Nikon 300 f4 VR PF

Teagan

Teagan

Messages
195
Name
Gerard
Edit My Images
Yes
Just wondering if anybody has purchased this lens or got to use one yet. Looking for reviews especially how it compares to the non vr 300.

Regards Gerard.
 
They're not out in the UK yet. I have several on order and I believe I'm top of the waiting list at WEx....
 
rpsmith79 said:
Oh dear, that doesn't make for good reading regards the VR, hopefully it will just be a firmware issue as mentioned
Click to expand...

Yeah, it does look strange/disappointing, especially being the same on 2 samples.
 
Odd! It's sharper at lower shutter speeds than mid-range for the focal length?
 
£1639 from WEX and Amazon - anyone seen a better deal?
 
Last edited:
I have a friend who owns one... One thing I noticed is that it can have a very odd bokeh characteristic to OOF BG points. It's looks kind of like the bokeh from a mirror lens, but inverted (or maybe like a "bullseye")... I would call it "hard" and "busy," but only with specular type points.
So it seems to have both "PF-Flare" and "PF-Bokeh." Nikon NX-D has been updated with a PF-Flare setting; from Nikon's example it doesn't seem to do much and I haven't seen any examples of anything fixing the bokeh characteristic.

But that wouldn't stop me from getting/using one...
 
Last edited:
BillN_33 said:
£1639 from WEX and Amazon - anyone seen a better deal?
Click to expand...
You won't find any lower prices from legitimate UK suppliers for a little while. It's £1639 everywhere. They'll be playing their usual game of squeezing as much as possible out of the people who have to be the first to have one. Give it a couple of months - assuming Nikon are making enough of them to satisfy demand - and the price will start to drift downwards.
 
Last edited:
Cannot find any Nikon reference charts to using the lens with TC's

It is interesting that the new TC14Elll is not compatible with some, (quite a lot), of the Nikon lenses that the TC14Ell is compatible with and vica versa - looks like Nikon are now producing TC's that are very specific - not too sure if this is genuine or just another way to make money for Nikon?

I'm really interested in this lens once the full info and independent tests are more freely available ……… but it looks to me that the new 300 PF will not be compatible with the TC14Ell ………… so add another £450 if you want a x 1.4TC ……… but I await Nikon publishing the info
 
Last edited:
Joeturner11 said:
So you can't use AF-C? :confused:
Click to expand...
Apparently only w/ a 1.4x... that's a pretty big limitation IMO.
Cut/paste from the lens spec page:

"AF-S Teleconverters TC-14E III/ TC-17E II*/TC-20E III*
* Autofocus is available only with single-servo AF (AF-S) and then only when the lens is mounted on a camera that supports f/8."
 
Last edited:
sk66 said:
Apparently only w/ a 1.4x... that's a pretty big limitation IMO.
Cut/paste from the lens spec page:

"AF-S Teleconverters TC-14E III/ TC-17E II*/TC-20E III*
* Autofocus is available only with single-servo AF (AF-S) and then only when the lens is mounted on a camera that supports f/8."
Click to expand...

That is pretty limiting, I remember using the TC-17EII with the AF-S 300mm f/4 and worked a treat and produced some great shots tracking birds in flight, not having AF-C would be massively limiting specially on the new version!
 
Kaolin said:
No AF-C with a 1.7 or 2TC would be a real pain, but is this case of it being out of spec or that AF-C is disabled? I have used f4 lens with a 2xtc on bodies which do not have f8 autofocus but will in good light.
Click to expand...
I've asked my friend who has the lens, but I haven't heard back; and I'm not even sure he has longer TC's...
 
Joeturner11 said:
That is pretty limiting, I remember using the TC-17EII with the AF-S 300mm f/4 and worked a treat and produced some great shots tracking birds in flight, not having AF-C would be massively limiting specially on the new version!
Click to expand...
Well, you can't usually have everything you would like...

If there is a piece of photography equipment that involves no compromises I'm unaware of it.... which is good because I'm sure I couldn't afford it...
 
sk66 said:
I've asked my friend who has the lens, but I haven't heard back; and I'm not even sure he has longer TC's...
Click to expand...

Thanks - no doubt all the quirks will come out in time. This is probably a lens I will buy as I really rate the old AF-S type and a lighter version would be fantastic but as I refuse to pay the 20% earlier adoption tax I have penty of time to for quirks to be discovered.
 
This seems like a lens that you would want to try out for a couple of days to make sure that you were not disappointed, (versus the old version which IMHO is stellar)

Nikon have had years to develop the replacement but maybe we are all getting ultra critical of Nikon after their run of very "slight" problems with a few of their bodies in the last few years
 
micloi said:
Both AF-S and AF-C work fine with the 1.7x and 2x on both the D810 and D7100
Click to expand...
Then I guess Nikon is just not considering it reliable enough to be a "supported mode."
IME, if they are saying a mode isn't "functional" it means it doesn't perform well at all (like f/8 AF on a non f/8 body). I kind of wish they would disable some modes when they won't work right... like 51pt tracking when you don't have 51pts available... The camera will let you set it, and it will try to do what you asked; but it will usually fail pretty badly.
 
BillN_33 said:
This seems like a lens that you would want to try out for a couple of days to make sure that you were not disappointed, (versus the old version which IMHO is stellar)

Nikon have had years to develop the replacement but maybe we are all getting ultra critical of Nikon after their run of very "slight" problems with a few of their bodies in the last few years
Click to expand...
They've made some interesting compromises with this lens... seems a bit unusual for one of their big dollar primes. Obviously size and weight were the major reasons... but that would make "more" sense to me if it was one of the beasties (i.e. 400/2.8, 600/4). I mean, the reason people chose the 300/4 before is size/weight (and cost).
 
Nikon 300mm pf on the D7100 and D810

Bare, with the 1.7x and the 2x

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16187250/Nikon 300mm pf/2015 FEB 18th KF Pool/7100 1.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16187250/Nikon 300mm pf/2015 FEB 18th KF Pool/D7100 2.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16187250/Nikon 300mm pf/2015 FEB 18th KF Pool/D7100 3.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16187250/Nikon 300mm pf/2015 FEB 18th KF Pool/D7100 4.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16187250/Nikon 300mm pf/2015 FEB 18th KF Pool/D7100 5.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16187250/Nikon 300mm pf/2015 FEB 18th KF Pool/D810 1.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16187250/Nikon 300mm pf/2015 FEB 18th KF Pool/D810 2.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16187250/Nikon 300mm pf/2015 FEB 18th KF Pool/D810 3.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16187250/Nikon 300mm pf/2015 FEB 18th KF Pool/D810 4.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16187250/Nikon 300mm pf/2015 FEB 18th KF Pool/D810 5.jpg
 
micloi said:
Nikon 300mm pf on the D7100 and D810

Bare, with the 1.7x and the 2x
Click to expand...
Nice results.
Do you know that it was actually functioning in AF-C/tracking? The D7100 is down to the central focus point only above f/5.6 max and the D8xx is down to 15 pts... They'll let you set whatever you want (i.e. 51pt dynamic), but they won't actually do it.
 
Thanks Michael - images are impressive

Hand held or tripod - is the EXIF anywhere?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top