First impressions of the new 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G

davidnholtjr

Senior Member
The lens came today. It was getting dark out when I got it so hope to get out tomorrow to get some shot's if it's nice out.


The lens is made in Japan. It feels great in the hand and has a nice build. The outer body is metal, zoom and focus rings are plastic, inter tube is plastic. Not to sure about the tripod collar, it's metal but feels cheap, hopefully RRS or Kirk will make a better one. The lens has a zoom look which is nice. The hood is like the 70-200's which has a locking button/switch that needs to be push in to unlock it. The AF seems to be very fast and snappy. The VR seems to work very good, below is a quick shot at 400mm, wide open at 1/25sec,



DSC_2348 by David N Holt Jr, on Flickr



DNH_7735 by David N Holt Jr, on Flickr



DNH_7734 by David N Holt Jr, on Flickr
 
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Allen

Senior Member
Great shots...looking good. I cannot tell if you are using a DX or FX body....also, I wonder how it would perform with a 1.4 TE for BIF, etc.....
 

Dave_W

The Dude
Awesome!! Tell me about the focus speed. One of the big complaints with the older version was the focus was slow and tended to search a lot. I've got to believe they addressed this issue making this an fantastic lens. I thought I was done buying lenses and then they go and make this one. So now I feel like Al Pacino in Godfather III where he says "Just when I thought I was out they PULL me back in"
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
The tripod collar thing bothers me. Why produce a fine lens and then skimp on something like that? I've heard that in reviews of so many Nikon big lenses.
 

06Honda

Senior Member
Comes down to making that little bit of extra money i guess. I agree it should be in the lense kit for the price they want for that lense.:(
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
The tripod mount footprint is a little small. I can only comment based on what I've read from reviews (that this small footprint leads to instability) and experienced with the longer footprint on my Sigma (that it doesn't). One would have to assume that on the smaller, normal head of most tripods that this would have no effect, but on mounts made for longer lenses I can see this being a potential issue under some circumstances.
 

stmv

Senior Member
I have the older version, and yes,, the Kirk Colar is perfect, I wonder if it is compatible with the newer lens, I like using the Kirk as a handle when shooting.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
From LensRentals.com review of the lens...

The Tripod Ring

Just want to say you heard it here first. The good news is the new 80-400 has an actual ring like the old version, not the foot-mounted-on-a-plate-bolted-to-the-lens that the Nikon 70-200mm VR II has (the plate is problematic and bends sometimes). The bad news is the ring is very thin. In fact the old 80-400 ring weighed 5.6 ounces, but the new one, larger in diameter, weighs just 3.2 ounces. I’m all for saving weight, but doing so on the tripod ring that will support around 5 pounds of lens and camera makes me a bit anxious.
Mounted on the lens, the ring does seems quite sturdy, so it may be an engineering triumph. Take it off of the lens, though, and you can actually bend it out of round by just squeezing it in your hand. (Of course I had to try it. It looked like it would bend.) I’m hopeful this is just a brilliant design that will save weight yet be superbly sturdy. But I’m a little nervous about it.
 
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