Lens choice I'm still undecided, help needed

Phil White

Phil White

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I am looking for a super telephoto for wildlife shots and need help in choosing between the Nikon 400mm f2.8 VR or the 600mm f4 VR.
Which is the sharpest of the two lenses?
I will be doing a lot of bird photography with it. If I used a TC with the 400mm for example how much IQ would be lost if say I used a 1.4x

Thanks.

BTW it will be used on a D500 body.
 
400 mm f2.8 VR will give the sharpest contrasty image of the two without question ... with a TC1.4 on it you will hardly notice any difference and get 840mm equivalent.
600 mm f4 VR is also very sharp (but not quite as good as the 400), with a TC1.4 you will be at 1260mm equivalent ... quite a difference when considering bird photography! :)
 
Phil White said:
between the Nikon 400mm f2.8 VR or the 600mm f4 VR. Which is the sharpest of the two lenses?
Click to expand...
•

This is a non sense question as both are flagships
in their respective category.

My approach to wildlife photography is to use both
my Nikkor 200~400 ƒ4 and 600 ƒ4 with greatest
pleasure… and no TC.
 
I use the 400/2.8 with TC's... primarily because it can be an 800/5.6, 640/4, and 400/2.8 depending on the light/need.

with 2x TC on D810

Full Frame D810 image by Steven Kersting, on Flickr

hard crop

SGK_0433-Edit.jpg by Steven Kersting, on Flickr

Full size available on Flickr...

Edit: I've owned/used the 600/4 and 800/5.6. Critically, in controlled testing I would say they are slightly better than the 400 w/ TC. But in practical use there is almost nothing to distinguish between them. IMO, having the option to go wider/faster is worth any potential tradeoff. It's also shorter/more transportable than the others.
 
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