Superb glass, still a good option

[JHern]

I bought a copy of this lens from an elderly man who said he had only used it once, basically in new condition after years of pristine dry storage. Mine is the light grey special edition that was only produced in limited quantities for a few lenses. The new condition of the lens mitigated my concerns about buying an older lens with an internal focusing motor that is no longer replaceable, since I expect to get many years out of this fresh unused motor...and even after it burns out, this will make a superb manual focus lens.

The lens is 4.8 kg, reasonable for a 600mm f/4. The newest E-FL version of the lens is 1 kg lighter and has VR, however, these differences are not enough for me to justify the ~4X difference in cost for an equivalent condition lens since I will anyways only use this mounted on a heavy-duty tripod and gimbal (maybe occasionally I'll try a monopod, but only if necessary).

The lens is optically perfect at 36 MP full frame, it can out-resolve my D810. Micro-contrast is amazing, it plucks out sharp details even from within shadows. This is the second 600mm f/4 lens formula designed by Nikon with 10 elements in 7 groups (3 ED). I have been test shooting this with high contrast scenes and I haven't noticed any CA whatsoever. I will probably be shooting this more often at lower resolutions on bigger pro bodies, and this lens will be even more perfect (if that is even possible).

Good lens support is crucial, and replacing the big gangly foot provided by Nikon is absolutely necessary. I swapped mine for a Kirk foot that has a nice ridge to help keep the lens from sliding out of my hand while carrying it.

The hood comes in 2 sections, and it is fussy to mount and unmount. I ordered an Aquatech softhood to use instead, which will be more gentle on the lens and also provides some padding/protection, and this can also be wrapped around the lens body while carried in the bag.

I've shot several hundred images and still working on dialing in the perfect AF fine tune calibration. It is more challenging with this lens than previous big lenses I've calibrated, owing to the very narrow depth of field when shot at f/4. Initially the lens was back-focusing slightly, and I'm fine tuned around -7 on the D810 at the moment (it is close, but not yet satisfied that it is perfect).

It does not take the newest TC-14E iii teleconverter, but is contemporaneous with the TC-14E ii...I don't know how well it performs with the latter, but I intend to find out. At the moment I have the TC-17E ii and I intend to try it out soon...1020mm f/6.8 equivalent, sounds like fun! As usual with TCs, I can imagine that I'll probably have to stop down to f/8 or f/9 to achieve the best results, but I'm very much looking forward to trying this on a sunny day to see for myself.

The images this lens produces are amazing. But you already knew that. 600/4 Nikkors are legendary for a reason.

 

[ARClark]

Sounds like you made a great purchase! I bought the 500mm equivalent used 9 years ago and just sold it last year to get the lighter, most recent FL with VR so I could handhold more easily. But I really liked the 500 afs-ii. It provided excellent IQ and worked very well with both my 1.4x and 1.7x TCiis. As an FYI, I did have to have the focusing motor replaced. But mine was much more heavily used and may have gotten wet inside from my using it once or twice in light rain.

Congratulations, and hopefully you’ll get many good years of use out of that great piece of 600mm glass!

Alan

 

[dave gaines]

... As an FYI, I did have to have the focusing motor replaced. But mine was much more heavily used and may have gotten wet inside from my using it once or twice in light rain.

...

Alan

Hi Alan,

You need a raincoat. When it starts to rain take the coat off and put it over that expensive lens.

LensCoat makes a good raincoat for big lenses. They work well and are easy to add over a lens. I got a camo version for my 300 mm f/2.8 to help blend with my surroundings.

 

[ARClark]

... As an FYI, I did have to have the focusing motor replaced. But mine was much more heavily used and may have gotten wet inside from my using it once or twice in light rain.

...

Alan

Hi Alan,

You need a raincoat. When it starts to rain take the coat off and put it over that expensive lens.

LensCoat makes a good raincoat for big lenses. They work well and are easy to add over a lens. I got a camo version for my 300 mm f/2.8 to help blend with my surroundings.

 

[JHern]

... As an FYI, I did have to have the focusing motor replaced. But mine was much more heavily used and may have gotten wet inside from my using it once or twice in light rain.

You need a raincoat. When it starts to rain take the coat off and put it over that expensive lens.

LensCoat makes a good raincoat for big lenses. They work well and are easy to add over a lens. I got a camo version for my 300 mm f/2.8 to help blend with my surroundings.

Haha! Good idea! Since that time I’ve actually gotten a lens cover, but more importantly I go to greater lengths to just avoid rain.

I immediately ordered the lenscoat covers and soft caps (they work great), and plan to get the rain coat as well (it will also provide better camouflage over the jet black Aquatech hood).

As for the AF motor, this lens is basically new and the AF is in optimal shape. Still, I don't think these are replaceable any longer. So, when this motor burns out after some years of hard use, I'll have an excellent manual focus lens on my hands...I'm perfectly OK with that, I knew this day will come when I bought the lens. It might be possible to find a custom repair shop to rebuild the motor, but I'm not counting on that, either.

I've been trying it out with a TC-17Eii on D810 and it is decent wide open (f/6.7) and better at f/8. AF works fine with this combo in good light. I do need to spend a little more time post-processing to sharpen and get rid of CA, but the pleasure of shooting a 1020mm f/6.7 is very much worth the additional effort.

 

[John Crowe]

When I have added a teleconverter over the years to my supertele lenses I have always stopped down one additional stop with one stop higher ISO if required. I hate moving off of ISO 100, but I have always found that going to 200 and stopping the lens down one more stop was always worth it to maintain sharpness.

 

[palmer1076]

I have the exact same lens and agree with all of your comments.

I would add that I don't miss the VR as I always use it on a large Series 5 tripod and gimbal.

I have had good luck with the 1.4 TC but not with the 2.0.