Lens selection for South Africa trip (80-400VR, 70-200VR-I, 300/4)

[ourabmen]

Jim that is a great idea. I'm putting that one on the list when we go back in two years.

 

[Kees de Bruin]

OK, got a nice offer on my AF-S 300/4 so I bit the bullet and ordered myself the new AF-S 80-400. Delivery will be this week, just in time to get some testing done before I leave for South Africa.

 

[PhysEd]

@ the 80-400 owners: what are the focal length / aperture combinations wide open? Is my question comprehensible? Obviously at 80mm it's f4.5 at 400mm f5.6, what is it at 300mm?

Thanks for a quick reply-

Cheers
Mike

 

[Valret]

@ the 80-400 owners: what are the focal length / aperture combinations wide open? Is my question comprehensible? Obviously at 80mm it's f4.5 at 400mm f5.6, what is it at 300mm?

80mm f/4.5
105mm f/4.8
135mm f/4.8
200mm f/5
300mm f/5.6
400mm f/5.6

 

[PhysEd]

Thanks alot!

 

[drr1531]

I think you made a good choice. I recently had a similar decision to make for bird photography on a trip to Australia. I took a D7100 as my only body and elected to go with the 300 f4 and 1.4TC rather than investing in an 80-400VR. Although I came away with many good photos for the trip, I wish I'd had the 80-400. The versatility of the zoom and the VR would have come in handy in many situations.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Pa]

I think you made a good choice. I recently had a similar decision to make for bird photography on a trip to Australia. I took a D7100 as my only body and elected to go with the 300 f4 and 1.4TC rather than investing in an 80-400VR. Although I came away with many good photos for the trip, I wish I'd had the 80-400. The versatility of the zoom and the VR would have come in handy in many situations.

Enjoy your trip!

Pretty much what I said in an earlier post in this thread.

I had a chance to try the new 80-400 at B&H today. Were it not for my left shoulder problems (two surgeries for torn rotator cuff) I think I could shoot it hand-held quite well.

 

[Aqualung]

you may check out Thom Hogan's site, he has an extensive report on a recent safari trip and made extensive use of a Nikon 1

 

[Kees de Bruin]

you may check out Thom Hogan's site, he has an extensive report on a recent safari trip and made extensive use of a Nikon 1

Thanks Chris, will take a look at Thom's site. Haven't been there in a while.