I notice the Hejnar replacement foot has been recommended by some on this thread. For my 500pf (still waiting), I do not want a quick release foot, leading me to consider both the Hejnar and the Wimberley models. For the Wimberley, I noticed it ships with a small pin to be inserted between the foot and the collar before tightening (see this vid: ). He explains that the foot could have some rotational play without this pin. Has anyone experienced any movement from the Hejnar foot, which is a similar design and includes no such component?
The Hejnar is a better length for my taste- The Wimberley is just short of being a comfortable “handle-length”. But if the Hejnar has any wobble I would rather deal with the imperfect length than that. Perhaps loctite could be enough to resolve any possible problems?
arbitrage wrote:
Spring is here, the butter-butts are back in town...
Wow!!! These are beautiful. No way I can pick the TC shots without the EXIF. Mine was delivered last October damaged. Still waiting for a replacement. Hope it's soon because we're due for these guys to show up any day now. Well done.
hermitthrush wrote:
I notice the Hejnar replacement foot has been recommended by some on this thread. For my 500pf (still waiting), I do not want a quick release foot, leading me to consider both the Hejnar and the Wimberley models. For the Wimberley, I noticed it ships with a small pin to be inserted between the foot and the collar before tightening (see this vid: ). He explains that the foot could have some rotational play without this pin. Has anyone experienced any movement from the Hejnar foot, which is a similar design and includes no such component?
The Hejnar is a better length for my taste- The Wimberley is just short of being a comfortable “handle-length”. But if the Hejnar has any wobble I would rather deal with the imperfect length than that. Perhaps loctite could be enough to resolve any possible problems?...Show more →
I did not know about the Wimberley when I bought the Hejnar 6 months ago. If I had, I might have gotten the Wimberley though there is only the slightest amount of wiggle and the Hejner is very comfortable and has not loosened up so am all-in-all, happy with it. My lens wiggles much more between its attachment to the 1.4TC but this is true of my other lenses so not sure if it is true of all TCs? Also, the knob on my 500mm f/5.6 will not completely tighten to lock the collar from turning on the barrel of the lens. This has been noted by others and have, so far, not sent my lens back to Nikon to be repaired since I have been enjoying using it so much though I probably will do this eventually though so far it has not been a major problem. Someone else has commented that they had to saw the stop screw on their Wimberley foot since it stuck out too much. My Hejnar foot had no such problem. Don't know how common a problem that is.
OwlsEyes wrote:
Your 5th shot (second to last) is just sweet... I might have called it a day if I had that in the "can."
cheers,
bruce
---------------------------------------------
nuclearjock wrote:
Wow!!! These are beautiful. No way I can pick the TC shots without the EXIF. Mine was delivered last October damaged. Still waiting for a replacement. Hope it's soon because we're due for these guys to show up any day now. Well done.
Thanks Bruce and Nuclear. The TC works very well from an IQ perspective, the AF takes a noticeable hit though.
Bruce, that 5th shot was from my last sequence (perch) of the outing
ricardo00 wrote:
I did not know about the Wimberley when I bought the Hejnar 6 months ago. If I had, I might have gotten the Wimberley though there is only the slightest amount of wiggle and the Hejner is very comfortable and has not loosened up so am all-in-all, happy with it. My lens wiggles much more between its attachment to the 1.4TC but this is true of my other lenses so not sure if it is true of all TCs? Also, the knob on my 500mm f/5.6 will not completely tighten to lock the collar from turning on the barrel of the lens. This has been noted by others and have, so far, not sent my lens back to Nikon to be repaired since I have been enjoying using it so much though I probably will do this eventually though so far it has not been a major problem. Someone else has commented that they had to saw the stop screw on their Wimberley foot since it stuck out too much. My Hejnar foot had no such problem. Don't know how common a problem that is.
Thanks for your impressions. I’m glad to hear the slight movement isn’t enough to impact your usage. I wonder if a pin similar to that included with the Wimberley could be implemented in the same way with the Hejnar foot. I may try to find a similar piece at the hardware store, just to lock everything down. The form factor of the Hejnar looks otherwise perfect.
The following image (a heavy crop) was taken this afternoon, with a D5 and the 500mm PF. I think this is a red-tailed hawk, but I am not sure. If anyone has any better idea, I would be happy to know your thoughts! It was about the size of a RTH, for whatever that is worth.
Keith W.
How you guys find the AF with the 500mm PF + TC-14e iii compare against a bare 200-500 on D500 or D850 ? I was at Bempton cliffs UK on Saturday mainly for the Gannets but did spot a Peregrine hunting further out. I got some shots with the 200-500 but I had to crop much more than I'd have liked, 700mm would have been much better. I've tried the TC-14e iii on my 200-500, IQ is ok but the focus is next to useless with BIF
For birds in flight and other fast-moving subjects, I would recommend shooting the 500 PF without TC, and crop if necessary. With the wider field of view of 500mm, it is easier to hold the subject in the viewfinder and you have more focus points, more cross-type points, and more AF area modes at your disposal than when using the TC. The AF is faster and more confident in picking up an out of focus subject when you don't use a TC.
One possibility is to try to use landscape elements or multiple birds (or prey) to frame the subject in such a way that the image works even if the main subject is small in the image.
RustyBug wrote:
You guys are starting to give me an itch for the 500/5.6 PF ... what do you see as the pro / con of using it on these bodies?
D500
Z7 (DX mode)
Z6
The Z mount has my attention for the wide side and I could see going Z6 + D500, or just going Z7 & crop mode (same MP).
TIA
Hello RustyBug...
I own a pair of D500's and a pair of Z6's (one of each are a part of my wife's kit). I currently pair my D500 with the 500PF to maximize the optical magnification, as I do not want to use teleconverters. I love the isolation from the cleanest bokeh and at f/5.6 on a crop body, I am at the limit of what I find pleasing.
In terms of performance, the lens is a rocket on that body... faster than the 80-400G and faster than my 200-400mm f/4 VR. It is light and handles beautifully. The VR Sport mode is my go to mode and I use it both handheld up to 1/1250 and on a tripod up to about 1/400.
It's hard to find fault with this lens... I've attached a third pic from my otter series... not the high ISO and this is a 12MP crop out of a 20MP file.
cheers,
bruce
RustyBug wrote:
You guys are starting to give me an itch for the 500/5.6 PF ... what do you see as the pro / con of using it on these bodies?
D500
Z7 (DX mode)
Z6
The Z mount has my attention for the wide side and I could see going Z6 + D500, or just going Z7 & crop mode (same MP).
TIA
RustyBug: With all the fantastic shots posted with the 500mm f/5.6 in this thread, if you are just starting to get an itch to buy it, you have terrific restraint! I don't have a Z7 or Z6, so have my 500mm f/5.6 on my D500 (and often with my 1.4TC) but would think that it would be great with either of the Z models. Just depends on whether you are shooting smaller objects and/or rapidly moving animals (ie. BIF) where the better focusing abilities of a D500 or D850 would be an advantage? If you are currently using a full frame with a 300mm lens and cropping, the 500mm would give you a real boost, whether you used it on the Z7 in crop mode or the D500!
multibit wrote:
How you guys find the AF with the 500mm PF + TC-14e iii compare against a bare 200-500 on D500 or D850 ? I was at Bempton cliffs UK on Saturday mainly for the Gannets but did spot a Peregrine hunting further out. I got some shots with the 200-500 but I had to crop much more than I'd have liked, 700mm would have been much better. I've tried the TC-14e iii on my 200-500, IQ is ok but the focus is next to useless with BIF
I don't have my 200-500 anymore to do a direct comparison so sort of going off of memory here....
I think that the drive speed of the AF of the 200-500 may still be slower than the 500PF/1.4TC. However, my feeling is that the hit rate and consistency of tracking a BIF is better with the bare 200-500 than it is with the 500PF/1.4TC.
The 200-500 is a slower focusing lens but I found it to be very consistent and tracked really well. I just don't think you can cheat the focusing aperture and being at f/8 with the 500PF/1.4TC leads to more misses in a BIF burst and I've had a number of occasions where if it is too far out of focus it just won't drive to get onto a bird flying towards me.
That all said I have shot some BIF with the 500PF/1.4TC and I got keepers. I'm just not that confident in it like I am with my f/4 and f/5.6 lens(TC) combos. I'm sure you would have been able to get some shots of the peregrine with the 500PF/1.4TC combo.
The bare 500PF puts the 200-500 to shame in AF speed. Although consistency of keepers isn't all that much different once it is tracking.
This was cropped 78% so represents 22% of the original frame. The D850 and 500PF combination make shooting flight shots like a joke. Nothing hard at all, Just pick the most killer one and you are done. It is so easy to shoot with this lens that I find that I reach for it way more than my 600 f4.
Okay ... that's enough ... I can't take much more of this ^.
Late to the party, and at the back of the line ... but this thing seems to be as rare as hen's teeth now. Even Lens Rentals is projecting availability in JULY !!!
I will put together a post one day soon on Nature & Wildlife of waterfowl shots with this lens and the D850. As a long long time Canon user who recently switched I am blown away by the quality out of this combo. It just crushes the competition. I have hundreds of frames like this one. All with as good or better imager quality.
