For years my Nikkor 500mm f4VR (often with a 1.4x teleconverter) attached to a Nikon DSLR (D700, D3s, D800, D810, D500) was my routine bird photography set-up. Despite being big and quite heavy it was the tool that gave the results I was looking for so we became very closely acquainted. Like all good tools it became an extension of my body and and worked beneath the realm of consciousness to copy my vision into pixels.

The 500 f4 was a regular travel companion to South Africa and Australia, working hard in the heat and dust which eventually took their toll with some episodic whines when focussing. About this time the 500mm f5.6PF arrived and a new lighter set-up for most options was available. The 500 f4 went into a semi-retirement for those times that extra speed (aperture) or reach with a 1.4x converter was needed. It’s last big job was during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown when we spent some happy hours and days in my back-yard bird-hide together. A trip down to the lake earlier this year was our last outing together. It finally died. No noises, no focussing.

A&E is too late for dead human friends, but A&E Electonics can resurrect mechanical friends. After a couple of months and a focus motor transplant a large familiar box arrived with a quiet and fully functional lens in situ. It felt as if Christmas had come early and a quick trip up to Okareka was needed in celebration.

One of my most special bird photography memories is chasing Rock Wren in the Southern Alps with Edin. Hard, cold, snowy, hot, dry and fruitless days clambering through boulder fields were finally rewarded with some special images from the 500mm f4 + 1.4x on my Nikon D500 so this was the combo to head to the lake. Settling into the reeds we began to watch the workings of the world together again. The wind direction was wrong and light not the best but it was just great to be out with my old friend.

While none of the images are especially stunning they are a pleasant reminder to me of the importance of old friends. It was nice to see that I could still swing a big rig at 1050mm equivalent focal length on a duck in flight. Friends help us feel OK about ourselves in a crazy and weird world and time spent together is well invested.

I have previously written comparing the Nikon D500 and D850 for bird photography. My usual rig recently has been the D850 and Nikkor 500mm f5.6PF lens but I have recently been using the D500 quite a bit again. The decision usually comes down to it being smaller and lighter to carry on a walk but I have really enjoyed the speed and seemingly limitless buffer. Another advantage is the relatively smaller file sizes that are so much quicker to download and process on my ancient iMac.

Photos with Nikon D500 and Nikon 500mm f4VR and TC-14Eii teleconverter