Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 VR ED or Canon 400 f/5.6L (1 Viewer)

Hello all,
I have posted a thread regarding the Canon 400 f/5.6L and Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 lenses for birding in the Canon forum. I am looking to upgrade my current setup and I would appreciate input on these two lenses. I hope not to limit my responses to just Canon users, and I would like to receive feedback from Nikon users as well. If you are interested you can access my thread here. Thanks for your help.

Rapala said:

Hello all,
I have posted a thread regarding the Canon 400 f/5.6L and Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 lenses for birding in the Canon forum. I am looking to upgrade my current setup and I would appreciate input on these two lenses. I hope not to limit my responses to just Canon users, and I would like to receive feedback from Nikon users as well. If you are interested you can access my thread here. Thanks for your help.

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When moving from a bridge camera to DSLR this year, my initial thoughts were to go with the Canon 400 f5.6L lens, which although 'old tech' is clearly a great lens - however, I wasn't too keen on swapping my discreet superzoom for a big long white lens. I then discovered the Nikon 300mm f4 PF lens, which is amazingly compact and lightweight - about 750g if I recall correctly, the same weight roughly as the Nikon D7200. After a crisis of confidence about whether I should go for a M4/3 system (helped greatly by this forum), a visit to a local camera shop and getting the D7200 / 300mm PF combo in my hands sealed the deal. I've been really very happy indeed with the system, and haven't yet felt the need to extend its reach with a 1.4x teleconverter, some BIF shots (e.g. on pelagics - see below) would be harder with a longer fixed focal length. However, as I can see by the posts on the Canon forum that reach is an important consideration for you, adding the 1.4x TC would bring you to 630mm full-frame equivalent on a DX sensor camera, but in a much lighter package. It is also a modern lens, with effective VR. So I think you are right to give Nikon serious consideration - but there are more options than the 200-500mm lens.