Views on Nikon 300 f4 PF

rob-nikon

rob-nikon

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I'm considering a lighter lens setup and wondered what the opinion of the performance of the 300 f4 PF on a D810 is. I've hired a 300 f4 PF before for Skomer, I liked the weight but found the AF speed to be quite a lot slower than the 70-200 f2.8. How does anyone who's got this lens get on with it? Is it good for general wildlife?
 
I find it works well, I use it on both a D810 and D500. I have not found focus speed to be an issue, it is slightly slower than my 70-200 vr, but slightly faster than my was 200-400 mm and about the same as a 500 mm. It takes the 1.4 tc OK, but I find I get better results with the D810 than I do with the D500 when using a TC, on the D810 the 1.7 works ok in good light. Overall I am very happy with it, it is very light and compact I also use it with a Canon 500D close up lens for Dragonflies etc. I do wish it came with a foot, I have cheap Chinese one, I will upgrade to a Kirk next year, but because the lens is so light and short I suspect it will always be difficult to use with a gimbal head.
 
I find it superb, image quality is brilliant and it takes a 1.4 and 1.7 well but the greatest thing is the weight, 300mm at that weight is absolutely brlliant ... it's a 300 walkabout prime. D810 gives it the best opportunity to shine IMO.
 
It’s a great piece of engineering to produce something so small and light which does provide great quality images, I love mine and fits in small shoulder bag alongside a 70-200 f4 nicely
 
Forgot to say I used a Peak design pro clip and can clip my camera and 300pf on shoulder strap while carrying large lens in backpack which makes it another great use, always on hand while walking to a location with large backpack
 
Thanks for all the views. I'm hoping to be near WEX on Tuesday, they have a used copy so I may drop by and have a look.

On Skomer it felt quite a noticeable difference in AF speed so trying another may help.
 
It is not a fast focusing lens but to compare it with a 70-200/2.8 is not a fair comparison, even an f4 supertele won't be as fast. But if one is looking for a compact/lightweight combo with good reach, then a D500+300PF+1.4 is unbeatable. I had an American client that had this set up when touring Madagascar and it worked well for him. You can handhold this all day. The compromise here, like all things in life, is the slow AF. If you're doing static subjects then this works and delivers good results.

Hope this helps.
 
I opted for the 200-500 as I could only afford one of the two lenses. The flexibility of the zoom range on the 200-500 vs necessity to remove the lens completely to switch between 300mm and 420mm with the use of a 14tc was the deciding factor for me. I'd miss too many shots without some zoom capability, and coming from 150-600, the 200-500 was a compromise enough at the closer end particularly for larger birds. It would be nice to have the 300mm in addition, but such is life!!
 
rob-nikon said:
Thanks for all the views. I'm hoping to be near WEX on Tuesday, they have a used copy so I may drop by and have a look.

On Skomer it felt quite a noticeable difference in AF speed so trying another may help.
Click to expand...
It always looks slow when watching the focus dial compared to others but doesn’t seem to be an issue in use and with focus limited I’ve not found it to be an issue but was worried before buying especially after watching videos of focus speed
 
I used it almost exclusively on the Farne Islands last year and didn't really find the AF to be that slow ... Puffins move pretty fast!.
 
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