Nikkor Z Nikkor 800mm f/6.3 VR PF S

I like the playful result Phil.
Awesome.

avondale87 wrote in post #19438852
I like the playful result Phil.
Awesome.

Thank you Richard, much appreciated.

Stunning shots Phil.

P.

EyeSpyEagle wrote in post #19438818
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Just playing around ..... Z9 + 800PF

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Oh, that's cool!

I have a strong interest in images of tiny critters taken with true supertelephotos instead of macro gear. . So now, of course, I can't help myself from going to the B& H website to look up the MFD and mazimum magnification ratio of this lens.

EDIT:

this is what I learned about the MFD and magnification:

Tom Reichner wrote in post #19439247
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Oh, that's cool!

I have a strong interest in images of tiny critters taken with true supertelephotos instead of macro gear. . So now, of course, I can't help myself from going to the B& H website to look up the MFD and mazimum magnification ratio of this lens.

EDIT:

this is what I learned about the MFD and magnification:

Hosted photo: posted by Tom Reichner in
./showthread.php?p=194​39247&i=i217497283
forum: Nikon Lenses

This is quite surprising, as 0.16x isn't much magnification at all, yet it looks like you had been able to get really close to that dragonfly. . I suppose either the dragonfly is A LOT bigger than I assumed, or you did some fair amount of cropping to the original shot to get the subject to fill the frame like that.

My 800mm Sigma has a very similar MFD, and I wouldn't be able to get anywhere near that much of the frame to be filled with a dragonfly. . That's the only drawback to that lens, is the insufficient MFD and resultant low magnification.

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Hey Tom,

We were shooting from the car and were roughly 25 ~ 30 feet from where the Ibis's we were shooting were feeding. This guy kept flying back & forth through the scene as if to challenge me - so I accepted. You are correct. It is pretty heavily cropped.

Not birds...

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2nUy​G9h

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2nUw​5nE

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2nUy​jQY

Other stuff...

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2nUP​KaE

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2nUy​GSM

I took the 800 out early yesterday with the 1.4xTC, 1120mm.

Still easily hand-holdable.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2nWi​NjM

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2nWi​kXW

Female Northern Harrier hunting a field.
Shot in "DX Mode" on Z9, so "effective FL" = 1200mm. No cropping in post.

This girl couldn't have cared less that we were photographing her from the car at close distance.

I've made the jump up to the 800PF! Got a tip off from a forum member over on backcountrygallery that one had arrived at a store out in Las Vegas, so I made the call and was able to snag it! Still have the 500PF, that'll always be my baby, but from this day forward, it's all 800, all the time.

We've had brutally cold temperatures here the past 2 weeks, and today was the first day that it wasn't ~0F outside, so I was able to take the 800PF out on its maiden voyage into the woods. Shooting in full winter gear is a pain, almost literally, as you're fighting against the restriction of the clothing, so it takes a little more effort to do stuff. Gloves are the worst, fumbling around for the shutter button, focus ring, control ring, etc, makes things a little frustrating. Best advice is to really make sure you pre-plan shots and have the camera setup exactly where it needs to be, so that you avoid any unnecessary fumbling.

Comparing the 800PF to the 500PF, I definitely noticed the increased minimum focusing distance (~6 feet), so had to adjust my distance to target, framing, etc, not a big deal once you get used to it. The added weight, it's there, so a little nimbleness lost, and I couldn't remain in shooting position nearly as long. Overall though, the Z9+800PF are far, far more manageable than the Canon 1DX2 and the big whites that I used a few years back.

Image quality? Bonkers. Tops my 500PF by a decent margin, though it's not a huge difference. Biggest change is I'm not needing to crop as much, which is one of the top reasons I got this thing! The recent review by PhotographyLife.com... their test shots were bad, respectfully, I've seen nothing so far that even remotely resembles their results.

Anyways, enough of the blah blah, here's two of my best from the outing, a White-breasted Nuthatch and Black-capped Chickadee. No crops, only made white balance changes, nothing more. Hope the crispy sharpness comes through for you, as these are razor on my monitor here at home.

Well, I've had the new lens for a couple of weeks!

Pros: hands-down the best IQ I've experienced yet from my birding camera/lens combo. Brutally sharp and detailed, and a supreme clarity that brings out the feather detail like no other. Very little work needed in post. And the bokeh is gorgeous! I couldn't ask for anything more from an image quality perspective.

Con: I'm still adjusting going from the small and nimble D500PF (5.1 lbs) that I used for a solid 3 years, back to a chunky setup in the Z9+800PF (8.10 lbs). Even though it's only 3lbs of additional weight, it invokes the memories of why I left the Canon 1DX2+600 f/4 III, for the Nikon D500PF. Someday, if Nikon graces us w/ a standard body w/ the Z9 capabilities, that should cut a good 1-1.5lbs, and make things even better. For now though, I'm just needing more time in the field to see how it handles during a day of birding, and if 800mm be too much lens for how I shoot.

Sorta-con: the zoom ring and lens control ring are in the wrong spots. As of January '23 lens firmware update, you can swap function assigned to each, which sorta helps, but it's still weird since my muscle memory equates focus ring = black ribbed rubber ring.


This is from an outing last week in which I nearly frostbit my hands (even with gloves on). Here's a Sandhill Crane, which was cool with me up until it saw I had a camera, then it spazzed out and took off:

Writing that post earlier today made me want to get out and shoot more, so I took off after work and went to a local park a couple of miles from the house. I knew this spot had Red-headed Woodpeckers, but didn't realize that they over-wintered here in the frozen tundra, so was happy to see this guy out and about doing woodpecker things. The late afternoon light was so ooey-goey and honey, the best kind of light for any photography. And it wasn't all that cold out, so I really enjoyed myself for the brief hour I had out there.

Image hosted by forum (1197973) © MatthewK THIS IS A LOW QUALITY PREVIEW. Please log in to see the good quality stuff.

Wow ... just amazing photo's.

Incredible lens.

Seems the Z9 and Z800 plus a good photographer are hard to beat.

MatthewK wrote in post #19483264
Writing that post earlier today made me want to get out and shoot more, so I took off after work and went to a local park a couple of miles from the house. I knew this spot had Red-headed Woodpeckers, but didn't realize that they over-wintered here in the frozen tundra, so was happy to see this guy out and about doing woodpecker things. The late afternoon light was so ooey-goey and honey, the best kind of light for any photography. And it wasn't all that cold out, so I really enjoyed myself for the brief hour I had out there.

Hosted photo: posted by MatthewK in
./showthread.php?p=194​83264&i=i5387230
forum: Nikon Lenses

Beautiful image.