July 12, 2013

What Do I Think of the Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 VR II—Part 4

 



One of the things that I did not mention in my last post is the lens’ bokeh.  It is very soft and pleasing to the eye.  It makes it very easy to separate the subject from the background, even at apertures like f/8 or f/11.
I like the lens a lot but I will say, like almost every piece of equipment that I add to my camera bag, there is a leaning curve to it.
Would I recommend you purchase the lens?  If your needs are similar to mine, yes.  I think it is a reasonable substitute for the large, heavy and expensive telephoto lenses.
Today’s photo was taken in JD’s garden.  Dragonflies tend to fly off and then fly back to the same spot.  This one did exactly that.  I set my camera at almost its minimum focusing distance for the lens.  The photo has not been cropped—it is full frame image of what was captured in the camera.  I wanted to show the dragonfly's brilliant rd/orange colors against the green backgrounds.
Enjoy. 
Camera settings:  Nikon D800 (DX format), 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 at 600mm (effectively), ISO 1600, f/22 at 1/4000th of a second on a tripod. 
Post Processing: 
Lightroom 5—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points, added clarity, sharpness and vibrance.

7 comments:

  1. WOW! Great detail.
    Debbie

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  2. Both dragonfly photos are pretty cool. I like the soft bokeh in yesterday's photo better but today's is still good.
    Allan

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  3. Sweet shot Larry. Nice job punching up the colors, beautiful bokeh and sharp.

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  4. Beautiful capture, really like the capability of this lens.

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  5. Great details and great colors. Wish you had not made it so tight.
    Allan

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  6. Do you find that the D800 produces more detail than your D4? Good photo.
    Chuck

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