Kevin Whitworth / Jacurutu

OK, I admit, this is partly an excuse to post another photo from the Fairburn Ings set, but I did want to say a few words about my Nikon AF-D 80-400mm VR lens.

I bought it just before we went to Kenya last year, as I knew I needed something longer than 200mm. The problem here is cost. There are cheap 70-300mm lenses, or you're up into the multiple-thousands of pounds for something like to AFS 200-400mm VR lens, or fast AFS 300/400/500/600mm primes. There's a couple of non-Nikon lenses out there (Sigma do a 50-500mm and a 150-500mm), but in the end I went for the Nikon 80-400mm, which I picked up second-hand for slightly less than the cost new. It's still not a cheap lens, but anything else is at least twice it's price, and until I'm earning lots of money from photography, I simply can't justify spending the money. I also bought a Kenko 1.4x teleconvertor, just for little extra reach. I didn't get the Nikon TC partly for cost savings and partly because Nikon's own TCs seem to not always be 100% compatible with their own lenses (I think they're aimed more at the AFS lenses though).

Anyway, In Kenya, I used the TC and 80-400mm lens together a lot. However, a lot of the photos have come out very soft. In general, I've been less than impressed with the 80-400mm lens. Aside from the softness (which I at least exaggerated by the TC, if not caused by it), it's slow to focus and being f/5.6 at 400mm, it needs lots of light (even with VR) to get a good shot (especially if you've got the TC on it as well). I've been in two minds whether to sell it and cough up the extra cash to get something better.

That was until the Fairburn walk. Carting around my D200, the Kenko TC and extension tubes, 18-70mm kit lens, 70-200mm and 80-400mm lens all day, apart from the damselfly shots (taken with the 70-200mm lens with Kenko extension tubes), all the other shots were taken with the 80-400mm lens (no TC). Now, I won't say all is forgiven, but I think I've got some good shots with it - including the pheasant shown here. A bright day helped (although I was still using ISO 400), as did not using the TC. There's still a lot of soft shots, and focusing is still not great - tracking moving birds is almost impossible - and it still doesn't have enough reach for bird photography, but I think I'll hang on to it until I win the lottery.

(When I do win the lottery, I'm after the Nikon AF-S 200-400mm, and probably the AF-S 600mm as well. And an assistant to lug them round for me!)