Hi--

>>Was G. Lepp's test of the newer (compact, macro) 500mm f8 Nikkor, or the
>>older version? (I find the older version sharper than the newer, and well
>>ahead of the Tamron 500mm f8 and the Sigma APO 400mm f5.6 lenses.) It
>>is even good enough to be sharp on the TC14/14B converter (though it is
>>VERY slow - but using the converter also reduces the "hot-spot" effect).
>>I have gotten sharp, full-bleed 8 1/2" x 11 1/2" color magazine covers
>>with the older Nikkor 500mm f8 - it really is pretty good (roughly
>>equal in image quality to the Nikkor 300mm f2.8 and 400mm f3.5 used
>>wide-open - not bad!;-).

>I think the test dates back to about 1992 or so, so the lens must have
>been older than that. I don't recall any comments about whether it
>was an old or new model. I recall it didn't do great with a TC.

It could still have been the newer model, which has been out at least
8 years...

>I'm very suprised indeed that you think it as good as the 400/3.5 ED,
>which is a pretty sharp lens!
> rma@clockwise.lucent.com (Bob Atkins)

It is! But I was comparing it with that lens wide-open (excellent,
but better yet at f8 1/2 [the speed of the mirror] - and at the same aperture, the ED lenses are noticeably better...). All this near infinity-focus - the 500mm performs noticeably worse near minimum-focus. Performance with the Nikkor TC1.4/1.4B is also surprisingly good, giving
a crisp-looking 6"x9" image (and still better on the converter than
any other mirror I have seen without a converter, except maybe the
newer-style Nikkor 500 [though I would be curious to try the very old
Nikkor 500mm f5, and the Minolta 800mm f8...]). I did not like the
1000mm f11 Nikkor, and the Russian 1000mm f10 was worse, though
useable in a pinch, I guess. The Tamron was the best of the rest
I tried, but not quite good enough, given the 500mm Nikkor...
(I have gotten some rather nice photos with it, though it suffers
from all the usual mirror negatives [except the lack of sharpness],
and it is easy to carry, if not easy to use.) As I think about it,
the 250mm Minolta mirror was pretty good also, though a bit short
to be very interesting (which is why I mentioned the Minolta 800).
I sold my big ED lenses (too hard to pack for what I do compared
with the Nikkor 300mm f4 [good on the TC14C, and the TC300], and
the 500 [good on the TC14] - giving good-quality [though slow!]
300, 420, 500, 600, 700mm lengths that I can actually carry along
with a bunch of other lenses [with a big ED, little else could go
with me]).
David Ruether