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Archive 2018 · My Review of the 500PF

speedmaster20d
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · My Review of the 500PF

Just finished my review of the 500PF, you can see it here if interested....

http://arihazeghiphotography.com/blog/nikkor-af-s-500mm-f-5-6-pf-vr-review/

Dec 01, 2018 at 06:14 PM

diablo2112
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · My Review of the 500PF

Very nice review. Thanks for the excellent write up.

Dec 01, 2018 at 07:06 PM

Sheo2859
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · My Review of the 500PF

Excellent as expected

Dec 01, 2018 at 08:23 PM

ariel777
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · My Review of the 500PF

Excellent presentation.....well written, to the point and readily comprehensive. Thank you.

Dec 01, 2018 at 09:07 PM

kwilliam8
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · My Review of the 500PF

Thank you for the great review, Ari.
Keith W.

Dec 02, 2018 at 02:04 AM

speedmaster20d
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · My Review of the 500PF

thanks guys, I will add more images to the gallery as I use this lens more.

Dec 04, 2018 at 05:06 PM

Warkari
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · My Review of the 500PF

Arash,

Excellent review of the lens. I have been watching all reviews of this lens closely in order to decide whether to save for a 500/4 (which could be a while) or get this much earlier.
All reviews seem to indicate that sharpness is excellent. There is of course a loss of 1 stop of light resulting in higher ISOs that you have to contend with.
But my main concern is with the AF? How good is the AF in low light for BIF? Of the pictures you posted, only 1, the last one of the female Northern Harrier, seems to be when the sun is not shining brightly. Superbly sharp even at 4000 ISO! Could be because of your processing skills.
But were you able to lock on to the bird and track it as soon as an f4 lens? What was your success rate? Have you tried in even lower lighting conditions?

Thanks,
Amit

Dec 04, 2018 at 05:42 PM

speedmaster20d
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · My Review of the 500PF

Hi Amit,

If you mainly like to shoot BIF in low light like the last image you would get the best results with the D5 and the 500 f/4 lens. The D850/500PF combo isn't exactly a low-light rig.

best

Dec 04, 2018 at 09:32 PM

Warkari
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · My Review of the 500PF

speedmaster20d wrote:
Hi Amit,

If you mainly like to shoot BIF in low light like the last image you would get the best results with the D5 and the 500 f/4 lens. The D850/500PF combo isn't exactly a low-light rig.

best

Thanks for the info, Arash. I like shooting BIF but here in Minneapolis there are many cloudy days and my current combo of D500 & Tamron 150-600 suffers quite a bit in nailing shots in those conditions. So I was thinking of upgrading to the 500/5.6 if that would do the trick if combined with the D500.

Amit

Dec 04, 2018 at 10:04 PM

chambeshi
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · My Review of the 500PF

Great Review - I also can find very little at fault with this new Nikkor
Thank You

Dec 05, 2018 at 02:47 PM

neilvan
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · My Review of the 500PF

Great review, thanks for sharing! Love my 300PF, looks like it will be getting a big brother soon...

Dec 05, 2018 at 05:44 PM

Pixel Perfect
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · My Review of the 500PF

SO when will Nikon respond with new much lighter superteles. By next year Sony will also have 500/600 f/4 which will be very light too and Canon has the 400/60 II but still hasn’t stated if or when 500 III and 300 III are coming. With some exciting rumours about next years D6, would love a new 500 or at least. the 600 PF to appear. Alas for Nikon the current E lenses are relatively new unlike Canon’s 8 year old mk II’s.

Too bad youdon’t own the D500 Arash, would have like to seen how it fared, most reports show it to be a bit better than the D850 for AF.

Dec 05, 2018 at 11:16 PM

kriskunisch
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · My Review of the 500PF

Warkari wrote:
I like shooting BIF but here in Minneapolis there are many cloudy days and my current combo of D500 & Tamron 150-600 suffers quite a bit in nailing shots in those conditions. So I was thinking of upgrading to the 500/5.6 if that would do the trick if combined with the D500.

I can see how cloudy days and a maximum aperture of 6.3 (at 600,) can be challenging to work with. I would hope (and expect) that the 500 f/5.6 would be an improvement over the Tamron, however, soft light will still contribute its fair share of soft images.

My 500mm f/4 arrived at an awful time. It's been gray, cloudy, and hazy here in the PNW. Great time to photograph ducks in water, not the best time to capture a Gray Ghost (Male Harrier Hawk) in flight.

Dec 05, 2018 at 11:36 PM

Lance B
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · My Review of the 500PF

Great review of a great lens. Well done!

Dec 05, 2018 at 11:53 PM

ilkka_nissila
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · My Review of the 500PF

Pixel Perfect wrote:
SO when will Nikon respond with new much lighter superteles.

Didn't we just get the 1.5kg 500/5.6? Which competitor has a lighter 500 or longer lens with similar or better quality? Nikon's current 500/4 is also lighter than Sony, Canon or Sigma 500/4.

Nikon haven't yet released the 200/2 FL or 300/2.8 FL, I would hope they finish the first FL lineup before yet another round of (no doubt even more expensive) updates.

I think Nikon do not need to be in a rush to respond to rumored/speculated competitors' possible future lenses. I don't see Canon or Sony 500/5,6 anywhere. Each manufacturer is doing their own thing. The market will decide.

Too bad youdon’t own the D500 Arash, would have like to seen how it fared, most reports show it to be a bit better than the D850 for AF.

The D850 has the advantage that EFCS can be used in Q/Qc mode with the viewfinder, so because of this, it would be my pick of body to use with the PF lenses, to avoid slow-speed vibration effects from the mechanical shutter. The D850 recently had a bug fix FW update that addressed AF delays.

Dec 06, 2018 at 01:24 AM

speedmaster20d
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · My Review of the 500PF

I didn't know about the D850 FW update, I had experienced (many times) that the camera goes into a coma (mainly with 600mm and 500mm) lenses. I'd press the shutter, nothing would happen and then 5-10 seconds later the camera would wake up and fire a couple of shots. I had missed quite a few frames because of this and was about to call NPS and send in my D850's for repair. Hope the firmware fixes this

However the AF performance I mention in the review has nothing to do with this bug. In general the D850 AF is not as fast as the D5 and at f/8 this difference is quite noticeable. this is similar to Canon's 1D vs. 5D series... it's not surprising though... one cannot expect the $3K body to have the same performance of $6K body.

Dec 06, 2018 at 01:32 PM

this is me
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · My Review of the 500PF

ilkka_nissila wrote:
I think Nikon do not need to be in a rush to respond to rumored/speculated competitors' possible future lenses. I don't see Canon or Sony 500/5,6 anywhere. Each manufacturer is doing their own thing. The market will decide.

They don't have to do anything but they do need to keep up with competitor. As of today, Canon's has the lightest 400mm f/2.8 and 600mm f/4. Significantly lighter actually. Lighter enough to make some of us 600mm user lusting for an updated version of the FL.
Nikon 600mm f/4 FL is 8.4lbs.
Canon 600mm f/4 ISIII is 6.7lbs.

Dec 06, 2018 at 01:51 PM

arbitrage
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · My Review of the 500PF

speedmaster20d wrote:
I didn't know about the D850 FW update, I had experienced (many times) that the camera goes into a coma (mainly with 600mm and 500mm) lenses. I'd press the shutter, nothing would happen and then 5-10 seconds later the camera would wake up and fire a couple of shots. I had missed quite a few frames because of this and was about to call NPS and send in my D850's for repair. Hope the firmware fixes this

However the AF performance I mention in the review has nothing to do with this bug. In general the D850 AF is not as...Show more →

So far mine seems to be fixed after the FW update. I had this issue many times and so far after a few weeks of shooting post FW it hasn't happened again.

Dec 06, 2018 at 02:26 PM

ilkka_nissila
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · My Review of the 500PF

Yes, but this kind of differences come and go; before these new Sony and Canon lenses, Nikon's 400 and 600 were the lightest, and a while further back, Canon's were. If you have a full system of lenses, the financial loss from a switch could be in the tens of thousands and all the camera and flash controls would be different, and so all the reflexes have to unlearned/relearned, only for a temporary benefit in weight that will be caught up / reversed in a few years, most likely. Manufacturers need to produce competent products but because people use systems, catching up on an individual item doesn't need to happen immediately (each manufacturer has other system components where they have an advantage).

Further, there is the point that Canon allowed the MTFs to drop in their Mk III updates compared to the Mk II lenses (especially the 400) whereas Nikon's FL versions have higher image quality compared to the Canon Mk II's (e.g lenscore.org; resolving power for Canon 400/2.8 Mk II: 1317; Nikon 400/2.8 FL: 1466; this difference is likely to grow with the Mk III since Canon's own data show a slight drop). If you are offered a slightly heavier lens (but still much lighter than historically typical for a 400/2.8) that offered superior image quality, or a lighter lens that isn't quite as good, some photographers will prefer the best quality they can get. And then there are those photographers who will choose even greater weight savings (along with some IQ and speed loss) and prefer the 300/4 and 500/5.6 PF Nikkors.

All of these considerations affect system choice, but then there are lots of other factors as well. One does not typically choose a single lens in isolation. A nature or sports photographer typically needs a broad range of lenses, cameras and accessories.

Nikon offer both extraordinarily light weight 300/4 and 500/5.6, and very high quality fast teles (some of which are currently heavier than some competing products). The fast telephoto Nikkors from 200/2 up do very well on the lenscore 200 megapixel sensor.

I can understand that if one only needs a long tele and nothing else, then switching might be easier, but at least for me the overall system is important, not some single lens.

Dec 06, 2018 at 02:33 PM

speedmaster20d
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · My Review of the 500PF

arbitrage wrote:
So far mine seems to be fixed after the FW update. I had this issue many times and so far after a few weeks of shooting post FW it hasn't happened again.

that's great, I hate to be without my D850 so was reluctant to call support before....

Dec 06, 2018 at 03:10 PM

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