Hi Roy & others
I only now saw your mail in connection with the long Nikkor AFS tele's. I
personally own the 500 AFS and it is indeed a beauty of a lens. It handles
well and the image quality is superb! I use it with the TC14E and the
TC20E. I must say that I think your opinion of the TC20E is indeed wrong.
This is one amazing tele converter! I use it VERY often on my lens and even
retain the use of the central AF sensor on my F5. This makes for a very
useable 1000mm F8 AF lens. I recently shot some Flamingos in flight with
the 500 + TC20E on AF and the results were razor sharp! There has
definitely been a dramatic improvement in image quality over the TC301.
The TC14E is just as good and there is no apparent loss in AF speed and all
the F5's sensors work just fine! I understand your considerations about the
weight of these beasts. As has been mentioned in a previous digest I also
went for the 500 because of its lighter weight. The hood is veeerrryy
looong and is sometimes a bit in the way and the high tripod collar seems a
bit suspect especially in terms of vibration so I often prefer to use the
monopod tripod mount but then it is impossible to reverse mount the hood if
you have a tripod baseplate attached..... so there you have a few negatives
but I suppose one just has to live with them. Given the fact that the 500
is lighter than the 400 and that you get a working 1000mm F8 AF
with the TC20E I would very much recommend that you go for the AFS 500
Nikkor the positives FAR outweigh the negatives!
Best of luck with your decision! Feel free to contact me should need more
detailed info
Albert
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Albert Froneman [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Endangered Wildlife Trust
Tel: +27 (0)11 486 1102 w
+27 (0)11 793 2194 h
Cell: +27 (0)82 901 4016
Fax: +27 (0)11 486 1506
P O Box 38
Bromhof
2154
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