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AFS Nikkor ED 300mm F / 2.8 D, Nikon's first AFS sunnipper, lens review

Updated: Aug 11, 2022


With the Nikon flagship F5 released at the same time in 1996



In a previous blog, I introduced that 50mm f1.2 is one of the manager's favorite lenses.


This is the second introduction of such a favorite lens, so I will introduce the Nikon AFS Nikkor 300mm f2.8D at the discretion and prejudice of the manager.


It may not be very helpful, though. I will write various things as I can think of.


content

  1. 20 years since I started using it

  2. 300mm is a standard lens

  3. The appeal of short focus lenses

  4. Lens weight

  5. Hood

  6. auto focus

  7. Necessity of image stabilization

  8. Convenient aperture ring

  9. Teleconverter

  10. Brightness of F2.8

  11. summary


 


20 years since I started using it


The AF Nikkor ED 300mm f2.8D is the lens I use most when shooting wild animals and wild birds.

It's been 20 years since I bought it.


Launched in 1996, Nikon's first lens with a built-in ultrasonic motor.

At that time, it was still the era of film, the era of Nikon's flagship F5.


Before this lens was released, AFI, a lens with a built-in coreless motor, was on sale.


This AFI type lens is Nikon's first in-lens AF motor drive system.

It is also Nikon's first lens that can be operated with a full-time manual.


I've never used an AFI lens, so I can't say anything about it, but it seems that autofocus wasn't that fast.



300mm is a standard lens


In a sense, 300mm is a standard lens for shooting wild animals.

Therefore, it is one of the lenses I use most often, and I have a strong feeling for it.


When it comes to shooting wild birds, it's a wide-angle lens, but if you combine it with a recent high-pixel camera, you can get an image quality of 600 mm or more, even if you crop it.

Sometimes it's better to use a camera with a finer sensor pitch than to use an optical teleconverter to magnify.


Excluding the zoom lens, the caretaker himself has used three other 300mm lenses.


Three 300mm used so far.

  • AF Nikkor ED 300mm f4S

  • Tokina AT-X 300mmf2.8 SD

  • AFS Nikkor ED 300mm F4D


I haven't sold anything other than Tokina lenses, and they are still usable.


The zoom lens uses the original Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 lens.

This lens is often used for movie shooting with GH4. Actually, I used this lens for cheetah shooting on a certain TV program.


The AFS Nikkor ED 300mm F / 4D (Sanyoung) is still often used for photography.

The shortest shooting distance is very close to 1.45 meters, and the magnification when approaching is not as small as 70-200mm f2.8G, so it can be used macroscopically, which is very useful.

The 70-200mm f2.8G VR2 seems to have a shorter focal length as it gets closer to the shortest shooting distance, and it is not possible to take a large picture of the subject, so the portrait approach is not enough.

I also often use this Sanyon for shooting the sun.


Although the Tokina lens is a sunnipper, it weighs a little over 2 kg, and I really like it because of its light weight, compactness, and high image quality.


One major drawback is that the amount of peripheral light is greatly reduced.


I'm using a rear plug filter, but the filter size is 2xmm? It is very small, and it may have been caused by the unreasonable miniaturization of the lens.


However, I remember that the overall image quality was better than the old Nikon 300mm f4, with the correction of omissions and chromatic aberration better.

The operability of manual focus and the stroke are reasonably long, and the entire area is not awkward and very smooth.

From the shortest shooting distance to infinity, I was able to quickly focus with the work accuracy that can be operated with just one little finger in the entire area.


With a good viewfinder screen camera, most subjects don't really feel the need for autofocus.

The ease of focusing of this Tokina Sunnipper was worthy of special mention.

Probably, it was a lens that was easier to focus manually than any other 300mm lens.


I think that the machining accuracy of the parts processing of the lenses at that time was considerably higher than that of the current lenses.


Photo taken with Tokina, Sannippa



Nikon also used a small rear plug filter of 39mm for the previous sunnipper, but since the time when the ultrasonic motor was built in, it has been using 52mm.


Peripheral illumination may be smaller than that of previous lenses.



Rear plug filter with a filter diameter of 52 mm



This decrease in peripheral illumination is largely reflected in the shape of blur.

The blurred surroundings appear like a rugby ball.

The Tokina Sunnipper rugby ball was very elongated and had to be squeezed considerably to make it round.

Even when narrowed down to f4, there was more vignetting than the open f4 of Nikon old and old Sanyon. I feel that the result was the same even if I squeezed it further.

This is the main reason for selling it off.



Nikon AFS Nikkor ED 300mm F / 2.8D aperture blade

Aperture setting F8, feather shape



You can see how much the periphery of the lens is blurred by the shape of the blur around the lens.


The inner diameter of the mount is physically unavoidable, and the larger it is, the harder it is to get rid of it, so this lens is also physically wide.


In order to get out of this straitjacket, the mount diameter of the Nikon mirrorless Z series was probably larger than that of other companies.


From around this time, I feel that circular diaphragms have been adopted for diaphragm blades.

From the open to about F5.6, it is close to a circle, but when you stop down to F8, it becomes angular.



Attractiveness of short focus lenses


The best thing about a single focus lens is that it looks good!

Anyway, it's clear and comfortable.

The bokeh is also natural before and after.


The design of single focus lenses is all optimized for their focal length. Another major reason is that the number of lenses used is small.


Some recent zoom lenses have surpassed the image quality of short focus lenses, and the image quality is extremely high.

However, I think that some adjustments and compromises have been made in order to obtain image quality in all the focal areas and focus areas.


Most zoom lenses have good MTF curves and a very sharp focal plane, but the bokeh is a little dirty, the shadows are dull, and something doesn't come out comfortably.

There are many people who think that the value of MTF is "Is it true !?"


Even if the coating is improved, the number of lenses used may have a slight adverse effect on image quality.


A single focus lens that incorporates the improved coating technology will improve the image quality even more.


Comparing the images of AFS Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8D and AFS Nikkor ED300mm F / 2.8D, which are the third generation of Nikon, I often feel that the zoom is a zoom.


Compared to old sunnippers and single focus lenses, the 70-200mm f2.8 VR2 sung with nanocrystal coat is not a match.


However, there is no problem with the image quality as long as the current lens and any zoom lens are in focus.

This difference is a world of hobbies, commitment, and self-satisfaction.

It's not something that the average person can see and see the difference.


It feels like comparing the sound of a high-resolution audio source and the sound of a CD.



At F3.5, which draws firmly from near the open



The taste of the lens comes out well when the aperture is opened.


How the blur appears and how the subject emerges.

The most important thing is the atmosphere of the whole photo.


If you stop down the aperture many times, you will hardly notice the difference between zoom and short focus.

Most of the zoom lenses have the highest image quality near large aperture and short focus, and the aperture is close to the maximum aperture, while many zoom lenses have higher image quality as the aperture is stopped down.

There will be something that reverses the image quality somewhere.



Sunnipper that can make the background stand out even if the subject is a little far away



When shooting wild animals and wild birds, I often open the aperture to increase the shutter speed.


Therefore, I need a lens that can capture the image even when the aperture is wide open.


Even in such a dark situation, a lens that captures images even when the aperture is wide open.

That is the AF Nikkor ED 300mm f2.8D.



Lens weight


Nikon's first ultrasonic, ultra-high-speed autofocus built-in lens.

It weighs 3,100 grams, which is the heaviest of all Nikon sun nippers.

It is the heaviest in comparison with other companies' sun nippers.


The next Sunnipper was lightened to 2.560 grams by using magnesium for the body to reduce the weight.

After that, it became heavier again with the image stabilization function, but the latest sunnipper weighs 2.9 kg, which is lighter than the sunnipper with built-in ultrasonic motor.

It's a little heavier than other companies' sun nippers these days.


With this image quality and performance, the weight of 3.1 kg is not a big concern.


The hood uses carbon, probably because the body is too heavy or because it is a little lighter.

Coupled with the weight of the lens body, I feel a very light hood and some sort of imbalance.



Hood

Hood



Treatment of the inner surface of the sunnipper and hood



As expected, the inner surface of the sunnipper hood is treated with flocked paper.


The inner surface of the hood of 24-70mm f2.8 and 70-200mm f2.8 VR2 is exposed plastic, so I would like you to treat the reflection like this.


Despite the expensive third-party lenses, the inner surface of the hood is a flat, bare plastic, albeit with a slight matte finish.

I feel that it is a sloppy, manufacturing process.

Nikon-san, if you were making such a thing, I think that the users would be fond of it.


There was no problem with the hood of the original Sunnipper, but there was a problem with the material of the set screw holder of this hood.

The stainless steel screw holder is made of aluminum.

While I was using it, I was scraped and immediately became stupid.

Even if I replaced it with a new one, I immediately became stupid again.

I had no choice but to fix the hood to the lens body with permacel tape.


Generally speaking, aluminum cannot be used as a material for receiving stainless steel set screws in areas where force is applied.

I wonder what happened to using such a material, Mr. Nikon.


When I told Nikon Service that I was having a hard time at such a site, he offered me a new one free of charge.


I'm very lucky to meet someone who understands these stories, as I usually see people who respond mechanically in a routine at the counter.

Recently, I often meet a clerk who doesn't even try to talk about things, perhaps because efficiency is the priority, not just at the counter.


Thank you, Nikon.

When I receive this kind of response, I sometimes think, "I'm glad I was using Nikon!" You shouldn't use such a material from the beginning, but if you receive such a response, the bad impression will change completely.


The new parts are made of stainless steel, and even if they are used hard, the threads will not jump.


Thanks to that, I was able to stand a sunnipper under the hood.

This is normal though.



auto focus


This lens is equipped with a focus selector switch.


Nowadays, AF has evolved beyond comparison with what it was a long time ago, but autofocus can still be lost depending on the situation.


In such a case, this switch prevents the autofocus from moving unnecessarily far from the focal plane of the subject.


There are quite a few cases where you can switch to ∞-6m and use it.



The autofocus speed is extremely fast.

I don't know if the focus speed is different from the recent Sunnipper because I have never compared it.


However, in the catalog, the speed at which a subject at 50 kilometers per hour can be chased up to a distance of 8 meters.

I remember that it was written.


Most of the goshawk photos featured on my blog are taken with this lens.

The AF speed is still fast enough to be used.


With the D800E, it is often seen that the focus speed of the lens is faster than the AF sensor responds.


It seems that the controllability of the motor has become finer than the AF and speed of the Sunnipper, which has evolved over the generations, and the focus accuracy has improved.


This Nikon sunnipper is a mechanical type that can be operated by a full-time manual and does not require a power supply.


It can be used as a telescope, used for magnified photography of planets, and various other uses.

It is very important for the manager that the focus can be operated without a power supply with this mechanical type.


Furthermore, the focus ring is decelerated by a gear and has a large focus stroke, and the manual has been devised to make it easy to focus.

Just manually

I want a little more stroke to focus.

Fine-tuning the focus requires very delicate control.


Focus distance scale is a viewing window type



The shortest shooting distance with AF is 2.5 meters, and the manual will bring it closer to about 2.3 meters.


After that, AF-SII, which came out in 2001, started AF up to 2.3 meters.


The distance information that can be seen from the viewing window is printed in a position that is easy to see from the camera side.



Necessity of image stabilization


Of course, I feel the need for hand-held shooting in a dark forest, such scenes, and image stabilization.

However, when I'm shooting wild animals, I don't really feel that image stabilization is necessary.


The reason is that the in-lens image stabilization function, after all, there is always the fear of lens failure and malfunction.


Structurally, in order to correct camera shake, a group of lenses floating from the lens barrel is moved up, down, left and right using a motor.

Its movement is controlled by a gyro sensor.


I don't know how finely divided one second is to detect the movement of the lens shake and activate it, but there is no doubt that it is complicated and mysterious and ultra-precise processing is done anyway.


Generally speaking, the best image quality of a lens is when all the lenses are aligned in the center of the optical axis.

As long as it is not fixed, even if the power is turned off, it is not possible to know how accurate this floating lens is to return to the center of the optical axis.

It is not always the case that there is no deviation.


For hard use, I feel that there are merits in simple and accurate ones that omit functions that cause failures as much as possible, and those that are hard to get out of order.


In a country like a caretaker that cannot be repaired, for a long-term safari or for a person who uses the camera bag on his back so that the equipment keeps shaking, it is unnecessary to cause a malfunction. It's better to have no function.


If the camera shake correction lens is out of focus due to a malfunction, it is a complete fall.


Another reason is

When the shutter speed is fast enough, the image stabilization function is used with priority given to image quality, and when the shutter speed is slow, the subject is often blurred.


In fact, I don't think there are many turns.



Convenient aperture ring


Of course, I use it as a photographic lens as usual, but I also use it in other ways.


You can shoot a movie with the Micro Four Thirds GH4, use it as a telescope with an eyepiece, or shoot a planet with a magnified shooting method.


In such a case, this aperture ring is very useful.


However, it is hard to say that it is made of plastic and moves smoothly, and it also makes a rubbing sound of shakashaka plastic, so it can not be used very much in movies.


The resolution of the Nikon Sunnipper is sharp enough to withstand the magnified shooting method.



The photo of Jupiter above is taken with the aperture stopped down.


Something that is a little fluffy when it is open, but when you squeeze it about half a step, the image quality becomes tighter.

Since it has an aperture ring, such an operation is one-touch.


The actual resolution is higher because the sky conditions and seeing were not good.


A 300mm lens resolves this far.

Anyway, it can be said that it is an ultra-high performance lens.

If you normally use it as a 300mm lens, it will be over-engineered.

This sunnipper can be said to be an ultra-high performance lens with extremely enhanced optical performance.


See here for more details on how to shoot planets in Sannippa in a previous blog.



Teleconverter


I sometimes shoot with the AFI TC-20E and TC-14E ​​teleconverters, but I don't think it's possible to take advantage of this ultra-high-performance resolution of this first-generation teleconverter.


The TC-14E ​​is still good, but with the AFI TC-20E teleconverter, the image quality drops to the level of high-performance zoom lenses these days.

Color development, sharpness, and even bokeh.

I feel very sorry to use this.


The old manual teleconverter, TC-301, seems to have higher image quality.


Also, TC-14 is sharp and the color is good, but the rear bokeh tends to be ring-shaped and the two-line bokeh tends to be emphasized.


Currently, it is the third generation with AFⅢ, but is the performance enough to replace it?

I don't know because I haven't used it.

Ah! Is it possible to use mechanical and aperture interlocking until the second generation?



Brightness of F2.8


With this brightness of F2.8, it is quite useful not only for wild animals at dusk but also for astrophotography.


The nebulae and their appearance are bright, so they can easily emerge.


The famous M31 Andromeda Galaxy, with the sunnipper open, the exposure is 2 minutes.



This is the size of the Andromeda Galaxy taken at full size with a focal length of 300mm.

It's bright at F2.8, so with just 2 minutes of exposure, it comes to the fore.



The fine shades of the spiral galaxy are also reproduced.



Trimmed to just the right size.

The spiral structure of the Andromeda galaxy emerges after only two minutes of exposure.


I was really surprised at the performance of the D800E's sensor, which came out so far in single shots without doing anything such as compositing.


The use of an equatorial mount is essential for taking these pictures.


The Andromeda Galaxy, M31, has 200 billion stars, about twice the mass of our galaxy.

The light that left Andromeda 2.5 million years ago has now reached the earth.


For humankind, a very long and long period.

But in outer space, this neighbor of the galaxy where our earth is.

The closest spiral galaxy.


By the time the light that has just left the earth reaches over there, will humanity still be alive on the earth?


That's the story, so let's go back to the lens story.


The upper right corner is the same size as the pixel



The photo above is the one in which the upper right corner of the Andromeda Galaxy photo is output at the same pixel size.


Although I feel a little sweetness, the stars are point images to every corner.

You can see the high image quality.

If you squeeze it halfway, it will tighten all the time.


The Nikon AF 180mm f2.8 is also a high-quality lens, but the star image of this Sunnipper is about half the size of the 180mm f2.8 as a whole.

Despite the long focal length of 300mm, the image quality is much higher than 180mm at the same f2.8.

It's a lens that doesn't compromise on lens design or polishing accuracy.



summary


One of the drawbacks of this sunnipper is that it is too good in all the images.

As for the bokeh, both the front bokeh and the back bokeh spread flat and concentrically.


In terms of sharpness, it goes above the AF Nikkor ED 300mmf4D with high image quality from the open, and the autofocus is also fast.


The 300mm f4, which is handheld and has no image stabilization, is lighter, so it is easier to shake than you think.

Compared to that, the 300mm f2.8 is over 3kg with the lens alone, and although it requires physical strength, it is quite hard to shake.


There is no peculiarity in the image, and the image is clear and clear to every corner of the screen.


I also like the fact that it has some softness and is not crunchy.

This is the power of large-diameter short-focus lenses.

Naturally, it gives an image quality that is different from that of a zoom lens.


It's a lens that looks too good.



Regarding the manual operability, it is not bad, but there is a slight squishy feeling, and the stroke is still a little small for manual operation.


Since the focus ring protrudes slightly from the lens barrel, it is a little difficult to perform delicate operations.


Also, the shortest shooting distance is 2.5 meters, which is far from the current lens.


Since there is an aperture ring, all the functions can be used with old manual film cameras such as F3 and F4, and even the latest digital cameras can be used with ultra-high-speed AF.

There aren't many other universal lenses like this.


As mentioned above, the lack of image stabilization is a big advantage for me in terms of reliability.


In any case, it can be said to be an ultra-high performance all-purpose lens that can handle anything.


I think I will continue to use this ultra-high performance all-purpose lens as long as it doesn't break.


Although it is a review with a line of sight that is slightly different from the general usage, I hope it will be helpful in choosing a lens.






Until the end Thank you for reading.

 

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