A few shots with the D500 w/ 500mm F/4 G
Northern Harrier at Steigerwald Lake Wildlife Refuge in Washougal, WA
Bufflehead at Steigerald Lake
Anna's Hummingbird in the backyard
---------- Post added 01-08-19 at 09:56 AM ----------
Originally posted by str8talk83 My plan is for my next lens purchase to be a super telephoto. I'm having a little bit of a problem deciding whether I should go with an extremely light and portable lens like the 500mm f/4 PF or go with something heavier like a Nikon 500mm f/4G or Sigma 500mm f/4 sport.
I wanted to see how I felt about shooting with a tripod all the time and how it would be to handle the larger 500 f/4 lens before making my decision. I looked into renting one, but even the rental is very expensive and I wouldn't get my money back. I happened to see a vintage 500mm f/4 lens on a forum and decided to give it a try. Even though it is manual focus, I figured it would handle similar and help me in making my decision. Once I'm ready to move on, I should be able to recoup all (or most) of the money spent when I sell it.
I've been pleasantly surprised by this lens. I took these photos mostly with the Nikon 1.4 TCB attached, shooting wide open to test it out. The reach of 700mm at f/5.6 has me really leaning towards going with a 500 f/4 lens for my long term purchase.
Your images are really exceptional. My thought is that if you are looking to use the TC more often than not, then the 400mm f/2.8 may be better choice vs. the 500mm f/4G. Losing a whole stop is definitely not appealing to me, especially living in the PNW where there are a lot of overcast/rainy days and when pairing my lens with the TC-14EIII, I found I had to stop to 6.3/7.1 before I observed desirable sharpness.
In my honest opinion, there are not enough sunny days in the year for me to fall back on a 7.1 long lens and the D500 isn't the cleanest at high ISOs for me to be satisfied.