The Canon EF 100-400L f4.5-5.6 L IS ii is a lens that was a long time coming. The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor aircraft/fighter-bomber originally. The Nikon 300mm f/4D comes with a very poorly-made tripod collar and that. If you are planning to mount this lens on a tripod, I. As the Canon EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM Lens hits the streets, Canon has more 50mm prime lenses in its lineup than it has full frame general purpose zoom lenses
Nikon 3. 00mm f/4. D AF- S Review. The original review of the Nikon 3. D AF- S lens was published back in 2. I decided to completely rewrite it, with all the latest information, MTF data, more feedback and sample images, so you are looking at an updated version. If you are a birder, you have only two budget choices for Nikon – either the Nikon 3. D IF- ED AF- S or the much more expensive Nikon 8. VR that was introduced in 2. All other semi- professional lenses by Nikon are not good enough/long enough for birding. The old 8. 0- 4. 00mm f/4. D VR was too slow to focus and a lot of people including myself expressed their frustration with it for fast moving birds. I have been using the Nikon 3. D lens for over 6 years now and have been very pleased with the results. I take it with me everywhere I go and have used it more than any other telephoto lens so far. It is relatively light and I primarily use it handheld for shooting birds and other wildlife of Colorado. In this review, I will go over my thoughts on the Nikon 3. AF- S lens, provide sample images and compare it to other telephoto lenses like the new Nikon 8. VR, Nikon 2. 00- 4. G VR and Nikon 7. VR. NIKON D7. 00 @ 4. ISO 8. 00, 1/1. 25. Click here to download a high- resolution desktop wallpaper version of the above image. Lens Specifications. ![]() Main Features: Excellent balance between size, speed and image quality. Extra- low Dispersion (ED) glass elements for maximum sharpness and minimum chromatic aberration. ![]() ![]() Silent Wave Motor (SWM) provides ultra- fast, ultra- quiet autofocusing with seamless manual focus override. Internal Focusing (IF) lens construction, which means that the lens does not change in size during AF operation. NIKON D7. 00 + 3. ISO 2. 00, 1/8. 00, f/5. Click here to download a high- resolution desktop wallpaper version of the above image. Technical Specifications: Focal length: 3. Maximum aperture: f/4. Minimum aperture: f/3. Lens construction: 1. Picture angle: 5. Unlike the new lenses with lots of plastic exterior, the lens barrel of the 3. D AF- S is made of metal. The rubber focus ring is large and very smooth to operate. There are only two switches on the side of the lens – one for switching from autofocus with manual focus override (M/A) to manual focus (M), and one for limiting focus from full to infinity – 3 meters. Similar to other older lenses, the Nikon 3. D AF- S has an aperture ring for manual aperture control on older Nikon cameras. The lens has a unique design, because it comes with a non- removable built- in lens hood that is made of plastic. The good news is, the lens hood is lockable when extended or collapsed, so it does not get in the way when transporting the lens. The bad news is, if you manage to break the lens hood, you will probably have to send the lens to Nikon for a hood replacement. I could not find any place that sells replacement hoods for this lens. The Nikon 3. 00mm f/4. D comes with a very poorly- made tripod collar and that’s the biggest weakness of this lens. If you are planning to mount this lens on a tripod, I would highly recommend to replace the original lens collar with a more stable version from either Kirk or Really Right Stuff. I have the Kirk collar and it does a much better job in keeping the lens stable, compared to the original Nikon version. Another small downside is lack of the back element on this lens, so you have to be extremely careful in changing lenses, as dust will go inside and you won’t be able to remove it yourself (I’m sure Nikon did this to keep the cost of the lens down). When you look at the back of this lens you can clearly see the diaphragm and there is nothing in- between. Although the diaphragm closes down to minimum aperture when the lens is detached from the camera, if the dust goes into the lens, it will get through the hole onto the last glass element that sits in front of the diaphragm. At that point, the only option is to send the lens to Nikon for cleaning. If you are buying this lens used, make sure that it doesn’t have large dust particles visible from the front element. If you are shooting in dusty/windy areas, my recommendation is to keep the teleconverter always on the lens if you absolutely need to change lenses. Here is how the lens compares to the new Nikon 8. VR (center) and Nikon 7. VR II (right) lenses: Lastly, the Nikon 3. D AF- S does not have a rubber gasket on its mount. This is unfortunate, because this means that dust and other debris could end up in your camera and your lens. For this reason, I would recommend to keep a teleconverter mounted on the lens at all times. Weight- wise, the Nikon 3. D AF- S is pretty light when compared to expensive super telephoto lenses from Nikon. At 1. 44. 0 grams, the lens is only 1. VR II and 1. 30 grams lighter than the 8. VR. NIKON D7. 00 + 3. ISO 4. 00, 1/1. 00. Click here to download a high- resolution desktop wallpaper version of the above image. Autofocus Speed and Accuracy. For any telephoto lens used for fast action photography, autofocus speed and accuracy are the most important factors, without a doubt. A telephoto lens could be the sharpest lens in the world, but if it cannot properly acquire focus, it is as good as useless. This is where the Nikon 3. D AF- S does not disappoint – its autofocus speed is both very fast and accurate. Despite being an older AF- S lens, the lens is excellent at tracking movement. While autofocus performance may not be as good as on the current super telephoto lenses, it is still extremely good for any sort of action photography. And on top of that, if you use the TC- 1. E II teleconverter on the lens (which you should), the autofocus speed and accuracy is not affected in good light conditions. In poor light, the lens might hunt a little on older Nikon DSLRs, but it is still very good on newer DSLRs like Nikon D7. D8. 00/D4 that can handle autofocus operation even at f/8 maximum aperture. Click here to download a high- resolution desktop wallpaper version of the above image. A quick tip: make sure to set the focus delimiter switch to “. This will speed autofocus up considerably. Only switch back to “FULL” when the subject is closer than 3 meters. Unlike the slower variable aperture telephoto lenses like Nikon 8. VR and 7. 0- 3. 00mm VR, the Nikon 3. D does not have the same autofocus “chatter” issue, where AF will hesitate, constantly making AF adjustments during continuous autofocus operation (AF- C mode). NIKON D3. S + 3. 00mm f/4 @ 4. ISO 4. 50, 1/1. 00. Click here to download a high- resolution desktop wallpaper version of the above image. Lens Sharpness, Contrast and Color Rendition. Just like its big and expensive super telephoto lenses, the Nikon 3. D AF- S is designed to be shot wide open. Most lenses are best stopped down to f/5. Couple it with a 1. TC and you will have 4. APS- C sensor camera like Nikon D7. The Nikon 3. 00mm f/4 + 1. TC is great for shooting wide open (becomes an f/5. TC) and provides even better results when stopped down to f/8. NIKON D7. 00 + 3. ISO 1. 25. 0, 1/4. Click here to download a high- resolution desktop wallpaper version of the above image. Below is some data compiled by Imatest to measure the MTF performance of the lens: As you can see from the above chart, the lens provides excellent resolution at its maximum aperture of f/4, with very sharp center / mid- frame performance and slightly worse corners. Stopping down the lens does not do much to improve performance and the sweet spot seems to be at around f/5. If you want to compare the lens performance to other lenses like Nikon 8. Lens Comparisons section of this review. With its minimum focus distance of 1. Canon 5. 00. D. If you want to decrease the minimum focus distance of the 3. Canon 5. 00. D is currently the only way to go (5. D will decrease the minimum focal distance to 0. Here is a sample macro shot without a close- up filter (3. NIKON D3. 00 @ 3. ISO 2. 00, 1/5. 00, f/8. Color rendition is superb – although there is no Nano coating on this lens, I love the way the 3. NIKON D3. S + 3. 00mm f/2. ISO 7. 20, 1/1. 00. Click here to download a high- resolution desktop wallpaper version of the above image. Teleconverter Compatibility and Performance. The Nikon 3. 00mm f/4. D AF- S is compatible with all current and older Nikon teleconverters. So far I have mentioned the Nikon TC- 1. E II (which pretty much stays glued to my 3. TC- 1. 7E II and the TC- 2. E III teleconverters will also physically attach to the lens. However, it does not mean that you can effectively use the lens with all three teleconverters. In my experience, the lens suffers quite a bit when using anything other than 1. Some people are quite happy with the TC- 1. E II, which makes the 3. I personally have not had great success with this combo. The newer DSLRs such as Nikon D7. D8. 00 and D4 with the “Advanced Multi- CAM 3. AF module certainly work better with this combo, however, I am still not very happy with the wide open performance of the lens. Stopped down to f/8, the combo can produce pretty good results, but AF accuracy certainly suffers and you have to watch out for camera shake (keep that shutter speed high). Forget about using the TC- 2. E II or III (2x) teleconverters with this lens – there is too much loss of IQ with this combo. Click here to download a high- resolution desktop wallpaper version of the above image. Here is a teleconverter compatibility chart for the Nikon 3. D AF- S: TC- 1. 4E IITC- 1. E IITC- 2. 0E III* Only in ideal lighting conditions when using the newest Nikon DSLRs. Effective Focal Length. Aperture Rangef/5. Maintains Autofocus. Yes. Yes*Yes*Autofocus Reliability. Excellent. Average. Poor. 6) Bokeh. Bokeh on the Nikkor 3. AF- S is superb, I would say very comparable to bokeh produced by professional f/4 lenses. Thanks to the focal length of the lens, you can easily isolate subjects from the background, as long as the subject is relatively close, as shown in the below example: Captured with Nikon 3. Nikon 7. 0- 3. 00mm f/4. G IF- ED VR AF- S Nikkor Review. Inexpensive. VR on/off and mode switches. Nothing better for the money. The VR is quite aggressive and is very helpfull when shooting handheld at the long end. Autofocus is fast and precise. Sharpnes is very good up to about 2. At 3. 00 mm it is still quite sharp, but not as crisp as at shorter focal lengths. Distorsion, vignetting and chromatic abberation are very well controlled, almost non- existing. This is an excellent lens. If I could change anything about it, I would limit the zoom range to 7. Alternatively, I would try and make the lens sharper at 3. I would not touch anything else. To objectively evaluate this lens one has to look at it in the context of its competition. I would not zoom any further, as it is better to stay at 2. These lenses will give you sharper images at larger magnifications. Where you will loose is in the abilities to quickly take photos. Those primes do not have VR (unless you pay premium), so image quality is better only if you use tripod and have time to setup.- Longer zooms. For example Nikon 8. VR. Note that from that lens you can get good performance up to around 3. In addition you pay about double the price. This lens is not perfect in terms of its performance but it is the best lens in the market in being exceptionally balanced. Non- pros, plug your ears and hum when 'they' say you need a 2. I paid it for $3. It delivers sharp images corner- to- corner even wide open. VR is really helpful in most situations. Build quality is nice. Even for the price there are better alternatives, tamron and even the cheap sigma are way sharper. The lens is in great shape. The pluses and minuses are pretty much what every review notes - - on the plus side, the lens is very sharp up to about 2. VR is quite effective. On the minus side, the lens gets a tad soft above 2. For the price, it is a very good lens, but I still want to get the 7. VRII one of these days. I have not noticed any CA or distortion with this lens. I use Capture NX2, which auto- corrects these things, so my satisfaction on this score may be as much due to the software environment as the lens itself. But, to my mind, the only real negative is that the apertures are just too small for indoor use. So far, I have not had any problems - - although I have only had the lens for less than a year so far. I have a small gallery of shots taken at a local secondary school baseball game that can be seen here: http: //www. B6. F0. DF6. CFF4. C2. A9. EF8. 48. A6. A2. 6C7. reviewed May 1. Lightweight, good IQ for the $, effective VR, fast auto focus in most conditions, easy to carry. Could do with more heft, slow even at 2. F5. 6. Not top- drawer but for a consumer zoom its excellent. It could do with more weight on a heavy body like a D7. MB 1. 0D but works well with a D7. I have noticed sharpness deterioration at 1. It focuses fast and sure enough on a D7. I recently tried it out with some birds in flight in New Zealand and have never got so many keepers, so I guess that says a lot. VR works very well indeed.. I was able to keep my D7. ISO compared to the D7. Sigma 1. 50- 5. 00 OS where I was operating at 1. ISO (albeit at much lower noise levels despite the higher ISO)see http: //www. November 7th, 2. 01. SLR GUY. (1 reviews). None. Poor optical quallity at 3. Alot of Noise , Too expensive and slow! Way over priced paper weight! I had this lens for almost a month and returned it! VR makes a bunch of noise and shifts the picture! The dealer did not have Tamron's new 7. I dismissed it, but that may have bee a mistake as I have read that at 3. Nikon, and less expensive. Very good IQ. Impressive image at 7. VR is very good. I found a very good use to photograph birds, animals and guess.. You can see a lot of detail, including the lunar craters on the darker side of the moon: http: //www. Galleries/Skyscape/1. Very sharp images, and with VR actually quite fast. Neutral colours, no real vignetting and as far as I can tell no CA either. Excellent lens, and surprisingly cheap. Im using it at all of 7. Im shooting birds too and for this price its doing a great job. Here some Kingfisher photos at 3. Full sized photos athttp: //alexdanev. April 1. 7th, 2. 01. Small size vs 8. 0- 2. I did not keep this lens because of it's speed f/5. January 1. 2th, 2. Excellent sharpness from 7. VR is amazing! Being a vee bit soft from 2. It is amazingly sharp till 2. Its contrast and colors are simply superb. But that is not what floored me.. VR. VR works like a charm! I was able to shoot a few stage plays at 1/1. GOOD results with my D8. The lens makes a low whirring sound when VR engages, but it is nothing which disturbs my shooting. Very tolerable! If there is a consumer grade telephoto you should own.. ONLY this lens. I am pretty much sure nothing else comes close to this. Two thumbs up! Has an impressive AF (for fast/silent AF worshippers) and very useful VR (normal & active modes). On my D9. 0, at f/4. Beginning from 1. IQ performance decreases. It's quite unusual to use a zoom lens for portrait shootings but believe me this one has at 7. APS- C format very impressive results. The lens has a non rotating front element and does not suffer from zoom creep. Fast Focusing, VR, FF, Image and Build Quality enz. Slow f/4. 5- 5. 6, Extend Length Zoom, but unimportant at this price point! Use this lens for Motosport, VR is amazing usefull with panning, (at low shutter speed with a monopod), shot always are burst of RAW (5fps) and far the most are keepers and really sharp! I love this lens! Excellent VRRelatively small widest aperture. The test is absolutely correct: This lens is extremely sharp across the entire zoom range at open aperture (on my D3. I have no experience on a full frame body). If you are willing to carry the weight, it certainly a better choice than the 5. I compared it to a 5. VR in a shop). If a wider aperture lens is too heavy or expensive for you, this is probably your first choice. I do agree with my fellow posters that the VR is simply amazing. If you have steady hands, you can use the lens at 3. The autofocus is fast and precise, it is quite possible to use the lens even under low light conditions in theaters or concerts. Of course, if it moves out of focus completely, you may have to help manually in order to bring it back quickly. I still own a 8. 0- 2. Zeiss for my Contax - and I have the impression that the Nikon is better (particularly due to the VR)Build quality generally seems to be ok (of course, due to some plastic materials as well as AF and VR, it compares to my Zeiss like a bicycle to a tank). The VR gives this lens a great deal of hand held shooting flexibility. The review is very accurate: 3. MM images can be more than acceptable in good light at F8. A D6. 0 will create considerable noise at High ISO compared to a D9. I find this lens gives an incredible performance with the D9. ISO images are often more noise free than a D6. ISO. Comparing the Tamron 2. The Tamron is 7. 5% more expensive in Comparison in Montreal Canada. It's much sharper at 3. All the sharpness in the world won't help you if you don't have a tripod or monopod. As far as macro is concerned it's OK. Add a Canon 5. 00. D macro filter and you have incredible Macro performance. There's no Tripod mount on the lens and it is very front heavy. I had to fabricate a plate to offset the center of gravity and that has made a big difference. I am very happy with this lens. Once you understand it's limitations and put to good practice basic use of light you will get excellent performance. Naturally I want bigger and faster but there's a price to pay. The lens at $5. 00. CDN ($4. 05. US) is a fantastic value. April 1. 0th, 2. 00. Pete. D. (1. 2 reviews). AFS VR. could be faster than f. I do like this lens. I use it a lot for butterflies and dragonflies. March 1. 3th, 2. 00. Good build quality, price, quality up to 2. VRQuality past 2. AFI have a bit of a hard time reviewing this lens as it's hard for me to do a fair comparison. But here goes anyway.. Getting a telezoom that goes to 3. WANT to use the tele end. The problem with this lens is that it is very good up to 2. As someone else wrote, it's decent enough at f/8 and f/1. Even comparing it to a cheap kit lens like Olympus' 4. I am very happy with the results I get from 7. I'm not as happy with the results beyond that and ultimately that was one of the reasons I got the lens in the first place. Other issues: the AF will hunt in low light (even on a D7. The build quality is good with tight tolerances and a very decent lens hood included. The VR works as advertised and the price is great. So all in all, if you only go beyond 2. Factor in low price and you have good value. Optical performance issues produce many compromises when in the field, VR button too easily bumped to . Thus I can really only rate/review this lens in terms of how it compares to the . So my comments may seem harsher than many of the other reviewers comments. I acquired this lens only as a temporary . It is small, light, easy- to- use, and will produce acceptably sharp images over a variety of situations and with many subject types. Combine this with it's low price and you'll likely feel this lens offers great value! But.. if you are accustomed to using some of Nikon's best lenses you will probably immediately notice this lens's optical limitations and the compromises you have to make to squeeze acceptable image quality out of it. And, I will continue to use this lens as an acceptable . Image quality: Acceptable sharpness in 7. Best results over 2. Chromatic aberration (both yellow and purple fringing) fairly pronounced towards the long end of the focal range. Bokeh only fair at best. No problems detected on FX bodies - no vignetting and no easily noticeable softening at image edges. Autofocus performance: Acceptable speed and accuracy when in used in warm environment (but not nearly as fast as Nikon's pro- level primes or zooms).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2017
Categories |