800mm Nikkors

[janvanlaethem]

I was just surfing the net (guess I have nothing better to do, with a cupboard

full of cameras and lenses and no significant photographs for at least a week)

and came across this lens: Nikkor 800mm f/5.6 ED IF AIS. Price about 1

dollar/gram: 4,995.95 dollars for a weight of 5,450 grams (12 lbs). I'm not

sure what the price of gold is, but it shouldn't be far off.

 

I have no intention of buying such equipment, but my question is: who would

actually use such a lens? When you see a big sports event, most professional

photographers are using 300 or 400mm, coupled at times with a 1.4x or 2x

converter. With a DSLR's crop factor, even higher magnifications can be

achieved with a 300 or 400mm. Likewise, wildlife photographers seem to carry

the same kind of equipment.

 

Have other manufacturers made 800mm lenses, or even longer? And what would you

use it for? I don't see how you could use an 800mm on anything but the

sturdiest tripod, and even so vibration induced by the shutter would most

likely be a real problem.

[wuyeah]

It is use for shooting girls who does not live next door :P

 

Stars, moon, criminals................

[ellis_vener_photography]

"who would actually use such a lens?"

 

I would if I owned one. I know sports, wildlife, landscape, city scape, advertising and

corporate photographers as wel as photojournalists and celebrity photographers who use

super-telephotos like this. Maybe not every day but when you need it you need it.

 

Canon and Leica have all made lenses at least this long if not longer. Therewas recently a

post somewhere on photo.net about an extremely well heeled apparently arabic speaking

wildlife photogrpaher who had Zeiss create a 1700 f/4 super telephoto for his medium

format Hasselblad 203 camera. That is the equivalent of about a 1300mm f/4 lens for a

24x36mm format camera. Apparently the thing weighs several hundred pounds.

[ShunCheung]

I personally know a couple of nature photographers who have this lens. They mainly use it for photographing birds.

[doug herr]

"<I>Have other manufacturers made 800mm lenses, or even longer?</I>"

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Here's Zeiss' latest: <A HREF="http://tinyurl.com/qn5b6">http://tinyurl.com/qn5b6</A>

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Leica made an 800mm f/6.3 that in the USA at least was bundled with a VW Fox for transport, and the current Leica modular APO-Telyt system includes a combination of lens head and focussing module that gives you 800mm f/5.6. I know that Canon and others have also made 800mm or longer lenses.

<P>

"<I>And what would you use it for?</I>"

<P>

Rocket launches come to mind, and sometimes when photographing wildlife you just can't get close enough. This photo was made with a 560mm lens and 1.4x extender on a 1.37x digital camera (cropped from original file) for a field of view equivalent to over 1100mm on a full-frame 35mm camera:

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<CENTER>

<IMG SRC="http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/corvidae/stja02.jpg">

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"<I>I don't see how you could use an 800mm on anything but the sturdiest tripod</I>"

<P>

I used a shoulder stock & monopod. At ISO 400 the shutter speed for this photo was about 1/1500 sec.

[alan_wilder1]

Birds, wildlife, sports or anything else that you can't practially get very close to but need high mag detail. It's not unusual for me to use a 1.4x or 2x TC with my 500/4 when shooting birds like a bald eagle in the field that's perched high up on a tree.

[don_cooper]

Sigma currently makes one that gets good reviews. http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?navigator=7 - Available for about $6500. Not sure if the wheels are included.

[Michael R Freeman]

The 1000mm f/8 Reflex is relatively common (as is the 800/5.6 IF-ED) compared to some other rare super-telephotos. Nikon has made a 1200mm f/11 IF-ED, a 1000mm f/6.3 Reflex, as well as a 2000mm f/11 Reflex. A 2000mm Reflex sold on eBay earlier this month for $11,600. That was the only sample I have seen offered for sale in the last 4-5 years. The 1200~1700mm IF-ED AI-P (not 1800mm) is so rare that Nikon Germany has put out a request to owners to borrow one to place in their display booth for the upcoming Photokina. It was only produced as a special order item, at approximately $78,500 each (or approximately $4.90/gram). http://www.nikonians.org/dcforum/DCForumID6/18397.html

 

BTW, the above mentioned Ziess STL Sonnar T* 1700mm f/4 will also be on display at the upcoming Photokina.

 

Apparently, if you build it, they will come. :-)

[Michael R Freeman]

Forgot the link for the Ziess 1700mm: http://www.zeiss.com/c12567a8003b58b9/Contents-Frame/8baac109cb80bddfc12571e100393a1b

 

It weighs 256kg (approximately 560lbs). Ouch!

[photo5]

These lenses can be rented for a lot less than the purchase prices...

 

Dave

[cliff_k__cny_]

"who would actually use such a lens?"

 

Well... me.

 

I bought a KEH bargain 800mm f/8 ED-IF AIS about 10 years ago to shoot sports car racing. I still use it from time to time for birds.

 

Naturally, the f/8's not as heavy as the f/5.6. But, it's still plenty long. That length actually makes it fairly easy to hold on a monopod. I have a lot more trouble with the 500mm reflex.

 

Some of the old shots are still on the web. I'm pretty sure that these are with the 800:

 

http://www.villagevisions.com/ckent/97ta/mo-5z.jpg

 

http://www.villagevisions.com/ckent/97cart/cart-3z.jpg

 

http://www.villagevisions.com/ckent/97pscr/atl-00z.jpg

 

http://www.villagevisions.com/ckent/97pscr/lrp-30az.jpg

 

http://www.villagevisions.com/ckent/shults/kent/ssa-72.jpg

 

ck

[greg s]

This person uses an 800mm with success... for birds.

 

http://www.pbase.com/liquidstone

[greg s]

I guess Romy has a Sigma 300-800 that he uses at the 800mm end (not surprising).

[Robert_Lai]

The price of gold at this moment is $18.92 US/gram. A Nikkor of equal weight, made out of 24K gold would cost you $103,114.00 for the gold alone.

[janvanlaethem]

Michael,

 

Thanks for the link. A 256kg lens ... ouch. It should come with a pick-up truck to move it around. I'll save the link for next time when I want to buy a lens and my wife says: "Another lens? You can hardly carry what you have already." Which is true in a way, if I carry all my Nikon equipment in a backpack I struggle not to fall over backwards.

 

Robert,

 

Thanks for pointing out the price of gold. As I said, I had no idea, it just struck me you needed to pay roughly a dollar per gram. Now, if Nikon did make a lens out of pure gold, where would they put the golden ring to distinguish it from other lenses?

[manitas]

I would think that these long lenses, now coupled with VR (Nikon) or IS (Canon) are a boon to the world's paparazzi.

[alex_lofquist]

If I had an 800 f/5.6, it would probably need two tripods. One under the lens and the other under the camera. If I were to carry it around very much, I would also need a supporter.

[kevin_nix]

If anyone wants to see lenses like this in the wild, check out the observation deck at the Santa Monica Airport. My son loves the airplanes and the paprazzi love taking pictures of the stars getting out of their jets.

[tony beazley]

I always heard if you can buy one.... you can hire an assistant to carry it ;) lol

 

and if you're into video imagine putting that on a xl-1 ....a magnification of 7.5? ..now

that's a zoom!!

[muellerworld]

I have one of the Nikkor 800mm f/5.6 ED IF AIS lenses. I boought it used for Surfing photography and birds, and have found that I'm not using it very much lately (I'm thinking of selling it for much less than $4999!). It is a superb lens, but definalely a heavy thing to lug around. I use it on a heavy-duty monopod and occasionally on a set of two tripods as mentioned earlier (one for the lens, one for the camera). At sporting events or zoos (or just about anywhere), it draws considerable attention...

 

It is useful from time to time for moon shots, birds that spook easily, surfing, and some creative landscapes, but I always cringe when I think I might need it for something as it is VERY heavy. Even on dual tripods, I struggle to get anything useful from it at very low shutter speeds - it is VERY sensitive to any vibration.

 

I get far more use out of my 400/3.5 lens, and just crop in a bit.

[niels_nielsen]

I recently bought a Nikkor 800mm f/5.6, used, from a wildlife photographer. It was in a surprisingly nice condition hardly any signs of wear. He bought it back in 1986. Anyway I got it dirt cheap actually I tought he skipped a ZERO when I saw the ad.

 

I really like the lens for wildlife but its not the sort of thing you want to carry around all day. I've been using it with the D2x with greet results. The lens has LOTS of contrast and saturation. The 1.5 crop factor on the D2x lets you get in real close. With regards to tripods I get useable images form my little Manfrotto Magfiber tripod, it's about half the weight of the lens so not the best combo. I compensate using fast shutter speeds 1/1000th and high ISO. The guy a bought it from, tracked birds in flight with it-HANDHELD. talk about manuel focus skills.

 

Another funny thing about this lens is that i has a near focus limit of 8 meters (26 feet). When I used at a Zoo I found myself moving away from the animals, and still only being able to make tight headshots.

 

This is a great lens however it's really isn't up to date it lacks AF-s and VR. That said it still takes very good pictures.

 

 

btw. I saw and played around with the 2000mm reflex Nikkor at Photokina 2006. It's white and big as a drum. and has a near focus limit of about a 100 meters as I recall. I coundn't find anything far enough away to focus on.

[b_yen2]

<p>

 

<p>I am considering 2 options:<br>

1) Nikon 400mm/2.8 EDIF + TC301 (2X) = 800mm/5.6<br>

2) Nikon 800mm/5.6 EDIF</p>

<p>I've tested a Nikon 400mm/2.8 EDIF in astronomy, on a star-field. Very well corrected, pinpoint stars even at the edges (well, they were symmetrically triangular shaped, not round). A TC300 (or 301) should give a nice image, maybe with some aberrations.<br>

How would a 800mm/5.6 compare with the above?<br>

Option 1) is more compact, as I need a 800mm lens for travelling around the world. The 800mm would be pretty bulky.</p>

 

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