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Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

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Discussions about cameras, lenses, accessories, and image-processing.
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Image quality of 400 mm telephoto lenses 7 years 7 months ago #644

  • Ian Wilson
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Roger Cicala at LensRentals has published lab measurements of the image quality of a range of 400 mm prime and popular zoom lenses used at 400 mm focal length. The results are very interesting and answer important questions. Read about it here https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2016/08/the-sort-of-great-400mm-shootout/
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Image quality of 400 mm telephoto lenses 7 years 5 months ago #706

  • Bruce Terrill
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Hi Ian,
Thanks for link and also thanks for the info you have supplied in another thread about the quality ans suitability of Canon lenses for birding (Renee and Canon 80D).
I am seriously perplexed as to which lenses to buy for my Nikon DSLR bodies to use for my foray into Bird Photography? I have been involved in outdoor photography for a long time and I sit here at a total loss as to which Nikon/3rd party lenses would best serve my purposes? I own a Nikon D300S and also a Nikon D7200 with Nikkor 70-200 F2.8 VRll and Nikkor 300 F4 AFS lenses as well as Nikkor macro lenses and accessories. Therefore I am stuck with the 300mm F4 as being my only real choice for BIF, etc. . . I have been seriously looking at the Nikkor 200-500 but can't make up my mind as to what lenses will best suit my pursuits?
I live on a disabled pension and buying new 'pro' lenses is not a choice, BUT, Nikon seems to have missed the boat with this genre and, obviously, leans heavily to Pro sports and seriously Pro photographers. . .
Thanks guys for taking the time with any replies,
Bruce. . .

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Image quality of 400 mm telephoto lenses 7 years 5 months ago #707

  • Tony Ashton
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Gidday Bruce,

Have you considered sticking with 300 and trying the old 1.7x or newer 1.5x extenders. Seems cheapest option and might be close to 400 IQ and not too much slower for AF.

Good luck,
Tony
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Image quality of 400 mm telephoto lenses 7 years 5 months ago #709

  • Ian Wilson
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Hi Bruce,
I must confess that I am unable to give you advice on Nikon gear based on hands-on experience but in principle, what Tony suggests is reasonable - use a 1.4x teleconverter on your 300 mm f.4 AF-S. I presume the Mk III teleconverter is the one to use, perhaps a Nikon expert can confirm. This will give you 420 mm effective focal length at f/5.6 which will be a good match to your D7200. As Tony mentioned, the main issues are image quality and AF performance, neither of which I can comment on. The new 200-500 mm f/5.6 will provide the image quality you need but I have not seen enough BIF images to comment on the AF speed and accuracy when mounted on the D7200. Sorry I am unable to be more helpful but hopefully one of our Nikon experts will chime in.
If you are able to stretch to the 200-500 mm f/5.6 I suspect it will do the job based on the work I have seen from photographers using the D7000 series and the 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S. For example, you might like to check out the work of Joe Przybyla who uses the D7000 + 80-400 mm Mk II at http://www.amazinglight.smugmug.com/ The 200-500 mm performs better than the 80-400 mm MkII at 400 mm so the image quality will be fine, it's just a question of AF performance.
Cheers, Ian
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Image quality of 400 mm telephoto lenses 7 years 5 months ago #710

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Thanks for the help guys.
I have the Kenko series of teleconverters and I used the 1.4X extensively for extra magnification when using macro lenses for underwater photography.
I have just pulled out the 1.4 from the kit and cleaned it and have now mounted it to the 300mm F4 so I will see how it goes? Luckily we have a pair of Black-shouldered Kites nesting in one of the pines at work so I will give it a try.
Ian, I checked the link that you listed and he sure has some nice pics in his gallery, hopefully I will be able to follow suit?
Bruce. . .

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Image quality of 400 mm telephoto lenses 7 years 5 months ago #711

  • Ian Wilson
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Hi Bruce,
I have absolutely no doubt that the D7200 will enable you to produce images equal to the best once you find the right lens. But teleconverters are not all equal and I am not optimistic that third party units will perform well enough to do justice to the D7200. They do not work as well as Canon extenders on Canon lenses and I expect it will be the same on Nikon lenses. However, I will be happy to be proved wrong, if your Kenko multiplier works well, then that's all that matters. Good luck.
Ian
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