Nikon Showcase 70-300mm CX Samples

Lava

Regular
I received a 70-300mm CX yesterday. Nikon USA had them in stock. Only had daylight for a few photos last night and found them all unusable at 300mm, as I had forgotten to turn the VR on and I had too much motion blur in low light.

I shot some of these around 1:00 pm and some around 7:30 today with a Nikon V2 and the 70-300mm CX lens. My initial impression is that the lens is well built, the optics are sharp, and the VR is good. It hunts for focus, but I think that can be managed. I formerly shot with a Sigma 50-500mm on DSLR bodies and had similar issues., though not as pronounced.

These photos are cropped (except the dog) with some light Photoshopping. All of them were at f/5.6 at either ISO 800 or ISO 1600.

The dog, the lizard, and the spider were at 300mm. The others were at 172mm.
 

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Swallowtail

My pleasure. So far, it's not the "magic" lens we may have hoped for, but the optics are terrific and the reach is unparalleled -- at least in a small package. The autofocus isn't what I was hoping it could be, but that comes with 800mm equivalents and f/5.6, I think.

Thx for sharing. I was curious about the lens.

Here is another shot from moments ago at 300mm.
 

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This nest is atop power lines. I drove underneath and propped my V2 and 70-300mm CX through the sunroof of my car. I spot metered and then adjusted +2 EV. ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/800.
 

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My pleasure. So far, it's not the "magic" lens we may have hoped for, but the optics are terrific and the reach is unparalleled -- at least in a small package. The autofocus isn't what I was hoping it could be, but that comes with 800mm equivalents and f/5.6, I think.

Okay I'll bite :)

In what way is it not the magic lens we were hoping for?
 
Okay I'll bite :)

In what way is it not the magic lens we were hoping for?

What I meant is that like all lenses, it makes tradeoffs. The autofocus hunts and the f/5.6 leads to higher ISO than I would like.

That said, in the time since I wrote the original post, I have come to like the lens more and more. :)
 
What I meant is that like all lenses, it makes tradeoffs. The autofocus hunts and the f/5.6 leads to higher ISO than I would like.

That said, in the time since I wrote the original post, I have come to like the lens more and more. :)

Fair enough. Well I've got one on order. Seems to be out of stock.

Here's hoping it works well for wildlife for me, which is my main use.
 
Update: still no ship date. Looks like all vendors are out of stock. That original run of lenses was VERY small.....

Actually, I think the real reason was, there was huge pent-up demand for this lens. Realistically, this lens is really the most important lens in the system (other than DSLR lenses on the FT-1) for anyone who wants to take advantage of the main calling card of the Nikon 1 system - Long reach with fast continuous AF - when shooting action and wildlife.
 
Actually, I think the real reason was, there was huge pent-up demand for this lens. Realistically, this lens is really the most important lens in the system (other than DSLR lenses on the FT-1) for anyone who wants to take advantage of the main calling card of the Nikon 1 system - Long reach with fast continuous AF - when shooting action and wildlife.

That makes sense. It was certainly a selling point on trying out the system, as a possible replacement for MFT, as my main rig!

I guess we are all waiting on a slow boat from (insert country of manufacture here).
 
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