Thank you MM for the kind words. I love this lens, so many options to try... I noticed that I still automatically reach for the zoom ring,because focusing on flying birds was "easier " that way. Nevertheless, the 200-500mm pics are almost all softer,but not all. Thus almost no need for PostP, at least on the main subject matter. Backgrounds may get difficult with my ISO laziness.
Be careful in the rain, I am sick at home, because could not stop trying the Nikon setup over the rainy weekend.
Now got/upgraded a9 and practicing on the dog's eyes. Does a pretty good job.
MedicineMan404 wrote:
Nikon D850
500.0 mm f/5.6
ƒ/8.0 500.0 mm 1/640 4000
DO101 wrote:
Thank you MM for the kind words. I love this lens, so many options to try... I noticed that I still automatically reach for the zoom ring,because focusing on flying birds was "easier " that way. Nevertheless, the 200-500mm pics are almost all softer,but not all. Thus almost no need for PostP, at least on the main subject matter. Backgrounds may get difficult with my ISO laziness.
Be careful in the rain, I am sick at home, because could not stop trying the Nikon setup over the rainy weekend.
Now got/upgraded a9 and practicing on the dog's eyes. Does a pretty good job.
You added a9 !!!! Woot for you !!!
Dog's eyes now ? The AEA (animal eye autofocus) isn't even out yet ha!
Yeah, my biggest wish, that the 500PF would work with the a9.
Has anyone here used the TC1.7 with the lens. I'm curious about the AF speed, and IQ. Thanks in advance.
Best,
Tony
Yes I've used it. Can be used for mostly static subjects in good light. AF takes a significant hit, I wouldn't bother for any BIF work. I'm not sure if a cropped 1.4TC image would be just as good or not. I've stopped using my 1.7TC on it and find 1.4TC is as far as I go with this lens. I use my 1.7 on the 500E FL more often as AF and IQ are still decent.
Here are a couple images taken recently with the 500mm PF lens. The first image was taken with the D500 camera, and the second image was taken with the D850 camera. Both images were taken from the exact same spot in the Skagit Wildlife Refuge, but on different days.
Keith W.
Took it out for a spin today during my lunch walk.
Just Mallards and a beaver in mid day sun. But I'm getting to know what PF is all about.
Portability-Check
Sharpness-Check
Contrast-Check
Focus-Check
Bokeh-Questionable to me. In harsh light and busy background. I will take out the 600mm f4 FL to the same location and same time tomorrow if weather cooperate and compare.
btw, I have the PF for trade for a 200mm F2.0 VRII if anyone is interested. I'm in no hurry to dump the PF though...
arbitrage wrote:
Yes I've used it. Can be used for mostly static subjects in good light. AF takes a significant hit, I wouldn't bother for any BIF work. I'm not sure if a cropped 1.4TC image would be just as good or not. I've stopped using my 1.7TC on it and find 1.4TC is as far as I go with this lens. I use my 1.7 on the 500E FL more often as AF and IQ are still decent.
Good to know. I just got my copy of the lens yesterday after 4 months of waiting. It's time to put it on field test this weekend. I will try it with both TCs 1.4EIII and 1.7 II and post the outcome here. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.
I too consider the bokeh to be the main drawback of the lens. However, you can still get good results, it just depends on the background details and distances, how things play out.
The key to using this lens on waterfowl is to get low. But that is the same with the 600 f4 as well. If you can get low and down to eye level then you should have a super creamy foreground and background. See the Canvasback that I posted above.
Also see some of the images posted on this thread by me. Note the female Lesser Scaup and the Bufflehead and note my shooting angle. Those extra few inches make all the difference.
Here are a couple more images taken recently with the 500mm PF lens. The first image was taken with the D500 camera, and the second image was taken with the D850 camera. Both images were taken from the exact same spot in the Skagit Wildlife Refuge, but on different days. The purpose of these trips was to try out the 500mm PF lens on swallows in flight. I will be posting a more complete set of the swallow images on the Nature & Wildlife forum here soon. All in all, I was pretty happy with the 500mm PF lens for swallows in flight. But, both camera bodies struggled a bit (as did the photographer) with tracking and autofocus on these very fast and highly erratic fliers. I need to go back to try out how the D5 body handles similar conditions with the 500mm PF lens.
Keith W.
update: the fuller set of images can be seen at https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1590984
kwilliam8 wrote:
Here are a couple more images taken recently with the 500mm PF lens. The first image was taken with the D500 camera, and the second image was taken with the D850 camera. Both images were taken from the exact same spot in the Skagit Wildlife Refuge, but on different days. The purpose of these trips was to try out the 500mm PF lens on swallows in flight. I will be posting a more complete set of the swallow images on the Nature & Wildlife forum here soon. All in all, I was pretty happy with the 500mm PF lens for swallows in flight. But, both camera bodies struggled a bit (as did the photographer) with tracking and autofocus on these very fast and highly erratic fliers. I need to go back to try out how the D5 body handles similar conditions with the 500mm PF lens.
Keith W. https://photos.smugmug.com/Things/Skagit-Bay/i-bQWpTNd/0/1dff34f6/XL/20190331-_D503262-Edit-XL.jpg https://photos.smugmug.com/Things/Skagit-Bay/i-jCgpgzJ/0/02abfa50/XL/20190401-_D850031-Edit-XL.jpg...Show more →
Nice work Keith. I found a spot today with 30-40 violet-green swallows flying along the water...but it was heavy overcast so I didn't even bother. Next time the sun comes out I will go give the 500PF a try. Last year I was using 300PF/1.4TC for swallows and it worked fairly well.
I bet the D5 will be the best (I don't own one to try) but if you don't have enough "reach" the images may be better on the D500/D850 bodies.
arbitrage wrote:
Nice work Keith. I found a spot today with 30-40 violet-green swallows flying along the water...but it was heavy overcast so I didn't even bother. Next time the sun comes out I will go give the 500PF a try. Last year I was using 300PF/1.4TC for swallows and it worked fairly well.
I bet the D5 will be the best (I don't own one to try) but if you don't have enough "reach" the images may be better on the D500/D850 bodies.
That's exactly the reason that I haven't tried the D5 yet - reach. In the location that I have found, the swallows actually come extremely close to me (after sitting there for an extended period). Sometimes they are as close as 15 to 20 feet. However, when they are that close, I can't even keep my eyes on their movement, much less a camera. So, shooting them further out has led to better images. But that may be a bit too far out for the D5 at that point. However, I will try the D5 one of these days. Since the D5 has slightly better AF than either the D850 or D500, perhaps I can get a few good images of these guys closer in (than when shooting with either the D850 or D500)...
Btw, I have used the 300PF/1.4TC on swallows before. That works great too. While the 300PF/1.4TC combo is slightly easier to rapidly swing around, it doesn't give the reach of the native 500PF. So, each has slight advantages and disadvantages. Both are great for swallows. I had never gotten a good SIF image before using the 300mm PF.
Does a pretty good job. 
