Nikon's New 300mm f/4 Looks Impressive

J

J-see

Senior Member
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mikew said:
Not bad:D seriously that looks very good
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Too bad landscape is hard else it'd be a good walk around lens. I'm very satisfied with the quality. She makes post easy.
 
J

J-see

Senior Member
I was curious how the lens would do with light sources and reflections since not all I read was positive.

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I do dislike the dot in the middle of them but not enough to invest the time and effort.
 
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J

J-see

Senior Member
I tried to fine-tune the lens with the TC2x but I only get focus confirmation between +16 and +20. Without I have the lens tuned at -7 which is a phenomenal difference. The TC2x is fine for manual macro but for everything else it seems to be crap.

I can set it to +18 but most likely I'll end up with loads of out-of-focus shots. It's too close to the limit to be reliable.
 
J

J-see

Senior Member
To show how practical this lens is.

I have a Lowepro Nova 170:
Nova_170_left.jpg

Not the biggest of bags but I can fit the D810 with the 300mm attached (hood reversed), my 18-35mm with the hood + 2 filters, a second battery and my lens pen.

If I put in only my 70-200mm, I can't even close it.
 
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Bengt Nyman

Senior Member
I have been waiting for this lens with great anticipation.
LenScore test results for the new Nikkor 300mm F4 VR are now out. Unfortunately the results are disappointing. See http://www.lenscore.org/
The new lens, with its Fresnel component, does not even come close to the performance of the older Nikkor 300mm F4 lens without VR and without the fresnel lens.
The advantage of the new lens is a reduction in size and weight, while unfortunately also reducing resolution and overall image quality by approximately 20%.
Too bad, there is still a hole in the market for light weight, high quality BIF photography.
 
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Bengt Nyman

Senior Member
(The older design supposedly performs about 20% better than the new one. See LenScore: http://www.lenscore.org/)

Or maybe not. LenScore averages the performance over the entire lens which in this case is soft toward the corners. For birding use, for example on a D7200, it is only the DX portion of the lens that counts. LensRental has also tested the lens and reports slightly better performance in the center of the new lens than in the center of the old lens.
That would make the new lens a clear winner, considering size, weight, AF and VR.

I have asked LenScore if they are willing to provide data for the DX portion of the new 300mm f/4.
 
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M

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Bengt Nyman said:
Hi Mike,
How do you compare (which do you prefer) the Nikon 1 versus the Nikon D7100(7200) for BIF ?
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In my opinion a mirrorless is a long way from matching a DSLR the EVF can not compete with a OVF for speed,many users just set it on a high frame rate and hope they catch what they want,the mirrorless is a great camera and does lots of things well but none as far as i can tell better.
 
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Bengt Nyman

Senior Member
Agreed.
Looking strictly at image quality: How would you compare a Nikon 1 with its 2.7 cropping factor and a 300mm lens to a D810 with the same lens and the image post-cropped to match the Nikon 1 frame ?
 
M

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Bengt Nyman said:
Agreed.
Looking strictly at image quality: How would you compare a Nikon 1 with its 2.7 cropping factor and a 300mm lens to a D810 with the same lens and the image post-cropped to match the Nikon 1 frame ?
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Thats something i would not know the answer to,i dont do the pixel peeping comparisons any more,now i just look for a presentable online image.

Taken with the V2 and 30-110 1series lens

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J

J-see

Senior Member
It should deliver great detail since it got pretty small pixels nicely packed together on that sensor. The main difference will be all the rest.
 
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