Nikon D850 and 80-400 & 500pf

[sdloeffler]

Hey folks, Currently on the road in the Tetons and Yellowstone so can’t post any example pics. Hoping someone can give me some suggestions. I seem to be having trouble with the D850 and sometimes the 80-400 and today with the 500pf. I’ve handheld the 80-400 successfully before on the 850. First try at handholding the 500pf. Just seemed to be all over the place, even with VR engaged. All images with VR and without were soft. The 850 seems to be performing well with. 16-35, 24-70, and 70-200. bycontrast, i can handhold the 80-400 and 500pf and get great shots with my D5. I was shooting with a shutter speed of up to 1/5000th. I know the extra mp can be an issue but this seems to be more than that, especially considering I’ve used the 80-400 before with success. Could it be the contacts? Maybe not seated correctly? My 850 is dying. I’ve given up up on using it for anything other than landscapes and am sticking with the D5 for everything else. Any thoughts? Regards.

 

[RichF]

Have you tried to reseat the lenses, turn off the camera and remove the battery(ies).

If the camera works w/ other hands but not the 80-400 and 500 PF but these work on other bodies, I think you are correct there is a problem about the connection between camera and lens. Lens don't always mount firmly, so I tried a slight twist to see if that fixes the problem.

Good luck

 

[Ralph]

Hey folks, Currently on the road in the Tetons and Yellowstone so can’t post any example pics. Hoping someone can give me some suggestions. I seem to be having trouble with the D850 and sometimes the 80-400 and today with the 500pf. I’ve handheld the 80-400 successfully before on the 850. First try at handholding the 500pf. Just seemed to be all over the place, even with VR engaged. All images with VR and without were soft. The 850 seems to be performing well with. 16-35, 24-70, and 70-200. bycontrast, i can handhold the 80-400 and 500pf and get great shots with my D5. I was shooting with a shutter speed of up to 1/5000th. I know the extra mp can be an issue but this seems to be more than that, especially considering I’ve used the 80-400 before with success. Could it be the contacts? Maybe not seated correctly? My 850 is dying. I’ve given up up on using it for anything other than landscapes and am sticking with the D5 for everything else. Any thoughts? Regards.

Months ago I thought I had a problem with the contacts as well because I wasn’t getting a good lock and the images were soft. It ended up being heat distortion and honestly it wasn’t real obvious. Try taking a few shots with those lenses on objects up close and see how the camera and lens respond. Try early morning before things heat up or even inside where you are staying. I noticed that the issue presented itself at the same time of day and usually in similar locations. I got home and took some photos and no problem. I now have gotten better at identifying when it is happening but it can be very frustrating nonetheless. The lens was the 500pf.

 

[DRwyoming]

First try at handholding the 500pf. Just seemed to be all over the place, even with VR engaged.

Make sure the VR on the 500mm PF is set to Sport Mode, not Normal mode if you want minimal image jumping in the viewfinder.

I'd also second Ralph's suggestion above that you may be seeing heat shimmer if these shots are at long distances as that's common when working at longer distances and we had our first fairly warm day after a lot of cool weather yesterday and I was seeing a lot of heat shimmer while shooting in the Tetons yesterday.

 

[fulltimewanderer]

I feel that Ralph and DRwyoming have hit the nail on the head. Keep and eye on your AF, heat shimmer can cause you auto focus to search.