Further to my recent thread about my wife looking for a 400mm solution, this weekend we went to the zoo so she could try my Nikon 70-200 VRII + TC-20e III on her D7100. For this trip I used her Nikon 70-300VR on my D800, albeit I tried to keep it around 200mm as it does start to go soft at the long end and I was trying to let her see what it could do next to my combo.
For all the shooting we kept the shutter speed at 1/1000 and let the ISO deal with the light up to ISO 3200. I was impressed with both cameras even at 3200. The 400mm combo was used wide open at F5.6 and I let the 70-300 use 7.1 to give it a chance at being sharp. I have three examples here which compare the bare 70-200, 70-200 with TC and also the 70-300. They are all taken from roughly the same position.
We took many shots but I think these are good examples of how the lenses performed when they performed well. I think a bit more work is required generally on the AF technique with the 400mm combo but that's operator error I think. These shots are all handheld and I think 1/1000 or above is definitely required, especially on these 24 and 36MP sensors.
In summary I think we concluded the following:
Other observations are that the D7100 resolution is better than the D800 for this kind of shooting, as expected. The D7100 returns excellent images, although on these images you can see some moire effect on the feathers due to lack of AA filter. We are trading our two D300s for a second D7100 as a backup / wildlife camera for me.
All in all it was an interesting test, but I think this week is going to be rather expensive!! Actually the 70-200 has a £160 rebate in the UK at the moment which is OK.
For all the shooting we kept the shutter speed at 1/1000 and let the ISO deal with the light up to ISO 3200. I was impressed with both cameras even at 3200. The 400mm combo was used wide open at F5.6 and I let the 70-300 use 7.1 to give it a chance at being sharp. I have three examples here which compare the bare 70-200, 70-200 with TC and also the 70-300. They are all taken from roughly the same position.
We took many shots but I think these are good examples of how the lenses performed when they performed well. I think a bit more work is required generally on the AF technique with the 400mm combo but that's operator error I think. These shots are all handheld and I think 1/1000 or above is definitely required, especially on these 24 and 36MP sensors.
In summary I think we concluded the following:
- The 70-300VR is a nice lens and great for the price. Not bad at 200mm, softish at 300mm. This is relative to what you're used to. Some will be happy across the board if they haven't tried something much more expensive. I would still recommend this to people if they haven't got £2000 to spend.
- The 70-200 +TC at 400mm is capable of excellent results, even wide open, but needs a good technique and fast shutter speed.
- The 70-200VRII does not need any explaination from me as it's simply a great lens.
Other observations are that the D7100 resolution is better than the D800 for this kind of shooting, as expected. The D7100 returns excellent images, although on these images you can see some moire effect on the feathers due to lack of AA filter. We are trading our two D300s for a second D7100 as a backup / wildlife camera for me.
All in all it was an interesting test, but I think this week is going to be rather expensive!! Actually the 70-200 has a £160 rebate in the UK at the moment which is OK.
