I was bad this week

[clovishound]

I decided to get the Pup a new lens for her birthday coming up. When I was on the Nikon Store website, I happened to see the lens I've been lusting after on sale for a decent amount off. I thought about it for a while, talked to my wife, and decided to go ahead and order it. Discovered it was on backorder.

Just out of curiosity, I decided to look at B&H, and low and behold they had the same lens on sale in and in stock.

So, my new 200-500 F5.6 should be here towards the end of the week. I would have liked to get a Z mount for my new camera, but there just aren't any reasonable long telephoto lenses available for the Z mount. I can use this mount with an adapter, which works well. As a plus the Pup can use it on her camera. Her tele is a 70-300, so this would reach out a lot further, especially since hers is a crop frame, giving it an effective 750mm.

[Sir Henry]

That should do the trick.

[clovishound]

Well the new lens came in today. I hooked it up to my Z5 and ran out in the backyard and took some pictures. Couldn't spend too long, in case the wife needs me.
This is a big boy. I'm definitely going to have to get a bigger camera bag. It's a little on the heavy side as well.

Auto focus seems to work well, and the VR is phenomenal. Of course the Z5 has In Body Image Stabilization, but when a Nikon VR lens is mounted on it, the two are supposed to work in tandem to give even greater stabilization. I shot a squirrel (no blood was spilled) at 500mm and 1/60 sec, handheld. It was very sharp IMO.

All in all I'm very happy with it at this early stage. I'm sure it isn't as good as some of the faster primes by Nikon, but I can't afford to shell out 6 to 10 grand or more on a lens.

Here's the victim. It doesn't look that sharp in this low rez copy, but the full rez image is sharp.

_DAB1680.jpg

[Ernie]

Looks plenty sharp to me. Congrats on the new lens.

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Wow Clovis that's a big one! Hope it works well for the both of you - an no fighting over who gets it when!!

You two must be thinking bird photography as I usually see those kinds of lenses most commonly associated with birding.

I know than Fuji makes a 150-600 f5.6-6 I think so 900 on a Fuji apsC - I just don't think I wanna carry that and I'm not especially into birds. My next lens purchases - I think - are likely to be Sigma Art prime lenses for Fuji when they come out - which I hope they do. Kinda goin the opposite way from what you are doing.

Anyway good to hear from you an hope that lens does what you two want.

-Ed-

[clovishound]

Hey All,

Wow Clovis that's a big one! Hope it works well for the both of you - an no fighting over who gets it when!!

You two must be thinking bird photography as I usually see those kinds of lenses most commonly associated with birding.

I know than Fuji makes a 150-600 f5.6-6 I think so 900 on a Fuji apsC - I just don't think I wanna carry that and I'm not especially into birds. My next lens purchases - I think - are likely to be Sigma Art prime lenses for Fuji when they come out - which I hope they do. Kinda goin the opposite way from what you are doing.

Anyway good to hear from you an hope that lens does what you two want.

-Ed-

Yes, I'm finding this to be a big, heavy lens. I'm also finding it to be a good performer. This is a picture I took of the moon. I went ahead and used my crop sensor DSLR, instead of the full frame Z5 in order to get more or less 750mm effective. I then had to severely crop it to achieve the desired magnification. It's still pretty sharp.


F8 @ 1/400 ASA 200

_DAB0033.jpg

I still haven't had the opportunity to take a real photo outing with it. I've had to be content to shoot what I could with a quick trip to the front or back yard. I did order a monopod to use with it. Coupled with the excellent VR of the Z5 and the lens, it should make a much easier to use package for most outings, and still provide sharp results without resorting to a large, heavy tripod. If I want some reach, I have to pay the price in size and weight.

[BrokenolMarine]

I'll eventually buy new lenses so my camera will work. I bought a nice camera body, that my old lenses were supposed to work on. The D700 is intermittent.

Congrats on the new lens. Great shot.

[North Country Gal]

That id a serious lens. Congrats.

[clovishound]

Since birds were mentioned, I thought I'd post this. I had the new lens hooked up and mounted on a monopod. Saw a female cardinal in the crepe myrtle tree out front. The light was nice and soft after the rain storm. I was surprised to get a decently sharp image given the low shutter speed without a proper tripod. 1/40 sec and 750mm effective focal length after the 1.5 crop factor. I shot this with my old D3400 to get more reach than the full sensor Z5.

_DAB0072.jpg

[clovishound]

Finally managed to make it out of the house for a photo outing yesterday. Really enjoyed it, and the new lens worked extremely well. Didn't come back with anything noteworthy, but had several solid shots.

_DAB2722.jpg

_DAB2688.jpg

_DAB2676.jpg

_DAB2613.jpg