I’m currently testing the new Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II and doing as much bird photography as possible to see how it performs in various situations, especially with teleconverters. I received it a couple of weeks ago, but my schedule went hectic and I have not received the new Nikon TC-20E III, which I really wanted to test this lens with. The Nikon TC-20E III is nowhere to be found at the moment and I was able to get a copy by renting it through LensRentals.com for now. I also needed the TC-20E III to complete my Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II review and wanted to test it with all of my telephoto lenses after hearing so much about its great performance. The TC-20E III is arriving at the end of this week, so I am planning to get out and shoot as much as possible during the weekend and next week.
So far, I’m in love with the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II. It is so sharp and full of contrast, that I don’t even see a reason to shoot it without teleconverters. The Nikon TC-14E II is unnoticeable on it and the Nikon TC-17E II performance is just superb – that’s what I have been shooting with and I am more than impressed with this setup. The TC-17E II makes the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II a 510mm lens and the new VR system helps me keep the lens stable while hand-holding it. I do not have an arca-swiss mount for the lens yet, so I have not used a tripod once so far – only hand-held shots.
This super cute fur-ball is a fledgling burrowing owl chick. My presence did not scare him and he just sat there watching me as I got closer with the 300mm to take his pictures. Like I’ve said in my Raptor Photography article, finding YAS (Young and Stupid) birds works great for bird photography. They are so curious, that they will let you get really close, as in the above example. Shot this video with VR on, hand-held:
And here he is in flight, after getting scared from a tractor that was loudly passing by at sunset:
Here is a shot of a flycatcher to show you the sharpness of the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II with TC-17E II (1.7x TC):
One more sample (flycatcher chick):
The Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II lens review is coming soon!
About Nasim Mansurov
Nice images, particularly the owl chick! Looks like a great lens! Curious, how close did you get for that shot? The sunset lighting is perfect.
Thank you Aaron! I was pretty close to it (5-6 feet, maybe less), could have easily filled the frame with the bird if I took a few steps forward. Yes, sunset was great, I hoped to get a better in-flight shot of the owl though. This one is OK, but I had to crop a lot :(
Dear Nasim,
Those photos which I sent to you was some photos submitted for the contest which was conducted by United Nations Development programme.(http://picturethis.undp.org/) and which was asked for developing contry photograpers to submit photos. Their globaly voting round will start from 01-08-2010 to 15-08-2010 and they will give their results on 3rd September 2010. These is for your nformation and I appreciate your comments as a diatance teacher for me. I submit my photos under K.T.L.De.S.Wijayasiriwardana and already sent those url’s to you.Thank you very much for everything.
Lilantha, I sent some comments on the photos earlier today. Good luck with the contest!
The first picture look just so great! It’s like it is waiting for you.
Great lens btw!
Dennis
Thank you Dennis, appreciate the feedback.
Hi Nasim,
Do you know how much difference there is between the VR II version and the previous one (which I have)?
Matt, sorry for a late response. Check out my latest review of the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II – just posted it last night. The VR II version is just a minor update – the optics between the old and the new one are almost identical.
Thanks for this post and the review. I can’t afford the lens right now, but it along with the teleconverter(s) really do seem to be everything I might want for my level of bird photography.
FYI, the flycatchers are both Western Kingbirds.
Thanks for the info PAG! A friend of mine bought this lens with the TC-20E III and we went out to shoot last week. He was extremely pleased with the results!
The first picture is just beautiful…. the bird is stright looking into the lens… Which lens in Canon is equal to Nikon 300mm f2.8 8GVRII ??
Hussain, Canon has an equivalent Canon 300mm f/2.8 IS II USM lens.