From: Dan Nelson >[snip] Nikkor 300/4 [snip] questions: >Does anyone else think that the hood is too shallow? Does anyone use a >different hood? I have used this lens alot. I have not had any trouble with flare. I use it almost exclusively wide open and most of the time with a 1.4X teleconverter. >Second, I'm not sure I like the slip-on leather lens cap. Does Nikon make >an 82mm lens cap? How about 3rd party manufacturers? I don't want the >$4.95 junk that falls off, I want something that will stay (like Nikon lens >caps, for example). The only standard 82mm hood I could find was the Pentax 82mm I got from B&H. After using it for a while I went back to the leather. I got used to it and now I prefer the leather one. It really protects the lens going through brush (which I do alot) and it easily folds up to fit in a pocket. The easiest way to attach the leather cap is to leave the hood extended, fit the cap over the hood and then push the hood back and tighten the cap cord. It sounds harder than it is. >My final (and most important) question has to do with switching between AF >and MF when using this lens on my F5 [snip] Is my lens broken, or is this normal behavior? Why did Nikon ever make it like this? It's not broke, this normal. You can switch from AF to MF using only the camera body switch, if you need to switch fast. The lens switch only keeps you from accidently restricting the AF movement (which could damage the AF linkage) AND reduces AF mass to speed up focusing and save batteries slightly. I would guess the lens switch is there because Nikon realized that this isn't a very fast focusing lens compared to any of the AF-S lenses and as I said switching out the linkage speeds up AF slightly. If they had the lens disengage the AF linkage and you tried to focus manually with the camera left in Single Servo AF, you would not be able to trip the shutter unless the electronic range finder indicated in focus. Don't forget to use the lens's focusing range limiter. It will keep this lens from searching so much. Art Art Searle, W2NRA, [EMAIL PROTECTED], Lake Grove, Long Island, NY, USA 20 miles east of Nikon USA www.erols.com/w2nra
