Will Nikon introduce 300 F/2.8 and 500 F/4?

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arbitrage said:
I'm not sure....
Canon...hasn't released a 300/2.8 or 500/4 since 2011 or so. Two newer 400/2.8 and 600/4 versions have been released since that generation.
Sony...hasn't released 300/2.8 or 500/4 since A-mount. Only 400/2.8 and 600/4 in E-mount
Nikon...no 500/4 since 2015. 120-300/2.8 seemed to be the 300VR replacement in F-mount.

That seems to suggest to me that 300/2.8 and 500/4 sell a lot less than 400 and 600. Especially looking at Canon's history as I would have expected them to do MkIII DSLR versions and RF versions. But no.
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There was a thread a while back discussing this. Yes it seems like 300 2.8 and 500 f4 are going the way of the dodo. Which is a shame. The 500 f4 is so much smaller/lighter than the 600 that it's much more versatile. OTOH I personally have never found 300mm very useful for the wildlife that I shoot. I owned a 300 2.8 for a long time and it was my least used long lens. Hated to sell it. Such beautiful IQ. But it was collecting dust.

I suspect the 500 f4 was favored by enthusiasts more than pros due to smaller/lighter/less expensive. And Canon/Nikon are clearly prioritizing the pro market. Maybe a combination of much improved optics in zooms and lighter weights of the 400 2.8/600 f4 are making the 300/500 unnecessary?

For my own needs the perfect combo is 100-400 zoom, 500 f4, and 800 PF(BTW I currently own none of the three). So in response to the OP, yes, it would be cool so see a Z mount 500 f4 w/built in TC. Not holding my breath... :(
 
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arbitrage said:
I'm not sure....
Canon...hasn't released a 300/2.8 or 500/4 since 2011 or so. Two newer 400/2.8 and 600/4 versions have been released since that generation.
Sony...hasn't released 300/2.8 or 500/4 since A-mount. Only 400/2.8 and 600/4 in E-mount
Nikon...no 500/4 since 2015. 120-300/2.8 seemed to be the 300VR replacement in F-mount.

That seems to suggest to me that 300/2.8 and 500/4 sell a lot less than 400 and 600. Especially looking at Canon's history as I would have expected them to do MkIII DSLR versions and RF versions. But no.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Interesting data.
 
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i don’t think it’s surprising that the camera companies end up with similar strategies. i don’t think 300 is necessarily dead, just on the bottom of the priority list. for those who watched the recent Grays of Westminister youtube video with Ricci, they asked about 300 and he mentioned the 120-300 is still excellent, suggesting replacing it is probably low priority
 
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Z shooters do have the option of using the 500mm PF with the FTZ adapter and getting excellent results and IQ on par with the 400mm f/4.5. The lenses on the current Nikon Road Map are likely to appear in 2023 and no point in worrying about lenses not planned for production. I would get far more value from a 500mm f/4 with a built-in teleconverter than from the new Z 600mm lens.

Nikon has a larger market with sports shooters and so getting the 600mm f/4 and 800 PF lenses that work well for wildlife photographers it very fortunate. The only lenses on the horizon for wildlife photographers is the 200-600mm lens which is probably going to be available by the end of the first quarter of 2023.

With the higher ISO capabilities and better autofocus performance of today's high end cameras the need for a f/4 telephoto is much less. Most of my life I was shooting with ISO 160 film and then with DSLRs limited to ISO 3200 (at best). Higher resolution sensors also allow one to get the needed image size with shorter lenses.

Something that has been noted with the Z 400mm f/2.8 lens is that autofocus with the Z9 is better with the TC employed as it magnifies the size of the subject and provides more detail for the autofocus system to interpret.

The camera technology is improving so rapidly that we are often operating with outdated knowledge and subjective assumptions.
 
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