Used Nikon 300mm + converter or 500mm F4?

[plloydie]

I'm currently saving for an upgrade to my Nikon 300mm F4 AF-s my choice's are so far a ( USED) Nikon 300m F2.8 vr2 + a TC-1.7x converter or should I go for a (used) nikon 500mm vr F4 . looking a recent items sold on here and the used prices in the shops both would roughly work out the same. has anybody used either of these set-ups if so your thoughts please.
thanks.

 

[fracster]

What will you use it for mainly Paul?

 

[plloydie]

Wildlife, airshows and maybe sports as well.

 

[fracster]

ok.

The 300 plus tcs will give you flexibility. The 500 gives you the reach at F4, it takes the 1.4 well, but not the 1.7 in my experience.

I have the 500 F4 and thought long and hard about the 300 2.8 when buying it, i`m glad I plumped for the longer lens. I kept my 300 f4 and they pair up well for what I shoot, mainly wildlife. I have no experience of airshows nor sports, so cannot comment on that aspect.

It is a difficult decision, I suppose having both would be the best answer, depends how deep your pockets are.........

 

[plloydie]

Thanks for the reply, My pockets are not very deep so unfortunatly the 300mm F4 would have to go to finance the new lens. I do have a Kenko 1.4X which I use on the 300mm but thought the 1.7X would give me the same reach as the 500mm F4.

 

[fracster]

The 1.7 takes a 300 to 510, you lose 1.5 stops, so the F4 is 510 at F7.1, I back it to F8 to be honest. You do lose some quality as you would expect.

As far as i`m aware, I only used a 300 2.8 for a short while, it takes the tcs very well. I think Roger has the 300 2.8, i`ll tag him in.

@gramps

 

[gramps]

I used the 1.4 II and 2.0 III TC's with the 300 f2.8 VRII but not the 1.7 . with the 1.4 there was hardly any noticeable loss of quality and with the 2.0 the images were very usable ...


Bar-Tailed Godwit by photogramps, on Flickr


Spoonbill by photogramps, on Flickr

The 300 f2.8 VRII is probably the sharpest of the long primes I've had and I only moved it on in the search for more reach

 

[plloydie]

Hi thanks for the replies, I was heading towards the 300mm F2.8 for the versatility but just wanted to know peoples thoughts. Just looked at Camera price buster and the cost of a new 300mm F2.8 is now under £3500, MPB were selling minty versions for this.
I may be tempted to buy new at that price.

 

[gramps]

If you were solely wildlife I would probably recommend the 500 f4 (if I had bought one instead of the 300 I would possibly still have it!) but with sports and airshows 500mm could well be too long and therefore not give you the flexibility that the 300 + TC's would, (I would recommend Nikon TC's, especially for the 2x).