After weeks of thinking between the new Canon 600mm ISIII and the FL, I decided to picked up the FL. My dilemma was that the 600mm F4 VR is too heavy for me to handhold and not practical to roam around the field to shoot the small birds I'm interested. The Canon ISIII was very enticing because of the 6.7lbs weight. However, Canon does not have a body that can match the D850 or D500. I would wait for their camera body to be improved but time will eventually improves everything and I'll just end up waiting and waiting for the next best thing.
This is from my first outing with the lens. Shooting birds in this time of the year where I am is very challenging. The only birds around are the native and even them are scarce. So far, I'm very happy with the upgrade. No tripod. Just put a strap on the lens and I'm able to roam the field and bring it to places where I wasn't able to with the previous version on tripod.
Congrats on the new lens. It sounds like you are comfortable with that weight category and aren't being tied to a tripod. I used the similar weight Canon Mk II for many years and managed to shoot off of tripod a lot of the time.
Yes Nicholas, congrats on the new lens! I'm sure you'll get as much enjoyment out of it as I do mine. It's the sharpest, most capable 600mm money can buy and is capable of delivering mind-blowing results when you get "everything right".
There have been some earlier photo threads for images shot with a 600mm lenses, but I guess there aren't enough owners to keep those threads alive. Still, don't let that stop you from posting some examples.
The best place to search image threads is this thread, it's a button titled Nikon Image Threads, above the image previews for the Nikon forum. I update it as I find new image threads. There is a 600 f/4 thread, but not one specific to the E version.
this is me wrote:
I searched but I didn't see we have one.
After weeks of thinking between the new Canon 600mm ISIII and the FL, I decided to picked up the FL. My dilemma was that the 600mm F4 VR is too heavy for me to handhold and not practical to roam around the field to shoot the small birds I'm interested. The Canon ISIII was very enticing because of the 6.7lbs weight. However, Canon does not have a body that can match the D850 or D500. I would wait for their camera body to be improved but time will eventually improves everything and I'll just end up waiting and waiting for the next best thing.
This is from my first outing with the lens. Shooting birds in this time of the year where I am is very challenging. The only birds around are the native and even them are scarce. So far, I'm very happy with the upgrade. No tripod. Just put a strap on the lens and I'm able to roam the field and bring it to places where I wasn't able to with the previous version on tripod.
this is me wrote:
I searched but I didn't see we have one.
After weeks of thinking between the new Canon 600mm ISIII and the FL, I decided to picked up the FL. My dilemma was that the 600mm F4 VR is too heavy for me to handhold and not practical to roam around the field to shoot the small birds I'm interested. The Canon ISIII was very enticing because of the 6.7lbs weight. However, Canon does not have a body that can match the D850 or D500. I would wait for their camera body to be improved but time will eventually improves everything and I'll just end up waiting and waiting for the next best thing.
This is from my first outing with the lens. Shooting birds in this time of the year where I am is very challenging. The only birds around are the native and even them are scarce. So far, I'm very happy with the upgrade. No tripod. Just put a strap on the lens and I'm able to roam the field and bring it to places where I wasn't able to with the previous version on tripod.
Congrats on your new 600 FL. I still want one too.
Question: Are there any images posted anywhere, showing how well this Nikon 600 FL performs with Nikon’s 2X converter? We have all read how well the Canon TC’s perform with their supertelephoto lenses. But what about the FL Nikons with Nikon’s TC20?
bs kite wrote:
Question: Are there any images posted anywhere, showing how well this Nikon 600 FL performs with Nikon’s 2X converter? We have all read how well the Canon TC’s perform with their supertelephoto lenses. But what about the FL Nikons with Nikon’s TC20?
There are very few sample images from the 600E+TC20EIII that I'm aware of. You might check Arthur Morris' Birds As Art blog...he's used his 600E with the TC20EIII and says it's fine if you know how to fine tune it. Good luck with that combo is all I can say.
Gary Irwin wrote:
There are very few sample images from the 600E+TC20EIII that I'm aware of. You might check Arthur Morris' Birds As Art blog...he's used his 600E with the TC20EIII and says it's fine if you know how to fine tune it. Good luck with that combo is all I can say.
Thank you. I did check to see what image results he had to post. There were two:
I have the 1.4xTCIIIvand the 1.7xTCII. I almost always used the 1.4x on the previous version but I haven’t gotten the chance to go out much with the new lens. My handholding skill needs to be better as I feel like I get a lot less keepers when I went out with the 1.4x TC attached.
My first outing was with a D850 and bare lens. Lots of tack sharp images when zoomed in at 100%. With the TC, there’s motion blur. I have camera on auto iso and auto shutter speed.
I went out yesterday with the FL attached to my D500 but there wasn’t any birds to shoot.
Can’t miss there, especially with a significant tidal change. I usually like the outgoing, about halfway through or more. You might like another part of the process.
bs kite wrote:
Congrats on your new 600 FL? I still want one too.
Question: Are there any images posted anywhere, showing how well this Nikon 600 FL performs with Nikon’s 2X converter? We have all read how well the Canon TC’s perform with their supertelephoto lenses. But what about the FL Nikons with Nikon’s TC20?
Robert
I don't want to clutter up this 600 FL thread too much but I will share a couple examples I took with the 500 FL and the TC-20E III. I will say that I don't find the combo as good as the Canon 2xTCIII was with my 600II or 400DOII. I have more confidence in the Canon setup. I really don't find myself using the Nikon combo very often. The availability of the 1.7TC reduces my use of the 2xTC as I find the 1.7 to be a better option.
I also had to do some very significant MFA on my 500 FL and 2xTC and +19 on the D850 was needed to get it acceptable. Overall I'm not sold on the combo but I was able to get some decent results out of it after MFA and with closer subjects. A couple 500 FL + 2xTC examples...
arbitrage wrote:
I don't want to clutter up this 600 FL thread too much but I will share a couple examples I took with the 500 FL and the TC-20E III. I will say that I don't find the combo as good as the Canon 2xTCIII was with my 600II or 400DOII. I have more confidence in the Canon setup. I really don't find myself using the Nikon combo very often. The availability of the 1.7TC reduces my use of the 2xTC as I find the 1.7 to be a better option.
I also had to do some very significant MFA on my 500 FL and 2xTC and +19 on the D850 was needed to get it acceptable. Overall I'm not sold on the combo but I was able to get some decent results out of it after MFA and with closer subjects. A couple 500 FL + 2xTC examples...
Although my experience is with a different mix of equipment (600E+TC20EIII and Canon 500IS II+EF2xIII in my case), overall I am in agreement with Geoff's comments. That being said, I personally will only use the TC14EIII on my 600E, and only use it when absolutely necessary. The 600E is so sharp, you're usually better off using a high-density sensor camera and cropping...though conditions need to be perfect.
Gary Irwin wrote:
The 600E is so sharp, you're usually better off using a high-density sensor camera and cropping...though conditions need to be perfect.
Agreed based on the limited 3 outings I had with this lens.
I've had mine a few months and I love it. I started out using it with a monopod, but now I use the strap when I walk around and hand hold. It won't be for everyone it IS heavy.
This lens is superb. I am a recent (like 3 weeks ago) Nikon convert from Canon. Image quality out of this lens is as good or better than my 600 f4 ii. Have hardly used this lens at all with holidays and family but here is a shot I have that really shows how good this lens is.
Eastern Screech Owl D850 + 600 E, F9, 1/100, ISO 800 Fill Flash at -2 (I think)
