Nikon 200-400Mm F4G Af-S Vr If-Ed Zoom-Nikkor

Product Information

However, the biggest improvement is in autofocus accuracy – that’s where the 180-400mm truly shines! Having owned the 200-400mm f/4G for many years, I have always been frustrated by its tendency to slightly miss focus on subjects when shooting near infinity, yielding relatively soft images. Tuning autofocus accuracy using AF Fine Tune on my cameras was not a great solution either, because parameters differed quite a bit between a close, medium-range, or long-range subject. So when I needed to shoot a bear or a wolf that was far away, I often ended up switching to Live View, zooming in, then manually tweaking focus to get acceptable results. In short, it was a rather frustrating experience. The 300mm f4 is by all accounts a very sharp lens but it seems you are limited to a 1.4TC for any kind of performance so there is little to be gained from buying one of those either. Again, adding a 2.0TC would be cheaper, but I would definitely get the 1.4 first. Cameras – LCD screen is heavily worn either by de-lamination or has scratches to it. Rubber grips are starting to come away from the body. Due to the use of a fluorite lens element, Nikon was able to shave off a large lens element from the front of the lens, which makes the lens much more balanced to hand-hold compared to its predecessor – it is no longer as front-heavy as the 200-400mm f/4G VR II. Take a look at the new lens construction of the 180-400mm lens and feel free to compare it to the one on the 200-400mm:

The fourth result set was an interesting one. Without changing anything, I simply removed the 52mm drop in filter. To my surprise, I could immediately see the Live View image turn from sharp to complete blur, as seen from the crop below: NIKON D810 + 200.0-400.0 mm f/4.0 @ ISO 100, 1/60, f/4.0

Lenses – The lens has dust inside that may affect images. The rubber zoom/focus ring is coming away from the barrel of the lens. This means you can fill the frame with something only 2.3 x 3.4" (58 x 87mm) on DX, or 3.5 x 5.2" (89 x 133mm) on FX and film. After seven years of solid sales of the first 200-400mm VR, Nikon adds a few bits of marketing fluff to beget this new 200-400mm VR II to keep it fresh. The 500mm is very sharp but it's not really a walk about lens. Yes you can walk a few miles with it but you are aware you have it and it is, for me anyway, primarily a tripod mounted lens. I did say that you would be looking at a change of birding style if you bought that or the 600mm !

researching filter qualities and found big differences in the results of different sources. B/W will probably work just the same, just be sure that it’s their best quality and has the slim ring mount. Hoya, don’t really know, years ago they were ok, but not as good as they say they are now. N: Nano-crystal coating, meaning a coating which varies its index of refraction continuously to achieve even greater reflection reduction. It's probably only on one surface, and is used mostly for marketing purposes. There’s no getting away from the fact the 180-400mm f/4E is a big, heavy piece of glass. The build quality is immense, you can use it in the rain and shoot 400mm f/4 or 550mm f/5.6. That makes it versatile too, but it’s a big beast. Real Stops" are how many extra stops I get over shooting without VR. "Marketing stops" is improvement over the old-wives' tale of 1/focal length as a lower speed limit.

Considering how difficult it is to get sharp images in our ever changing atmosphere, I wouldn't bother with the TC since all it tends to do is lose a stop of speed and magnify atmospheric disturbances even more. Lens Description: This powerful super telephoto zoom lens offers incredible image quality. Enhanced Nikon VR II image stabilization, a constant aperture and Nano Crystal Coat make this lens an ideal choice for sports photography, wildlife and more. Slightly improved VR system, claiming four stops improvement instead of merely three of the original 200-400mm VR.

See Nikon Lens Compatibility for details with your camera. Read down the "AF-S, AF-I,""G" and "VR" columns for this lens. You'll get the least of all the features displayed in all columns, since "G" ( gelding) is a handicap which removes features. When Nikon launched the II they mentioned nano coating to significantly reduce flare, improved VR II and 3 focus modes A/M, M/A and M.The Memory Recall position slams the lens to the focus distance memorized when you pressed the Memory Set button. This is reminiscent of the little adjustable detents on

When you rotate those silky smooth zoom and focus rings you begin to understand why you had to spend so much money. The build quality of this lens is in a completely different league to any other Nikon glass I've ever owned. Simply perfect.I've also owned the 200-500mm f/5.6 and it's a very good lens. I didn't own both lenses at the same time so I can't offer a direct comparison but from my image library I'd say for subjects within about fifty to maybe a hundred feet the 200-400mm f/4 lens has an edge and of course is a full stop faster. But for more distant subjects I'd say the 200-500mm f/5.6 is a better lens and of course has an extra 100mm on the long end which can be very handy. But note that the protective glass is there because it's much less costly to replace than the actual front element of the lens. Don't remove the protective glass unless you're certain you're not in conditions where things might harm the front element. Fortunately, the hood is so deep (almost 6") that with it on the glass is reasonably well protected, but don't make the decision to remove the protective element lightly.) Lenses – Should have no marks on the elements andoptically clear. There may be light dust present that will not effect theimagery.