Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm F/5.6E Pf ED VR Super-Telephoto Lens Black

Top positive review

SMALL, LIGHTWEIGHT, FAST FOCUSING, SHARP!

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2022

I have used a Nikon 200-500 for the past 6 years, and have loved it ... it produces superb, crisp, images, especially for its price. To be honest, the images from The 500 PF are maybe slightly better, but close in quality to the 200-500. What makes this lens more desirable, and worth the extra money is its small size, light weight, and extremely fast focusing.
As an older guy, the size and weight are a welcome change from the heavy 200-500. The focus speed is much faster, blistering fast, ... very close to the speed of the Nikon 70-200 f2.8 E FL. Combined with a fast body, like a D500, or a Z9, the 500 PF with its fast focus, and the size and weight making for quicker handling, are likely to get many more of those crisp images.

6 people found this helpful

Top critical review

Critical reviews›

Jon Anderson

Damaged Nikon Box, Scratched Lens Hood, & Soft Focus

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2020

I rented this lens before buying it and loved it for its size/weight and sharpness. After being backordered constantly since its release it came back into stock in November 2020 and was put on sale for $300 off for the first time ever. I decided to finally pull the trigger. Disappointment started when I opened the box, the Nikon box had a smashed corner despite the shipping box looking fine. I continued unpacking the lens to discover 2 cosmetic scratches on the lens hood. After finding these concerns I called the seller, the offered a discount for the issues but encouraged me to test the lens. After testing the lens several days, I have not been able to get sharp images like images taken with the copy I rented. Not sure it if is just a bad copy or was damaged. It's a bit suspicious that the lens went from being backordered everywhere to in stock concurrent with the what I believe was its first sale ever in November and is out of stock again at most distributors. The Nikon Sale Event is still going on but this lens was removed from the sale on November 30th. Unfortunately the seller only offered a return and not a replacement meaning I can no longer get the sale price. I have returned the lens because it clearly has a problem but this is very disappointing given the extremely positive experience I had renting the lens which prompted the purchase in the first place. I am curious if anyone else has had sharpness issues with lenses purchased in November 2020.

9 people found this helpful

125 total ratings, 51 with reviews

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From the United States

Arnold Bookheim

SMALL, LIGHTWEIGHT, FAST FOCUSING, SHARP!

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2022

*: BlackVerified Purchase

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

J. M. Cote

Excellent prime lens

Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2022

*: BlackVerified Purchase

Quite simply, than this is an excellent lens. I photograph birds and wildlife, and this lens is part of my go-to kit. It is much lighter than the f4 model (and much less expensive). I use it without a tripod, which is almost impossible with the f4.

The only thing I swapped out was the lens foot in favor of a Wimberley AP-500 replacement (Arca-Swiss Style). Nikon should make these standard on their lenses, but to me this is a minor gripe.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

JR Montana

High Quality photos with very light lens

Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2020

*: BlackVerified Purchase

I use this lens for wildlife. It focuses very well and fast with my Nikon D850. It is very light making it easier to carry attached to my camera than my Nikon 200-500. I find myself too close at times but most of the time it is just fine and I learn to position myself for the 500mm. Very pleased with this lens.

3 people found this helpful

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Meerkat Images

The wait was worth it

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2020

*: BlackVerified Purchase

I've been wanting this lens since it was 1st announced a couple of years ago. However it was never in stock - until now. I was not disappointed. It's a prime lens, fast to focus, light to hold, works well with a 1.4xTCIII when needed. I use it primarily for bird photography with a D850.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

testtesttest

Sharp, light, hand holdable for long periods.

Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2021

*: BlackVerified Purchase

Perfect lens for bird photography. Small, light, super sharp wide open, good VR, paired with my D500, it's an amazing combo!

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Marcia Blutstein

Honest evaluation of the 500 PF and business transacation

Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2021

*: BlackVerified Purchase

Let me start off by saying that I have been a Nikon user since 1974. I traded in my 500F4 for this lens because I needed a lens that was easier to handle. That will start me off about what I like about this lens. The technology in this lens is amazing. It is light, easy to handhold, and has accurate AF. The VR is very good in this lens and I have taken hand held photos that look very good a 1/60 sec. Now to compare this lens to the F4 is unfair, but needs to be stated. It is not on the same level as that lens - plastic hood for instance, bokeh is not nearly as nice...

Now to the problem areas. It's so light that the tendency is to shoot without a mono or tripod. That just adds to the number of non-keepers. Secondly it is f5.6 and that does push ISO up slightly and also makes the 1.4TC not that practical. I feel that the Fresnel design also contributes for some weird backgrounds, for instance when shooting with busy backgrounds like sand or vegetation. This only occurs in strong lighting though. The third point is that in the Q and A section, a question was asked if Amazon was selling the USA version and the answer was yes. My lens came from Procam with a one year warranty. Obviously a grey market product. Amazon never got back to me on this issue nor did Procam. A real deal breaker for buying anything other than the basics going forward. Sleazy for any business to act this way. So you have been warned - BE SURE YOU KNOW WHO THE SELLER IS AND WHAT THEY EXACTLY ARE SELLING!

18 people found this helpful

Helpful

Leah Garcia Blanco

Wonderful 500mm lens

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2021

*: BlackVerified Purchase

I love this lens! My images are sharp, and it is light enough for me to handle easily without a tripod. I strongly recommend this lens for any photographer, particularly for those who enjoy photographing birds.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Dan S

Wow Just Wow

Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2021

*: BlackVerified Purchase

Purchased this lens because i cant afford (as most cant) The 500-600-800F4 Lens at about 8-10 grand for starters.
This is just a fraction of the price and yes its only an F5.6 but you get one hell of a lens, I have mine paired with a D850 and Wow Just wow... I love this lens and i have also paired it with a nikon 1.4 tele and ive seen about a 3-4% loss in picture quality. So its a win win...
If you are thinking about getting this lens, DONT just buy it you will not regret it

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Worth the price

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2020

*: BlackVerified Purchase

Probably my go to lens for bird and wildlife photography. Having used this lens almost everyday for 6 months I can say that this lens is great and is worth the price. I actually went with Nikon because this is the most affordable (lol) 500mm lens on the market. The AF is snappy and responsive, and the manual override feature is great for trying to capture fast moving targets like Golden-crowned kinglets and warblers. Also works great with my teleconverters ( 1.4x and 2.0. with Nikon Z7). Leave the VR in sport mode and thank me later! However this lens is far from perfect. It has issues with acquiring birds in flight, and will do the focus in focus out shuffle until you miss your shots completely. The normal VR is almost unusable and causes the camera to bounce around, which, as I stated above, is why it is imperative that you leave it in Sport mode. This lens also has trouble capturing sharp pictures of birds in water, however I'm not sure if this is a lens issue or Nikon camera issue since I had the same problem with my D850. Overall, way more hits than misses and would highly recommend this lens to anyone who wants to get into bird or wildlife photography and doesn't want to take out a second mortgage to purchase a prime telephoto lens.

13 people found this helpful

Helpful

hamyak hakopian

Fantastic lens ,bad shipping

Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2021

*: BlackVerified Purchase

The media could not be loaded.

About the lens
This lens is superb quality, and produce quality images, super fast outofocus and beautiful rendition, and blur background ,colors are amazing as well . Highly recommended.
Bad shiiping
After I received the lens, the shipping box was fine but wen I opened the box I saw a big damage on original Nikon box as you can see in opening the box 8n in the video, the les was fine , but still was unhappy with the box being damaged and that concerned me as if the lens don't have an internal damage, so I tested by shooting with it a day about 100 images and performed fine , I emailed the seller if they can give me a free extended warranty but the refuse, I'm going to keep it because I already bought the 3 years extended warranty at the time of purchase, and I think that's why the refuse to give me extra 1 year warranty .

One person found this helpful

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Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm F/5.6E Pf ED VR Super-Telephoto Lens Black

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Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm F/5.6E Pf ED VR Super-Telephoto Lens Black

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Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm F/5.6E Pf ED VR Super-Telephoto Lens Black

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