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AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 9:38 pm
by biggerry
All I need now is for someone to sell me a 1.4 TC and I will be sorted...for a awhile anyway...

Nikkor 300mm f4 AFS, this is one sharp lens, its makes my 100-300mm f5.6 look like a coke bottle...which i must say I thought was pretty sharp given its age etc...

a few of the first images from this lens, its amazing how few shots I take now that i dont need to manually focus...

Image
Image
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Image

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:58 pm
by surenj
Congrats on your new acquisition and I can see it's in good hands. I will wait for the birds with great bokeh.. :cheers:


biggerry wrote:sell me a 1.4 TC and I will be sorted

Doubt it... There is always the 300 2.8, then 400 2.8, then 200-400 4, then 600....then switch to Canon for the 1200. :mrgreen:

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 9:58 am
by terminator
yep it is a great lens.
Nice to see it`s getting some good use!

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:01 am
by MATT
Nice images and the AF-s sound sweet.

I wounder how a 70-200 VR with a 1.7 TC would compare to this lens in terms of focus speed and sharpness?

Regards

MATT

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:17 am
by chrisk
always had a soft spot for the 300/4 afs...it was my first love. lol sharp as a tack. i also ran it alot with the 1.7TC and in good light it was still very impressive for anything but the most demanding of scenarios.

MATT: i had both the 300/4 and the 70-200+1.7TC and the 300 from my experience was sharper and faster. i didn't have the 1.4TC at the time i had my 70-200 so cant comment on that setup.

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:18 pm
by biggerry
I will wait for the birds with great bokeh..


lol, yeah, but only the real birds..the ones with two or more engines

Nice to see it`s getting some good use!


its gonna cop a flogging when i had out to Temora again soon! Thanks again.

i also ran it alot with the 1.7TC and in good light it was still very impressive for anything but the most demanding of scenarios.


yeah I am tossing up between the 1.4 and the 1.7, luckily I have plenty of time to think about that choice.. :|

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:45 pm
by chrisk
biggerry wrote:
yeah I am tossing up between the 1.4 and the 1.7, luckily I have plenty of time to think about that choice.. :|


let me know if you need to borrow them. i have both so you can use them on your lens for a weekend to see which one you prefer.

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 11:18 pm
by biggerry
let me know if you need to borrow them. i have both so you can use them on your lens for a weekend to see which one you prefer.


thanks for the offer Chris! I may well take you up on that one, either that or will have to organise a DSLRusers plane shoot..

maybe a weekend day out at Temora :up:

http://www.aviationmuseum.com.au/news/FlyingDates.cfm

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:17 am
by chrisk
no worries mate. i know how hard it is to try and pick a bit of kit blind. always helps if you can have a run of it before you fork out any cash just to be sure.

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:57 am
by Murray Foote
Hi Gerry

I've got one too and have got some really good images with it. I picked up a 1.4TC from Adorama at a good price at as-new and when I ordered it they responded and said they'd just noticed some cosmetic damage on it and did I still want it and would it be OK if they Took $50 off the price.

So B&H and Adorama are worth considering including second hand because I suspect there's not much to go wrong with a second-hand TC. Most don't get used much and i know I haven 't used mine much (though it does work fine).

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 10:25 am
by aim54x
Congrats Gerry, glad to see that you picked up that lens.

Cant wait till you start pounding us with warbird photos.

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 1:08 pm
by Jenno
I will wait for the birds with great bokeh..


Gerry might have to purchase another copy...seems this one is programmed to shot planes only :)

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 7:07 pm
by biggerry
Murray Foote wrote:So B&H and Adorama are worth considering including second hand because I suspect there's not much to go wrong with a second-hand TC. Most don't get used much and i know I haven 't used mine much (though it does work fine).


good idea, I have looked there, I actually looked for a 300mm f/4 but they had nothing at the time (excluding the older model) - I will keep my peepers on there more often..

aim54x wrote:Cant wait till you start pounding us with warbird photos.


can't wait either :)

Jenno wrote:Gerry might have to purchase another copy...seems this one is programmed to shot planes only


doh! I did take some shots of pigeons this morning...but the planes were more interesting... :rotfl2: plus those pigeons shat on my car this morning..so they dont deserve to be photographed..punks.

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 7:15 pm
by biggerry
just for kicks and giggles...i compared some A380 shots from last year with my 100-300mm to some I took this morning, the conditions were definitely similiar, clear sky, no cloud and after some rain the nigth before.

below are the processed shots - the 100-300mm version has sharpening applied. However it gets more interesting looking at the cropped versions - these are unmodifed, cropped to 200% and resized to 800px.

100-300mm f/5.6 (probably taken at f8)
Image
300mm f4
Image

100-300mm f/5.6 (probably taken at f8)
Image
300mm f4
Image

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 2:15 am
by heartyfisher
Hi Gerry,

You are getting a nice collection of lenses there.. That 300 F4 is one of the lesser known gems! Congratulations!

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:29 am
by aim54x
This new lens looks heaps better than that 100-300!!! I am sure you are very glad to have it.

Can you reprogramme the lens for planes with 1 engine as well as more than one engine pls???

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 8:31 pm
by biggerry
That 300 F4 is one of the lesser known gems!


i amm sooo in love... :roll:

Can you reprogramme the lens for planes with 1 engine as well as more than one engine pls???


lol standby.

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:48 pm
by Murray Foote
The new TC20EIII may be an option too (though no doubt expensive): http://www.naturalart.ca/artist/fieldte ... ries3.html

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 11:18 pm
by biggerry
The new TC20EIII may be an option too (though no doubt expensive)


apparently on anything less than a f2.8 its not worthwhile? - rockwell also states it won't autofocus on a 300mm f4.

At this point I am finding the 1.5 crop factor gives me all the reach I need with 300mm, but undoubtly a 1.4x will be welcome in time.. :cough:

Re: AFS has never been so sweet...

PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 11:36 pm
by Murray Foote
It will work on at least some F4 lenses, though not as well as f2.8, but you're right, probably not the 300 f4.

I was forgetting you are on DX; it gives me pretty much all I need n FX.