Photography – Nikon lenses

Hi birders, Nikon has (today) announced a new 200-500mm f/5.6 VR lens. This lens is squarely in the same category as the Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3, Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 and Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 lenses – presumably Nikon sees enough value in this market segment to release a version. The Sigma 15-600mm lens retails for about $1350 here in Australia, the Tamron version for about $1200. I don’t have final pricing on the Nikon either here or in the US, but it is expected to retail at $US1399 – so a bit more expensive than the competition. At 500mm maximum zoom it is 100mm shorter than either the current Sigma or the Tamron, but is a constant f/5.6 throughout the zoom range giving it better low light performance at 500mm than either of the others. The Nikon lens appears to come with Nikon’s current magic coatings, and features the latest 4.5 stop vibration reduction system. It sounds like a really good value lens for bird photographers. Details are on the Nikon Australia website here: http://www.nikon.com.au/en_AU/product/nikkor-lenses/fx-format/zoom/telephoto -zoom/af-s-nikkor-200-500mm-f-5-6e-ed-vr And a shorter version of the link here, in case the longer version gets truncated by the birding-aus mail server: http://bit.ly/1OMuKMr Paul Dodd Docklands, Victoria