DX or FX for 600 f4

Compuwight · Tuesday at 3:02 PM

I have recently purchased a Nikon 600 F4 lens and having fun experimenting with its capabilities. I found it to have a slightly softer focus, great bokeh and superb range. However, I have used both a D500 DX and D850 FX and each gives differing results, the D500 focus is faster, the D850 gives better definition but has 'artifacts' as I call them.

What does the 'hive' mind recommend and has anyone used the 1.4TC with this lens

thanks in advance ..................

sk66 · Tuesday at 3:13 PM

95% of the time I would use the D850. A DX crop of the D850 sensor is the D500 sensor... not sure what you mean by artifacts.

Normally a 600/4 is quite sharp and works well with a 1.4x... not sure what you are comparing it to for the "slightly softer" determination.

welshwizard645 · Tuesday at 3:34 PM

D850 for some bizarre reason with my 500/4, rather than my D500 which now tends to be used more with the 70-200 or 80-400...I think the 500 or 600 have just far too much reach for DX.

When I had the 200-500/5.6 it was used exclusively on the D500.

gman · Tuesday at 3:59 PM

Compuwight said:
I have recently purchased a Nikon 600 F4 lens and having fun experimenting with its capabilities. I found it to have a slightly softer focus, great bokeh and superb range. However, I have used both a D500 DX and D850 FX and each gives differing results, the D500 focus is faster, the D850 gives better definition but has 'artifacts' as I call them.

What does the 'hive' mind recommend and has anyone used the 1.4TC with this lens

thanks in advance ..................

Would an AF Fine Tune be worth exploring with the D850 and the lens, just in case?

GreenNinja67 · Tuesday at 4:01 PM

If you're paying serious money for a lens like that it should be perfect.

Compuwight · Tuesday at 4:47 PM

sk66 said:
95% of the time I would use the D850. A DX crop of the D850 sensor is the D500 sensor... not sure what you mean by artifacts.

Normally a 600/4 is quite sharp and works well with a 1.4x... not sure what you are comparing it to for the "slightly softer" determination.

Hi,

I have found the level of detail with the D850 reveals things not seen with the D500, like shadows and highlights and the bokeh appears differently so I use the word 'artefacts' perhaps incorrectly. In comparison with the 500PF I find the 600 in focus but slightly softer but I accept that is subjective to each of us.

I purchased this lens mostly for Sea Eagles here on the Island as their normal residence is a nature reserve with no access thus I am always at 600mm with a heavy crop, despite several visits they have not been present yet !

I shall try the 1.4TC on my next outing with the D850.....

Thanks

Compuwight · Tuesday at 4:51 PM

GreenNinja67 said:
If you're paying serious money for a lens like that it should be perfect.

Hi,

I did not pay serious money, it was an evilbay bargain for a older well used lens,, that being said it performs well IMHO and I am very happy. I am trying to experiment and get the best from this lens, my only comparison is my 500PF so my findings so far are subjective. I will post some photo's for critique when I am ready ......

Thanks

GreenNinja67 · Tuesday at 4:52 PM

Ah ok Steve, hope it performs as well as it should for you.

Compuwight · Tuesday at 4:53 PM

gman said:
Would an AF Fine Tune be worth exploring with the D850 and the lens, just in case?

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion, I will find out my target and double check. Although I suspect its just my opinion of 'softer' perhaps in focus but less punchy is a better description.

gman · Tuesday at 11:35 PM

Compuwight said:
Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion, I will find out my target and double check. Although I suspect its just my opinion of 'softer' perhaps in focus but less punchy is a better description.

I guess it doesn't do any harm to check, I'm sure I had to slightly adjust my D810 with the Nikon 70-200mm MK2.

Another thought just crossed my mind is the lens resolution needed by the D850's sensor, which I believe is meant to be very demanding.

I don't know about that lens in particular, but if memory serves I think LongLensPhotography knows a lot about this, but I don't know how to tag people here.

Erty · 2024-11-13T00:12:39+0000

Photons to photos has the D500 outperforming a D850 set on DX at dynamic range and having slightly less noise. Maybe the 850 is set up for more sharpening.

sk66 · 2024-11-13T04:43:58+0000

Erty said:
Photons to photos has the D500 outperforming a D850 set on DX at dynamic range and having slightly less noise. Maybe the 850 is set up for more sharpening.

A larger sensor/resolution will tend to have more noise because the entire sensor has to be read out and processed, even if only the DX area data is written into the file. And noise limits dynamic range... still, they are so close to each other that the difference is insignificant in practical terms.

One thing I can think of is that the 600/4 is significantly heavier than the 500/5.6, and that combined with the increased magnification may be causing more blur to be recorded. Or it may very well require some AFMA... there's always some variability and the end result is the total "sum of errors" within the system. If it's neither of those then I would have to guess the lens has some kind of fault.

Compuwight · 2024-11-13T08:41:55+0000

Thanks to all for the helpful comments, lots for me to think about and experiment further. I did check with seller and lens was serviced by Nikon 12 months ago

Using D500 on Manfrotto 055 tripod and 393 lens support, a few tweaks and adjustments and I am beginning to get some better photos. The background of the Heron still looks odd to me !

It was a bit of dull day and the light was very flat ......

Spot focus with centred exposure, lens set to 'tripod'

I don't think swapping between D500 and D850 is helping me 'learn' this new lens and I am struggling with the weight (health issues)

Terrywoodenpic · 2024-11-13T08:53:35+0000

Compuwight said:
Thanks to all for the helpful comments, lots for me to think about and experiment further. I did check with seller and lens was serviced by Nikon 12 months ago

Using D500 on Manfrotto 055 tripod and 393 lens support, a few tweaks and adjustments and I am beginning to get some better photos. The background of the Heron still looks odd to me !

It was a bit of dull day and the light was very flat ......

Spot focus with centred exposure, lens set to 'tripod'

I don't think swapping between D500 and D850 is helping me 'learn' this new lens and I am struggling with the weight (health issues)

View attachment 438613 View attachment 438614 View attachment 438615

These look as if they are heavily cropped.

Compuwight · 2024-11-13T11:27:01+0000

Terrywoodenpic said:
These look as if they are heavily cropped.

1&2 heavy crop, pigeon light crop. Which is unusual for wildlife photos ?

Terrywoodenpic · 2024-11-13T12:13:45+0000

Even with the crops, they are not as crisp as I would like.
I would suggest it is combination of factors. Including vibration of the camera
And less than perfect focus point selection and softness due to noise. (ISO selection)

It can be difficult to hold the camera truly steady at those enlargements(focal lengths and crop)

In the pigeon shot there are sharper elements in the twigs and thorns than anywhere on the bird.