> > Alan Chan asked about the peculiar results he was seeing with the tripod > > collar on his 300/4.5 (i.e. less sharp results for long exposures than > > using the camera-body tropod mount). > > > > Apparently, it IS possible for a poorly designed tripod collar to be worse > > than no tripod collar. Bjorn Rorslett, a Nikon guru, has been griping > > about recent Nikon telephoto lens tripod collar designs for a couple > > of years, saying that they are too flexible and poorly placed and > > actually multiply vibration. From what I remember of the F/FA 300/4.5 > > it has just the same sort of tripod collar design as the 300/4.0 AFS > > Nikkor that Bjorn really exploded over. > > Have a look at the F 300/4.5, the collar is heavy and mounted very close to the > rear of the lens which would provide very good balance much like the Micro- > Nikkor 200 mm f/4 (AIS version) that Bjørn Rørslett called "The Real Thing".
Got to admit that I never owned an F 300/4.5, so I'm going from memory as to exactly what the tripod collar looked like. Isn't there a white (F?) AF lens and a silver (FA?) one? I never thought much about the AF 300/4.5 designs because I had an A* 300/4 at the time, and the AF on the SF-1 didn't impress me. The 300/4 A* didn't have a tripod mount, right? (otherwise I ditched it). All the 300/4.5ish Nikkors do, but they are all heavier than the 300/4 A*. Also got to admit that I use a tripod a couple of times a year at best. I was normally shooting news or action with the 300/4 which meant I had to use hand-holdable speeds to stop action anyway. > The collar on the AFS 400 mm f/2.8 Nikkor is more likely designed as a > combination handle and monopod mount. Of the Pentax lenses that I have with > mounts all are quite substancial and all behave very well on a stable tripod > far better than when supported by a body (if possible). The only Pentax lens that I had that had a tripod collar, IIRC, was the 300/2.8 A*. The tripod collar was very solid, as was the rest of the lens. The 300/2.8 Nikkor was a bit sharper, but the Pentax lens survived mistreatment much better. I can almost hand-hold the Nikkor 300/2.8 but the Pentax 300/2.8 A always lived on a monopod. I'd never even have CONSIDERED putting the Super Program on the monopod and hanging that monster off it! DJE
