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Nikkor 70-300 VR On D3 At Cadwell Park.

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Posted by Robert: Sat Sep 3rd, 2016 07:22

1^st Post

After an eventful journey I am at Cadwell Park race circuit.

The lens seems ideal for this circuit on the D3 the 80-200 is a bit short on FX for the more distant shots. I am using it wide as well as long. I can get so close to the track that 70mm is good for some shots.

Have tried to upload a picture but was too big. Will have to wait until I get home. I am posting from my iPhone.

The rain is getting a bit heavy so switch to my own lens in the rain. It's Eric's lens so I think he will like it back without water inside!!!

____________________
Robert.

Posted by jk: Sat Sep 3rd, 2016 11:03

2^nd Post

Most modern (last 10 years) can be used wide open with only a small, probably not noticeable except in a lab, loss of quality.

The 70-300 is a good lens for use in brighter conditions but the 80-200 f2.8 give opportunities for exploiting the shallow depth of field when used wide open.

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Posted by Iain: Sat Sep 3rd, 2016 12:06

3^rd Post

See there is rumour that a new 70-300 vrii is on the cards.

Posted by jk: Sat Sep 3rd, 2016 12:23

4^th Post

Not convinced that VR is that useful as it tends to hike the price significantly.
I have the current model (70-300 f4.5-5.6 AFS G VR) has it and it is OK.
Not sure that VRii will be a great improvement but will come at a greater cost.

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Posted by Robert: Sun Sep 4th, 2016 03:28

5^th Post

Iain wrote:
See there is rumour that a new 70-300 vrii is on the cards.
Did you check the date of the rumour Iain?

The only VR version of the 70-300 *IS* VR II, even according to Nikon themselves. They claim 2.5 stops benefit but while I am not used to it the effect is dramatic in the viewfinder in middle distance. It converts my serious doddering to slow smooth motion.

Eric will be relieved to know that when the heavens opened I reverted to my 80-200 lens. The loss of pulling power was noticeable immediately and was regretted when there was an eight car collision just after the start line. The 80-200 was way too short to capture the action. Although the rain was particularly heavy and caused the images I did capture to appear hazy, I don't know if the 70-300 would have coped better.

One thing I have noticed is that if I happened to get the active focus point on a featureless part of the scene then it tended to instantly go to closest focus and take 'forever' to return to the original distance. I dealt with that by trying to make sure that the focus point was located on a contrasty object and dabbing the focus activation button immediately before making exposures. The focus limit control of the 80-200 overcomes that issue.

Posted from my iPhone.

____________________
Robert.

Posted by jk: Sun Sep 4th, 2016 04:42

6^th Post

I doubt you would see much difference in IQ between the 80-200 and the 70-300. Maybe some lower flare from the newer lens but under rainy conditions it will be small to zero.

The AF item you mention happens with many/most/all AF camera and lens combos that I have used. The first few times I really noticed it was with the D3 and my 70-200 AFS VR and I thought the lens AF motor was going bad on me. Then I worked out the how and why and nowit it happens I manually turn the focus to infinity or focus on a distinct high contrast edge.
All technologies have limitations and weaknesses.

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Posted by Robert: Sun Sep 4th, 2016 05:39

7^th Post

I'm not yet used to controlling focus manually on AF lenses. Yes, my 80-200 (trombone) hunts but with the focus limiter set the effect isn't as bad. The 70-300 simply refuses to come back to the middle distance focal point, despite pointing it at a high contrast feature, although I am sure manual intervention would get it back on track.

____________________
Robert.

Posted by Iain: Sun Sep 4th, 2016 15:09

8^th Post

Robert wrote:
Iain wrote:
See there is rumour that a new 70-300 vrii is on the cards.
Did you check the date of the rumour Iain?

Posted from my iPhone. I saw something about it in this weeks amateur photographer, I was only flicking through as I was waiting for the wife.

Posted by Iain: Sun Sep 4th, 2016 15:11

9^th Post

Just found this on Nikons site.

http://www.nikon.com/news/2016/0817_lens_02.htm

DX though.

Posted by jk: Sun Sep 4th, 2016 15:24

10^th Post

Iain wrote:
Just found this on Nikons site.

http://www.nikon.com/news/2016/0817_lens_02.htm

DX though.
That version without the VR will be very good if it is like the 300mm f4 AFS P version.

Good find Iain.

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Posted by Robert: Mon Sep 5th, 2016 05:14

11^th Post

Interesting, DX though, I would have thought a more flexible strategy would be to obtain FX lenses which give better performance on DX (less edge drop off of sharpness, distortion and vignetting) I can't think of a disadvantage of using an FX capable lens on DX, except perhaps cost and a few grams. An additional advantage of adopting the strategy of using FX lenses is that the considerable investment in glass is more flexible if the user decides to get an FX body and I have a feeling the FX glass holds it's value better.

I am finally reunited with a computer, I have offloaded Saturdays 1000+ image files into the MBP and I am slowly weeding the dross.

There are some good to excellent images, plenty are acceptable; not sure if the ratio is better or worse than my experience using the Nikkor 300 f2.8 MF. The huge advantage with the zoom is my ability to vary the focal length to suit the scene, on the fly. In the past I have used the 300 f 2.8 on the main body and the 80-200 f2.8 on the secondary body, which is cumbersome. With car racing I feel there is a sweet spot with range, too long a focal length gives too short a DoF, or too small an aperture, key to me is to get closer to the action, and in that respect Cadwell is wonderful, you can almost reach out and touch the cars through the curves section and you can get pretty close with uninterrupted views in plenty of other places.

There is also a trade off here, the comparison between a mid range zoom with VR and my normal racing lens, the trusty Nikkor 300mm, f2.8 MF isn't a simple and clear cut as many might imagine. Cadwell is so different from almost all the other circuits I visit, the range of viewpoints is so diverse a zoom makes sense but on most circuits the options are greatly reduced. At Rockingham for example the only viable option is one hairpin, even for those with media accreditation, they seem to concentrate on that same hairpin because the rest of the circuit is pretty well inaccessible. My technique with the 300mm f2.8 is to focus on a particular part of the bend and as the cars approach that point make a quick burst of exposures, with the cars travelling relatively slowly and exposing at 11fps, there are usually at least a couple of acceptably sharp images to be had from each burst.

I have just come to the pigeon which was watching the racing intently, it was taken with the D3 fitted with the Nikkor 70-300 VR, 300mm, 1/200 sec @ f6.3, ISO 1600.

The day started well with brilliant sunshine but the second race was declared 'wet' despite starting in sunshine! By the end of race two the track was becoming very slippery with most cars still on slicks. There were several spins and 'off's' including our star driver who spun at the hairpin. Before lunch I had to put the 70-300 VR away because it was starting to put some serious rain down, not wishing to give Eric's nice lens a soaking. I pulled out the trombone 80-200 f2.8, which seems to have survived the very heavy rain OK. It did show signs of condensation inside the UV filter which I am unable to remove because it's so tight/seized on. It has been on the lens since I bought it about 2006. The condensation seems to have cleared now.

____________________
Robert.

Posted by Robert: Mon Sep 5th, 2016 07:08

12^th Post

Nearly half way through the weeding process, this is one pic in the rain before it got really heavy.

This time with the Nikkor 24-120 f4.0 VR, 120mm, 1/160 sec @ f6.3, ISO400.

The keeper rate with panning shots seems disappointingly poor, still trying to analyse it but most of the panning shots seem to suffer from motion blur in the subject, even though the subject is pretty static in the frame. I am beginning to think it's the VR fighting the camera motion. I left VR on but not in the 'active' mode. My understanding was that panning is allowed but this seems to cast doubt on that, I have had no such issues with the Nikkor 80-200, even at much higher speeds, the keeper rate is much higher.

____________________
Robert.

Posted by jk: Mon Sep 5th, 2016 11:32

13^th Post

Switch of VR. VR = Very Ropey!!

I dont use it unless I am shooting at low shutter speed 1/30 and I want to get a sharp static shot hand held.

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Posted by Robert: Mon Sep 5th, 2016 15:01

14^th Post

jk wrote:
Switch of VR. VR = Very Ropey!!
:lol:

Will remember that, I think you are right!!! Very Ropey.

Changing topic slightly, in the heavy rain there was a monumental pile up involving at least eight single seaters. I missed the action but caught the aftermath...

As shot, D3, Nikkor 80-200 trombone @ 200mm, f2.8, @ f8, 1/200 sec, ISO 720.

As you can see conditions were poor, heavy rain and mist. A few adjustments in Lightroom work magic:

A great improvement.

____________________
Robert.

Posted by Eric: Mon Sep 12th, 2016 12:54

15^th Post

Robert, I can't remember but doesn't the 60-300 have two types of VR. One is for all round movement, the other is only active up and down and is specific for panning shots. I may be getting confused with Jans camera ??? She switches it to the latter mode when doing movies as she has a habit of panning. With the all round stabilisation it cures judderimg pans.

PS ...should have thought about rain in Lincolnshire. I have a raincover for D3 and tele lens somewhere.

____________________
Eric

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