Which lens for Motorsport/Nature

[pavvyben]

Hello,

I'm looking for a bit of advice as to the choice of lens for motorsport/nature photography. I currently use a Nikon D3 + AF-S 70-200mm F2.8 VR/1.7TC for Equestrian +a bit of Nature. I'd like to move towards Motorsport as I have a real passion for cars, while allowing me to shoot some Nature photos aswell.

I had the opportunity last year to test for short periods; AF-S 300mm F2.8AF-S 200-400mm F4 VR, 400mm F2.8 VR and 600mm F4. I have to say out of all of them, I really loved the 300mm f2.8 without the VR. It was quite big, but with a TC I enjoyed it alot.

I went to F1 @ Silverstone last year, being my first time of taking pictures of cars, I took the AF-S 200-400mm F4 VR along, finding the TC being on all the time. Even then I didn't feel the reach was great, but maybe I wasn't in any good places. It hunted a little with a TC on it aswell which wasbit of a pain.

So, basically I'm looking for some advice as to which lens you would choose out of the following; AF-S 400 f2.8 VR, 500mm F4 VR or 200-400mm F4 VR. Maybe I was being harsh on it, I don't know, but some feedback would be good. That was my first time with the lens, so might be judging it too early. I feel the 600mm F4 VR might be out of my price range, unless you really think its alot better over the others. I want to get the right one, they are seriously expensive!

So any feedback would be brilliant. I've attached an image i took with the 200-400 at Silverstone last year.

Thanks again and look forward to your comments

Kind Regards

Ben

[great adventure]

nikon 300mm 2.8 prime

[NHL]

Originally Posted by pavvyben

I had the opportunity last year to test for short periods; AF-S 300mm F2.8AF-S 200-400mm F4 VR, 400mm F2.8 VR and 600mm F4. I have to say out of all of them, I really loved the 300mm f2.8 without the VR. It was quite big, but with a TC I enjoyed it alot.

I went to F1 @ Silverstone last year, being my first time of taking pictures of cars, I took the AF-S 200-400mm F4 VR along, finding the TC being on all the time. Even then I didn't feel the reach was great, but maybe I wasn't in any good places. It hunted a little with a TC on it aswell which wasbit of a pain.

Unless you're allergic to a 3rd party solution I would suggest the Sigma 500 f/4.5 EX

IMO a 300mm is just too short for nature and if you intended on using this 300 with a TC converter all the time then a lens without TC will always outperforms a lens with one and its AF speed won't be affected either...

-> The Sigma 500 f/4.5 is about the same size and weight as the Nikkor 200-400 but offers a longer reach at the sacrifice of only a 1/3 of a stop - i.e. you can still use it with a 1.4x for a 750mm reach if need be. The best deal is to find this lens used @ 1/2 the price, but they tend to be very rare:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/s...&cat=38&page=1