abc123brian
Well-known member
Nikon Rumors says the 800mm F/6.3 development announcement will be tonight. Looking forward to hearing more about it, but I worry about the price.
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Hopefully it knocks about $13K off, . They did surprise many with the Z9 pricing but I suspect this lens will be over $10K. The 200-600mm will be more practical for me anyway, but it would be nice to have 800mm at times.I don't think we will be getting a price tonight. Hoping they will confirm it is PF but I can't see how it isn't PF given the length on the roadmap.
Considering an 800 f/5.6 costs almost $16K...how much do you think a 1/3 slower aperture is going to drop the price from that lofty starting point??
I'm real curious about this lens. I own the 800 5.6, but I got it at a discount refurbished and I love it. It's what caused me to jump to Nikon. Optically it's great, so I'm not sure how it could be improved upon save for weight. I couldn't see myself parting with it and losing a half stop but as someone who has the Z9 preordered with NPS and checks Nikon Rumors and forums about 70 times a day for any update on it, I'm planning on using my current lenses for quite some time on the Z9 - so will be real curious about the price and when it is out how it compares to the current 800 5.6.
I am exactly where you are, but with the 600 FL. Unless the new Z600 has some kind of magical properties, I'm running my FL into the ground. I am however socking away money for the Z800.
If the 600mm F4 (if such a lens materializes) w a TC built-in comes to market, it will over 600 and 840 focal lengths. That will overlap with the 800 PF though the PF will most likely be measurably lighter.
what i don’t quite get is why get the 400pf over the 100-400?
Admittedly not sure what the Z800 is. But the 600 is wonderful too from what I've seen. I own the 500 PF 5.6 which is great, and that 800 5.6 is just incredible for birds. It's hard to see a reason to move to Z glass now; the body will provide the AF tracking and unless there is something magical like you I think I'll sit tight for a few years with my current lens lineup as it does all I could want. Lighter sure would be nice but not for the cost and it's fine on a tripod mounted properly.
400 w/ built in TC, makes the 500 F4 less appealing. 600 w/ built in TC makes the 800 F5.6 interesting. Nikon might be greedy on pricing, rather go for volume, replace the existing stock of super teles.I now doubt the 600 F4 will have an inbuilt TC. If it does then one thing for sure is it will push the already overpriced Sony 600 GM to the second spot (in terms of pricing LoL)
That’s shorter than the Tamron 150-600 G2 zoomed to 600mmputs this 800 f6.3 at approx 140 x 315 mm overall dimensions.
If the prime on launch corresponds to the existing silhouette in the roadmap, then back-of-the-envelope ratios (calculated off the 100-400 S) puts this 800 f6.3 at approx 140 x 315 mm overall dimensions.
Without a reliable Phase-Fresnel scaling factor for telephoto mass, the weight is harder to guesstimate, but 58% of 4.59kg = 2.66 for a hypothetical 800 f5.6, so a 800 f6.3S PF can be expected to weigh < 2.5kg, perhaps even 2.3kg.
Consider the 300 PF @ 89 x 148 mm, 0.755kg [58% of the 1.295kg 300 f4AFD] and 500 PF @ 106-237 mm, 1.46kg. Compared to the 4.59kg 800 f5.6E FL of 160 x 461 mm, the 140 x 315 mm 800 f6.3S PF has undergone a major slimming! One often reads forum posts stating a 3kg telephoto is about their maximum comfortable handholding weight, but I manage short durations with 5.3kg of 400 f2.8E & D5 with TC2, so I another who finds that handholding the 500 PF is a doddle.
I also learnt years ago how a heavy DSLR is a key to balance a long heavy lens. Poor weight distribution can be a killer IME if a telephoto is 'front-end heavy', this makes a 300 f2.8G VRII harder to handhold than the much better balanced 400 f2.8E FL
Besides this 800 f6.3 PF trimming major weight for handholding, hiking and flying, we also know the Z MILC AF works reliably at lens speeds slower than f8. So the superior image quality of the TZTC14 and ZTC2 underscore even more bonuses.
This is the Z system and Nikon's newfound era of bending/breaking ye olde rules for lenses and cameras; we are seeing examples in sensors, high-end video specs in MILCs, Autofocus besides optics. Within the past decade, consider Nikon Df, 58 f1.4G, 300 f4 PF; 500 f5.6 PF, 70-200 f2.8S, then 180-400 f4TC14 and 120-300 f2.8E matching if not overtaking quality of their best primes etc. And soon there will be the 400 f2.8S TC14 and 800 f6.3S PF.... [edit]
We can expect to be surprised, pleasantly surprised