Reviews by riccardo.rondinone

I was very happy when I purchased my 400mm f/5.6 lens, but with time I realized that it was not as sharp as I had wanted; moreover, many pictures showed a minimal blurring due to camera-lens shake, which was evident also in pictures made using the tripod, unless I used a very short exposure time. For that reason I changed to the 500mm lens, that I've been using for at least 1 month, and I see a great difference. May be I can hardly make hand-held photos of flying birds as I could with the 400mm, but most of the pictures are rasor sharp and it's a real joy to watch them on my monitor. The fine details of the feathers are very clear and therefore I do not regret the high price I paid for this lens. Last but not least: I believed that it is the photographer that makes the picture and not the tools he uses, and probably this is 50% true...but if you want tack-sharp pictures with crisp details, then you need a lens like this!

I have just purchased this lens and today I had the first real opportunity to try it on field. It's a very light lens and I could walk for 2 hours holding it, without feeling its weigth. Focusing is very fast. Sharpness seems to be very good. I like the lens hood, that can be locked in its operating position. I was not sure about rating the picture as 10 or a little less, meaning that I would have liked to have the same lens with an IS. Still I must say that until last week I was a Nikon-only photographer, but a rather unhappy one, because Nikon does not produce a convenient and portable 400mm f 5,6 and I was still using the manual focus one...you bet how happy I was today when I realized I could follow all those flying birds without going OOF!