Do You Love Your Nikon?? (1 Viewer)

I have a questions. Will the new IS II lens by Canon will be one of the reasons for changing to Canon because of the weight?

Nikon 600mm VR is around 5kg and Canon 600mm IS II only around 3.7kg if I'm not mistaken.

horukuru said:

I have a questions. Will the new IS II lens by Canon will be one of the reasons for changing to Canon because of the weight?

Nikon 600mm VR is around 5kg and Canon 600mm IS II only around 3.7kg if I'm not mistaken.

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The Canon 600mm weighs in at 3.9kg. , roughly the same as Nikon's 500mm.
In my opinion, still slightly too heavy for hand holding for more than a few shots.
The better option is Canon's new 500mm which at just under 3.2 kg and with better weight balance than the previous lens, a real possibility for prolonged hand holding.
If you are going to tripod mount the weight of the two 600's doesn't make as much difference as the price IMO. Nikon's is considerably cheaper than Canon's.
Having swopped from Nikon to Canon, I have no regrets but I see little advantage either although having owned a Nikon 500mmVR, a Canon 500mm Mk1 and 600mm Mk1 I have just traded my 500mm Canon to buy a 500mm Mk11 which after careful consideration is probably the best all round versatile super telephoto on the market at the moment. Things can soon change though so to move brands for a weight gain on one lens is not the best of ideas unless you are prepared to take a monetary loss on your gear in doing so. cheers Dave

My latest Nikon is a two year old second hand D300s and the build quality seems that of a solid tank. teamed with genuine Nikon lenses the picture quality to me is superb and I am very pleased with the results.

Like some others I also await a replacement for the 300s eventually, to see if an upgrade will be justified.

i have used and quiet successfully for birding a d7000 and a d300s ,i couple these with a 300mm f.4 and a kenko 300dg 1.4 t/c and a nikon 1.7tc ,this is a wonderful walk around birding set up ,vr is not needed as long as you ensure your shutter speed exceeds your focal length if possible by a factor of two even if that means higher i.s.o values (noise is not a problem with nikon raw files easily overcome)
i have in the last week sold both cameras and upgraded to a d7100 and while this has a slower burst rate than the d300s everything else is far superior in ACTUAL use ,not whats written by someone resisting change .
the lens set up gives me 300mm/420mm/and 500mm depending on t.c's and with carefull use of the full focus switch become a nice hand held 500mm macro lens with a 3 foot focus range ,close but not to close .
had canon gear in the past and gave it carefull thought before buying the 7100 but at this moment in time they do not have the flexibilty in either there cameras or lenses to make change viable at a price range a OAP can afford anyway .
feel free to check out my flickr stream theres lots of the proof of the pudding photos on there

I'd have to say that I enjoy my Nikon D300s/70-200mm f/2.8 VRII+TC-20EIII and my AF-S II 600mm f/4 D IF-ED lenses.

I find though that my 11 year old son has absconded with my 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII+TC-20EIII combo and has left me the AF-S II 600mm f/4 D IF-ED to use exclusively. |8.|

I utilize the lens on a Manfrotto 680B monopod. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to wait for my son and wife to get their "birding" lenses (50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 lenses) before I can save up for my tripod. I'm also looking at a 300mm f/2.8 VRII (for shooting BIF - birds in flight).

Lots of excellent replies already but just to pick up on a few points :

a) Your current gear is not designed for bird photography and is not 'current', meaning that now you can get much better AF and better low-light/high ISO handling from the latest cameras. Be careful if buying a Canon 'consumer' camera as there can be compatibility issues with certain lenses. You really want a camera that can focus at f8 (when adding TCs) and some can only manage that at f5.6.

b) The Canon 400/5.6 has a superb reputation in good light. Any of the 300/4 lenses from Nikon/Canon take TCs well and also give you a one stop advantage in low light. They also make great pseudo-macro lenses for butterflies and other insect / reptilian life.

c) Be careful judging the quality of any camera/lens from photos on the internet. The skill of the user has far more input into those than the gear used.

d) In low light you need a fast lens. Often my 500/600 toting friends have put their lenses away whilst I've taken the TCs off my 300/2.8 and have continued shooting at f2.8/3.2. This applies equally to dawn as well of course, I'm shooting well before they can.

e) You will get your best shots when in a hide (or just sitting with a camo blanket over you) and allowing the birds to come to you. By employing this tactic you can get away with a less expensive birding set-up.

f) I don't like the new Nikon 80-400g for birding. It is IMHO too slow at 400/4.6. A wonderful lens for everything else though and I take it with me on any day out (except birding) !

I'm a very happy Nikon user. Currently my birding setup is the D800E and 300/2.8VRII plus TC14EII and especially the TC20EIII. It is excellent at 600/5.6 in any decent light but the 300/2.8 is, as said above, invaluable.

All that said a long tele lens & top end camera, as quoted in some of the posts above, are going to be over your budget. IMHO as far as Nikon goes I'd go for the D7100 and maybe the 300/2.8 VRI lens, and TCs, for a very flexible line-up. The Sigma 500/4.5 is also excellent and can be picked up for about $3,000 used (this was my lens prior to the 300/2.8) if you just want the longest lens for your budget. The only down-side to the 7100 is it's small buffer but unless you are a spray and pray type shooter it's not going to cost you many shots.

I love my two Nikon set up and have nothing negative to say.

I currently have a D7000 and D71000 with a 300mm f2.8 VR2 and 300mm f4. Also own the 14TC and 20TC. All in all a great set up for wonderful images if you put the effort.