Being a landscape and fine art photographer, I have very little need to shoot beyond 400mm, which I get by adding a 2x to my Nikkor 70-200. However, there have been scenes that I’ve had to forego for lack of a long enough focal length. Now, cropping is always an option, but I prefer to crop as little as possible to maintain highest image quality.
However, recently I have been interested in the new super zooms for landscape photography and became excited about getting my hands on the Nikkor 200-500mm!
Being an NPS member and 25 yr. Nikon guy, I was on the front line to purchase the Nikon 200-500 super-zoom, and ordered from Gary at Hunts.
Being a Nikon guy, I was extremely stoked about the 200-500 and couldn’t wait to get my hands on that baby! It arrived just before our current road trip to New Hampshire.
This first image was almost by accident. I was walking down to a gorge area and noticed some red leaves high in a tree with soft highlights in the background and thought the new 200-500 show wide open could be interesting. Now, granted, the image shot wide open isn’t sharp throughout, but it’s sharp enough, as the real subject was the soft bokeh, which rendered nicely using the 200-500 @ 500mm.
Shooting off of overlooks, of which there are many in landscape photography, requires at least a 70-200, and I often found that I had to shoot at 200mm and crop in to the intended scene. Using the 200-500 superzoom allowed much more freedom to fill the frame at a a greater than 200mm focus length. Here’s a series of images, none of which are cropped, using the following focal lengths:
400mm
300mm
and 200mm
Driving down Gotham Hill revealed an orange dawn sky and the valley filled with soft pink fog. I had to stop at this precise location for the perfect compromise of phone lines and getting the most fog in the image. This image required 500mm, and was an image impossible to get with a 70-200mm lens.
I would normally walk down to the water’s edge at lily pond on the Kancamagus Highway, which is an excellent perspective. However, I often would forego excellent images from the road for lack of focal length. This image was made at 400mm and using f/14 was able to get maximum sharpness using the D810.
The final two images were made on Crawford Notch and both were shot at 500mm. The increase in magnification of the fiery dawn clouds flowing over Mt. Washington created a more dramatic scene.
And the final image of, what we refer to as, the triangular forest is a long way off, and with the help of a little foreground cloning, filled the frame perfectly at 500mm.
Conclusion:
At $1395, The Nikon 200-500mm lens is a great buy.
The lens is a pleasure to use, is not heavy, and is a constant /5.6. The constant f/5.6 means that the light entering the lens is constant throughout the range. For example, a lens that has an aperture of f/5.6 to f/8 will get darker to look through as the focal length increases.
The build is solid, but is lighter than expected, and easily fits into my backpack with several other lenses and bodies.
The twist zoom is smooth with a solid feel.
The autofocus is fast.
Sharpness at the longest focal length of a superzoom is the true test, and at 500mm, this lens is razor sharp.
NOTE: It’s important to know that long lenses are very subject to movement from the slightest breeze and even from shutter slap on DSLRs.
This issue can be mitigated to large degree by using mirror lock-up and a high shutter speed (e.g. 1/500 or higher). Of course a slower shutter speed can be used in windless conditions.
Final thoughts
I bought this lens half expecting to shoot it in the field, then return it and instead it has become an instant favorite and one of my most used lenses.
For Nikon landscape shooters, the 200-500mm is definitely worth a look and is highly recommended!
▪••• Special thanks to Gary Farber and Hunt’s in Melrose for their consistent and generous support to the photographic community •••
Tony Sweet is a Nikon Legend behind the lens.
He and Susan Milestone conduct Visual Artistry workshops and Creativity Seminars throughout North America and Iceland.
You can find/ follow Tony at the following links:
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Akira’s FB page is https://www.facebook.com/pages/Akira-Sweet/156147121245525)
Please visit www.tonysweet.com
Tony and Susan live in central Maryland with their cat-child Akira.