon 500 f4 market has been doing since the introduction of 200-500.
I had the 500 f4 years ago, I had no choice. I am not living on photography, I don't have to have the best, The 200-500 has replaced my 80-400 and the 400 f2.8 vr and I am really happy.
I wouldn't be surprised if the market for 500 f4 has dried up.


Actually, I have 200-500/5.6 and just recently bought 500/4e FL. Unfortunately 200-500 is not going to replace 500/4e FL anytime soon I think. 200-500 is an excellent value and IQ is well worth the price but there is a good reason why 500/4e is 6-7 times the price eventhough it is nto 6-7x better. At 3kg, it is still possible to handheld 500/4e FL. It is about 800g heavier than 200-500 I think and just a bit heavier than Sigma Sport 150-600. AF is much faster, I would say that 500/4e with 2x teleconverter still does not not give up anything in term of AF speed in comparison to 200-500 without teleconverter. 1 stop difference sometimes could be a different between needing iso5000 vs 10000.

Personally, I think 200-500/5.6 will eat up 200-400/4 market share but I doubt that it will affect current 400/2.8, 500/4, 600/4 very much. I will still use 200-500 when weight or needs for zoom dictates but otherwise, I would use 500/4 whenever I can instead of 200-500.



Jul 10, 2016 at 10:51 PM
Frode
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


Two different lenses that can't be compared, in any way. Different league! The zoom is a ok lens, though.

200- 500 is the "poor man's" substitutte for the real thing. Of course, one would like to believe otherwise.......

In the same way some compare consumer cameraes with the pro ones; the price difference tell us something......

nugeny wrote:
I wonder how the Nikon 500 f4 market has been doing since the introduction of 200-500.
I had the 500 f4 years ago, I had no choice. I am not living on photography, I don't have to have the best, The 200-500 has replaced my 80-400 and the 400 f2.8 vr and I am really happy.
I wouldn't be surprised if the market for 500 f4 has dried up.




Jul 11, 2016 at 12:35 AM
Vinnie_VdB
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


The 200-500 is for me by no means a lens that can replace the 500mm in either the G or FL version. That doesn't make the 200-500 a bad lens, absolutely not and can only be happy that users are not forced to unreliable lenses to get some reach but have now the option of the Sigma 150-600S or this Nikon AF-S 200-500.
Comparing what rolls out of the camera is taking these Nikon primes by far the lead.



Jul 11, 2016 at 12:37 AM
joefoo
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


I'll join the chorus and say I'd be very sad to give up my 500E for a zoom.


Jul 11, 2016 at 01:38 AM
daniel ab
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


yeah..their AF motor is totally different.
Hopefully Nikon produce 500 f/4 PF soon...



Jul 11, 2016 at 02:58 AM
Christian H
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


I use mine interchangeably. The f/4 does deliver somewhat better micro-contrast and nicer bokeh, but if those aren't important to you you needn't own one. The 200-500 will have your back: razor sharp images, very fast AF on D500/D5, and the zoom is handy in many shooting situations. The proverbial no-brainer if you can live without f/4 and don't need to crop your files much.


Jul 11, 2016 at 04:35 AM
trenchmonkey
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


Mine's not going anywhere.
Have the 200-500/Sportma 150-600 as well.
Right tool for the job...they ALL make me $$$.

Granted, when I'm 80 maybe weight will be an issue.

Edited on Jul 11, 2016 at 07:06 AM · View previous versions



Jul 11, 2016 at 07:04 AM
fj777
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


If I could afford a prime, I would get one but as I can't afford one (not even second hand) the zoom will do and does do a good job.


Jul 11, 2016 at 07:04 AM
Steve Perry
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


Sorry, the only thing the 200-500 and 500 F5 have in common is the focal length. The 500 F4 is both faster and sharper. (And my understanding is that the 200-500 is not quite 500mm at the long end)

Additionally, having F4 available is a far greater advantage than most people realize (or want to realize). First off, you gain a stop. Just think about how much cash people would spend on a new 24MP camera if it came out today and was a full stop better then the D5. Heck, that's one of the big arguments for full frame over DX - you end up with about 1 stop better noise performance.

Beyond that, you have your backgrounds. F4 gives a much cleaner background than F5.6 does. I personally hate busy backgrounds, so F5.6 is not my favorite place to be. If you couple the 200-500 5.6 with a DX camera, the situation gets even worse because now you have to be back further than you would with an FX camera and you end up with even more DOF.

F4 also gives you better utilization of your AF sensors. People are mislead by this because of the camera's ability to focus down to F8. However, not all sensors can do F8, and not all of them are fully functional at F5.6 either. Many of the cross type sensors will revert back to liner sensors if you use anything slower than F4. So, F5.6 makes you sacrifice AF accuracy and reliability over an F4 lens.

So, no, I don't think the 500 F4 has anything to worry about.



Jul 11, 2016 at 08:52 AM
DGC1
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


Game, set, match...


Jul 11, 2016 at 08:58 AM
Andre Labonte
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


That's like saying a 70-300 will dry up the need for a 300 f/4 or 300 f/2.8. f-stops matter!

Like Steve ... I think the 500 f/4 is very safe.




Jul 11, 2016 at 08:58 AM
RoyC
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


Steve, many f4 lenses loose some of the cross-type af sensors.
An Example would be the 500mm f4 E lens.




Jul 11, 2016 at 12:02 PM
ckcarr
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


Trying not to be harsh, but it seems a huge misunderstanding of the quality and purpose of the exotic Nikon primes.


Jul 11, 2016 at 12:08 PM
Gary Irwin
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


I think the 200-500 is an amazing lens and owners should be very happy with it -- just don't make the "mistake" of trying a 500E or 600E unless you have deep pockets.


Jul 11, 2016 at 12:15 PM
Steve Perry
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


RoyC wrote:
Steve, many f4 lenses loose some of the cross-type af sensors.
An Example would be the 500mm f4 E lens.



Ahh, that's right, there is an issue with that. Although, looking at the charts on the page below, it looks like the 500E uses all 99 but the older 500mm lenses only get 45:

http://nps.nikonimaging.com/technical_solutions/d5_tips/af/focus_points/

However, it looks like the 600 E only gets 63 cross types.

Still, the F4 lenses do get more cross types than the F5.6 lenses.



Jul 11, 2016 at 01:05 PM
Christian H
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


There's no question the f/4 renders bokeh more dreamily and resolves a bit more detail. And the files don't quite jump off the screen the same way. But the choice is no longer one between $$$ f/4 and shit. To that extent, the f/4 market is going to feel the pain.


red-tailed hawk by Christian Hunold, on Flickr


wood duck by Christian Hunold, on Flickr


bunny by Christian Hunold, on Flickr


northern shoveler by Christian Hunold, on Flickr



Jul 11, 2016 at 01:41 PM
MP79
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


I bet the number of people who bought a 500mm f4 and traded down to a 200-500 (or seriously would have bought the former but instead bought the latter) is a rather small percentage of overall buyers. I think the perception that the 200-500mm is going to "kill" sales of the 500mm exotic prime is due to the internet amplification effect as the only people likely to do this are those such as hobbyists who happen to have a lot of disposable income/savings and are thus able and willing to spend such sums on a lens such as the one in question where they don't really have a compelling usage case for doing so when other factors are considered. Yet these such people often frequent and post on internet forums related to their interests much more so than other groups in proportion to their size, hence the amplification effect.

Now nothing wrong with them for how they choose to spend their income (assuming they can responsibly really afford it), or also that perhaps this is so regarding participation in photography internet forums, mind you, it just is what it is. FM by the way thankfully has more working pros of course that post here than there are at other forums, which is why I love it here as you can get so much great content here in the form of what they are willing to share-thanks you guys/gals! As for me, I'm more in that other group I just pointed out, though without as much of that disposable income, so I do so sadly on both counts.

Most buyers of the 500mm f4 prime would be working pros no doubt, followed up by super serious birders and the like which would already be only a fraction of the former group and in both cases there was really only one choice at 500mm and that was the exotic prime due to its performance advantages over everything else regardless of the price. So in short, I see the 500mm f4 market being largely unchanged by presence of the 200-500mm.



Jul 11, 2016 at 03:27 PM
trenchmonkey
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


Nicely said, Mark. Interesting to note, deals are to be had on the f4G VR
since the release of the uber expensive f4E FL. They're still holding in the $4500
to $5000 range...which is hardly fire sale status.



Jul 11, 2016 at 04:02 PM
ariel777
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · the future of Nikon 500 f4


I'm piling on, but there is absolutely no comparison; it's double A ball vs the majors, at best.



Jul 11, 2016 at 04:10 PM
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