Very nice indeed. I'll keep my eye out for a clean 500 if the prices crater...I could take a fun trip with the price difference between the 500 and 600.
I'm also of the mind that 600 is usually too short for birding, but 840 might be too long. 700 with the 1.4x on the 500 might be a nice sweet spot.
RoamingScott wrote:
Very nice indeed. I'll keep my eye out for a clean 500 if the prices crater...I could take a fun trip with the price difference between the 500 and 600.
I'm also of the mind that 600 is usually too short for birding, but 840 might be too long. 700 with the 1.4x on the 500 might be a nice sweet spot.
IMO, the lens is a bit expensive relative to the cost of the 180-600 or the 500pf. Market prices of the latter are down to about $2k now, which makes $4800 price tag a bit high. But we'll see.
Otherwise, this lens gets me closer to dumping my Canon gear. A combination of 2x Z8 bodies along with the 100-400, 600pf and 800pf sounds like a great wildlife kit...You can buy all three lenses and spend considerably less than the cost of a 600tc by itself. I think that lens looks way overpriced as well, but with such limited quantities it may not matter.
This lens looks spectacular if you don't need more than 600mm. If I lived in Florida, I'd grab it in a heartbeat, and I'll almost certainly rent it for trips. For example, I went to Iceland last year for birds and landscapes. I used my 500mm f/4 for birds (godwits, terns, and seabirds). Lugging it around was a pretty big pain the entire time. It was heavy and took up a ton of space in my bag. This lens would've been a dream.
I dumped my Canon gear last June when my Z 400mm 2.8TC was delivered. It was clear to me that Nikon was being innovative as possible.
cohenfive wrote:
Steve Perry's review is superb as always imo....
IMO, the lens is a bit expensive relative to the cost of the 180-600 or the 500pf. Market prices of the latter are down to about $2k now, which makes $4800 price tag a bit high. But we'll see.
Otherwise, this lens gets me closer to dumping my Canon gear. A combination of 2x Z8 bodies along with the 100-400, 600pf and 800pf sounds like a great wildlife kit...You can buy all three lenses and spend considerably less than the cost of a 600tc by itself. I think that lens looks way overpriced as well, but with such limited quantities it may not matter.
I'm late to the party here but it's nice to see the 600PF has arrived pretty well exactly as expected. I'll have to go down the YouTube rabbit hole tonight to get all the subjective impressions but I don't anticipate any surprises.
Compared to the 500PF, the 600PF is within 10g of the same weight (with collar), same width, 41mm (1.6") longer, and a 1M longer MFD (4m vs 3m) with a slightly worse maximum reproduction ratio (0.15x vs 0.18x).
Looks like Nikon did a pretty good job of at giving people more of what was so attractive about the 500PF but obviously with 20% more reach, better VR, and probably better AF.
At ~70% cheaper than a 600/4 (~65% if you include the cost of a 1.4TC), it's once again a relative bargain, just like the existing 500/800 PF models. The biggest problem for it might be just how good the 180-600 is, which happens to be a similar ~65% cheaper than the 600PF, albeit bigger and quite a bit heavier (by ~550g / ~40%).
Probably too expensive for me to justify solely for travel as I already have the 800PF for 'around home' but if the 800PF didn't exist, I would be all over this. If anyone is wondering it's $6,500 here in Canada (Z600/4 is $20,000 and 180-600 is $2,300).
add in another user who swapped from Canon a few months ago for all of these Z wildlife opportunities
posted this in the rumor thread, but will start talking on here as well:
argh this release. one big surprise was it being almost 25% more expensive than rumored
I just sold my 100-400 thinking I'd pick up something different, but the paralysis of choice with nikon is unreal
having the 600mm 6.3 be the same aperture as the 800mm 6.3 and almost the same cost, is interesting... you save 2.2lbs and 4.22" of length which is certainly nice for travel
same cost discussion - in some countries they are very close, in the US it's around $5100 all in for the 600 6.3 new, vs $5500 all in for an 800 6.3 used. not equivalent (used vs new) obviously, but it is the choice many of us buying today would be making.
in my theorycrafting, I'm wondering if the ultimate combo isn't the:
180-600 f5.6 - 6.3
600 f6.3
600 f4 TC
it would ensure that you have 600mm at every length and travel combination. you'd lose out on faster than f4, but I feel like there could be something to be said about shooting at the same focal length
Maybe Nikon will sponsor a caddie to carry your equipment as a bonus, if you buy all the lenses.
Pass me the 400/2.8 iron please, or maybe rather the 600/4 wood.
Oh yes, and you can also prepare the 135 Plena for the putt.
Steve Perry calls it a mini 600TC with better handling. This may be the best all-round wildlife lens made. If I were starting over I would buy this and a 100-400 and call it a day at the long end. Add a 24-120, 14-24, 1.4x and a specialty prime of choice. Probably under 6kg including body all up.
70-200 + 400 4.5 + 800 + TC1.4.... I think I'll sit this one out especially considering the price point.
Though if my interest in wildlife photos waned a bit I could see myself selling 400/800 and just having one longer lens for walk around wildlife photos. That would fit the bill pretty nicely without having to deal with TCs.
Damn you Nikon, too many choices - why can't you be like other brands.
Alistair1 wrote:
Steve Perry calls it a mini 600TC with better handling. This may be the best all-round wildlife lens made. If I were starting over I would buy this and a 100-400 and call it a day at the long end. Add a 24-120, 14-24, 1.4x and a specialty prime of choice. Probably under 6kg including body all up.
It's no accident that I've built out my kit the way I have, leading to this moment
ingekj wrote:
800 6.3 and 600 6.3 is night and day difference as far as DoF rendering and subject isolation. That is what you gain with the weight, size and price.
Do you just mean because of the focal length difference? Or something different in the rendering based on sample images so far?
I am sure this is going to be another really popular lens for wildlife photographers. Nikon is quickly gaining the best lens lineup for wildlife and action photographers. I look forwards to seeing more reviews but currently I think I would pick the 180-600mm for my needs. They both get you to 600mm f6.3 and one is 1,700 the other is 4,800. The extra 2,100 should gain you better AF, sharper images, and lighter weight. But you also lose the ability to zoom.
I used primes for my telephoto usage for years, and once I got the Sony 200-600 for my Sony kit I really came to appreciate the flexibility for a zoom for wildlife photography. I feel like I have gotten more keeper images by being able to zoom, then images I lose due to sharpens lose / AF lose compared to a prime. I probably wouldn't go back to primes for wildlife unless it's for a faster aperture, or more reach then a zoom. As good as high ISO has gotten when the light starts to fall the advantage of f4 / f2.8 becomes apparent over f6.3.
I kind of wish this lens was either cheeper, had a built in TC for a similar price, or had a faster aperture for a similar price but those would probably all be tough asks.
Time will tell, but currently I am eyeing my Nikon Z wildlife kit being the 180-600 and 800mm PF. It's amazing how many more options we have today vs even 10 years ago.
As a former Nikon shooter who has now shot Sony for the last 2 years this lens is an absolute dream. It sounds perfect to me. I would love to use this for flight work or for when you really need something small and light. If you don't have the cash then it is not for you. But they will sell every one of these and have a wait list for ages for it. I am extremely envious of this lens. For context I owned the 500PF and also the 600F4E. I now own the Sony 600f4 and f400 2.8. I. would love a 600pf lens. Congrats to all everyone who can get their hands on this lens!
Include me among those who see the 600 PF as *another* outstanding addition to Nikon's long lens line-up.
If you skip through Steve Perry's early video on this lens, you'll see that Nikon's new 600 PF checks every single box for a professional-grade Nikon lens.
Translation: *Nikon is serious about these PF's*. And they should be. I'll argue lightweight anytime. PF's are light and quick. And for some reason, TC's perform better on mirrorless cameras than DSLR's.
And what about MFD with TC's? My 500 PF's MFD remained the same when I added my TC14. So that's a 700mm f8 with the MFD of my 500PF. And it is sharp. I love it!
I believe that the 600 PF TC14 will be fast, even at f9. We'll see.
Why haven't competitors brought out their own PF's?
