So the first thing I have to mention here to be open about this is the I have been a customer of GraphicArt in Bern now for about 4 years and their service and advice have always been good and whilst I will try to make this unbiased having access to the equipment could not have been done without them.
They do hire lenses for use too and the rate depends on the length of time you want the lens for, the longer you have it the cheaper it generally becomes, to a point.
So I first bought an F mount 400mm f2.8 FL ED VR secondhand 2 years ago and since the Z mount version was released January 2022, I as most other photographers that have a use for it, have lusted over it. One sports photographer I talked to at a Harlequins rugby game told me he would buy it except the divorce it would cause would mean he would have to sell it!
Why you ask a 400mm prime, What do you use it for that you couldn’t use a 100-400 or equivalent lens?
To answer that you have to look at the use case, I photograph mainly sports with some wildlife and landscapes, each I do for a different reason, the later just to get away from life and slow down.
Now with wildlife and sports I am most often shooting with shutter speeds 1/1000s or faster to capture the action and with most sport I cover being in October to March this is often under floodlights or even during the day with poor grey cloudy days. Now I am happy shooting with anything up to 6400 ISO which allows me a lot of room to manoeuvre but I would much rather that be 4000 ISO or lower where possible.
That and the fact I want to be in the last 1/4 of the pitch ideally for the sports I mainly shoot, Rugby & Football. Often I find myself away from the action and you can’t always move around the pitch freely. In Dubai at the 7’s you are limited to either end of the pitch and the deadball line puts you 10m behind the try line and all play. So to shoot the kickoff you need the reach of a 400mm lens.
As a guide to fill to frame with a person for every 10m you need 100mm of lens so @400mm a person fills the frame 40m away.
So to the lens…..
It basically from the image looks very similar to the F mount equivelent but there are 3 main features the differ greatly. The Z mount has a 1.4x built in teleconverter, weighs almost 1Kg (22%) lighter and is weather sealed. The last one surprised me as I thought the previous lens was weather sealed but it was not.
There are also some other points which if you are using Nikon Z body with the lens then:-
1. IBIS in Lens combines with that of the camera to work together giving you additional 5.5 stops of stability.
2. The 2x function buttons and 2x ring functions on the lens can be customised for various actions such as; change focus type, aperture, recall focus position, focus, exposure compensation or various other functions the list of which is long, which can be found in the manual, yes read the manual!
Lens Use
So I had this lens booked for 2 consecutive weekends for trial. My plan was to pick it up and head straight to an area I knew well for photographing birds on lake Neuchatel, Switzerland on my return from their shop in Bern. Then that weekend I had a football match and rugby to give it a go.
My first impression was the weight, having carried the F-mount lens and used it hand held I know it can’t be used without some support for any length of time so the lighter Z mount lens was a welcome change.
With the Z8 attached the combined weight was 3.86 kg compared to the F mount 4.71 kg, shedding almost 1kg or the equivalent of almost bag of sugar.
This made it all the more easy to handheld pan and capture this gannet in flight over the weed covered waterway.
400mm @ F2.8 1/4000s ISO 200
Of course the first thing you want to do is see how easy it is to ‘flip’ in the teleconverter whilst using the lens.
I am pleased to say it’s very easy. There is a lock switch on it so this needs to be off and then it’s just a matter of moving the lever down to add the TC or up to remove it. I found the middle finger of my right hand worked to flip the switch then the first to add it in (flip down) and the 3rd finger to remove it (flip up).
It was very easy but if you had smaller hands this might mean moving your hand a little.
Well in practical use the teleconverter was easy for me to use once I had visualised where my finger placement needed to be. The images above were taken within a few seconds of each other. The aperture was above f4 (F8) the exposure all remains the same hence switching becomes a fixed zoom at your finger tips, love it!
So one difference between what you get with the Z mount and the F mount is the case it is delivered in. Yes you get the standard Z rear mount lens cap and Nikon branded carry strap which I never used on the previous lens and at almost 1kg less I am not likely to use it here either. What you don’t get is the hard carry case, instead it’s a more practical carry bag and it comes with a good end cover too. The carry bag will actually take the lens with a Nikon Z9 mounted as well, even if it is a snug fit.
Conclusion:- I guess the answer here is would you buy one. Well at 13’820 Chf, GraphicArt AG (£12’699,Wex Photo or $14’000 B&H) new or I have seen one for €10’000 2nd hand. You need to have deep pockets and a good reason to buy one of these as it will need to last you nearly a lifetime to pay its way. I guess that’s the only real negative here otherwise I’d have 2!
The below images are all taken having switch in the 1.4x teleconverter shooting at F4 so as not to have to change exposure though in future I may use one of the rings for adjustment. Note:- There maybe minor crops on the images.
The following are also F4 but at 400mm. Note:- There maybe minor crops on the images.
