Review on Nikon NIKKOR 500mm F/5.6E Pf ED VR Super-Telephoto Lens with AF-S Technology by Tony Pierce

I bought a Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E VR lens a few years ago to get the 500mm focal length on my full-frame Nikon D750. I still love this lens for its excellent wide-angle optical performance considering its price and how it complements my trio of f/4G VR lenses from 16mm to 200mm, but this new 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR is completely different. beast complete. First off, the most amazing thing about this lens when you first take it out of the box is its size and weight. Following in the footsteps of its technically bigger but smaller brother, the 300mm f/4E PF ED VR, the new 500mm is significantly lighter and more compact than its predecessor. It weighs almost twice as much as a 300mm lens (26.6 ounces) and weighs 51.2 ounces. For comparison, a 200-500mm lens weighs just over 5 pounds at 81.2 ounces. Yes, the combined weight of the 300mm and 500mm PF ED VR lenses is actually lighter than the 200-500mm f/5.6E VR lenses! Guess what I'd rather travel with; 2 incredible all-weather lenses or a heavier consumer zoom? I take two fixes every day of the week. So who is this lens made for? Well, it's made for a lot of photographers. birds? Yes of course. Sports? Definitive. Imagine lugging such a compact super-telephoto lens across the pitch in the heat of a game and not even having to bother carrying a monopod. it is this lens. Nature and wildlife photographers or those hiking trails and national parks trying to limit the weight of their backpack? This lens is for you. Hell, you can even use this lens to create stunning portraits with great perspective compression. Obviously it's not ideal for portraits as you need to put some distance between yourself and your subject making them harder to aim at, but it's possible. This lens has 19 elements in 11 groups (300mm has 16 elements in 10 groups) and a minimum focus distance of 3m or 9.8ft (compared to 1.4m or 4.6ft for the 300mm lens ). It uses a 95mm filter thread like the 200-500mm f/5.6E VR, so there's no need to buy new filters if you've already used them on the 200-500mm you're switching from. Like the 300mm, it also features 9 rounded aperture blades for soft, beautiful bokeh. It also includes an HB-84 lens hood and CL-M5 lens case, which are available for $70 and $100 respectively if you ever swap a Nikon TC-14E III teleconverter through a 1.4- multiple and you get a 700mm f/8 lens, attach it to a DX body like the D500 and you get an impressive 1050mm equivalent angle of view at f/8. You are debating whether or not to buy this lens, it really comes down to finances. If so, buy it, you won't regret it. If that's a bit out of range, don't worry, so Nikon makes 200-500mm f/5.6, or if you're so inclined you can get a 300mm f/4 VR and pack it with a 1 .4x teleconverters and get similar results with a little less focal length.