Nikon AF-S Nikkor 600mm f/4 E FL ED VR Review

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 600mm f/4 E FL ED VR Handling and Features

The Nikkor weighs in at a hefty 3810g, and make no mistake is a very large and unwieldy optic. It is quite front heavy, but adding the Nikon D750 supplied for this review does help to balance things up a bit. The lens is supplied in a very solid lockable trunk case and is unlikely to suffer any damage in transit. It should survive aircraft holds perfectly well if necessary. The immense lens hood locks firmly into place and can be stored in the case reversed onto the lens. The lens cap is actually an oversized nylon wrap that fits securely into place.

The VR system has normal and sport modes, the latter dealing with action subjects. They can be used when the lens is mounted on a monopod, for which a short collar is provided. There is a standard, very solid tripod foot that ensures secure tripod mounting. Four stops benefit are claimed, although, as always, high shutter speeds will still be needed for fast moving subjects, to arrest their movement.

The Nikkor focuses relatively close, to a useful 4.4m, thus opening up the possibility of shooting more variety of subject matter. Maximum magnification is 0.14x. There is a switch to limit the AF range to 10m to infinity if desired. This will speed up AF in the given range. The silent wave motor gives us fast, silent AF performance.

The manual focus ring is smooth and can be engaged at any time. Focusing is internal, so there is no change in lens size as we  focus closer. The front element does not rotate, and as regards filters these are placed in a small slot at the back of the lens. The filter size is a modest 40.5mm. There is a plain filter supplied as standard to ensure the optical performance is maintained.

Weather resistance is a welcome feature, almost essential for a lens of this type which will be used principally outdoors.

Nine diaphragm blades make an almost perfectly circular aperture and stop down is achieved electromagnetically, thus ensuring very predictable and accurate aperture values. Lens construction is 16 elements in 12 groups.    There are 2 Fluorite, 4 ED (extra-low dispersion) and 1 protective glass elements, plus Nikon's Nano Crystal Coating. This complexity is to reduce CA (chromatic aberration) and flare to ensure the crispest images possible. The Fluorine coating repels grease and moisture on the front element, thus making cleaning easier.

There are various unmarked buttons on the lens, and these are intended to make possible various programming features that can be stored in memory. For example, a focus point can be memorised and then returned to whenever needed, perhaps to return to a branch that birds routinely land on.

Handling all of this is not easy as the kit is large, cumbersome to carry and heavy. However, once installed at pitch-side or maybe in a hide then the lens is very easy to use. Meticulous technique yields the best images of course, as the high magnification means that even the slightest vibration can take the edge off the sharpness of a shot. A knurled knob on the tripod bracket assembly enables us to rotate the lens into portrait format whilst on a tripod, a time saving and very useful feature.

The sheer size of the lens can have some unexpected consequences. Arriving at a bird hide at Pennington Flash I found that the lens was physically too wide to actually push through the windows to line up the lens on the birds. Removing the lens hood helped, just. There were no such problems at Martin Mere, a WWT site, where larger windows are provided.

The substantial  tripod foot makes a very satisfactory handle for carrying and generally handling the lens. There is a high-quality padded strap that attached to two lugs so that the lens can be carried leaving the hands free. In practice, this means that transporting the lens a fair distance is not so onerous. Tripods and monopods have their place and may help with many shots, if for nothing else but to avoid having to hold the lens for long periods. However, handheld shots are possible and the tripod foot can be used as support on hide windows, walls and any other handy surface. The VR system makes sure that images remain sharp.

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