VR in action

Nikon D200 & VR 80-400mm F/4,5-5,6D @ 340mm f/8 @ 1/200s, ISO 400

The AF 80-400mm VR lens is a hard lens to describe because it is a hard lens to “learn” and “tame”. When I was preparing my 80-400mm VR article, I had to choose one or two photos from my archive so obviously, some didn’t make it, like the one I’m presenting to you today.
This is an incredible shot if you sit down and contemplate that this was shot while I was standing in a moving boat in choppy water. As you can see, I was also shooting against the light with the zoom extended to 340mm, which is equivalent to a focal length of 510mm on the DX format. Taking all those factors into consideration, one can see how well the VR has performed utilizing a slow shutter of only 1/200 sec. Now that, to my eyes is an incredible performance.

100% crop

Beware though, that this is not repeatable performance. The AF 80-400mm VR can not repeat this kind of performance all the time. It definitely is capable of it as long as the photographer has come to terms with its shortcomings and has managed to tame it.

On a side note, I would like to add, that most of the shots that I like from this lens are shot at f/7.1 or f/8. I have images at f/5.6 also and they are pretty good, but obviously, closing the aperture a bit does improve sharpness and contrast as does reducing the focal length.

Happy shooting!