Ordered my second-hand Nikon 300mm AF-S f4 on Thursday, arrived yesterday so I thought I would take it for a test drive today. Left for Marwell at 8:30 this morning and arrived dead on opening (10am), spent the full opening hours there enjoying the sunshine and the quietness of it all.
Anyhow, resisted the urge to take my baby (80-200 2.8) so I just shot with the new 300 all day, also did a final circuit of the zoo with the Nikon 1.4x on at the end of the day, so it was a 420mm 5.6.
Verdict? Effing marvelous. Feels quite a bit like the 80-200, just a bit thinner and lighter, autofocus is pretty rapid and tracks moving subjects well, but it can take a little while to find them in the first place (I'm comparing this to my 80-200 AF-S though, which is lightning fast). Quality seems good; considering I was shooting handheld and it was incredibly cold I couldn't have asked for much more, also need to remember I was shooting through fences, so that does have an effect.
Only downside is me, with the 80-200 at the Zoo you don't get close enough to worry about how aperture might effect things too much (i.e. if you are locked onto a nose you know the eyes will be sharp), but at 300/420 it really does make a big difference, I've got some superb shots of Meerkats where the nose is razor sharp, but it's already out of focus before it reaches the eyes! One to remember for next time.
Some pics...
and a cheeky one to finish...
Anyhow, resisted the urge to take my baby (80-200 2.8) so I just shot with the new 300 all day, also did a final circuit of the zoo with the Nikon 1.4x on at the end of the day, so it was a 420mm 5.6.
Verdict? Effing marvelous. Feels quite a bit like the 80-200, just a bit thinner and lighter, autofocus is pretty rapid and tracks moving subjects well, but it can take a little while to find them in the first place (I'm comparing this to my 80-200 AF-S though, which is lightning fast). Quality seems good; considering I was shooting handheld and it was incredibly cold I couldn't have asked for much more, also need to remember I was shooting through fences, so that does have an effect.
Only downside is me, with the 80-200 at the Zoo you don't get close enough to worry about how aperture might effect things too much (i.e. if you are locked onto a nose you know the eyes will be sharp), but at 300/420 it really does make a big difference, I've got some superb shots of Meerkats where the nose is razor sharp, but it's already out of focus before it reaches the eyes! One to remember for next time.
Some pics...
and a cheeky one to finish...
