Nikon Nikkor 400mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S VR review
There are telephoto lenses, and there are telephoto lenses. And then there’s the new Nikon Nikkor 400mm f2.8 ED-IF AF-S VR ‘super telephoto’ - it weighs an arm-bending 4.6kg, and is some 37cm long with a maximum aperture of f/2.8. The lens’ front element is a whopping 16cm across and it contains no fewer than 13 other elements, three of which are made from ED glass to minimise flare and ghosting. In fact, the only statistic more hefty than these is the list price – a cool £6300.
The Nikon Nikkor 400mm f2.8 ED-IF AF-S VR is part of a trio, with 500mm f/4 and 600mm f/4 versions also available, and is aimed squarely at the sports, news and wildlife communities who will surely appreciate the inclusion of Nikon’s latest VRII vibration reduction system. This claims to provide a four-stop advantage over a non-VR equipped lens, and a special tripod mode stabilises against the kind of judder that users will encounter when using the optic on a tripod – vibrations that are weaker but more numerous than those caused by handholding.
This is how most people will use the 400mm f/2.8, of course, as 4.6kg, plus the weight of a DSLR, is not easy to handhold at the best of times. This said, when we went to try out the optic on a Nikon D3 at one of the winter league boat races in Cambridge, we couldn’t resist having a go handheld. With the VRII technology switched on we just managed to get down to 1/60sec before significant camera shake crept in. Impressive, although we couldn’t hold the set-up this way for long. For practical use, a tripod or monopod is a required accessory.
Specification wise, the Nikon Nikkor 400mm f2.8 ED-IF AF-S VR has everything a sports snapper, news hound or wildlife buff could want. Five switches on the left-hand side of the barrel control (top to bottom): focusing mode, with Auto, Auto/Manual and Manual settings; a range limiter to stop the AF hunting over the full range; VR mode; the function of the four focus operation buttons positioned around the lens’ collar; and whether or not the lens beeps when focus is achieved. An extra control – focus memory lock – works in combination with the focus operation buttons to recall a specific focus position instantly. Brilliantly simple and perfect for those who pre-focus on a spot, but still need to shoot at other distances with AF.
Coupled with the Nikon D3 the Nikon Nikkor 400mm f2.8 ED-IF AF-S VR is lightning fast to focus and, in continuous mode, almost perfect at tracking a moving object coming towards or moving away from the camera. We had no problem tracking boat crews racing down the river, shooting them at nine frames-per-second. Bursts often consisted of 100 per cent in-focus images, with only the occasional out-of-focus frame.
As you’d expect from a lens that costs more than a Ford Fiesta, image quality is very high indeed. Colours and contrast were particularly punchy, and sharpness was such that we could see goose bumps on the legs of some of the rowers we were photographing.
The lens also showed an impressive resistance to flare, thanks to a combination of the three ED glass elements and a very effective, two-piece lens hood. Even wide open the Nikkor produced results that stunned us, although if you’ve never experienced the minuscule amount of depth-of-field you get with a 400mm lens at f/2.8, it’s worth hiring one of these and having a go just for that. You’ll laugh – we did. The flip side of the coin, though, is that the out-of-focus parts of the image have a smooth, milky quality about them, thanks to the nine rounded blades that make up the aperture diaphragm. We actually tried the Nikkor as a portrait lens and it excels – apart from the need to stand 15m away from your subject, of course.
The Nikon Nikkor 400mm f2.8 ED-IF AF-S VR is an amazing lens at an amazing price. This is the type of exotic glass that will only appeal to specialists, but in the right hands it will sing. Its design makes handling as easy as it could be considering the weight. Performance, even wide open at f/2.8, is stunning.
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| Price | £6300 |
| Focal length | 400mm |
| Aperture range | f2.8 - f22 |
| Construction | 14 elements in 11 groups (with three ED glass elements and one Nano Crystal coated element) |
| Minimum focal distance | 2.9m |
| Diaphragm | 9 rounded blades |
| Filter size | 52mm (internal drop in) |
| Focusing | Internal with Silent Wave Motor (SWM) Auto Focus (AF) and Manual Focus (MF) |
| Dimensions | D x L : 37x160cm |
| Weight | 4.62kg |
