I shoot primarily landscapes, and would like to have a 400mm+ option for far off or compressed landscapes. I currently use a 70-200 VRII with a TC20III convertor. I was shooting a D3X with this combination and the IQ leaves a lot to be desired at 400mm. I used to shoot the 200 f/2 with the TC20III convertor and the IQ was superlative, but I sold the 200 f/2, because it was too expensive a lens to shoot at f/8 or f/11, and I rarely shot at 200mm.
I am looking at my options for the length, but have little knowledge of these long lenses. Bear in mind, I mainly shoot at f/8 or F/11 for depth of field, and manually focus with live view. The only thing is that if I spend big money for a lens, it would be nice if it had AF so it is a little more general purpose.
I am waiting for a D800E, and see the following as possible options.
1. Nikon 80-400. I know this lens is a little long in the tooth, but how is the IQ at 400 at f/8?
2. Nikon 200-400. Do I bite the bullet on this lens? My only concern is that i have read that the IQ isn't great at infinity, and I tend to shoot at infinity most of the time.
3. Nikon 300 f/2.8 with convertors. How is this as 420mm at f/4 and 600mm at f/5.6?
Does anyone have any experience with the combinations? Did I miss another obvious option? I am in pursuit of excellent IQ, but not at the 400 f/2.8, 500 f/4, or 600 f/4 prices. If they aren't clearly better than the 70-200 VRII with the TC20III, then I will have to be satisfied.
If you don't mind a MF lens ( I suppose for landscapes is no problem), see what jhinkey (John) is doing with the venerable Nikkor 400mm f/5.6 ED here (posts Nos. 24 & 25 in the end of this page): https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/929565/777
This lens in reasonable to good condition can be found for less than US$ 800.00, less than each of your 3 options and presumably better optically than options 1, 2 and the 70-200 + TC. The option 3 probably is better optically, but not 6x ($$$).
Just my 2 cents.
I use a Nikon 300mm f4 AFS with the 1.4TC to get to 400mm and I have been very happy with it on a D3. I haven’t tried it yet on my D800 but I think is will perform very well. I am not really sure stopped down to f8 that you could tell any difference in the 300mm F4 verse the 300mm f2.8.
Thanks for the suggestions. If I really needed to, I could swing a 400 2.8, but the size is also a concern. I will look into the older Nikon 400's first.
This looks rather harshly beat up, including the optics. For about the same price this one seems to be a better choice from what seems to be a rock solid seller willing to offer a money-back guarantee that the two flaws disclosed will not affect IQ
