Nikkor AF-S 500mm f5.6 PF ED VR Lens
Nikon NIKKOR AF-S 500 f5.6 PF ED VR Lens
Wow !!! What else can I say? This is the second F-mount lens that I am keeping for use with my Nikon Z cameras.
After months of waiting for stock to arrive in the UK I received my Nikon NIKKOR AF-S 500 f/5.6 PF ED VR lens. Unpacking the lens from its trademark gold box my first impressions were how small and light the lens was. I had previously used the Nikon AF-S300 f/2.8 ED VRII and Sigma 150-600 f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sport lenses. Both of these lenses are large and heavy, the Nikon weighing in at 2.9kg with a length of 268mm, and the Sigma also weighing in at 2.9kg with a length of 430mm when zoomed to 600mm focal length.
In comparison, the 500mm PF lens has a weight of only 1.4kg and length of 237mm, almost the same weight and size as a 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens.
The lens is the smallest and lightest non-mirror 500mm lens available and uses a fresnel lens element to reduce the amount of glass needed while maintaining the imaging properties of a standard 500mm telephoto lens. For comparison, Nikon’s other 500mm lens weighs 3.1kg and is almost 400mm long, so the PF version is roughly half the size and half the weight of the standard 500mm lens (which is admittedly an f/4 lens rather than the f/5.6 of the PF).
The lens has an F-mount and so it is necessary to use the FTZ adapter to mount onto my Z6 or Z7 II cameras. When mounted on the Z camera the lens autofocus is very quick, although not as quick as the native Z-mount f/2.8 zoom lenses, but this is only to be expected. It does lock on and focus very quickly though, certainly much faster than the Sigma Sport zoom lens. Steve Perry at Backcountry Gallery has conducted tests showing the speed of the autofocus system on this lens compared against the 500 f/4 and 200-500 f/5.6 here.
Build and Ergonomics
The lens is built to the same standards as other professional “gold ring” F-mount lenses. The outer surfaces of the lens are made of high quality plastics rather than metal in order to achieve the light weight of the optic. Quality is good though and the lens has a ruggedness that sets it apart from cheaper plastics. The tripod collar and lens mount are metal, as is (apparently) much of the inner workings of the lens. From a visual inspection it would be difficult to tell that the lens is plastic compared to other gold ring Nikkor lenses - the finish is identical to the other lenses. The lens hood is, however, a fairly cheap feeling plastic but it does have a locking button that prevents it falling off when in use.
The lens is claimed to be fully weather sealed with lens mount gaskets and o-rings throughout its construction but as yet I have not used the lens in adverse weather conditions to confirm this. All reviews I have seen on the internet confirm that the lens is very capable in this respect. The front element has a fluorine coating that repels moisture, dirt, dust and greasy/oily contamination to help keep the lens clean.
There are the four unmarked buttons towards the front of the lens. These are function buttons that can be assigned different duties using the control switches on the lens (see below).
The left side of the lens is equipped with a number of controls that will be familiar to most Nikkor users.
Lens Switches
The A/M - M/A - M switch determines the autofocus mode of the lens:
A/M - You have instant manual focus override by turning the focus ring at any time but emphasis is given to autofocus. In AF-C (continuous AF) the camera will keep overriding you unless you move the focus ring far enough to focus on a new subject. In this position the camera will tend to ignore minor changes of the manual focus ring. This is best if you have a tendency to move the focus ring unintentionally and do not wish to override the autofocus.
M/A - You again have instant manual focus override by turning the focus ring at any time but this time more emphasis is given to the effect of turning the focus ring. Your manual focus setting will stay as set, even if the camera is in AF-C continuous AF. Avoid this setting if you have a habit of knocking the manual focus ring since even the slightest motion will stop the AF system.
M - Manual focus only - autofocus disabled
The autofocus switch overrides any setting in the camera menu or body switches.
Full — ∞ - 8m
This is a focus limiter.
Full - the lens is able to focus over its full range from 3m to infinity. This can cause the lens to hunt if switching between far and near subjects and can slow down the autofocus lock on time on the Z series cameras
∞ - 8m - This prevents the lens from autofocusing closer than 8 meters (25 feet). Use this setting only if you're having a problem with the lens attempting to focus on irrelevant close items, or if for some reason the lens is "hunting" from near to far looking for distant subjects. This speeds up the autofocus response of the lens significantly on the Z series cameras
VR OFF — NORMAL — SPORT
NORMAL - Normal mode is recommended for most general scenes. In this mode, slow and wide camera movement is regarded as the photographer recomposing a shot and blur-correction operation is limited accordingly. Normal mode also includes automatic panning detection.
The lens automatically detects that a tripod is being used when in NORMAL mode and corrects for fine vibrations associated with the tripod.
SPORT - Sport mode limits vibration reduction to the minimum needed for subjects that are moving quickly and unpredictably. The viewfinder offers a more stable image when the camera is mounted on a monopod. Even when the camera is hand-held, the image in the viewfinder remains as stable and smooth as if the camera were on a monopod, making it easier to track the subject when the camera is panned during high-speed burst shooting. Frame rate and shutter response are unaffected.Use SPORT if you're trying to track objects which change direction unpredictably.
The lens automatically detects that a tripod is being used when in SPORT mode and corrects for fine vibrations associated with the tripod.
OFF - Vibration reduction is turned off. Turn off VR if you're on a very sturdy tripod, or if you're making exposures longer than about a second on any kind of tripod.
AF-L — MEMORY RECALL — AF-ON
This sets the function of the four AF lock buttons at the front of the lens. Your camera may also offer other options to program this button, especially when it's set to its default of AF-L.
AF-L: Autofocus Lock.
Pressing and holding the button locks autofocus as long as you continue to hold the button. This can be handy of you need to lock focus and recompose.
MEMORY RECALL
This makes the lens refocus back to whatever focus distance you previously set by pressing the MEMORY SET button on the right hand side of the lens near to the lens mount. Use the MEMORY SET button to save the current focussed distance. Pressing one of the four function buttons will refocus the lens back to this position. This is very handy to make the lens refocus immediately to a preset position for wildlife, sports, etc. or in case the lens loses focus and starts to hunt. The lens remembers this position even after switching off the camera.
AF-ON
Pressing the buttons activates autofocus. This is the same as any other AF-ON button; it becomes useful when you use the AF-ON button on the camera (Back Button Focus) with AF-C mode. Used this way you hold AF-ON to focus, and it locks when you release it. I tend to keep mine on AF-ON so I can focus with the hand holding the lens unless there is a need for presetting focus, like motorsports focussing on where a car is due to arrive, for example.
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This turns the beep on or off. If it's on, it beeps once to let you know you've set a new focus distance and twice when the lens gets to the preset focus distance after you've pressed one of the front function buttons to recall it.
The lens has a 95mm filter thread to accept standard screw in filters or adapter rings. The filter thread is soft plastic that is easy to damage if you cross thread the filter or over tighten it. To avoid cross-threading you should put your filter as flat as you can against the front of the lens and turn it backwards (i.e. unscrew) until you feel a slight click, which means that the threads have just mated properly. Now screw it in slowly. If it doesn't turn smoothly as you screw-on the filter, STOP, unscrew it out again until you feel the slight click of the threads matching up, and try again. Don't ever force it because you will be damaging the threads on the lens.
I tend to use brass filters as they seem to be less prone to deformation and tend not to bind as much as aluminium or cheaper filters, even on the plastic threads of this lens. My current favourites are the Breakthrough Photography X4 series (as UV/protector filters) and the Kase Wolverine Magnetic Circular filters for C-PL and ND filters.
One area of concern relates to the tripod foot. I had seen reviews by Steve Perry (Backcountry Gallery) and others regarding the foot detaching from the lens when being carried, resulting in the lens and camera dropping to the floor. As I was aware of this issue I was particularly careful when unboxing the lens. It turned out that this was a good move as the foot locking knob was loose on delivery, a quick press of the detach lever and the foot fell off the lens. I replaced the foot and securely tightened the locking knob and so far this seems to be okay. I will, however, check the tightness of the locking knob prior to each use and if necessary consider one of the many replacement feet available.
Vibration Reduction:
The lens is equipped with optical vibration reduction, On the Z series cameras this works with the In Body Image Stabilisation (IBIS) to offer up to 4 stops of compensation. The use of the F-mount lenses on the FTZ adapter means that the normal 5 axis IBIS stabilisation is reduced to 3 axis (pitch / roll / yaw) but by all accounts, in-lens optical stabilisation offers many advantages over IBIS for long focal length lenses.
There have been reports regarding issues with the VR performance of this lens when shutter speeds are between 1/60s and 1/250s where the performance becomes a little unpredictable, however this does not appear to occur when the lens is fitted on to Z6 or Z7 series cameras (leading to speculation that mirror slap on DSLRs is the cause of the issue). This is an area I will look at in a little more detail as I become more familiar with the lens.
From my limited testing to date I can say that the VR performance is exceptional making this lens as easy to use handheld as the similar sized 70-200 zoom.
Computer monitor at a distance of 3m (minimum close focus) showing the effectiveness of the VR system. Photograph was taken handheld using the Nikkor 500 PF with a TC-14E III 1.4x teleconverter at combined focal length of 700mm. Lens was wide open at f/8.0 with a shutter speed of 1/125th second at ISO 2500. No processing was carried out. Not too shabby for a handheld 700mm lens !
Sparrow on garden fence showing effectiveness of VR combined with IBIS.
Nikon Z6 with Nikkor 500 PF and TC-14E III 1.4x teleconverter, handheld at 700mm, 1/80th second at f/5.6, ISO 560.
Focus:
The lens autofocuses very quickly and accurately and is almost silent. Some of the other F-mount lenses I have used have a tendency to chatter loudly when adjusting focus in AF-C mode. While this lens still has the same issue, it is not as pronounced as on other lenses. It is not as silent as the native Z-mount lenses though.
I have not performed extensive testing of the lens but the autofocus performance on a Lens Align test chart shows very accurate and reproducible results.
The lens can be switched into manual focus using the switch on the side of the lens barrel. Manual focus of the lens uses a physical control ring rather than the fly by wire controls of the Z series lenses. I have the cameras set up with focus peaking in manual focus mode and a quick twist of the focus ring brings everything into sharp focus as shown by the red highlights in the electronic viewfinder.
The lens also has a manual override for autofocus, so for example, you can turn the focus ring while in autofocus mode with the shutter half pressed (or the AF-ON button pressed) to fine tune the focus, including using the rangefinder and focus peaking options in the viewfinder. The A/M M/A switch determines how sensitive the lens is to small changes of the focus ring.
Image Quality:
The lens has the reputation of being one of the sharpest telephoto primes currently available. While I have only had the lens for a few days it does seem to be extremely sharp especially when used on my Z6 and Z7II.
Garden Gnomes at distance of 25m (75ft)
Nikon Z6 f/5.6 1/500s, ISO200
100% crop showing cobwebs on the gnomes
Nikon Z6 f/5.6 1/500s, ISO200
200% crop shows how sharp the lens is, being able to pick out the individual silk threads on this cobweb from a distance of 25m (75ft)
Nikon Z6 f/5.6 1/500s, ISO200
The image quality from this lens is outstanding. Wide open at f/5.6 the lens is very sharp across the whole frame, with negligible fall off in sharpness towards the corners and edges of the frame. Stopping down to f/8 increases the sharpness further. At f/16 the images start to lose some crispness due to the effects of diffraction.
The lens shows no signs of vignetting or distortion due to the built in lens correction profile applied in the Z series cameras and carried across into programs such as Adobe Lightroom Classic. If you use other software that doesn’t support these built in profiles then there is some minor pin cushion distortion.
Nikon Z6, 1/1000th second at f/8, ISO 400 - lens effectively at infinity focus - note that there are no visible signs of vignetting with this lens
Cropped and rotated image showing detail on aircraft fuselage
Moon, Nikon Z6 1/1000th second at f/8 ISO 400 handheld
Young robin outside window, Nikon Z6 1/180th second at f/8, ISO 4000 - noise reduction applied with DXO PhotoLab 4.
Notice the smooth bokeh for the out of focus background
I tend to pre-process most of my images using DXO PureRAW which provides an independent correction for distortion, sharpness, and vignetting and find that these corrections almost identical to the Nikon built in profiles. Comparison of the DXO corrected image compared to the built in profile image in Lightroom, for example, shows very little difference between the camera and DXO image corrections. The only benefit to using DXO PureRAW with this lens is noise reduction for high ISO shooting
The lens appears to be well protected against flare when shooting into the sun, with very little to no flare spots noticeable on my images. The above gnome images are taken into the sun (sun from top right hand corner as shown by the gnomes’ shadow) without the lens hood fitted. There are no signs of flare spots or lack of contrast with this lens.
Use with Teleconverters
The lens appears to work well with the current Nikon teleconverter range. I use the Nikon TC-14E II, TC-17E II and TC-20E III regularly with my Nikkor AF-S 300 f/2.8G IF ED VR II lens and find the sharpness of the lens and teleconverters to remain very good. The image from the lens with the TC-14E III fitted was exceptional.
I tried the TCs with the 500 PF and again found the images to be very good. The following images show the lens and TC combinations, all handheld from 500mm to 1000mm. Notice the sharpness of the text at the gnome’s feet and water droplets on the cobwebs. It is difficult to tell from the photos but centre and edge sharpness remained very high, even with the TC-20E III fitted. The combination of lens with any of these tele converts produces stunning results, even when handheld.
Nikon Z6, AF-S 500 f/5.6 PF VR. 500mm handheld at 1/640th second, f5.6 ISO 1000
Nikon Z6, AF-S 500 f/5.6 PF VR + TC-14E III. 700mm handheld at 1/640th second, f8 ISO 1100
Nikon Z6, AF-S 500 f/5.6 PF VR + TC-17E II. 850mm handheld at 1/640th second, f/9.5 ISO 1400
Nikon Z6, AF-S 500 f/5.6 PF VR + TC-20E III. 1000mm handheld at 1/640th second, f5.6 ISO 1800
Jupiter and its Galilean moons
Composite image (30 frames stacked for Jupiter + 1 frame exposed for moons)
Nikon Z7, AF-S 500 f/5.6 PF VR + TC-20E III, 1000mm (Cropped Image 1500 x 1000 pixels)
The Technical Bits:
Lens Construction
Mount Type: Nikon F Mount
Focal Length: 500 mm
Aperture Range: f/5.6 to f/32
Aperture Blades: 9 (rounded)
Filter Size: 95mm
Lens Elements: 19
Lens Groups: 11
Special Elements: 1 Fresnel, 3 ED
Fluorine Coating: Yes
Nano Crystal Coating: Yes
Super Integrated Coating: Yes
Electronic Diaphragm: Yes
Focus Motor: Ultrasonic Silent Wave Motor (SWM)
Internal Focusing: Yes
Minimum Focus Distance: 3 meters (10 feet)
Maximum Reproduction Ratio: 1:35.6, or 0.18x Magnification
Weather/Dust Sealing: Yes
Mount Material: Metal
Dimensions: 106mm diameter x 237 mm (4.17 x 9.33 inches)
Weight: 1460 g (51.5 oz)
Angle of View: 5° diagonal
Conclusion:
Nikon has created an extremely impressive lens with the AF-S 500 f/5.6 PF ED VR lens. Its performance, especially sharpness, is exceptional. Its compact size and low weight perfectly suit the Nikon Z6/7 cameras and makes for a very practical handheld setup. The lens continues to perform when fitted with any of the current Nikon teleconverters and, like the AF-S 300 f/2.8G, I would not hesitate to use any of the TCs with this lens.
Care needs to be taken with the lens foot as the tightening knob was loose on delivery of my sample. If I hadn’t read elsewhere about the potential for the foot to inadvertently detach I would not have checked this and could possibly have dropped the lens.
