Nikon 800PF Review For Wildlife Photographers (Official Discussion Thread)

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

Member's gallery
EricBowles said:
I debated whether to get this lens, but for the past 10 days I was using the 600 f/4 and 500 PF with the TC14E III teleconverter for about 70% of my shorebird images. That's an equivalent of 840mm at f/5.6 and 700mm at f/8. Much of this was birds in flight. AF was definitely slower with these combinations as the subjects were often in less than ideal lighting - probably 60% were backlit silhouettes. I was using a Z7ii - and the Z9 would have been much better. But I was using the 500 + 1.4 TC combination handheld from a moving boat.

The biggest challenge was keeping the bird in the AF box at 700-840mm. It takes practice. A lot of people won't be able to use the 800mm focal length because of the very narrow field of view. It's not a skill you pick up in a day or two. You need to watch subject behavior, learn to anticipate, and be able to very quickly pick up a subject as it approaches.

Part of the attractiveness of the 800 PF is using it with a Z 1.4 TC which I already have. That's effectively 1120mm - and I may not be up to the task. But it's possible with good technique and reasonable lighting. I photograph a lot of small birds near my home, and the combination will work well on a tripod.
Click to expand...
Good info. I expect to do most of my shooting from a tripod or monopod. Not sure how well I can handle this one handheld.
 
Member's gallery
Neil Laubenthal said:
my thoughts exactly…and add in that you can’t take it with you and we are well enough off that it is pretty much a blip in the budget. The trouble is that both my wife and have always been…she says cheap but I prefer thrifty and non extravagant…but that’s one of the big reasons we are well enough off in retirement so it is a blip in the budget. It’s really hard for us to just say…heck with it, we can afford it and want it.
Click to expand...
I lived on the road or overseas from 1978 - 2021 so there wasn't much time for photography. Now that I am almost-retired and age 70, we can spend some of what we earned and saved along the way. My wife's passion is sewing and mine is photography. It turns out I have the cheaper hobby. Ha-Ha. GAS is not unique to photography and the fancy toys, bells and whistles just keep coming. Enjoy your toys and I will enjoy mine.
 
Last edited:
Member's gallery
EricBowles said:
I debated whether to get this lens, but for the past 10 days I was using the 600 f/4 and 500 PF with the TC14E III teleconverter for about 70% of my shorebird images. That's an equivalent of 840mm at f/5.6 and 700mm at f/8. Much of this was birds in flight. AF was definitely slower with these combinations as the subjects were often in less than ideal lighting - probably 60% were backlit silhouettes. I was using a Z7ii - and the Z9 would have been much better. But I was using the 500 + 1.4 TC combination handheld from a moving boat.

The biggest challenge was keeping the bird in the AF box at 700-840mm. It takes practice. A lot of people won't be able to use the 800mm focal length because of the very narrow field of view. It's not a skill you pick up in a day or two. You need to watch subject behavior, learn to anticipate, and be able to very quickly pick up a subject as it approaches.

Part of the attractiveness of the 800 PF is using it with a Z 1.4 TC which I already have. That's effectively 1120mm - and I may not be up to the task. But it's possible with good technique and reasonable lighting. I photograph a lot of small birds near my home, and the combination will work well on a tripod.
Click to expand...
My wife has been using my 500 pf on her Z50 (400mm was longest she had used). She said she was having a problem finding the bird in her viewfinder. I reminded her to look at her target over the front of the lens , bird or whatever, and keep focused on it as she brings her camera up to her eye and the target should be there. She reminded me that it is easy for me but she had not shot shotguns all her life like I had :) Hunting birds and shooting sporting clays was great training for this :)
 
Last edited:
Member's gallery
Steve said:
If anyone is having a tough time finding their targets, this will help. It's the technique I use:

Click to expand...

A couple of other tips:
  • You can use your hotshoe as a sight. It takes a little practice, but works with most lenses
  • Limit your "shooting zone" to 2 times your field of view. If the subject is too far to either side, it's out of bounds. When out of bounds, you get into poor subject angles with potential problems with shadows, exposure, and backgrounds as well as being at a harder angle to follow.
  • Practice, practice, practice - experienced photographers can follow a subject much better than those that are rusty or out of practice. Any subject will do - as long as it's moving.
 
Member's gallery
G-FOTO.de said:
I notice more and more poor guys trying to sell their Nikon 800mm f5.6 now here in Germany. They will have a hard time to sell their old 800mm at a reasonable price.
I guess they will loose a significant amount of hard earned money. Thats really a downside of the 800PF.
Click to expand...

To be fair, camera gear is never a good investment. It also depends on how they use it too. My gear tends to pay for itself very rapidly (often in a single trip) and then I'm money ahead with what I've earned. :)
 
Member's gallery
Steve said:
To be fair, camera gear is never a good investment. It also depends on how they use it too. My gear tends to pay for itself very rapidly (often in a single trip) and then I'm money ahead with what I've earned. :)
Click to expand...
For me, photography is a hobby. A serious and expensive one but still a hobby. I keep it that way so I am beholden only to myself for what I shoot and how I do it. In any case, my photgraphy hobby is less expensive than my wife's quilting hobby as a quality Bernina sewing machine with the required extras is about the same cost as a Z9/800mm f/6.3 PF combo. But, both hobbies are quite satifying - she makes quilts for family members and I make photobooks. We all win. Plus the photo work takes us to fun places that are a vacation for both of us. I shoot photos and she looks for the local quilting shops. Winners all around.
 
Last edited:
Member's gallery
FB101 said:
Do you mind uploading your skills on an SD card so that I can just transfer them to my brain without the thousands of hours of practice it takes? Much appreciated. :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
If only. However, isn't the learning experience half of the fun? - Probably not.
 
Member's gallery
JAS said:
or me, photography is a hobby. A serious and expensive one but still a hobby. I keep it that way so I am beholden only to myself for what I shhot and how I do it. In any case, my photgraphy hobby is less expensive than my wife's quilting hobby as a quality Bernina sewing machine with the required extras is about the same cost as a Z9/800mm f/6.3 PF combo. But, both hobbies are quite satifying - she makes quilts for family members and I make photobooks. We all win. Plus the photo work takes us to fun places that are a vacation for both of us. Ishoot photos and she looks for the local quilting shops. Winners all around.
Click to expand...
I always tell people if they think photography is an expensive hobby try boating :D
 
Member's gallery
EricBowles said:
A couple of other tips:
  • You can use your hotshoe as a sight. It takes a little practice, but works with most lenses
  • Limit your "shooting zone" to 2 times your field of view. If the subject is too far to either side, it's out of bounds. When out of bounds, you get into poor subject angles with potential problems with shadows, exposure, and backgrounds as well as being at a harder angle to follow.
  • Practice, practice, practice - experienced photographers can follow a subject much better than those that are rusty or out of practice. Any subject will do - as long as it's moving.
Click to expand...
Practice, practice, practice is great advice. I have had people use seagulls gliding by in a park, Pellicans and Geese coming by etc..

Yes the hotshoe can be used as a form of sight if that works for someone on a stationary subject. I have even seen fairly large round "peep sight" devices designed to fit in the hot shoe. Using a sight especially on a flying bird "can" be a distraction if it takes the eye off the target.

When shooting all those thousands of rounds with a shot gun at moving targets I never used a sight just shot with both eyes open and a shotgun that fit me. When the stock was moved up to my cheek and shoulder rather than moving my head down to the stock I fired as soon as it hit my cheek when using come from behind the target and swing through. Even using sustained lead the gun came to my shoulder and cheek not my head moving to the stock. The barrel or barrels would be a fuzzy thing in my peripheral vision same with the end of myh 600 f/4E when the camera hits my cheek my eye has stayed locked on the target and voila there it is in the viewfinder. As Steve so aptly demonstrated in his video your head and eye remain in the same plane and eye fixated on your target and the camera comes up to your eye and your on target stationary or moving.
 
Member's gallery
Steve said:
I always tell people if they think photography is an expensive hobby try boating :D
Click to expand...

“The two happiest days in a sailor's life are the day he buys a Yacht and the day he sells it.”

“A boat is a hole in the water you throw money into.”

and then there's the unique situation of the oligarch superyacht owner latterly designated a global pariah ;)
 
Last edited:
Member's gallery
G-FOTO.de said:
I notice more and more poor guys trying to sell their Nikon 800mm f5.6 now here in Germany. They will have a hard time to sell their old 800mm at a reasonable price.
I guess they will loose a significant amount of hard earned money. Thats really a downside of the 800PF.
Click to expand...

This lens appears intermittently on official outlets of Used photo gear in S Africa. Up until recently, I'd been quietly planning how to afford a 800 f5.6E FL (!) - it will be interesting to see how the sale of this copy pans out at US$12300 / €11360. There's a large number of wildlife/landscape photographers resident in the region.
Incidentally, a year ago I bought a Used D5 from this shop at a very decent price.
1650081261294.png
 
Last edited:
Member's gallery
Patrick M said:
I'm into boating, photography and GOLF. Maybe I'll sell my golf membership - you wouldn't believe it, but I'd get the Z9 with the 400 and 800 and have change! We have a waiting list for members since covid
Click to expand...
I built racing engines professionally for 35 years. I was involved in a Nhra pro stock project in the mid 2000's. Just the cylinder heads were $250k. and they weren't even the latest and greatest at the time.
 
Member's gallery
Steve said:
To be fair, camera gear is never a good investment. It also depends on how they use it too. My gear tends to pay for itself very rapidly (often in a single trip) and then I'm money ahead with what I've earned...
Click to expand...

For Pros its of course a different story. But I guess there are quite some hobbyist which bought the old 800 a few years ago, not expecting to lose a lot of money, when reselling it at a certain point. That was and normally is the case for many big glasses, no matter which brand. Thats why I usually don't mind to spend the money for big glass.
But with this new kid in town, Nikon surprised many photographers incl. me and changed the game.

This 800PF really has the power to change wildlife photogaphy quite a bit, because it could also affect the 600 f4 sales.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top