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philippe
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How well does the 500 PF lens work with the Z9?
- Thread starter Wink Jones
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I have been learning new things this morning. If I take the photos as a DX size rather than an FX size, the crop makes the pictures look more magnified. This gives the impression that I am shooting a longer lens, although I know this is not "actually" true, but I like the effect and if I really need to push the subject back a few yards, I can always switch back to FX mode.
I focused on the face of my neighbor mowing, but even though I held the back button focus down, it did not track his face. More reading coming up.
I focused on the face of my neighbor mowing, but even though I held the back button focus down, it did not track his face. More reading coming up.
@Wink Jones hey ! Nice signature…congrats! Me, 45 in sept!
sorry , hijack oops
sorry , hijack oops
I saw this on my phone and could not for the life of me figure out how to see my signature. Now I see it on my iMac. Thank you very much, and congratulations on 45, that too is quite an accomplishment these days.
DARN! While arranging this without the photo images, there were two side by side images on each line, FX first then the larger looking DX, There was no attempt at making these special looking images, I just wanted to see what using the DX image area would do to the photo. Same composition, the FX jpeg file is approximately 100% larger than the DX jpeg file, which crops the picture and makes it look like a longer lens.
The only editing was to change the size of both images in Photoshop to 6 inches wide and to drop the PPI from 300 to 75 for taking up less room when posting here.
The pictures were taken from my front porch, sitting in the chair I use for when my wife and I sit on the front porch for a "sit and sip" in the evenings or for "just a cup of coffee, Early in the morning," in the mornings before it gets too hot. (Sung to the tune of "Just a little lovin', early in the morning." from back in the early 70's.
As you can see in these pictures, it is late evening and the sun has fled from my close rose bed and is just barely shining on my further out rose bed.
I find this very interesting, your mileage may vary...
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The only editing was to change the size of both images in Photoshop to 6 inches wide and to drop the PPI from 300 to 75 for taking up less room when posting here.
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The pictures were taken from my front porch, sitting in the chair I use for when my wife and I sit on the front porch for a "sit and sip" in the evenings or for "just a cup of coffee, Early in the morning," in the mornings before it gets too hot. (Sung to the tune of "Just a little lovin', early in the morning." from back in the early 70's.
As you can see in these pictures, it is late evening and the sun has fled from my close rose bed and is just barely shining on my further out rose bed.
I find this very interesting, your mileage may vary...
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And here is a bee taken at about ten yards, from the same chair while I was fooling around this morning. Cropped and resized in On1.
Who would have guessed, macro photography from ten yards?
Who would have guessed, macro photography from ten yards?
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Marion Anstis
Active member
Agree. And the 500PF is more reliable and quicker on the Z9 handheld, because the weight of the Z9 body helps stabilise the unit in operation, and the lack of shutter action in the Z9 means many more keepers as far as sharpness goes!
All of the above shots were hand held. The first few I took were a little jittery, then I turned on the VR.
Roy
Well-known member
The 500 PF works well on the Z9 - a great lens but Its not a top level Nikkor and the AF is a bit slower but its great value for the money..
I had to offer up a good natured chuckle for your comment. For many years my longest lens was the 55-300 kit lens that came with one of my earlier cameras, I think the 7100, although it could have been my D300. Compared to my earlier lens the 500 PF is almost instantaneous. I am still in the early getting acquainted stage of working with both the camera and the lens, but I am really liking both of them.
I fear I may never get one of the top level lenses, but I am very happy with this one so far. Heck, I was pretty happy with my 55-300 lens, but wanted a longer one, and my 1.4 tc should arrive on Tuesday, possibly Wednesday. I am not a professional, there is so much I do not know, so I am very happy with any step up, and this lens and camera are both BIG steps up for me.
I fear I may never get one of the top level lenses, but I am very happy with this one so far. Heck, I was pretty happy with my 55-300 lens, but wanted a longer one, and my 1.4 tc should arrive on Tuesday, possibly Wednesday. I am not a professional, there is so much I do not know, so I am very happy with any step up, and this lens and camera are both BIG steps up for me.
Not really looking to hijack somebody else's thread but based on this thread and another one on the 100-400 and TCs…I decided to go ahead and do a bit of testing today…and rather than start another thread figured this was a good place to post the…if Wink or mods prefer then this get relocated to a new thread. Wouldn't have put them here if they were anything but a test that seemed relevant to this thread. I've got the 100-400, 500PF, and both Z TCs but not an F mount TC so I couldn't compare that one. I found a couple of cooperative subjects and then shot the 100-400 at 400, 560, and 800 as well as the 500PF…all tripod shots from the same distance of about 15 or so feet. All wide open at 1/250 so the ISO didn't get too high as the TCs cut down the exposure. AF mode was Wide Small with animal detect and all but the 400mm one actually picked up the eye on the left one but since it's about a 50% crop to get final size the same the eye was too small for the Z9 (firmware 2.1) to grab. Shot in bursts to see if the first one was really less focused than later shots in the burst…didn't really look like it to me but I picked the 4th or 5th one in each burst anyway. Imported into LR, auto adjust then changed exposure just enough to make the subjects the same brightness and cropped everything but the 800mm shot to about the same subject size as cropped. Bottom line is that between the 4 combos there are some slight differences at 1:1 in LR but none are really out of usability and as displayed on screen there's really not much difference that I can see and all are fine. Then ran them through DxO and Topaz Sharpen and most of the difference even at 1:1 wasn't really there any longer. So…my conclusion is that the 500PF works just fine on the Z9 as does the 100-400 with the 1.4TC…and for the few t times when 800 is really needed the 2.0TC is good enough for my purposes considering the size, weight, and cost of the 800PF. Here are the final images…first 4 are LR and crop only and the 2nd four after DxO/Topaz. Both sets are in the same order…400, 560, 800, and 500 last so I didn't have to swap the lens on the tripod but once.
All in all…they're all acceptably sharp to me at final viewing size so that tosses the decision on which lens and/or TC combo to use back to the debate between what do I already have, what can I afford, what do I want, do I want the flexibility of a zoom or not, and how much do I want to carry.
As you can see…my subjects were very cooperative.
And just because I could…I tested with a single Delkin Power 128 card in the body, and started just shooting random long bursts…started at 20 and than shifted to 15 FPS and it took 2318 images to fill the card. Going to buy a couple of Black 150s and use those as primary until that bucket list trip comes along and I need to get a pile of 'em.
After DxO and Topaz
All in all…they're all acceptably sharp to me at final viewing size so that tosses the decision on which lens and/or TC combo to use back to the debate between what do I already have, what can I afford, what do I want, do I want the flexibility of a zoom or not, and how much do I want to carry.
As you can see…my subjects were very cooperative.
And just because I could…I tested with a single Delkin Power 128 card in the body, and started just shooting random long bursts…started at 20 and than shifted to 15 FPS and it took 2318 images to fill the card. Going to buy a couple of Black 150s and use those as primary until that bucket list trip comes along and I need to get a pile of 'em.
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After DxO and Topaz
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Sir Pilot,
You are always welcome to post in one of my threads. You always make me think and that is much appreciated.
Thanks…didn't think you really cared. I generally think that posting 'real' images in somebody else's thread is not all that kosher unless it was invited or it was something like the BIF thread here…but that posting either real or test images as examples when discussing a question is just fine…because question posts are different from "look what I got today" posts.
I think the combo works extremely well, with or without a TC. As others have done, here are two examples of this combo. The crops are approximately 100% zoom factor.
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Originally I asked where you got your 1.4tc, but have now located & purchased one. 2 different stores had it, one was $100.00 more. Guess which I chose?
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Originally I asked where you got your 1.4tc, but have now located & purchased one. 2 different stores had it, one was $100.00 more. Guess which I chose?
Bet I know. I ordered mine from Nikon, I had ordered one months ago from B&H and finally cancelled it when I got the shipping confirmation from Nikon only a week after ordering it.
Actually it was Adorama. Every time I checked Nikon they did not show availability. I guess it pays to place the order and see who ships first....Thx
Chaz Harrison
Member
I have a 500 PF and a TC and am about to buy a Z8. I am assuming that the Z8 will perform in a similar way to the Z9.
I was watching a Mark Smith video in which he compared the 500PF on an FTZ on a Z9 with the 100-400 Z. He commented that when shooting BIF the 500PF focus kept drifting away from the eye, the 100-400 Z didn't do this, was "locked on". Can anybody with relevant experience care to comment?
Chaz
I was watching a Mark Smith video in which he compared the 500PF on an FTZ on a Z9 with the 100-400 Z. He commented that when shooting BIF the 500PF focus kept drifting away from the eye, the 100-400 Z didn't do this, was "locked on". Can anybody with relevant experience care to comment?
Chaz
The immature is with the Z9/500pf/TC-1.7 in DX mode.
The mature is with the Z9/Z400-4.5/TC-2x in DX mode
The mature is with the Z9/Z400-4.5/TC-2x in DX mode
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fcotterill
Well-known member
My experience with Z9 and 500 PF on warblers and similar smaller birds is the Eye recognition is robust - subject to user abilities - and this applies to other f mount E telephotos, for birds as well as mammals.
For comparison, in saying this for above combinations, basis for comparisons I don't detect any obvious differences in the Z9 Subject Recognition with 400 f4.5S or 800 PF.
Firmwares updated when released since April 2022, 800 PF since May 2022, 400 S since Sept.
EDIT: obviously, a Mirrorless camera removes the need for AF fine-tuning with F-mount lenses, and furthermore, there are allied benefits with improved AF and sharpness with the F-mount Teleconverters, the 500 PF & TC14 particularly.
For comparison, in saying this for above combinations, basis for comparisons I don't detect any obvious differences in the Z9 Subject Recognition with 400 f4.5S or 800 PF.
Firmwares updated when released since April 2022, 800 PF since May 2022, 400 S since Sept.
EDIT: obviously, a Mirrorless camera removes the need for AF fine-tuning with F-mount lenses, and furthermore, there are allied benefits with improved AF and sharpness with the F-mount Teleconverters, the 500 PF & TC14 particularly.
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fotogrob
Well-known member
Same here
Chaz Harrison
Member
That's helpful and reassuring. I have got some good results with the 500PF on a D850 and look forward to the same or better with a Z8.
Thanks.
Chaz Harrison
Member
Excellent shots sir! I can't match the subject birds in Southern England, although thinking about it there is a chance of a white tailed (sea) eagle.
Vicintheshed
Member
I have both the 500pf and 300pf and with my z9 they are both a joy to work with. I also have the 800pf as well. It really depends what my scenario is going to be on any given day. Have been using the 300,500 with Z9 in situations where I am in a hide and the birds are close - this setup is easy to pack and lug around, saves a lot of space. If I am walking about somewhere new, the 800 comes with me, if I know the area and target birds, the 500 comes out. But lately have been in some situations where the 300 is too long, have been thinking about maybe a good zoom covering say 100 to 500mm.