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The following are my impressions of and a few tips for using the Nikon 200-400mm F4 lens. It is not intended to be a complete technical review. The Nikon 200-400mm F4 AF-S VR Lens really is a case of you get what you pay for. Once you get past the sticker shock it’s a spectacular lens, incredibly sharp through the entire zoom range and looses little even when shooting wide-open. Color rendition and saturation are every bit as good as the best of Nikon’s fixed focal length primes. Just as important in a long telephoto is how out of focus areas are rendered. The 200-400mm reproduces areas outside of depth of field range with that soft creamy color saturated look that big glass photographers long for. Auto-Focus: I had owned a Nikon 80-400mm for several years prior to the 200-400mm. The 80-400mm is very capable of producing high quality results. But has a couple big shortcomings, a very slow auto-focus system and a tendency to search prior to acquiring focus lock. In this area there is no comparison between the two lenses. At a fast F4 across the entire zoom range and having the next generation AF-S focus system, the 200-400mm is a delight to use. Frame the subject, press the shutter or AF button and it locks! In all but the toughest of lighting conditions the subject simply pops into focus. Nikon has provided a limit switch which when on, prevents focus inside of twenty feet. My standard setup is to have the limit switch turned on and simply click it off for close focus situations down to the minimum focus distance of seven feet. Shooting hand-held: Even though this is a big lens, one of my goals was to use it hand-held. Much of my shooting is done from small boats in the open ocean or while hiking over rough terrain. A large tripod is often not practical or even not possible for my style of shooting. By incorporating both normal and active VR (Vibration Reduction) modes its obvious Nikon intended hand holding as an option. The normal VR mode is used for reducing camera shake while panning and/or shooting from a fixed position. The active mode reduces camera shake while panning and/or shooting from a moving position such as from a vehicle or in my case a boat. The Nikon 200-400mm is a big lens, there is no getting around that. Depending on the camera body used, you're looking at about a ten pound package, eighteen inches from viewfinder to front glass, not including the lens shade. Shooting this lens hand-held puts a premium on technique but has proven to be very do-able. Here's a few hand-held examples:
Memory Mode: This feature can be quite handy. To use it, you pre-focus at a distance where you feel some action will happen, then press the Memory Set button. You can then pan and focus on other subjects at any distance. When a subject arrives at the distance set in memory, you press a Memory Recall button which causes the lens to focus and lock at the saved distance. The pre-set distance is saved in memory even if the camera is turned off or the lens is removed from the camera. A few last
tips: When shooting without a tripod, consider the lens mounted
shoulder strap a must, not an option. I’m not one for using camera straps,
but when carrying this lens around you will want it. The strap will
also prove invaluable when you swap to another lens. Simply hang the
200-400mm over your shoulder and keep on shooting. I also replaced the
original tripod foot with a Kirk
Enterprises design. It incorporates an Arca-Swiss style mount and
has been lengthened to provide proper balance for tripod or monopod
mounting. Also makes a great handle when carrying the system around.
When practical,
a monopod is a good in between option as well. |
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