Nikon has just announced a few new lenses, including the new Nikkor AF-S 200–500 mm f/5.6 VR supertelephoto zoom lens. While this isn’t actually the kind of lens I’d be using for low light action photography, it is, nonetheless, an interesting lens (as Thom Hogan has commented recently). The combination of the 200–500 mm focal length range and the small f/5.6 aperture suggests that this will be a relatively light and portable lens for this class of equipment. It also looks like it’ll be a relatively affordable lens—I’m aware that it’s probably going to be around the $2,000 mark in Perth. While this might not sound particularly affordable, bear in mind that lenses of this kind typically cost much more than that.
Consider this new lens against the Nikkor AF-S 200–400 mm f/4 VR II, which is a professional supertelephoto lens. Yes, the professional lens lets in one more stop of light (f/4 compared to f/5.6), but it costs five times as much ($10,000 rather than $2,000), and is considerably longer (36.5 cm rather than 26.8 cm) and heavier (3.4 kg rather than 2.3 kg). For anyone shooting in daylight and without the need for the shallowest depth of field, the new lens will represent exceptionally good value for money if it performs well. Although I haven’t yet shot long-range landscape, sports (e.g., surfing, skiing), or vehicle action (e.g., aircraft, boats, cars), I’d expect this new lens to be well suited for those subjects.
The Nikkor AF-S 24–70 mm f/2.8 VR standard zoom lens is one of the other new lenses announced recently. This lens and its predecessors form a key part of many professional photographers’ kits; the standard focal lengths and relatively fast f/2.8 aperture combine to form a flexible tool for many types of event photography. Somewhat unusually, though, this lens takes 82 mm filters—larger than the standard 77 mm filter size on most professional lenses.
Canon’s current equivalent lens, the Canon EF 24–70 mm f/2.8 II, does not have IS (or VR in Nikon terms). Given the long standing rivalry between Canon and Nikon, an IS version is probably just around the corner …
Depending on photographic needs and philosophy, though, these fast standard zoom lenses might be far from essential. For low light action photography, one or two fast prime lenses (e.g., f/1.4 or f/1.8) would probably serve much better. In the standard zoom range, moving forward or backward a few steps can be enough to give the desired framing, and the faster f/1.4 or f/1.8 apertures make a noticeable difference in shooting parameters (and ultimately, image quality) compared to f/2.8.