Has anyone Rented a Nikon 300mm f2.8 for the Recent Airshows

ianbarber

ianbarber

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I have just been in contact with http://www.lensesforhire.co.uk as I wanted to test out a Nikon 300mm f2.8 before I took the plunge to purchase one that I have seen advertised.

The very nice lady on the phone informed me that all their Nikon 300mm f2.8 were out on loan at the moment due to the Airshows.

I was wondering if you have rented one and could give me some info on it's performance, handheld, TC or anything really.

Ian
 
Its really overkill for an airshow. I've shot one with a 300mm f/2.8 VR.

You don't need f/2.8 as you are shooting low shuttter speed for prop blur. 300mm f/2.8 are big and heavy, and take their toll after a days shooting.

Its take the 1.4x and 1.7x TC very well.

But I really think £5k of gear is overkill to shoot some planes - you just don't need that.
 
Nikon 300 2.8 VR?

Stunning, razor sharp, a bit heavy for long term hand held, takes a 1.4 or 1.7 TC without too many problems, is a 300mm prime.

If you want 300mm this is the best way of getting 300mm.

Nothing more you can say really....
 
puddleduck said:
Its really overkill for an airshow. I've shot one with a 300mm f/2.8 VR.

You don't need f/2.8 as you are shooting low shuttter speed for prop blur. 300mm f/2.8 are big and heavy, and take their toll after a days shooting.

Its take the 1.4x and 1.7x TC very well.

But I really think £5k of gear is overkill to shoot some planes - you just don't need that.
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I disagree with you there and what about thejets you wouldn't be able to get away with slow shutter speeds for them.

I wouldn't have got half the shots that I did over last weekend if I didn't have the canon 300mm f2.8

The light conditions were challenging at best especially on the sunday and having a lesser lens just wouldn't have coped, especially for the vortex shots.
 
pete.rush said:
I wouldn't have got half the shots that I did over last weekend if I didn't have the canon 300mm f2.8

The light conditions were challenging at best especially on the sunday and having a lesser lens just wouldn't have coped, especially for the vortex shots.
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A sensible Nikon owner would just buy the Nikon 300mm f/4 AF-S instead.

How many of your shots were you taking at f/2.8?

I personally have a 300mm f/2.8 myself - it stays at home for airshows.
 
As I am looking at buying a 300 f2.8, I was more interested at how easy it is to hand hold and what the % of keepers are. I have been told that its only poss to hand hold it for short periods.

If I make this purchase which is not cheap, I will want it for a variety of subject, "birds, small wildlife, airshows etc"

Having not seen one up close, I was going to hire one for a few days but all the decent hire folk do not have any at the moment.
 
ianbarber said:
As I am looking at buying a 300 f2.8, I was more interested at how easy it is to hand hold and what the % of keepers are. I have bee told that its only poss to hand hold it for short periods.

If I make this purchase which is not cheap, I will ant it for a variety of subject, "birds, small wildlife, airshows etc"
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You are talking about 3 kg lenses, so you definitely getting lactic acid build up in the muscles. So for short bursts its quite easy to handhold, but I personally would use a 300mm f/4 instead - half the weight.

Good technique will give you far more keepers than the lens, no matter which one. AF with a TC will be a bit faster on a f/2.8 than an f/4.

For "small wildlife" as you probably know a 300mm would probably on the short side, so you'd be looking at using TCs. Obviously depends on your defination of "small" and how close you can get..!
 
ianbarber said:
As I am looking at buying a 300 f2.8, I was more interested at how easy it is to hand hold and what the % of keepers are. I have been told that its only poss to hand hold it for short periods.

If I make this purchase which is not cheap, I will want it for a variety of subject, "birds, small wildlife, airshows etc"

Having not seen one up close, I was going to hire one for a few days but all the decent hire folk do not have any at the moment.
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It's a lovely, sharp lens, but I don't find it an easy lens to handhold for any great length of time, so tend to use it on a monopod for the likes of the bike racing.
 
The Nikon/Canon 300 2.8 is standard issue motorsport tog use. Some handhold it, not many usually. Normally you use a monopod and some belt mount the monopod for more flexibility.

If you've never used a big long heavy lens with or without a monopod I politely suggest that you don't have high expectations of results on the first outing... it takes a little getting used to, especially I'd imagine with aircraft as there is much more movement than I'd expect to have trackside.

Re PD's comment about prop blur, its no different in motorsport, you need just as slow shutter speeds there to get wheel blur... so to say its no use because of that is a bit daft really.

Is there an advantage to using a f2.8 lens to a f4 on a sunny day? Yes, because more light gives greater focus accuracy which means a higher chance of retaining detail. I'm sure I don't need to tell PD about the way AF works...
 
desantnik said:
Re PD's comment about prop blur, its no different in motorsport, you need just as slow shutter speeds there to get wheel blur... so to say its no use because of that is a bit daft really.
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Its not daft all at - assuming you are shooting for 1/200 shutter, then unless you have awful light then you are going to be running f/8 - f/11. Why f/2.8?

Why is that "daft?"

What is daft is rocking up to an airshow with an honking huge and unnecessary lens that costs £4k!
 
desantnik said:
Is there an advantage to using a f2.8 lens to a f4 on a sunny day? Yes, because more light gives greater focus accuracy which means a higher chance of retaining detail. I'm sure I don't need to tell PD about the way AF works...
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:D :D :D

Also on a cloudy day, more so........... Yes the 300mm f4 a great lens (ask D)

I've got the canon version and love it, yes half the weight, but just done 3 days ar Fairford hand holding a 300mm f2.8 with no problems. That ain't heavy a heavy lens.

The 400mm f2.8 is and at 5.6kg you would struggle to do an entire days hand held shoot with that.
 
Forget the VR + low light thing. Thats true if you are trying to shoot a bride in a dark medieval church but its next to b****r all use for moving things.

*waits for the VR mafia to show up*

Either learn to handhold it (smooth is the key) or invest in some kind of support device - monopod or tripod and ball head (the later isn't considered outrageous by airshow people but is trackside :D).

How dark are you planning on it getting?
 
Forget the VR + low light thing. Thats true if you are trying to shoot a bride in a dark medieval church but its next to b****r all use for moving things.
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:agree: and what PD says is right... How many times are you really likely to drop below f4? For the cost and weight the 2.8 makes no sense. Light will never be that bad at an airshow.
 
desantnik said:
Forget the VR + low light thing. Thats true if you are trying to shoot a bride in a dark medieval church but its next to b****r all use for moving things.
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I hate to point out, but most brides move, unless they're in a Tim Burton film, or you have the wrong ceremony. VR is of limited use in a there as well.
 
=cambsno;2815750Light will never be that bad at an airshow.
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You've obviously never done any serious aviation photography or only picked the sunny days :):)
 
boyfalldown said:
errr these are people, they blink, they fidget, muscles twitch, wind blows hair etc etc, they move a little like it or not, even while holding a pose.
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They don't come out of corners at 150mph or dust off tarmac with reheat though :D

VR is all about controlling unwanted lens movement, which is easy when the operator is trying to hold it still, less easy when the movement is deliberate and *in two different planes* simultaneously - Nikon's VR hates this, Canon's IS seems to cope.

Twitching (corpse) brides will of course only be overcome with faster shutter speeds or chloroform :thumbs:
 
cambsno said:
Even on cloudy days, I dont think you need 2.8.
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Well from personal experience of photographing aviation in all conditions....

I'll quote D again, these lenses do give you better autofocus accuracy, and for action photography thats the biggest requirement. I might not be wide open taking images at f2.8, but I will get a large percentages of shots to someone using a f4 or f5.6 lens on fast moving subjects (when the light conditions are challenging) because of the 300mm f2.8 autofocus performance.

Originally Posted by desantnik
Is there an advantage to using a f2.8 lens to a f4 on a sunny day? Yes, because more light gives greater focus accuracy which means a higher chance of retaining detail. I'm sure I don't need to tell PD about the way AF works...
Click to expand...
 
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