I recently got a new lens, which I'm still trying to learn how to
properly use . The new lens is the
Nikon 300m f/4E PF ED VR
(wow, that's a mouthful of acronyms ) and it's as good as I expected,
except that it seems that it's too good for the person using it (me).
Physically, the lens is indeed very light and very easy to hand-hold;
it's barely heavier and longer than the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 zoom,
although a bit more bulky. I was fearing something "bigger" and
heavier for a fixed-aperture lens, even after hearing all the good
reports about it, but it was better than I expected. I was also
slightly concerned, this being a prime lens, about finding the subject
fast, especially if smaller or far away. It turned out that if the
lens is focused at somewhat the right distance (not at the opposite
end), it is not a real problem.
So, as the first test/learning exercise, I did a couple of hour long
walks outdoor, photographing
random subjects. First
day I used the lens by itself, on the second day I added the Nikon
TC-14E(III) tele-converter, for a 420mm focal length. All pictures
below except the Huskies are non-cropped, just down-sampled (they have
the original field of view); the
Husky pictures were
cropped.
In all cases, camera was set to semi-manual mode, mostly at 1/1000s or
1/2000s, various apertures between f/4 and f/8; this means wide open
or stopped down one (when with the tele-converter) or two
stops. Semi-manual as auto-ISO was on. Lens focus limiter on, VR
either active or sport (to help with the viewfinder image mostly, at
this speed), camera set to AF-C and group mode most of the time.
Also, all pictures were shot hand-held, with bad technique - until
somebody stopped me, turns out he was a photographer, and showed me
how to properly hold a telephoto lens; thanks, whoever you were!
The "random subjects" parts worked only somewhat, as (at first) the
subjects were not too interesting; air-plane flying high above -
check, fast focus (although it is easy to focus on a plane in clear
sky), or close, static subjects:
Birds flying around - almost check, fast focus (both with just the
lens and with the TC), although I learned that shooting flying birds
while panning needs 1/2000s - my initial attempt at 1/1000s was not
enough to eliminate either panning blur or wing-tip blur (both depend
on the speed of the respective action); in any case, initial focus
acquisition is speedy enough for me. A couple of examples (first
without, second with the TC; in the second one, I was unprepared when
the I saw the bird from the corner of my eye, and managed to bring up
the camera and take exactly one photo before the bird was gone):
Another attempt was to focus on dogs jumping in the water. Here the
problem was different: focusing on the correct object! The splashing
around meant that there were lots of water droplets both in front and
behind the dog, the dog being partially obscured by them. I don't know
what AF settings would have helped here (maybe 3D tracking pre-focused
on the black dog)? I had a low success rate on the first attempt, so
I'll have to try again. The lens did correctly track the wrong thing,
though . Examples:
Once the dog caught its target, the lens focused well enough, of
course, but not perfect; it might need some AF fine-tuning or
photographer upgrade :
At one point, I was lucky to have a dog running towards me; focus
tracking on a subject approaching the camera is a good test for the
lens (and camera) auto-focus performance. I was pleasantly surprised,
given my failure to track left-to-right flying birds (which should be
easier!):
In any case, I was walking and thinking on how to improve on my
technique, when I saw in the distance a pair of dogs (Husky's, I
believe) which were very active. This case was relatively easy for the
camera and lens, since they were moving only left-to-right, instead of
forward-backward, so the focus distance was mostly constant, and I
just had to pan. Full gallery
here, two examples:
These two dogs had an education value beyond the "how is the lens
performing"; they were so fast, active (they kept going at it non-stop
for a good number of minutes) and playful that they made my day
brighter .
So, that concludes my first test of this lens and the 1.4
tele-converter. Conclusion: equipment good, need to upgrade
the
photographer!
