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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Nikon patent 400mm, 500mm and 600mm f/5.6 Phase Fresnel (PF) lenses (1 Viewer)

Pasq, I don't know that necessarily confirms the 500 as coming out first. Back in April this year the rumour was that the 600 would be announced during summer (northern hemisphere) , so there is hope yet. It was further flagged that Photokina in September would be the first public reveal .... maybe the whole range will come out together.

Like you I'm hanging out for the 600. I think it's safe to say the 500 at ~1.75kg will be handy, but really you need every mm you can get for birds so it's only the 600 I want. I really don't see much point in a 500, let alone a 400 unless wildlife is your thing, but then I think I'd prefer the zoom for added flexibility.

I hope they get to work on a range of f4 models too - now that would be nice! :t:



Chosun :gh:
 
Seems a 500mm f5.6 PF will be first - DPReview

Guess we'll know more soon - personally I was really looking forward to a 600mm PF - the 500mm PF being too close to the 200-500mm zoom.

1250g at the most and
the 500mm + D500/D850 would be perfect for walk-around purposes without monopod. (Which I don't think the 200-500mm really is.)
But the VR got to be as good.
Price twice the 300mm in worst case.
Made in China.
 
It's still going to need ~90mm objective lenses, and the patent showed lots of glass up that end before the diffractive element came into play - you have to account for the area of that rather than do a straight linear extrapolation from the 300PF. So I think it will be more than that ....

Still, anywhere in that ~1250g - ~1750g range is going to be very much more portable and pointable than other big lenses on the market (should be a very similar order of magnitude in practice to the DSLR Canon 400/5.6 and 100-400/5.6)


Chosun :gh:
 
It's still going to need ~90mm objective lenses, and the patent showed lots of glass up that end before the diffractive element came into play - you have to account for the area of that rather than do a straight linear extrapolation from the 300PF. So I think it will be more than that ....

Still, anywhere in that ~1250g - ~1750g range is going to be very much more portable and pointable than other big lenses on the market (should be a very similar order of magnitude in practice to the DSLR Canon 400/5.6 and 100-400/5.6)


Chosun :gh:
Perhaps, but it will be shorter.
As an example the "classic" Tokina 500mm/f5.6 (95mm filter thread) weighs 2240g.
The 300/4 PF is aprox. 45% lighter than the older AF-S 300/4.
2240x0.55 = 1250g.

I won't eat my hat on it, but it's possible, and expect more CF-plastics to be used as well.

Above 1500 g things start to get unconfy IMO, like some of the rather bulky and long 100-400mm zooms.
 
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Nikon's "must capture unpredictable and fast-moving subjects" clearly means a hobby hunting swallows. Fortunately other press texts from Nikon call the lens "ultra-portable" and "ultra-light". This settles it, the lens weighs below 1kg. ;)
 
Nikon's "must capture unpredictable and fast-moving subjects" clearly means a hobby hunting swallows. Fortunately other press texts from Nikon call the lens "ultra-portable" and "ultra-light". This settles it, the lens weighs below 1kg. ;)
I've seen exactly that scenario ! :eek!: ..... a welcome swallow at full whack pulling about 12G in evasive maneuvers with an Australian Hobby hot on it's tail came screaming not more than 10ft overhead from behind me at 100mph+ !!!! I will never forget the sound of tortured air as it peeled off the wings vrrrrrroooooffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff !
I think the swallow lived to fight another day - but honestly I would have had trouble following the action with anything heavier than an eyeball ! :eek!::eek!: :-O



Chosun :gh:
 

Ye Gods!!! 4300USD - that must include an allowance for Trump's 25% tariff ! :eek!: It had want to be able to lay a golden egg as well as take sharp pictures for that price !!

I can see a lot of children being sold off for scientific experiment ......

It will be interesting to see what this thing weighs, as even at 24cm there's a heck of a lot of glass up front ....




Chosun :gh:
 
Ye Gods!!! 4300USD - that must include an allowance for Trump's 25% tariff ! :eek!: It had want to be able to lay a golden egg as well as take sharp pictures for that price !!

I can see a lot of children being sold off for scientific experiment ......

It will be interesting to see what this thing weighs, as even at 24cm there's a heck of a lot of glass up front ....

Chosun :gh:

Price as expected.

My kidney is already on Ebay...B :)

Length still indicates a weight around 1250 grams (compared to 300 PF).
 
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I've seen exactly that scenario ! :eek!: ..... a welcome swallow at full whack pulling about 12G in evasive maneuvers with an Australian Hobby hot on it's tail came screaming not more than 10ft overhead from behind me at 100mph+ !!!! I will never forget the sound of tortured air as it peeled off the wings vrrrrrroooooffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff !
I think the swallow lived to fight another day - but honestly I would have had trouble following the action with anything heavier than an eyeball ! :eek!::eek!: :-O
Chosun :gh:

Great! I must admit that I've only watched a hobby hunting an insect. Fast, but not incredibly fast. Presently I have fun with swifts. High in the sky they appear slow, but when the swift brigade circles around my block roughly at eye level - holy cow!

Once I walked in the forest when a sparrowhawk patrolled the same path, only in opposite direction. It passed me at circa 2m distance. A speed demon, and totally unexpected. Not the slightest chance for me to raise the camera.
 
Interesting comment if you follow the journo's twitter feed about the weight ..... he says it "feels" like a kg. There must have been some fancy engineering for that since the patent showed a lot of glass up front - perhaps the lenses are thinner than schematically represented. If Nikon has managed to bring it in at that kg mark then its utility goes way up - though I'm not sure it's $4K up ! :eek!: I had hoped for pricing just under $3K, but I think there will be strong demand for this lens provided the IQ, AF, VR, and flare control pans out ..... :cat:

Hurry up the 600 ! :t: If Nikon can work such weight wonders with the 5, then the 600 f5.6 must surely be under ~1.5kg, maybe even ~1.36kg, which would be an awesome bit of kit.

Next stop 600 f4 PF !! :king:



Chosun :gh:
 
Nikon jacked up their prices again recently, the 800mm f5.6 is now over £18,000. ($24,000 USD approx) These new lenses only have lower weight as far as I can see. Not sure why anyone would think they'll be a high demand. Too much for most I suspect. We'll see.
 
Forgot to add this for the picture above

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens next to the 500mm f/4E and 180-400mm f/4
 
Specs says that the 500/5.6 PF is 1460 grams (including lens collar).

"The AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR will be available September 13 for the suggested retail prices (SRP) of $3599.95."

Read more: https://nikonrumors.com/2018/08/23/...lens-officially-announced.aspx/#ixzz5OyygdQex

From the marketing it seems that Nikon have reduced the problems (strange halos) with point light sources for the PF element in the 500mm.
 
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