Playing with the Nikon 500mm PF lens.

There is always something better. I do not strive for the absolute best because it tends to be out of my league. I do, however, like good, and if I can manage it, very good. For example, I drive a 2014 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. It has been a reliable vehicle that I can flat-tow behind my RV and gets me to the places I want to go. It is not a fully-loaded Grand Cherokee or Land Cruiser because that is beyond my means nor is it what I used to call a "beater" (I owned a few of these when I was younger). In a way, the car scenario mirrors my quest for good photographic equipment. My latest purchase represents the best piece of equipment I have ever owned; a Nikon 500 mm PF lens. It is not the pinnacle of camera technology but it is still very good.

I had my first chance to use it yesterday when the rain stopped. Attaching it to my Nikon D500 I went for a stroll in my neighbourhood. The farmyard near us sustains a wide population of birds; nothing exotic but you can usually find towhees, juncos, pigeons, blackbirds, crows, starlings, geese, and even hawks and eagles on occasion. It is an excellent place to photograph common avian wildlife.

The above photograph is of a male dark-eyed junco. There were quite a few of them, thirty to forty for sure, and they were busily taking seeds from plants recently killed from frost. I managed to get modestly close; my habit when approaching wildlife is to move slowly and cautiously and feign disinterest. It certainly works better than charging to the desired spot and watching glumly as the quarry flees to safety. I managed to get seven decent shots off at this one scene. Altogether I took 33 photos on my little jaunt.

The Nikon 500 PF is a lens I have wanted for a while. It has certain features that makes it very desirable. The three main features it has is that it is optically excellent, it focuses very fast, and it is relatively small and light. I usually tote around my 150-600 mm Tamron for shooting wildlife but find it large and heavy. The 500 is about half the weight and much shorter; it does not play nearly as much havoc with my shoulder and the camera's faceplate as the zoom. The image quality, as you can see from the above photo, is superb.

There is always a tradeoff when making such a switch. First of all the 500 PF costs more than twice as much as the 150-600. It is also a prime lens and not a zoom; this means I cannot reduce the focal length to get a wider angle of view. I have to physically back up. It does not have as much magnification as the other lens but I find the difference between 500 mm and 600 mm to be minimal; besides the image quality is so good that the photo can be enlarged more with and show less distortion.

When I bring my camera backpack with me I always have at least two bodies, a few lenses, and at least one external flash. My other telephoto zoom is Nikon's 80-400 f/4.5-5.6 VRII lens which will allow me to experience all the range I need when shooting wildlife. The combination should prove versatile enough for my needs. I find that long zooms are kept at their maximum focal length and so I expect the 500 PF will be my main lens-of-choice when preparing for an outing. I will let you know.

Thanks for reading.     Ericspix     Eric Svendsen