Having used the Nikkor Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S for the past week, I thought I would share a few more images and thoughts about this lens for bird photography. I gave some initial impressions in my post last week and my general feelings remain unchanged. The lens is sharp and well balanced and a pleasure to use on the Nikon Z9.
When photographing birds it generally remains racked out to 400mm as you seldom have too much reach for birds. 400mm can at times be considered a bit short for birds and this is where the Nikon Z9 DX crop mode is useful as it instantly gives you a 19MP file with a field of view of a 600mm lens while retaining a full viewfinder image in the EVF.
The other option is to add a teleconverter. I have been lucky to have access to a 1.4x and a 2x Nikon Z series teleconverters to trial.
The 1.4x results in a 560mm f8 and the 2x a 800mm f11. Both provide very good image quality and are definitely usable options. I am tempted to purchase a 1.4x as it would provide a very versatile one lens travel setup for birds and wildlife covering 100-560mm. The 2x would have a more limited use case scenario at f11 so I would prefer to use the 1.4x in DX crop mode to give a lower resolution view at 840mm field of view at f8.
I am in the process of shooting test shots with a variety of lenses and teleconverters which I may post when finished. Preliminary results suggest that the Nikkor Z 100-400 is sharper than the AF-S 80-400 and maintains very good image quality with both the 1.4x and 2x teleconverters. Other lenses tested have been the 500mm f5.6PF and 500mm f4G with 1.4x, 1.7x and 2x teleconverters. Needless to say the zoom cannot match the sharpness of the prime telephotos. It seems superfluous to have to say this as there have to be optical compromises in designing a variable focal length lens compared to a fixed focal length prime, but it sometimes seems that there is an unrealistic conclusion that a zoom is no good if it is not as sharp as a prime.
I tried to address this in my piece on How Sharp is Sharp Enough. At times the variable focal length of a zoom is more important to achieving the image than the sharpness of a prime. A good example of this has been my two visits to the Snares, where you are limited to shooting from a Zodiac. On my first trip I used a Nikkor AF-S 80-400 f4.5-5.6 on a Nikon D810 and got a range of pleasing images of landscape, people and wildlife, one of which was shortlisted in New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year. On my second visit I had my 500mm f5.6PF and ended up with a limited range of (sharper) wildlife images. There are definitely times that a zoom is a better tool and the Nikkor Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S is going to be a very useful tool for bird and wildlife photography.
It also makes a very useful lens for people portrait work. I have been very impressed by the clear details recorded in skin and hair texture as well as pleasing background rendering. I may cover this in more detail in a future post but essentially the Nikkor Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S is also a very useful lens for people photography if you’re not bird obsessed. It is approximately the same size and weight as a 70-200 f2.8 and covers the portrait sweet spot of 100-200mm as well as reaching further.
Photos with Nikon Z9, Nikkor Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S, some with Nikon Z 1.4x teleconverter as labelled.
