suteetat wrote:
I certainly am very interested in the Z7s. Interestingly enough, I talked to my local dealer today who happens to work closely with Nikon and often a beta tester for some products for Nikon. I told him that may be it was a mistake to sell my D850 when I bought D6 as there are times when D850 might be preferable over D6. So I told him to keep a look out for me for any decent used D850. Basically he told me not to buy anything else yet at least until Z7s comes out. He did not tell me anything much
except that I should be pleasantly surprised by its AF, whatever that means. May be he would rather sell me a new body rather than a used one
One interesting side note though, it appears to me that 70-200/2.8s + TCx2 does not really give any up to Sony 100-400GM and seems to be brighter as well. Now if 70-200/2.8s + TCx2 outperform Nikon 100-400s on the roadmap, there is probably not much point in releasing it.
Another observation, one weakness of Z7 AF is that once it grabs onto the background, it rarely if ever move AF back to a subject in the foreground unless I point the camera down to the ground so it would refocus to closer distance. 70-200/2.8s seems to break this trend finally. ...Show more →
I expect the 100-400mm to be a f/4.5-6.3 extensible zoom. If true, it will have a smaller form factor and less weight than the 70-200/2.8 S / TC 2x combination.
Sep 08, 2020 at 08:35 AM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
AcuteShadows wrote:
I expect the 100-400mm to be a f/4.5-6.3 extensible zoom. If true, it will have a smaller form factor and less weight than the 70-200/2.8 S / TC 2x combination.
I actually have a suspicion it will be a f/4.5-5.6. Note that so far there are no S lenses with a slowest max aperture that goes to f/6.3 and all the lenses that have a max aperture of f/6.3 for any of their range are not S lenses. Since the 100-400 is designated as a S lens on the roadmap I expect even on the long end for its max aperture to be f/5.6.
Sep 08, 2020 at 08:40 AM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
suteetat wrote:
I certainly am very interested in the Z7s. Interestingly enough, I talked to my local dealer today who happens to work closely with Nikon and often a beta tester for some products for Nikon. I told him that may be it was a mistake to sell my D850 when I bought D6 as there are times when D850 might be preferable over D6. So I told him to keep a look out for me for any decent used D850. Basically he told me not to buy anything else yet at least until Z7s comes out. He did not tell me anything much
except that I should be pleasantly surprised by its AF, whatever that means. May be he would rather sell me a new body rather than a used one
One interesting side note though, it appears to me that 70-200/2.8s + TCx2 does not really give any up to Sony 100-400GM and seems to be brighter as well. Now if 70-200/2.8s + TCx2 outperform Nikon 100-400s on the roadmap, there is probably not much point in releasing it.
Another observation, one weakness of Z7 AF is that once it grabs onto the background, it rarely if ever move AF back to a subject in the foreground unless I point the camera down to the ground so it would refocus to closer distance. 70-200/2.8s seems to break this trend finally. ...Show more →
I think one reason to have the Nikon 100-400S, especially if it is f/5.6, is that you can easily add the 1.4X TC and get a 140-560 f/6.3-f/8 lens that would be pretty handy for a lot of applications. This will especially fill that niche if the 200-600 is a non S lens that isn't quite as good as that combo. I pretty much expect that will be the case.
One big difference with mirrorless cameras, however, is that there is no huge differences in AF based on aperture of the lens. With DSLRs if you went beyond f/5.6 a bunch of the AF points stopped working. With mirrorless all the AF points are the same. They work better with wider apertures, but they don't just stop working and change in AF with narrower apertures seems to be linear and not a big drop off in performance.
AcuteShadows wrote:
I expect the 100-400mm to be a f/4.5-6.3 extensible zoom. If true, it will have a smaller form factor and less weight than the 70-200/2.8 S / TC 2x combination.
I think that would be in the realm of 200-600 as 100-400 4.5-5.6 seems like a standard semi pro zoom.
Nikon seems rather mroe conservative in their lens lineup unlike Canon that is now exploring more unsuaul focal length zoom with non traditional F range. So, for 100-400 S lens, I would expect 4.5-5.6 personally.
---------------------------------------------
Steve Spencer wrote:
I think one reason to have the Nikon 100-400S, especially if it is f/5.6, is that you can easily add the 1.4X TC and get a 140-560 f/6.3-f/8 lens that would be pretty handy for a lot of applications. This will especially fill that niche if the 200-600 is a non S lens that isn't quite as good as that combo. I pretty much expect that will be the case.
One big difference with mirrorless cameras, however, is that there is no huge differences in AF based on aperture of the lens. With DSLRs if you went beyond f/5.6 a bunch of the AF points stopped working. With mirrorless all the AF points are the same. They work better with wider apertures, but they don't just stop working and change in AF with narrower apertures seems to be linear and not a big drop off in performance....Show more →
You are right about ability to add TC. 100-400GM also work very well with TC. Nikon 80-400 seems to be lacking behind its competitor but I hope the new 100-400S will at least match if not better than its competitor though.
A traditionalist approach to a lens lineup would suggest f/4.5-5.6. Increased ISO capability of cameras and possible use of the lens at well-lit non-action events and for stalking politicians and other people in more or less public places might suggest a f/X-6.3. Let's see what Nikon decides.
suteetat wrote:
I think that would be in the realm of 200-600 as 100-400 4.5-5.6 seems like a standard semi pro zoom.
Nikon seems rather mroe conservative in their lens lineup unlike Canon that is now exploring more unsuaul focal length zoom with non traditional F range. So, for 100-400 S lens, I would expect 4.5-5.6 personally.
---------------------------------------------
You are right about ability to add TC. 100-400GM also work very well with TC. Nikon 80-400 seems to be lacking behind its competitor but I hope the new 100-400S will at least match if not better than its competitor though.
How are you guys finding the optical performance of the TC-2? Trying to decide which of the two to go with for now--I'm trying to buy a house so I can't really get both (even if my GAS says otherwise...)
Agree w/Lance - I don't really see a reduction in performance with the 1.4.
DapperedGator wrote:
How are you guys finding the optical performance of the TC-2? Trying to decide which of the two to go with for now--I'm trying to buy a house so I can't really get both (even if my GAS says otherwise...)
Agree w/Lance - I don't really see a reduction in performance with the 1.4.
I think the biggest issue with the 2x TC is that it is best stopped down to f8, shooting wide open is good but is much better at f8. However, this is based on early shots and I really do need to do more tests. I have been trying to shoot too slow shutter speeds to keep ISO low and my subjects may not be perfectly still. Personally, I would start with the 1.4x TC and then get the 2x later.
- lots of samples and a pretty thorough review. Nikon is really knocking it out of the park with all Z lenses.
My lens arrived in town and is sitting at the post office (since Canada Post doesn't deliver items requiring ID/signature to the door). Pick up tomorrow from the post office.
Quick noon walk right after picking it up today. Will try to take it for a longer spin later (the smoke from WA fires makes the air quality pretty bad here in Metro Vancouver).
Another very short stroll with the new lens - the air quality health index exceeded the available scale today as the smoke from the fires in WA continues to blank the city.
The lens handles great, the focus is fast and silent & the image quality is imo superb. The ability to map one of the custom buttons on the lens to subject tracking is pretty sweet as well.
