| Joined: | Mon Apr 2nd, 2012 |
| Location: | South Lakeland, UK |
| Posts: | 4066 |
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I used the only copy in the UK at the time at the Manchester Nikon Pro Roadshow 21st Feb.
It's a lovely lens and I have read since that it compares well with the very best Nikkor lenses. I don't remember it being especially light, but it's a joy to use, the TC switches in and out effortlessly, with a little button which flips up and down with the left thumb?
The only issue is the
(JK, Why is strikethrough not working?)
My considered observation with such an expensive lens, esp. in a birding context is that 560 is not really as long as it needs to be... DX - D500??? would give the equivalent of 840, OK achievable by cropping the FX frame provided it's a D850. The D500 has about the same pixel density as the D850 I understand.
If it were on a 500mm non zoom then that would give a 500 - 700mm switch focal length lens, which could be much more useful with good VR for birding, especially if it were a fresnel lens, with the lower weight and smaller unit. But with this sort of focal length other factors creep in like atmospheric mist and heat haze. There is some talk of a trend towards fitting internal TC's to other lenses in the future. My take with long zooms is they are usually fully extended or occasionally fully retracted, an inbuilt TC would achieve this with less weight and complexity, yet still get the job done.
I visited a local South Cumbria nature reserve recently, one of the wardens allowed me to look through his spotting scope at the Ospreys, it seemed a pretty powerful optic but the tree was so far away, because of the heat haze I could barely make out the tree let alone the nest or the birds. I could just make out the two large white TV cameras lashed to the tree for online observers.
https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife/cams/osprey-cam
The cam wasn't working when I looked just now but it may well come back on later.
____________________
Robert.