On Sat, 23 Jan 1999 01:11:17 +0800, "Topher" wrote:

>I'm new to the group, so please pardon me if this question has been thrashed
>out a million times before......I want to buy a long AF lens (400 or 500)
>for my Nikon to be used for bird/nature photos, but cannot afford the real
>thing+ACE-
>Is there any particular indie lens maker which is better than the rest for
>this type of lens? Does anyone have any experiences with these lenses to
>relate? I'm not just concerned with optical quality, but with construction
>as well, since this lens will have to put up with a bit of backpacking+ACE-

There are some negatives to this solution, but it is
sharp, well-made, compact, light, and affordable:
the Nikkor 500mm f8 mirror (either the older version
[a bit better near infinity-focus, and it works well
with the TC14/14B converter], or the newer, smaller
macro-focusing version...). The Nikkor 300mm f4
performs very well with the TC14/14B/14C 1.4X converter,
and reasonably well with the TC300/301 2X converter,
but this solution is larger/heavier/more expensive.