Wildlife photographer Steve Perry took the newly-announced Nikon PF 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens for a check drive and has shared his opinions on what to anticipate from the super-telephoto prime.
Perry was given the chance to shoot with a pre-production model of the lens, so there could also be some variations between his photographs and experiences versus what will likely be seen with the ultimate manufacturing mannequin. Moreover, as a result of shore time he had with the lens and since it’s not a last launch model, he wasn’t capable of put it by way of his regular vary of exams. That stated, Perry was capable of seize quite a lot of implausible pictures and was capable of kind some preliminary opinions of the brand new super-telephoto prime.
Perry says that not solely is the lens simply as sturdy as Nikon’s different massive prime lenses, he feels that it’s much more strong than the 300mm or 500mm PF lenses. There have been some issues that the comparatively inexpensive pricing of the lens meant that there can be some construct high quality nook minimize, however Perry says he didn’t discover any of them in his testing.
He provides that the change within the management ring design is an enchancment over the earlier generations, and located that by inserting the programmable management ring within the center (versus close to the bottom of the lens), he discovered that it was simpler to leap from the perform buttons and focus rings and again, which allowed him to maintain his give attention to his pictures.
Perry additionally says that he was impressed with the sharpness of the photographs at slower shutter speeds with VR enabled. Nikon says the brand new lens comes with 5.5 stops of VR efficiency when paired with the Z9 and Perry states that usually with a lens of this sort, he by no means shoots beneath 1/800th as his “keeper fee” falls significantly if he does.
Nonetheless, the brand new PF 800mm f/6.3 lens outperformed his expectations and supplied him with a formidable quantity of sharp and usable pictures when capturing handheld all the way in which right down to as sluggish as 1/200 of a second. This “keeper” fee alone was motive sufficient for Perry to begin referring to the lens as a “game-changer” for wildlife photographers.
“I’m tentatively going to say that that is the most effective stabilization I’ve used with any lens from any model,” he says.
Perry describes the bokeh and background separation as “virtually dreamlike” in its rendering, which he says does an important job of isolating wildlife pictures and eradicating distracting components.
Perry agrees with Nikon’s design selections relating to the burden distribution of the lens. He says that the shifted heart of stability permits him to relaxation it in a extra comfy place and leading to a greater hand-held expertise. This design allowed him to get into place quicker than he might with different lenses and provides him extra time to seize fleeting moments that occur so usually when making an attempt to seize nature within the wild.
Beneath are a sequence of pictures that Perry captured with the pre-production mannequin of the PF 800mm f/6.3 VR S:
For extra from Steve Perry, make sure to try his YouTube Channel and web site.
Picture credit: Photographs by Steve Perry.
